Chapter 71: Abroad (2)

Su Chen sat on the top floor of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, all kinds of strange patterns taking shape between his hands.

As the patterns between his hands mutated and morphed, Origin Energy obeying his every beck and call, all kinds of strange occurrences appeared in the surroundings.

First, flower petals appeared out of midair, floating to the ground but disappearing before they fell all the way. Then, shadowy winds began to blow, carrying the sounds of strange, eerie laughter with them. Then, brilliant flames appeared, lighting up the entire room without actually burning anything in the room. Next, thunder and lightning began to peal through the room as if a thunderstorm was passing through.

Around Su Chen’s neck hung a raven-black ring. It gave off a luster like that of a dark moon, faint and ordinary. This was the Lightless Ring.

Under the influence of Su Chen’s constantly shifting hand seals, this ordinary, uninspiring Lightless Ring was actually beginning to glow slightly.

After some time, Su Chen stopped and sighed, “I still have no way of mastering all of these techniques, but I can at least confirm that the path I am taking is correct. Arcana Techniques have a great deal of similarity with human Origin Skills, and they can absolutely mutually absorb one another to help us unleash even more powerful attacks.”

Patelocke sat next to Su Chen.

At this point, he was a puppet.

The ancient transmission puppet that had been preserved until now.

As an ancient transmission puppet, Su Chen discovered that its greatest value wasn’t in becoming Patelocke’s vessel but as a door that opened the path towards Ancient Arcana Techniques wide. By using this ancient puppet, Su Chen could understand the thought processes of the ancient Arcana Masters more clearly, which served as a great help for his understanding of Arcana Techniques.

This kind of understanding would manifest itself as strength. This was because Su Chen had a deeper understanding of how to meld human Origin Skills with Ancient Arcana Techniques.

Even though he still couldn’t merge the two completely yet, Su Chen had managed to break through the barriers separating Arcana Techniques from Origin Skills a long time ago in the eyes of others, allowing a person to successfully use both at the same time.

However, Su Chen was not satisfied. He was after an even more advanced combination.

A combination that would be more powerful than any existing cultivation system that currently existed in this time period.

When Patelocke heard Su Chen’s words, he said, “I like your meticulousness and your drive. I was like that in the past too. But the path you are currently walking along is incredibly long, and you will not have any important breakthroughs anytime soon. This path is like that of your bloodline-less cultivation techniques. It will take many days and months of careful nurturing. If you want to improve the most in the shortest period of time, you should focus on other things.”

“I understand what you mean. I’ve been thinking about the rewards I’ve gotten too,” Su Chen chuckled.

Converting the spoils of battle he had obtained in the past few years into personal strength was Su Chen’s main priority at this moment. However, he had accumulated too much wealth all at once, and his ability to spend all of it was not fast enough to keep up. If any nobles were to hear him speak like this, they would probably cry.

Regardless, converting those spoils into strength so that he could deal with any troubles in the future was Su Chen’s most pressing issue.

“Do you have any recommendations?” Su Chen asked.

“There is one thing that I was able to help you find out how to use it.”

“Oh? What item are you talking about?”

“That Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal.”

Patelocke was referring to the Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal that Su Chen had obtained from the Scarlet Heart. These items were so rare and precious that, before Su Chen could find a way to use them effectively, he could only store them away.

When he heard Patelocke say that he had discovered a way to use it, Su Chen’s eyes lit up. “Oh? Tell me more.”

“I took a look at the Origin Crystal you obtained. It most likely belonged to some kind of rare metal-armored beast, since it has high metal essence properties.”

“I know, but I’m not good at that,” Su Chen sighed regretfully. “It would have been much better if the crystal was the Scarlet Heart’s instead.”

Scarlet Heart cultivated in three distinct resources, and Su Chen was proficient in two of those elements: fire and darkness. If the Scarlet Heart had left behind an Origin Crystal, that crystal would have been incredibly useful to him. Unfortunately, he had sacrificed himself to try and kill Su Chen, so he had left nothing behind. All that remained was the Origin Crystal that belonged to the Demonic Emperor that the Scarlet Heart had killed all those years ago. However, it didn’t match up with Su Chen’s strength, which was why Su Chen had stowed it away until now.

Patelocke said, “You normally wouldn’t have had a good way of efficiently utilizing it, but you do now.”

“Oh? How so?”

“The Lightless Ring,” Patelocke replied.

“Lightless Ring?” Su Chen was taken aback.

“Yes! That’s it,” Patelocke said confidently.

Lightless Ring was an Origin Tool that could assimilate the power of Arcana Techniques. Su Chen had managed to confirm this truth when fighting with Chu Huailiang. He had used it to unleash a much more powerful dark Flaming Phoenix.

Patelocke said, “The Lightless Ring can incorporate the power of different Arcana Techniques, but since it is an incorporation, it should be able to hold both Arcana Techniques and combat Origin Skills. It’s only because of your own personal limitations that the power of this ring has not yet been fully demonstrated.”

“I know.”

The Lightless Ring was an incredibly powerful tool, but Su Chen was only using it as an Arcana Technique amplified. He had not yet brought out the full potential of the weapon because his ability to meld Arcana Techniques and Origin Skills was not yet good enough.

“This Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal can help you solve this problem,” Patelocke said.

“The Demonic Emperor Origin Crystal? It can help me solve this problem?” Su Chen was taken aback, and he fell silent.

“The power of metal…… Lightless Ring……” Su Chen pondered for a moment before his eyes began to glow.

Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and grabbed Patelocke excitedly. “Thanks for reminding me! I know how to use it now!”

Patelocke calmly said, “No need to thank me.”

……

“Stargold Ore? What do you want that for?”

Zhu Yunyan was a bit surprised by Su Chen’s request.

“I’m currently researching some new toys and need to use some precious metals.” Su Chen didn’t try to deceive his mother-in-law.

“Oh? What is it?” Zhu Yunyan was very interested when she heard that Su Chen had some new research.

“Before I complete it, I think I should keep it a secret so that I don’t lose face if I’m not able to complete it,” Su Chen said with a sheepish smile.

Zhu Yunyan rolled her eyes charmingly. “How much do you want?”

“The more, the better.”

“Hey, you’re taking food from that broodmother of yours.”

“Mhm.” Su Chen nodded. “I have also considered this problem before. Stargold and Moonstones come from the same source, so they are both important to the broodmother. I won’t want too much; if I have some success, please see if you can find any other precious metals in Sky City and gather them for me.”

Zhu Yunyan was taken aback by his request and shot him a suspicious glance but still agreed in the end.

Two days later.

The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles arrived at the Origin Light Castle.

The Harpies split up their territory into five regions, namely Sky City, Origin Light, Chaos, Harpy Star, and Demonic City. It was obvious that these five regions were split up with the five floating cities as the center. Actually, they used to have six regions, but after the Flying Spirit City was toppled, the Flying Spirit region disappeared, most of the territory being assimilated by Liaoye Country and the rest being portioned to the Origin Light Region.

This made it clear how much the Harpies valued the Floating Points.

One fort per region!

Even the Harpies, who could fly, had certain territorial needs.

If they were really able to succeed in producing the sixth Floating Point, they would probably start by cutting open Liaoye Country.

The Zhu Clan absolutely could not allow the Harpies to succeed in such a plan. Thankfully, Su Chen’s arrival had brought this plan to light.

After arriving in Origin Light Region, a massive floating castle could be seen off in the distance - obviously, the Origin Light Castle.

Because it was a one-time castle created from a special Sark’s Nucleus engineered by a great Arcana Master, and the fact that it was the Harpies’ first flying castle, the castle’s decorations and aesthetic was very ancient.

It looked just like a floating castle, its tall outermost walls made out of stone, behind which stood numerous tall castle turrets. The tallest tower was naturally at the center of the castle. Large floating statues were dispersed through the city in the shapes of all kinds of different fierce beasts.

These statues were not only built for aesthetics; they were also a kind of mechanical puppet that served to defend the castle. Once they were activated, the statues would come to life and charge out of the castle. The sheer number of them would definitely shock anyone who saw this scene.

During a prior confrontation with humans, the humans had suffered great losses due to the work of these puppets and paid quite a price in order to destroy some of them. But the Harpies could always make more, so at this point the castle was filled with these stone mechanical puppets, which composed quite a powerful defensive system.

“Oh? So these are the real ancient puppets.” Patelocke clucked his tongue in amazement when he saw these puppets with his own eyes.

“Yes. Apparently, the Harpies are the Intelligent Race that preserved the most ancient relics from the Arcanists, including Arcana Techniques and puppet manufacturing techniques. This made the other races envious at the time,” Su Chen said.

“At the time?” Patelocke noticed Su Chen’s specific use of words.

“Yes, at the time. Not so much anymore,” Su Chen replied.

“Why is that?”

“Because we have our own path now. Inheriting an abundance of legacies can make others envious, but that strength never fully belongs to you. Look at how the Harpies try to take over the continent now. They have already lost the will to conquer the continent on their own and turtle up in their forts all day, not daring to take a single step outside. Their only lofty goals and ambitions are to create more forts, not to increase the strength of their race as a whole. This is the sad, inevitable fate of anyone who rises to power by the creations of another. Because they have no experience of change, they do not have the courage to improve themselves. Even their daring monarch, Eternal Night, can only do so much,” Su Chen said disdainfully.

His path was the path of elevating the self. He had no interest in carrying on someone else’s legacy.

No matter how many treasures he had, they would only be useful for so long, and he could not give them to others or pass them on to entire generations.

He didn’t care about anything like eternal glory for himself. As a person with grand ambitions, he needed to have the right kind of spirit and attitude, even if he was not yet standing at the pinnacle of human ability.

Su Chen’s view had long far exceeded his actual strength. Some people thought that he was aiming too high, but others believed that he was very far-sighted.

Whether he was aiming too high or extremely far-sighted depended on his achievements in the future.

If he could not accomplish it, then he was the former - a cheat, in some sense.

If he did accomplish it, then he was the latter - a seer.

Whether he was a cheat or seer, Su Chen would still continue to pursue his dreams and ideals.

As such, this grand, majestic, imposing Origin Light Castle was not even worth esteeming in his eyes.

He believed that it was this powerful floating fort that had clipped the Harpies’ wings. Though they had wings, they would never fly.

Whereas he, who was born with no wings, was destined to soar to the ninth heaven.

That was the reason he had come to the world of the Harpies.

He was going to fly!