Chapter 100: The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

Not long after, Qingxi had already completed the transformation of all demonic origins. As a top expert at the peak of the Innate Realm, the Flame Demon contributed nearly twenty thousand units of origin. Adding the other Innate Realm demons, Qingxi obtained a total of forty thousand units of origin. In addition, there was also a dense mass of blood and qi power.

To improve his strength as quickly as possible, Qingxi hurried back to his room and began the refinement process. After his spiritual root advanced to the Mystic rank, his absorption speed doubled. By dusk, he finally emerged from seclusion.

Feeling the explosively increased power and the strengthened body, Qingxi decided it was time to go out and hunt the celestial demons. When he pulled up the panel for the Five Elements origins, a wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

[Currently stored Five Elements origins: Metal origin (13754/100000) strands, Wood origin (17999/100000) strands, Water origin (12345/100000) strands, Fire origin (12937/100000) strands, Earth origin (12367/100000) strands]

To advance his spiritual root from Mystic rank to Earth rank, he would need one hundred thousand of each element. Even with the tens of thousands of origins he had obtained this time, the total was still less than one-fifth of what was required for the advancement.

"It seems there's no way to advance my spiritual root anytime soon," Qingxi said, his enthusiasm dampened.

The amount of origin needed to advance to the Earth rank was enough to deduce many Grandmaster-level supreme arts.

Pipizhu explained, "Every time the spiritual root advances one tier, the amount of origin required increases by at least tenfold. The earlier stages are fine, but starting from the Earth rank, the total amount of origin needed becomes quite substantial."

"Since advancing to the Earth rank requires so much origin, there's no need to rush. Can I convert the origins into cultivation power instead?" Qingxi pressed further.

He knew that the Five Elements origins could directly enhance cultivation, but since he had never tried it, he wasn't clear on the specifics.

Pipizhu explained, "Ten strands of each of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—for a total of fifty strands, can be synthesized into one unit of cultivation power."

"That much of a consumption?" Qingxi couldn't help but click his tongue in disbelief.

According to the system, starting from the mid-Innate Realm, relying on converting origins to advance to the late-Innate Realm would require a total of two hundred thousand strands of origin. To advance to the peak of the Innate Realm, an additional four hundred thousand would be needed.

That was equivalent to giving up one chance to advance his spiritual root to the Earth rank, all for the sake of raising two minor cultivation levels.

Qingxi shook his head vigorously, feeling it was simply not worth it.

"Forget it, I might as well go out and 'move bricks'..." He turned his attention to hunting celestial demons.

A celestial demon at the peak of the Innate Realm could be converted into roughly twenty thousand units of origin. In other words, to advance to the Earth rank, he would need to eliminate at least twenty or more demons of that level.

He suddenly felt that the difficulty of "moving bricks" was not low either.

"I'm too miserable!"

Qingxi was helpless.

At the City Lord's Mansion hall.

"You want to go out to hunt celestial demons? No way, that's too dangerous!" Li Kantian became so agitated that he jumped up onto a stool.

City Lord Du Liang tried to persuade him, saying, "The celestial demons are still descending continuously. If we stay in the city, there's strength in numbers, and it's safer."

Qingxi hesitated, as if wanting to speak but holding back.

He couldn't very well say, "I'm going out for the Five Elements origins and space imprints. Staying in Wufu City yields too little to satisfy my appetite."

After thinking for a moment, he said with firm determination, "I believe the best defense is a good offense. With all of you guarding Wufu City, there's surely no problem. But other cities may not have enough Innate Realm experts to hold the line. I must go to support them."

Li Kantian and Du Liang thought about it and found his reasoning quite sound.

A short while later.

Qingxi sat on the back of the Dragon Horse, swiftly riding away as the people of Wufu City watched him go.

This time, he did not bring Linfeng.

Even though Linfeng very much wanted to come along, Qingxi still refused.

Linfeng possessed a mysterious fortune. Staying in Wufu City, he should be able to ensure that the city would not fall.

As for Qingxi, he was going out to slay demons. If he brought Linfeng along, and their luck was too good, they might not even encounter a single demon on the road—that would be truly awkward.

"Origins, your lord Qingxi has arrived!" Qingxi sat on the Dragon Horse and spread his arms wide open toward nature.

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, his arm smacked into an ancient tree along the way, and he was sent flying. He ended up dangling from the tree, cursing loudly, "Dragon Horse, are you trying to kill me?"

"I..." The Dragon Horse looked utterly aggrieved. How was it supposed to know Qingxi would suddenly spread his arms open?

Could it be blamed for this?

...

Occasionally, meteors streaked across the sky, their sounds piercingly harsh.

From daylight until now, the celestial demons had not stopped descending.

Qingxi felt that in the latter half of this day, more than a thousand celestial demons had landed in the Eastern Domain alone.

That number was already quite large.

After all, that was equivalent to over a thousand Innate Realm experts.

If they were to gather and launch a siege on the Lingyuan Sect, even if Qiu Mingzi personally presided over the sect-protecting formation, it might not be able to hold.

After leaving Wufu City, Qingxi continuously scanned his surroundings without pause.

Along the way, every medicinal herb and spirit ore he discovered was collected into the system space.

With the advancement of his cultivation and spiritual root, the total capacity of the system space had reached three hundred cubic meters—many times larger than the space of a top-grade storage bracelet—enough to hold a great many things.

A hundred and fifty li from Wufu City, an early-Innate Realm demon was sweeping through a small city. Several elders at the peak of Qi Refining were doing their utmost to resist, but they were still sent flying, severely wounded.

"Haha, too weak!" The demon laughed arrogantly, its arm transforming into a sharp stone longsword.

A flash of crimson light streaked by. Before the demon could even strike, it was pinned to the ground by an arrow, and in an instant, it was utterly destroyed, body and soul.

The three elders stood frozen in place.

They had been prepared to die, yet the demon that was so arrogant moments ago had simply fallen to the ground just like that.

In their line of sight, a youth riding a small horse barely half a person's height walked past in front of them. He collected the demon and left behind a single line:

"No need to thank me."

The three elders exchanged glances, their expressions strange.

Only after Qingxi had disappeared from view did one of the elders mutter in confusion, "Who is he?"

"No idea."

...

In the dense forest far away.

Qingxi overheard the elders' conversation and nearly fell off the horse's back.

He had wanted to put on an air of a transcendent master, but to his surprise, these old men didn't recognize him at all, nor did they show any shock. How awkward was that?

Shaking his head, he left the place with resignation.

Along the way, he occasionally saw celestial demons wreaking havoc and continuously devouring ores dug out from underground to strengthen themselves.

Qingxi showed no mercy, drawing his bow and shooting them dead with arrows.

After all, celestial demons at the peak of the Innate Realm were a minority. Aside from the one he encountered at Wufu City, the strongest he had come across so far was only equivalent to the late-Innate Realm, nowhere near enough to withstand even a single arrow from him.

Qingxi somewhat regretted not bringing Linfeng along.

If Linfeng were here, perhaps they would encounter even more celestial demons.

But if he were to turn back to Wufu City, it would surely seem strange.

After thinking it over, Qingxi asked the system, "Pipizhu, is there any supreme art that can track celestial demons?"

"There is a Bronze-level supreme art that matches the host's requirements. The relevant information has been sent to the panel. Please check it in time."

Pipizhu's notification made Qingxi's eyes light up, and he quickly opened the panel.