I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Chapter 367: Chapter 290: The Great War Erupts Again

If they had been more cautious, perhaps they wouldn’t have lost their lives so easily.

In a short time, they had lost the combat strength of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Elder. One of their enemies wielded a special Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact designed to counter them. Although this Spirit Refiner’s Realm was only mid-stage Foundation Establishment, he had to be treated as a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner.

Our strength has waned while the enemy’s has grown.

Under these circumstances, Elder Lv felt that retreating was the best option. If the battle continued, their mid-stage Foundation Establishment Elders would fall one after another. Eventually, it might be his turn, and the rate at which they were falling was not slow.

"You did well."

After listening to Elder Lv’s account, Lu Yaoling approved of his actions.

In that situation, they likely wouldn’t have been able to hold out until he arrived.

"Elder Ren’s words can’t be trusted. He’s already made two mistaken judgments," a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Elder from the Celestial Demon Sect complained.

The Elder Ren he spoke of was their Celestial Demon Sect’s best Artifact Refining Elder.

The first time an Upper Grade Magical Artifact designed to counter them appeared, Elder Ren swore that developing a Spiritual Artifact version of such a weapon would be exceptionally difficult.

But it wasn’t long before such a Spiritual Artifact appeared.

At that point, Elder Ren found another excuse, saying that the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Fang Yun had first accidentally developed a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact to counter them, and only then managed to create the Upper Grade Magical Artifact.

And now, even a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact designed to counter them has appeared.

"Elder Ren’s experienced judgment might not be wrong, but this Fang Yun from the Celestial Cloud Sect can no longer be judged by ordinary standards. After all, before him, no Spirit Refiner or Artifact Refining Elder had ever crafted this type of Magical or Spiritual Artifact."

Elder Lv, who was on good terms with Elder Ren, spoke a word in his defense, forming his own judgment on the matter.

He was also just making a judgment based on his own thoughts.

"Now that a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact against us has appeared, maybe an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact has been made too."

"Probably not. If they had one, those Spirit Refiners would have used it already."

"Judging from the previous battle, it’s not easy for Spirit Refiners to craft this type of special Spiritual Artifact. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been only one person using a special Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact against us."

With the Supreme Elder present, the Celestial Demon Sect Demons analyzed the situation, each adding their two cents.

They didn’t usually get a chance to show off in front of the Supreme Elder.

They couldn’t miss this opportunity.

If their analysis was good and on point, they might even earn the Supreme Elder’s favor.

"Have any of you noticed a problem?"

"What problem?"

"During the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s previous actions, no Spirit Refiners from the Celestial Cloud Sect helped him ambush us. But this time they did, and not only that..."

This Celestial Demon Sect Elder hadn’t even finished making his point before another interrupted him.

"I thought you’d found a real problem, but it’s just that? Use your head. That’s not a problem at all. This situation is different from before. The Celestial Cloud Sect knew we were reinforcing the Dragon Demon Palace, so they wanted to force the Elders we sent there to return. That’s why they set up this ambush and even entered our Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm."

"Exactly, exactly! The issue is that simple. It’s not a problem at all."

"Let me finish what I was saying! I wasn’t done yet."

"Then speak."

"The ambush is just one part of it. Not only did they ambush us, but when we retreated, they didn’t pursue. Not even for a little bit. That’s the important part!"

As he said this, just as other Celestial Demon Sect Elders were about to speak, he gave them no chance to interrupt.

Because he had reached this point, but his analysis wasn’t over.

"The battle was very short. They were fully capable of pursuing us for a while."

This time, he had said all he wanted to say.

The other Celestial Demon Sect Elders began to think.

Elder Lv, at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, felt there was real merit to his words. It was indeed a problem.

’The battle didn’t last long,’ he thought. ’Even if our Supreme Elder was coming to support us, it would take time. Those Spirit Refiners from the Celestial Cloud Sect could have easily pursued us for a while, to see if they could make another one of our Celestial Demon Sect Elders fall.’

As he thought about it, Elder Lv quickly realized something.

Just as he was about to speak, he heard the Supreme Elder, Lu Yaoling, say...

"Elder Lv, check on the situation with our other subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influences."

Lu Yaoling had barely spoken. He had been listening to the information the Elder brought back, as well as their continuous analysis.

As a Supreme Elder with immense power and authority in the sect, every word he spoke in front of the junior Elders was important.

Therefore, he couldn’t speak too much. He had to maintain his image as a Supreme Elder; every time he opened his mouth, it had to be for a purpose.

Some of the Elders’ analyses were good, but others were just a waste of breath.

"Yes, Supreme Elder."

Elder Lv had also thought of this.

The moment Lu Yaoling gave the order, he immediately took action.

One after another, messenger talismans flew into the distance.

With a few ideas in mind, he first sent messages to the Sect Leader of the Stone Demon Sect and Patriarch Shu of the Shu Family, then to the other subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influences near Iron Tiger Manor.

Before long.

Replies came back, but there was no response from the Stone Demon Sect or the Shu Family.

"Supreme Elder, there’s no news from the Stone Demon Sect or the Shu Family. It seems they also encountered the mysterious Spirit Refiner."

"This mysterious Spirit Refiner is utterly lawless!"

"We absolutely cannot allow this mysterious Spirit Refiner to grow any stronger."

The Elders present all felt that the threat from the mysterious Spirit Refiner was growing larger and larger. If this continued, all of their Celestial Demon Sect’s subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influences might be completely wiped out by him.

"Let’s return to the sect for now," Lu Yaoling spoke again.

"Yes."

Lu Yaoling set off to return, and the other Celestial Demon Sect Elders immediately followed.

During the journey back to the Celestial Demon Sect, Lu Yaoling didn’t say a single word, but his mind was filled with thoughts.

’The Sect Elders are right,’ he thought. ’We can’t let the mysterious Spirit Refiner continue to grow.’

’And there’s that Fang Yun from the Celestial Cloud Sect. Who knows when he’ll manage to craft an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact to counter us.’

’For Core Formation Demons like us, an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact designed to counter us is barely acceptable. The real fear is that they’ll eventually create a Magical Treasure to counter us.’

’With the mysterious Spirit Refiner and Fang Yun, if the Demon Spirit Sect still doesn’t launch a major assault on the Celestial Cloud Sect after learning this news, then I, Lu Yaoling, can only say that the Demon Spirit Sect’s upper echelon is shortsighted.’

This operation by the Celestial Cloud Sect was a success for them.

He knew the Celestial Cloud Sect’s main goal was to stop them from reinforcing the Dragon Demon Palace against the Wind Ling Sect.

Under these circumstances, the benefits promised by the Dragon Demon Palace were far from enough.

He needed to pull back his forces to deal with the Celestial Cloud Sect’s move.

Before returning to the Celestial Demon Sect.

Lu Yaoling had already made up his mind!

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect.」

Fang Yun had already been the first to return to the sect.

After turning in his mission and collecting the Spirit Stone and Contribution Point rewards.

He immediately returned to the Artifact Refining Room in his cave residence.

Inside the Artifact Refining Room, row after row of stone shelves held countless Storage Pouches.

These Storage Pouches were filled with Spiritual Materials. Fang Yun had organized them into different pouches based on the material’s type and grade.

If he took out everything from the Storage Pouches, several of his Artifact Refining Rooms wouldn’t be enough to hold it all.

These Spiritual Materials were the accumulation of his years of work.

And now, the quantity of Spiritual Materials was about to increase by another large pile.

’The Storage Pouches of the Foundation Establishment Demons can be opened now, too. Time to sort through their contents.’

Obtaining these Spiritual Materials from the operation in the Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm wasn’t what made Fang Yun happiest.

What made him happiest was the harvest of Combat Talent Points.

One Late-stage and one mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, plus six early-stage Foundation Establishment Demons. This alone provided a base of 690,000 Talent Points.

He had killed several hundred Qi Refining Demons, but Fang Yun didn’t bother to calculate that part. He would just wait for the Talent Points to be settled at the beginning of next month.

Among the Qi Refining Demons he killed, the fewest were from the Shu Family.

Although the Stone Demon Sect only had one early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, they had a strong foundation from before, so they still had quite a lot of Qi Refining Level Demons.

Its Sect Leader was also a former Elder of the Stone Demon Sect.

’Now, the Foundation Establishment Demon influences within the Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm, the ones closest to our Celestial Cloud Sect, are all gone. The Celestial Demon Sect will definitely find a way to fill that void.’