I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely

Chapter 373: Chapter 293: 8-star Talent (2)

’Should I investigate?’

At this moment, Lin Shefeng’s heart itched with curiosity.

He desperately wanted to know the identity of the mysterious Spirit Refiner within the Celestial Cloud Sect, but he was afraid he’d be discovered the moment he tried.

More importantly, his investigation might not even yield any results.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s attire wasn’t just ordinary concealment; it was likely a collection of Spiritual Artifacts.

Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect was highly skilled at Artifact Refining. Perhaps everything the mysterious Spirit Refiner wore had been crafted for him by Fang Yun.

Lin Shefeng’s mind raced, weighing his options.

Just as he was about to hold back...

A deep yellow Long Sword shot toward him at incredible speed.

’How was I discovered? I didn’t do anything!’

For a split second, Lin Shefeng was stunned.

While remaining perfectly still and without releasing any Demon Power, he had thought his concealment was foolproof.

Yet he had been discovered without doing a thing.

He could have accepted being discovered after probing the mysterious Spirit Refiner. But to be found before he had even tried—that was absolutely unacceptable.

In truth, the moment Lin Shefeng saw Fang Yun and guessed he was the mysterious Spirit Refiner...

Fang Yun had already spotted him.

The reason he hadn’t attacked immediately after discovering him was that he was looking for a suitable distance.

Waiting until the distance was just right would further reduce the Demon’s chances of escape.

He was 98% confident he could prevent the Demon from having any chance to flee. If he could raise that to 99%, he was willing to do a lot to gain that extra sliver of certainty.

Casually closing the distance would only cost a little time.

But he couldn’t get too close. Even though he wasn’t flying straight toward the Demon, but approaching at an angle, the Demon would eventually notice something was amiss if the distance kept shrinking over time.

That would give the Demon time to react.

To kill a Demon more effectively, the less reaction time you gave them, the better. Combined with a surprise attack, they would have virtually no opportunity to use a Secret Technique to escape.

The best they could hope for was to mount a hasty defense.

But a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon couldn’t block his sword strike.

Besides, Elder Zhao Weiwen had said that this Peak Foundation Establishment Demon’s other skills were average; he just excelled at concealment.

After that brief moment of shock...

Lin Shefeng instinctively tried to block.

This was a strike from the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

Even though it was an instinctive block, he used his full power.

His hands seemed boneless as they began to spin, attempting to entangle the deep yellow Long Sword flying straight at him.

Judging by the Spiritual Power fluctuations, it was an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact—and a very fine one at that.

No matter how good, an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact could hardly be stronger than a top-grade one. Defending against a top-grade Spiritual Artifact might be difficult, but an Upper-Grade one should be much easier.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s surprise attack was truly impossible to guard against.

In that instant, Lin Shefeng understood one of the sources of the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s power.

And another crucial point: his own concealment had been seen through.

As someone who excelled at stealth, he wasn’t particularly good at seeing through others’ concealment. This mysterious Spirit Refiner was clearly skilled at both.

However, as someone already at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, he had enough strength to deal with the mysterious Spirit Refiner, but he absolutely could not let himself get tied down.

Especially since they were still very close to the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory.

Lin Shefeng’s mind worked quickly. Just as he was thinking about how to escape...

The unexpected happened!

"This Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact..."

The moment his hands wrapped around it, his tough, Demon Power-infused skin was easily sliced open, and his bones were not spared.

Before Lin Shefeng could finish his sentence, his body was split in two, and his life force began to drain away rapidly.

’This isn’t power that an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact should possess!’

Based on the Spiritual Power fluctuations, Lin Shefeng was certain it was an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact, definitely not a Magical Treasure or something similar.

Besides, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner would be too slow in activating a Magical Treasure, and the power they could unleash wouldn’t be that great.

In his final moments...

Lin Shefeng realized he might have stumbled upon a world-shattering secret.

A huge secret about the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner could not only enhance the power of Spiritual Artifacts but also knew their weak spots like the back of his hand.

He had been cut in two, and the point of separation was precisely his weak spot—like striking a snake at its vital point.

’Thinking about the number of Demon Cultivators the mysterious Spirit Refiner has killed, perhaps all the Demon Cultivators who knew his secret are already dead.’

And he was about to die, too.

His consciousness was already fading when the black-robed mysterious Spirit Refiner appeared near his head.

Then he heard the last sound before his life completely ended.

"Good luck..."

’Good luck with what?’

If Lin Shefeng had heard Fang Yun’s full sentence, his corpse might have jolted back to life from sheer anger.

"Good luck, the Demon really did hide in ambush and didn’t leave."

He had carefully chosen a spot to hide for his next surprise attack, but in the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s eyes, his ambush was just a stroke of good luck for him.

He collected the Demon’s corpse and his Storage Pouch.

Soon, Fang Yun reappeared at the Earth Yellow Stone Ore mine.

"Elder Fang, is there anything else?" Zhao Weiwen asked immediately upon seeing Fang Yun return.

"The Demon has been dealt with," Fang Yun replied.

"Oh, the Demon has been dealt with... What?! The Demon has been dealt with!"

After a moment’s hesitation, it finally registered with Zhao Weiwen. How much time had passed? Not only had the Peak Foundation Establishment Demon been found, but he had also been dealt with.

It had been far too short a time.

Zhao Weiwen felt that Fang Yun dealing with this Peak Foundation Establishment Demon was even more incredible than him wiping out a subordinate Foundation Establishment Influence of the Celestial Demon Sect.

"Yes, he’s been dealt with. I was rather lucky. The Demon probed me, and that’s how I discovered him."

"Seeing you dressed like that, I’d be tempted to probe too if I were him." Zhao Weiwen looked Fang Yun up and down. He never thought there would come a day when he could understand a Demon.

Hearing Fang Yun’s explanation, Zhao Weiwen wasn’t as shocked anymore.

It was normal for Fang Yun to be able to kill a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon quickly in combat. The hard part, which should have taken a lot of time, was finding the hidden Demon.

This Peak Foundation Establishment Demon had basically delivered himself to Fang Yun’s doorstep.

After chatting a bit more with Zhao Weiwen, Fang Yun truly said his goodbyes this time and left, returning to the sect.

The entire reinforcement mission had gone exceptionally smoothly.

「Within the Celestial Cloud Sect.」

After making a trip to Battle Peak and the Evil Extermination Hall, Fang Yun returned to the Cultivation Room in his cave residence.

When Feng Tianrui had notified him of the reinforcement mission, he had been in the middle of cultivation.

Now that he was back, he naturally resumed his cultivation.

Only when he was resting or cultivating could he accept reinforcement missions. At all other times, the missions went to the other Elders of Battle Peak.

For this reinforcement mission, if he had been in the middle of Alchemy or Artifact Refining, it was likely that Feng Tianrui or even one of the sect’s Supreme Elders would have had to go instead.

Time flew by.

「Seven days later.」

It was now the beginning of the fourth month.

It was that time again—the once-a-month settlement of Talent Points, Fang Yun’s favorite time.

——

Killed 1 Peak Foundation Establishment Demon, Talent Points +510,000

...

Sect Influence: 78%

Talent Point Bonus: 552%

Settlement: Talent Points +3,551,238

——

As he opened the light screen, the first thing Fang Yun looked at was the base Talent Points gained from killing the Peak Foundation Establishment Demon.

’Five hundred and ten thousand base Talent Points... to be honest, that’s lower than I expected.’

He had thought the base Talent Points from killing a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon would be more than double that of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon.

’Early-stage Foundation Establishment is fifty thousand, mid-stage is one hundred and twenty thousand, and late-stage is two hundred and seventy thousand. Based on that information, I deduced that killing a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon would likely grant five hundred and eighty thousand base Talent Points.’

’So that’s the pattern.’

Combining the Talent Points gained from killing Demons of the four minor realms of Foundation Establishment, he found the real pattern: it was a pattern in the differences between them.

Once he figured out the pattern, Fang Yun felt at ease.

Next up was drawing a Life Talent.

A single Peak Foundation Establishment Demon had provided him with over three million three hundred thousand Talent Points.

"My Life Talent is finally about to reach eight stars."