Chapter 242: Chapter 228: Influence Increases Again

"Mengzhu, about Elder Xu’s test, are you confident?"

After some conversation, Fang Yun looked at the beaming Huang Mengzhu and asked this question.

"I am, Fang Yun-ge."

Huang Mengzhu clenched her delicate fist in a confident gesture.

When Xu Qingxuan saw her a few days ago, she had once again praised her for her excellent talent.

Fang Yun-ge had to pursue both Alchemy and Artifact Refining, while she was only walking the path of a Spirit Chef. In terms of time, she had much more to spare than he did.

Under these circumstances, she absolutely could not let Fang Yun-ge down.

"That’s good."

Huang Mengzhu knew Fang Yun was very busy and didn’t disturb him for too long. After an hour, she shared some amusing stories about her younger brother, Huang Mengyang, and then left Fang Yun’s cave residence.

After leaving Artifact Casting Peak, she headed for the Celestial Cloud Pavilion at the base of the Main Peak. She needed to change her status from an Outer Sect disciple to an Inner Sect Disciple. This would allow her to live in the Inner Sect Disciple area, where the surrounding Spiritual Qi was denser, allowing her to cultivate faster.

「Inside the Celestial Cloud Pavilion.」

Huang Mengzhu stared at the Token in her hand, quite surprised.

This was for Room 36 in the Inner Sect A Zone.

Huang Mengzhu knew that in both the Inner and Outer Sects, the A Zone residences were special areas. Without a certain background within the sect, it was impossible to live in the A Zone.

’My background... Right now, it can only be Fang Yun-ge, right...?’

Elder Xu Qingxuan hadn’t accepted her as a disciple yet.

Huang Mengzhu knew Fang Yun had been formidable as a disciple, but she didn’t know how much influence he now held among the Elders.

After staring blankly at the Token for a moment, Huang Mengzhu put it away. She resolved to work even harder, so that in the future, she would at least have the chance to let Fang Yun-ge enjoy the Second Tier Spiritual Food she cooked.

For now, she was still far from this goal.

...

「The third day of the seventh month.」

Fang Yun left the Celestial Cloud Sect, preparing to head to the Supreme Profound Mountain Range.

At the beginning of the month, during the settlement of Talent Points, the points he received for Refining the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots with four Spirit Patterns were more than he had expected.

By his estimation, the Spiritual Materials used for Refining the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots were barely adequate. If not for his six-star Artifact Refining talent, it would have been impossible to forge them into a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact. An Artifact Refining talent couldn’t enhance a Spiritual Artifact’s attributes.

Therefore, among Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts, the four-Spirit-Pattern Half-Hidden Spirit Boots were definitely at the very bottom.

For such a four-Spirit-Pattern Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, Fang Yun had estimated that getting around eight thousand base Talent Points would be good, but in the end, he received over nine thousand.

This also pushed his settled Talent Points past one hundred thousand, reaching just over one hundred and two thousand.

And this time, he drew for Combat Talents a total of one hundred and three times.

After three months of accumulation, he now had the most fragments for Shield Talents, with nearly one hundred pieces.

On the way to the Supreme Profound Mountain Range, Fang Yun tested the speed of the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

Their normal speed was a bit slower than the pure Light Wind Boots, and the gap was even larger when it came to burst speed.

This was despite the Light Wind Boots only having two Spirit Patterns.

This was all within Fang Yun’s expectations. The concealment aspect of these Half-Hidden Spirit Boots was a higher priority, and the original plan for Refining them had not included the pelt of a Weaving Concealment Demon Bat King.

Before arriving at the Supreme Profound Mountain Range, Fang Yun switched back to his Light Wind Boots.

Only upon entering the Supreme Profound Mountain Range did he change back into the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots.

This time, upon entering the Supreme Profound Mountain Range, he headed straight for the inner region.

Few Sect Elders visited the Supreme Profound Mountain Range during this time. As for the early-stage Second Tier Demon Beasts in the inner region, Fang Yun hoped each of his appearances would bring a corresponding harvest.

With his current level of strength, he should be able to silently deal with an early-stage Second Tier Demon Beast and then leave without a trace.

「At dusk.」

Fang Yun’s figure had already appeared at the edge of the inner region of the Supreme Profound Mountain Range.

’What is that...?’

While observing his surroundings from a tree where he had paused for a moment, Fang Yun detected a very faint fluctuation of Demon Power.

The Demon Power fluctuation was very faint, and very close.

After drawing a bit closer, Fang Yun could feel that the Demon Power was impure.

This wasn’t the Demon Power of a Demon Beast; it could only be the Demon Power of a Demon.

Fang Yun picked up speed and drew closer and closer. He could now confirm that this was an early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon who was rather skilled at concealment. However, compared to the enhancement his four-star talent provided to the Middle Grade, Spiritual Artifact-level Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, the Demon’s skill was far too lacking.

The early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon still hadn’t discovered him.

The distance between them was now extremely close.

The early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon was an Elder from the Celestial Demon Sect.

He had appeared in the Supreme Profound Mountain Range with two objectives.

The first was to see if he could cause some trouble for the Celestial Cloud Sect. The second was to find a suitable Demon Beast and borrow its bloodline.

No matter which objective he completed, the benefits to him would be immense.

Suddenly, while on the move, he sensed two fluctuations of Spiritual Power.

They were fluctuations of Spiritual Power, not Demon Power. In that instant, he pushed his senses to their limit, trying to find the hidden Spirit Refiner.

Both fluctuations of Spiritual Power came from Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts, but he still hadn’t found the Spirit Refiner using them.

Tough feathers instantly sprouted from the early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon’s body. Unable to find the Spirit Refiner, he first took a defensive stance to deal with the two Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

Judging by the fluctuations of Spiritual Power, two mere Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts were not enough to pose a threat to him.

The next moment, his defense was torn apart as if it were flimsy paper.

Two dark yellow Long Swords instantly struck his vital spots—one pierced his heart, the other beheaded him.

After the early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon lost all signs of life.