Cultivation: But Not a Game-Chapter 203 - 114: Star Shifting – Lifespan Deprivation

Chapter 203: Chapter 114: Star Shifting – Lifespan Deprivation

"No!"

Feeling his lifespan rapidly slipping away, Zuo Qingren struggled frantically, shouting:

"Mr. Li, save me!"

The voice echoed from within the chaotic firelight, audible to all the witnesses, who looked shocked.

"What’s happening?"

They turned to Mr. Li, who quickly composed himself, letting out a cold snort, leaned backward, and closed his eyes.

"I heard nothing."

The crowd...

Celestial Dao Divine Skill - Star Shifting: Can alter constellations, obscure and tamper with celestial secrets. It is said to trigger heavenly killing intent, shifting stars and altering constellations; celestial secrets are akin to heavenly will. The enlightenment of saints is itself heavenly secrets, embodying a great skill of life and death.

This is a more profound mystery of Celestial Dao Divine Skill, combined with the Earth Immortal True Dragon’s Skill, forcibly transferring Zuo Qingren’s lifespan.

With the touch of a dragon claw, ten years of lifespan were transferred, instantly aging the other person.

Six consecutive finger points, as the explosive firelight receded and could no longer obscure the true dragon form, Su Yu retracted his dragon form and reverted back to human form.

However, Zuo Qingren’s transferred and stripped lifespan could not be returned. In a brief moment, he had aged from a youth to an old man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, his aura sharply declining.

Having reverted to human form, Su Yu struck down with a palm, shattering the Protective Ruyi Demon Pearl along with protective equipment and Magical Robe. The completely collapsed Zuo Qingren was utterly powerless to resist and was killed with a single palm strike.

With his death, the Polar Magnetic Wheel vanished from the air, and the Thunderbolt and Vajra Wheel were once again under his control.

Two Magical Treasures were destroyed, a Tier Seven Wishing Demon Pearl shattered, a Tier Eight Demon Fire Golden Banner blasted to pieces, a hundred-level Yin corpse was lost, 60 years of lifespan were stripped away, and death incurred a 5-year lifespan loss, for a total loss of 65 years.

The Polar Magnetic Wheel cannot be forcibly seized; when the owner dies, the treasure automatically returns to them.

In conclusion, Zuo Qingren was effectively ruined.

With old age comes weakened vigor, innate attributes decline, experience acquisition is affected, and leveling up becomes much more difficult than in youth.

To advance further and overcome tribulations to become Immortal with the remaining lifespan is nearly impossible.

Yes, when cultivators age, they gain a negative debuff called "Old and Decaying," causing innate attributes to gradually decline and experience acquisition to be greatly reduced. Normally, a person can acquire 100% experience, but with this debuff, they can only acquire 50% of the normal experience.

This effect intensifies with age, potentially reducing experience acquisition to as low as 10%, which essentially ends any prospects for advancement.

Su Yu is not one to be ruthless. Previously, he only killed Jiang Ming and his group once, not considering using this tactic.

But since Zuo Qingren intended to kill him first with no mercy, attempting to extort him, he can hardly be blamed for responding in kind.

As the flames completely dissipated, Su Yu emerged from the demon fire, and the host, suppressing inner shock, immediately shouted:

"Divine Wind Gang wins, please send up the next competitor from the Ten Thousand Poison Gang."

At this moment, Wang Palace wore a look of despair. Even Zuo Qingren had been defeated, and the only remaining backup was far weaker than him and unlikely to win.

On the other hand, the Divine Wind Gang was overjoyed, with Leader Lin Qingfeng breathing a deep sigh of relief, his heart finally relaxing:

"Mr. Su won!"

Li Qin lifted her pretty face, happily clenching her fists, and said:

"I told you Mr. Su wouldn’t be easily defeated."

Luo Qingchan remained silent, but her eyes were filled with astonishment, a brilliant light flashing in her starry eyes as she scrutinized Su Yu as if meeting him for the first time.

"Please send up the next competitor from the Ten Thousand Poison Gang!"

The host’s voice rang out once more, and all eyes turned to the Wang Palace of the Ten Thousand Poison Gang.

The squad captain appeared despondent, shaking his head in defeat, saying:

"I concede!"

Cheers erupted from the Divine Wind Gang’s side. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"We’ve won!"

At this moment, the three witnesses stood up, exchanged glances, and solemnly announced:

"I now declare the Divine Wind Gang victorious in this sword duel. Gu Abyss will henceforth belong to the Divine Wind Gang."

The witnesses then approached the Divine Wind Gang, and the loose immortal at the center stepped forward with a smile and said:

"This young friend is truly a young hero, possessing such strength at a young age, putting an old man like me to shame."

Smiling, Su Yu cupped his hands and said:

"You flatter me, senior."

Su Yu’s humility pleased the loose immortal surnamed Li, who, after some contemplation, transmitted a message:

"If you have no urgent business, young friend, it would be best to leave Ten Thousand Poison Island sooner rather than later."

Su Yu was slightly puzzled and immediately asked:

"What do you mean, senior?"

"Zuo Qingren hails from the overseas Demon Prison Island; his family is quite renowned there, with three loose immortals within the family. You should understand the temperament of demon cultivators. Zuo Qingren was among the top young talents of the Zuo family, with the potential to become a loose immortal. Now that you’ve ruined him, the Zuo family will not let this go easily and will certainly come for revenge afterward."

Su Yu raised an eyebrow and immediately cupped his hands, saying:

"Thank you for the advice, senior."

After some thought, he asked again:

"If I leave, will they take it out on the Divine Wind Gang?"

"That won’t happen. It’s common for guild teams to invite people to fight on their behalf. When the Zuo family faces difficulties, they’ll also invite friends for help. So the grudges between hired fighters won’t involve the ones who invited them."

"That puts my mind at ease."

After chatting with Li Jinghe for a while, the witnesses gradually departed, and Su Yu turned to inform his small group about the advice from the loose immortal, Li Jinghe.

Zhang Chao immediately said:

"We’ll leave right away."

"I’ll first bid farewell to Mr. Lin, we can discuss this on the road."

"Alright."

Zhang Chao quickly found Lin Qingfeng to explain the situation. Lin Qingfeng did not insist on them staying and immediately brought the prepared payment to trade with Zhang Chao, clasping his hands and saying to them:

"Thanks to all of you for your assistance. Whenever you’re free, come to Ten Thousand Poison Island, our gang will welcome you warmly!"

"You’re too kind, until we meet again!"

"Until we meet again!"

The group decisively soared into the air, flying northward.

On the Flying Ship, Zhang Chao said with a smile:

"Mr. Lin gave us a total of 1800 gold. Mr. Su was the main contributor in this battle, the rest of us didn’t do much. Here’s my thought: each of the five of us will take 200 gold, which makes 1000 gold in total, and the remaining 800 gold goes to Mr. Su. How about that?"

Su Yu quickly waved his hand and said:

"How could that be possible? We agreed to split evenly, let’s stick to that, we can’t..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Yao Chenfeng interrupted with a raised hand:

"I think it’s fine. I just played a minor role; I didn’t even fight anyone. Even taking 200 gold feels unearned to me."

Li Qin chimed in with a smile:

"I agree too!"

The usually low-key Li Caihe and Luo Qingchan both nodded in agreement, and Zhang Chao laughed and said:

"See, everyone agrees, you don’t need to be so polite."

... Hearing this, Su Yu couldn’t say anything else and didn’t insist. After the transaction of 800 gold, he said:

"Then when we return to the island, the meal’s on me."

"That won’t be a problem."

On the flying ship’s prow, Su Yu stood side by side with Zhang Chao, who said solemnly:

"Demon Prison Island is a large island overseas, second only to Feixing Island. Demon cultivation is rampant there, with formidable overall strength. It’s said that there’s an Earth Immortal-level demon cultivator on the island, but it’s unknown if that’s true."

"The Zuo Family is a well-known demon cultivator family on Demon Prison Island. The clan has three Loose Immortal-level demon cultivators, so their overall strength isn’t bad."

"Of course, it’s definitely not as good as Mingsu Palace or our Canglan Pavilion."

"But demon cultivators differ from other cultivators in that they don’t adhere much to rules. Righteous cultivators still follow the practice of not bullying the small with the big. Demon cultivators have no such concept; if you offend them, they’ll seek revenge. If they fail once, they’ll try again, and if they fail twice, they’ll try a third time. If cultivators below Loose Immortal level can’t handle it, then a Loose Immortal will step in, which can be quite troublesome."

"Of course, you needn’t worry too much. We just killed him once and damaged two Magical Treasures. The guild will intervene, so it shouldn’t be a big deal."

"No issues would be best...."

Su Yu pursed his lips. Zhang Chao only thought he had killed Zuo Qingren once and damaged two Magical Treasures, not knowing that Su Yu had completely ruined him.

If he knew, he probably wouldn’t be so calm.

But it shouldn’t become troublesome as they had used tools to mask their identities, with the Star Shifting skill the Celestial Secret Skill couldn’t track them, leaving only the clumsy method to find them.

Perhaps the spies from the Divine Wind Gang could surmise they were from the Canglan Gang, but identifying them specifically would be difficult.

By the time they expend great effort to ascertain their identities, it would probably be a long time from now.

Step back and consider, each of their identities isn’t inferior, and even if found, the Zuo Family might not go to lengths to challenge Mingsu Palace for a ruined Zuo Qingren.

Moreover, it’s not like Su Yu lacks countermeasures. If truly provoked, he could transform into a dragon and go to Demon Prison Island to eliminate the Zuo Family.

Thinking of this, Su Yu exhaled.

With a flip of his right hand, a longevity peach formed of countless dense runes appeared in his palm.

Longevity Fruit (Heavenly Dao Rare Object): A rare object purely condensed from lifespan that can increase the user’s lifespan limit by 60 years upon consumption.

Note: This can increase lifespan beyond the target’s lifespan limit, with the additional lifespan depending on the target’s cultivation and age.

An item condensed from 60 years of lifespan taken from Zuo Qingren using the Celestial Dao Divine Skill, offering the effect of extending life.

This thing....

I fear it may be worth several thousand gold.

There are quite a number of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that purely increase lifespan with varying prices. The cheap ones cost just over a dozen gold, while the expensive ones reach several thousand or even over ten thousand gold, and the lifespan fruit he condensed with Celestial Dao Divine Skill ranks among the best of these resources.

The lifespan increase is small, just 60 years, far less than the top-tier Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that can add hundreds or thousands of years to one’s lifespan.

But this fruit exceeds the target’s lifespan limit.

Normal lifespan-enhancing Spiritual Objects cannot exceed lifespan limits. For an average person who can live to 120 years, even if they consume a Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasure that adds 500 years to their lifespan, their lifespan can only be increased to 120 years, with the extra hundreds wasted.

But this Longevity Fruit can increase an ordinary person’s lifespan to 120 years + 60 years = 180 years, which is its greatest value.

It’s Su Yu’s first time using this Celestial Dao Divine Skill’s Slaughter Skill, and he didn’t expect to obtain such a treasure.

If he had known....

Alright, even if he had known, he wouldn’t dare use it casually, because using this move reduces merit.

For each year of lifespan taken, one merit point is lost.

Just now, by taking Zuo Qingren’s lifespan, he lost 60 merit points.

However, Zuo Qingren was a demon cultivator, full of evil deeds, so by killing him, Su Yu gained 43 merit points, offsetting the loss to just seventeen merit points.

Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that Zuo Qingren dropped 9 spoils after dying, completely filling the bar.

Most of these spoils were materials needed by demon cultivators and two demon artifacts, the most valuable being the broken Demon Fire Golden Banner.