Chapter 97: The Conditions for Becoming a Direct Disciple (Fifth Update)

Seeing Jiang Chen’s attitude, the Phantom Spirit King grew ever more satisfied with this newly accepted junior disciple, nodding and smiling repeatedly.

“Very good.”

The Phantom Spirit King looked at Jiang Chen and said, “I have one more habit when taking in disciples. The better you perform and the more outstanding your talent proves to be, the more resources you will receive from me. If you sink into mediocrity, I will no longer provide you with any resources. Your talent is not bad, but you must still work hard to turn that talent into real strength.”

“Yes, disciple will remember,” Jiang Chen said respectfully.

“You have not yet been to the Origin Universe, and you have not chosen your Chaos Tablet. Your future path of cultivation has not yet been decided.”

The Phantom Spirit King frowned, seeming somewhat troubled.

After a moment, he said, “There are still a few years before the Origin Universe opens. In these years, focus entirely on comprehending the laws and laying a solid foundation.”

As he spoke, the Phantom Spirit King raised a hand, and a screen appeared in midair, listing a long series of items.

Judging by the names, they were all secret arts.

“Your specialty lies in the Wind Law, so these are more than eight hundred secret manuals suited to comprehending the Wind Law. They are all fairly ordinary manuals, nothing precious. I will buy them all for you. Once you return to Huanyu Island, you will be able to receive them. These manuals will be enough to bring your understanding of the Wind Law to a rather good level.”

“In addition, above the Wind Law lies the Time Law. I will also bestow upon you a supplementary manual for comprehending the Time Law, called Undying Dharma Body. It is a time-type defensive secret art. Cultivate it to the extreme, and as long as you are not killed in a single strike, no matter how grave your injuries, you can instantly recover to peak condition. Spirit readers, especially illusionists, have a weakness in their survival ability. If you can master Undying Dharma Body, even if only the first layer, your ability to preserve your life will be greatly enhanced.”

“Also, there are 627 soul manuals for illusionists, covering attacks, defense, illusions, enslavement, soul possession, and many other systems. These are the foundational manuals of my line. Though foundational, they are also central, and you must study them carefully.”

“Beyond these manuals, I will give you a set of weapons and battle armor as well, though they will take some time to prepare. Once you emerge from the Origin Universe, you will receive them.”

“After you arrive at the Death Secret Realm, do not take cultivation tasks. Put your mind at ease, comprehend the laws, and study the manuals I have given you. After you come out of the Origin Universe, I will arrange targeted improvements for you.”

The Phantom Spirit King quickly laid out Jiang Chen’s arrangements.

In summary, Jiang Chen was to diligently comprehend the laws and lay a proper foundation.

After he went to the Origin Universe and chose the direction of his future development, they would then plan the next stage.

Jiang Chen was somewhat speechless.

These manuals were indeed rare outside.

Especially Undying Dharma Body, which was something many Immortals would covet.

More than eight hundred ordinary manuals, plus Undying Dharma Body, had a total value of nearly one hundred thousand points in the core secret realm treasury. The Phantom Spirit King was giving them to him freely, which was unquestionably generous.

After all, Jiang Chen was only a nominal disciple of the Phantom Spirit King.

And yet, he did not actually feel that these things were particularly necessary to him, nor did he think their value to him was especially great.

After all, the path Jiang Chen walked depended largely on the system.

The laws?

At the very least, for the Wind Element Law, Jiang Chen was certain that once he advanced to the third tier, the System Library would definitely contain deeper content.

There might even be time, space, and other higher laws.

As his system level continued to rise, he would one day be able to comprehend all the laws. He simply did not need these manuals and secret arts that assisted in law comprehension.

On the contrary, other kinds of precious resources would be more valuable to Jiang Chen.

However, such thoughts were obviously impossible to say aloud.

Nor could Jiang Chen pick and choose, demanding that the Phantom Spirit King replace the treasures bestowed upon him.

“All the disciples under my banner, excluding those who have already perished, include nineteen direct disciples among the living. As for nominal disciples, including you, there are 117 in total. Every nominal disciple under me has the chance to rise to true disciple status, and you are no exception.”

The Phantom Spirit King glanced at Jiang Chen and continued, “I have set three trials. Complete any one of them, and you may become my direct disciple.”

“First, once you enter the Origin Universe and choose your Chaos Tablet, you must pass the Sky Crossing Bridge corresponding to that Chaos Tablet, reaching the appropriate number of levels according to your rank. At the Universe level, you must pass the ninth level of the Sky Crossing Bridge. At the Domain Lord level, you must pass the twelfth level. At the World Lord level, you must pass the fifteenth level. If you can achieve this, you will be my direct disciple.”

“Second, you are currently a member of the Death Secret Realm. Participate in the qualification battles and climb step by step, or go to the Glory Battlefield. No matter what method you use, if you are promoted to the Glory Secret Realm, you may become my direct disciple.”

“Third, this path is also the simplest. Of the 627 illusionist manuals I am giving you, if you can master all of them within three hundred years, you can also become my direct disciple.”

The Phantom Spirit King spoke at length, laying out the requirements for becoming a direct disciple.

“Yes,” Jiang Chen said respectfully. “Disciple will do everything in his power and not disappoint Teacher.”

Whether he would follow the path laid out by the Phantom Spirit King, Jiang Chen had not yet decided.

Still, speaking a few agreeable words never hurt.

Seeing Jiang Chen’s attitude, the Phantom Spirit King was very pleased and nodded. “You come from humble beginnings, so I imagine you lack resources. I will also give you one hundred chaos units. In daily life, if you need to buy small odds and ends, you will not be left without money.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Chen received an email from Cosmic River Bank. One hundred chaos units had been added to his account, promoting him to a three-star client.

Unfortunately, they were chaos units, not points.

Although, in theory, their value was the same, many treasures that could be purchased with points might not necessarily be obtainable with chaos units.

Even if they could be bought, the price would not necessarily be the same.

Still, this sum of money was already quite generous for Jiang Chen.

It was just a pity that, in order to avoid exposing his identity, Jiang Chen did not dare transfer this money to his true body.

Otherwise, if it were used to manufacture the Space Furnace and to make money from money, then after two or three years, these one hundred chaos units would at least double.

Even so, one hundred chaos units were enough to strengthen this avatar, Eurso, quite a bit.

“These resources will be enough for you until you go to the Origin Universe. Once you are there and have chosen your Chaos Tablet, I will consider the situation and prepare some more resources for you.”

The Phantom Spirit King looked at Jiang Chen and said solemnly, “You have entered my school. The resources I bestow upon you will come only these two times. If you want more, you must prove yourself! Remember, apart from the assessment for direct disciples, I do not care how strong you are in other respects. I only care about your achievements in the line of illusionists!”

Jiang Chen respectfully replied, “Yes, disciple has remembered.”

After leaving the Phantom Spirit King’s side, Jiang Chen hesitated for a while before deciding to first follow the Phantom Spirit King’s instructions and study the more than a thousand manuals.

More than eight hundred manuals concerning the Wind Law, more than six hundred manuals from the illusionist line, and one extremely precious manual related to the Time Law.

Just roughly browsing through these manuals to gain a general understanding would already take a great deal of time.

By the time he had sorted through half of them, the avatar Eurso had reached the headquarters of the Universe Mercenary Alliance.

But there was no stopping there. Under the guidance of the staff, he changed to another spaceship and soon reentered the dark universe, setting off toward the Death Secret Realm.

This also gave rise to a question in Jiang Chen’s mind: why must he make a special trip to headquarters at all? Why not go directly to the Death Secret Realm?

But then he remembered that the batch of geniuses selected through the Genius Battle were all first sent to the Origin Universe so that the Chaos City Lord could have a look at them, and a vague guess surfaced in his heart.

“Looks like the headquarters of the Universe Mercenary Alliance is probably also overseen by a Universe Lord. Was my trip to headquarters meant for this Universe Lord to verify my identity?”

“This avatar has altered its soul fluctuations and spiritual fluctuations. I wonder whether he saw through it and simply did not care, or whether he failed to notice anything at all?”

Jiang Chen’s thoughts ran wild, and all sorts of guesses surfaced.

However, questions that could not be answered in a short time never received much attention from Jiang Chen. Soon, he tossed those speculations to the back of his mind and focused on studying the secret arts bestowed by the Phantom Spirit King.

After roughly sorting through the secret arts that assisted comprehension of the Wind Law, Jiang Chen set them aside, leaving only one movement technique manual as a candidate for cultivation.

Instead, he became quite interested in the manuals from the illusionist line.

Jiang Chen had not yet decided whether he would invest a great deal of energy in the path of illusions.

His inclination was probably not to.

But neither would he refuse to understand everything related to illusionists.

Compared with the more direct attacks of martial artists and controllers, the methods of illusionists were often hard to guard against.

The more he understood them, the better Jiang Chen would be able to respond when he encountered enemies skilled in illusions in the future.

Moreover, the illusionist manuals bestowed by the Phantom Spirit King were not limited merely to soul attacks and illusion attacks.

They also included soul defense, soul enslavement, soul possession, and many other methods.

There were even some minor tricks related to the soul.

Rather than calling them illusionist manuals, it would be more accurate to call them soul secret arts.

Leaving aside other matters for the moment, Jiang Chen at least believed that soul defense was something worth studying carefully.

Although the Heart Sublimation specialty had given Jiang Chen very strong soul resistance, one could never have too much when it came to preserving one’s life.

It took several months of effort before he had finally sorted through all those manuals.

Jiang Chen quickly selected the portions he would cultivate first.

The Wind Law movement manual Gale Without Trace, together with fifty-eight different soul defense secret arts.

These fifty-nine manuals would be the main focus of Eurso’s cultivation over the next several years.

As for the more than eight hundred other Wind Law manuals that assisted in law comprehension, the time-type life-preserving supreme art Undying Golden Body, and the more than five hundred other manuals from the illusionist line, they were not yet on Jiang Chen’s priority list.

——

After flying once again through the dark universe for several months, Jiang Chen finally arrived at the Death Secret Realm.

The environment of the secret realm left Jiang Chen deeply shocked.

The universe origin energy was so dense it seemed almost ready to condense into liquid, floating through the void as a white mist, stretching everywhere in a pale haze.

If one casually gathered a large mass of that thick mist and compressed it, it would become a piece of cosmic crystal.

With the universe origin energy concentrated to such an extent, not only would the efficiency of daily cultivation rise dramatically, but one’s perception of the laws would also become clearer.

After all, the laws and origin energy were intrinsically inseparable.

“Your Highness, the Death Continent lies ahead.” The staff member inside the spaceship pointed toward a continent floating in the void and introduced it. “The Death Continent is about four hundred billion kilometers long and one hundred eighty billion kilometers wide. All members of the Death Secret Realm live here.”

“The Death Secret Realm already has the largest number of members. Every time the core secret realm selects its geniuses, several hundred people are assigned to the Death Secret Realm. Accumulated over batch after batch, there are now tens of thousands of geniuses in the Death Secret Realm.”

“Your Highness, don’t be fooled by the immense size of the Death Continent. The residential area is actually very small, about the same as a somewhat larger city on an ordinary life planet. The movement range of all geniuses is limited to the residential area. The rest is a forbidden zone, with many confidential facilities. Without permission, no one is allowed to approach.”

“There is one more thing. Within the residential area, apart from a few places such as training grounds and cultivation arenas, martial combat is strictly prohibited everywhere else. Anyone who violates this will face extremely severe punishment, up to and including execution. Your Highness must be sure to remember this taboo!”

The staff member carefully explained the rules here.

Compared with the Taichu Secret Realm and the Primal Secret Realm of the Virtual Universe Company, the rules inside the Death Secret Realm of the Universe Mercenary Alliance were much stricter.

But that was normal.

After all, it was the lowest tier of secret realm, with the least authority and the largest population, so it was naturally governed more strictly.

Jiang Chen had already heard from Qinia that there were far fewer rules in the Blood Battle Secret Realm and the Peerless Secret Realm.

The higher the secret realm, the fewer the geniuses. Each person’s residence was far apart from the others, and in reality they had almost no chance to come into contact, so there was naturally no need for too many rules to restrain them.

The spaceship continued flying for several more hours before landing in an open area outside a massive city.

“Your Highness, I will leave you here. As for the other details of this place, the guide will explain them to you. I still have other duties to attend to, so I must take my leave.” The staff member delivered Jiang Chen to a guide, gave a brief introduction, and then immediately activated the spaceship and departed.

“Your Highness, although we have already met in the virtual universe, let us formally introduce ourselves again. I am Nemu, the guide of the Death Secret Realm.”

With a smile, the guide, Nemu, gestured in invitation. “Your Highness, please. I will show you the detailed situation here.”

Jiang Chen smiled and returned the courtesy. “Thank you for your trouble, Mister Nemu.”