Chapter 142: New Magical Equipment

"Five contribution points, but subsequent resurrections will incur a fee."
"Dying on the battlefield costs twenty contribution points to resurrect."
"Outside the battlefield, it costs a hundred," the clerk at the Human Race Treasury introduced.
"Help me preserve the souls of my father, Xu Qiangjia, and my mother, Wei Maiqiu," Xu Chen said after a moment of thought.
With the Human Race and the Holy Spirit Celestial Court at total war, Xu Chen felt that his father's personality would undoubtedly drive him to charge into the absolute front lines. Although his mother was a logistical support personnel and thus safer in the rear, he still feared the worst.
A colorful light screen appeared before Xu Chen, and he clicked to confirm the payment.
Looking at his balance, which was about to drop below three digits, Xu Chen suddenly felt very poor.
"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to encounter such a great fortune like the Primeval Battlefield again."
Meanwhile, in Shanggang City.
Inside the main hall of the Xu family estate, Xu Qiangjia and Wei Maiqiu solemnly took down the plaque bestowed by the Human Emperor and stored it carefully inside a specialized spatial storage artifact.
"Husband, Xiao Chen is now a proud prodigy of the Human Race. With his transformed potential, his future is boundless."
"You have just become a chiliarch of Shanggang City, and things have only recently settled down."
"Now, you are going to..." Wei Maiqiu looked at Xu Qiangjia, who was fully clad in armor, and suddenly felt a wave of fear.
"A son is a son, and I am I."
"I am only sixty this year, just at the prime age for forging ahead."
"My son has his path, and I have mine."
"If I were to truly coast along relying on my son, I would look down upon myself."
"Stay here in the rear. Wait for me to earn you the title of a Great General's wife."
"Keep this Human Emperor plaque safe; it is more important than my life."
Xu Qiangjia placed the specially crafted storage artifact into Wei Maiqiu's hands, then prepared to leave the city to board the spirit boat heading to the front lines.
Just as he stepped out of his house, he happened to meet an immortal official from the Human Emperor Temple.
"Are you two the parents of Xu Chen?"
Xu Qiangjia and Wei Maiqiu both nodded.
"Please leave a sliver of your souls to be anchored within the Human Emperor Temple."
The immortal official revealed the token of the Human Emperor Temple along with a small array disc.
"This brat, wasting contribution points again."
Though he said this, Xu Qiangjia, together with Wei Maiqiu, left a sliver of their souls upon the array disc.
Outside Shanggang City, Wei Maiqiu smiled as she looked at Xu Qiangjia.
"Live well, don't make our son waste his resources. I will come to find you shortly after."
"Understood~"
Xu Qiangjia took one deep look at Wei Maiqiu before stepping onto the spirit boat.
At the Great Stream Sect, on Tianyun Island, outside the Daoist practice grounds of Xu Chen's cavern dwelling.
The Junior Grandmaster was personally demonstrating the Nine Transformations of the Candle Dragon to Xu Chen, move by move.
The phantom of the Candle Dragon was on the verge of condensing into tangible substance.
Xu Chen watched intently from the side.
With a complete set of the Nine Transformations of the Candle Dragon executed, the Junior Grandmaster reined in his cultivation technique.
If Xu Chen had previously been able to sense the aura emanating from the Junior Grandmaster, now that aura was entirely restrained, making him appear completely like an ordinary mortal.
"Many thanks, Junior Grandmaster."
The moment the Junior Grandmaster advanced to the Precious Body Realm, Xu Chen had received the news immediately.
On the very next day, the Junior Grandmaster had sought him out.
"There is no need for such formalities."
"The Holy Spirit Celestial Court has launched a total war against us, and since I've just advanced to the Precious Body Realm, I'll take this opportunity to go over and temper myself."
"Junior Grandmaster, shouldn't you stabilize the cultivation techniques and divine abilities you've mastered first?" Xu Chen felt that his Junior Grandmaster was rushing into things recklessly.
"Cultivation techniques and divine abilities are honed on the battlefield. If I don't go early, the spots for supreme-grade talents to enter the battlefield might all get snapped up." The Junior Grandmaster smiled, looking Xu Chen up and down.
"It seems you are walking the path of the ultimate physical state—the Bone and Flesh Lamp. I hope you succeed."
"I just wanted to push the physical state to its absolute limit before advancing to the Precious Body Realm; I didn't think that far ahead," Xu Chen shook his head.
"That mindset is not bad."
"I am off to the battlefield first. I look forward to fighting side by side in the future."
With those words, the Junior Grandmaster bid farewell and departed.
During this period, Xu Chen could distinctly feel that the atmosphere within the Great Stream Sect had grown much more desolate. Almost every few days, a large spirit boat belonging to the sect would fly toward the front lines.
"I will continue cultivating. Once I advance to the Precious Body Realm, I will also go take a look at the battlefield." Xu Chen returned to his cavern dwelling, entered the pristine white space, and began his challenges.
In the Human Realm, within the floating island fairyland, Xu Chen and Jiang Beici sat at the edge of a floating island sipping tea after finishing their study of Daoist scripts.
"How is the situation on the front lines?" Xu Chen knew his good brother was stationed at the front handling some special missions.
"It's deadlocked. The disadvantage of the Holy Spirit Celestial Court is that their alliance of various races lacks internal cohesion, while their advantage is simply having greater numbers than our Human Race."
"Whether on the primary battlefield or the secondary ones, the number of powerhouses on the opposing side slightly exceeds ours."
"Although we aren't afraid of a total war with them, we simply can't withstand the sheer volume of alien races the Holy Spirit Celestial Court possesses."
"Especially on the battlefields below the Immortal Dao, our Human Race is practically fighting three opponents at once."
"If the Holy Spirit Celestial Court keeps pressing forward with this brute-force strategy, we'll likely have to pull back some forces to defend the two newly occupied continents," Jiang Beici said while sipping his tea.
"Sounds quite troublesome then. Once I advance to the Precious Body Realm, I'll head to the frontline battlefield—clearing out small fry is my specialty." Xu Chen looked down at the sea of clouds beneath the floating island fairyland.
"Go ahead! As a man of the Human Race, what kind of man are you if you don't go to the battlefield to slaughter the enemy!"
"Go fight with peace of mind. If you die, I'll go fish you out."
Jiang Beici tapped on a light screen, which displayed the footage of a massive battle.
However, the method of warfare completely surpassed Xu Chen's imagination.
Countless martial warrior puppets wielding standardized precious treasures charged toward the distant alien armies of the Holy Spirit Celestial Court.
In the sky, streaks of light imbued with terrifying energy bombarded the distant alien forces.
Behind the martial warrior puppets, towering giant puppets standing thirty feet tall wielded heavy precious-treasure cannons, picking off powerful individuals among the aliens one by one.
Farther up in the distant sky, various oddly shaped magical treasures locked down the entire battlefield, continuously launching disposable sword-like magical items to blanket and bomb the entire theater of war.
Looking at the scene on the light screen, Xu Chen's jaw dropped.
"Hold on, this is completely different from the battlefield my old man described."
Shortly after on the light screen, the Holy Spirit Celestial Court's alien forces began to suffer setbacks and started dispatching armies from their middle-tier clans, which finally stabilized their disadvantage.
At that moment, human warriors clad in full-body armor began entering the fray, looking exceptionally cool and futuristic.
At this point, the light screen ended.
"Why did it stop? What was the outcome afterward?" Xu Chen asked, a mix of shock and lingering anticipation in his voice.
"The aftermath ended in a stalemate. There was nothing we could do; the Holy Spirit Celestial Court simply has too many alien soldiers."
"These are the martial warrior puppets and standardized battle armor that our Human Race has spent many years researching. It won't be long before the entire front line is equipped with these Dharma artifacts and precious treasures."
"So if you go to the front lines, as long as you're a bit careful, it's quite safe," Jiang Beici said with a smile as he looked at Xu Chen.
"How come I've never seen these puppets and magical equipment before?" Xu Chen asked out of curiosity.
"Previously, it wasn't cost-effective. Now, the production costs for all kinds of magical equipment have dropped to a bearable threshold, which is why they're finally being rolled out."
"Once you reach the Precious Body Realm and go to the front lines wearing a set of this tactical armor, you'll be able to escape with your life even from Return to Void Realm powerhouses."
"If you're unlucky enough to run into a Nourishing Spirit Realm powerhouse, well, your brother here will go down to the Human Emperor Temple to fish you out."
Jiang Beici patted Xu Chen on the shoulder.
"The major war has broken out, and I might not have time to chat with you in the future. If anything comes up, contact me directly via the communication artifact."
"I'm off~"
Jiang Beici's figure vanished from sight.
"Why does this feel increasingly like sci-fi?" Xu Chen thought to himself, recalling the battle he had just witnessed on the light screen.
"I won't overthink it for now; I need to conquer my clone first."
Inside the pristine white space, Xu Chen, who had already lasted hundreds of moves against his clone, once again made a slight flaw in his combat rhythm, resulting in a fatal strike from his clone.
His conscious avatar reformed once again, and Xu Chen sat cross-legged in the pristine white space to review that battle.
"Rhythm," Xu Chen murmured softly.
Having been executed time and again under his clone's rhythm, he suddenly gained a shred of enlightenment.
Pushing open the golden doors once more, Xu Chen looked at his clone.
"Come on, let's keep fighting."
"Let me see how much you've comprehended," the clone beckoned to Xu Chen.
The two figures clashed together once more.
It was the familiar combat rhythm belonging to his clone.
Yet this time, as Xu Chen was caught within that combat rhythm, the corners of his mouth curved upward slightly, and a unique combat rhythm of his own began to quietly dissolve the clone's pace.
However, after exchanging hundreds of blows, Xu Chen was once again dragged down into severe injury and death.
"You're showing some promise, but not enough," the clone smiled slightly.
Hearing this, Xu Chen felt as though he had been injected with chicken blood and began challenging the clone over and over again.
It wasn't until his mental endurance reached its limit that his consciousness finally returned to his physical body to sleep in his bed.
Having slept wonderfully, the moment Xu Chen woke up, he was greeted by terrible news.
"What on earth? The front lines are no longer accepting those in the Precious Body and Return to Void Realms!"
Zong Changshou had already advanced to the Precious Body Realm by this point, and upon receiving the news, he had been miserable ever since.
"Eighty percent of the disciples from our sect who went have been sent back." Li Chengfu was equally distressed; although he hadn't advanced to the Precious Body Realm yet, he had planned to follow his big thigh to the battlefield.
"Why aren't they taking people? Isn't this a total war?"
With towering ambitions and fully prepared to join the battlefield, he never expected that halfway through, they would stop recruiting.
"Frontline soldiers are being refitted with new magical equipment and new puppets, which have created a crushing advantage against those alien races on the battlefields below the Immortal Dao."
"Coupled with sufficient reserves from the secondary clans, they simply aren't recruiting anymore," Zong Changshou lamented miserably.
"Then we'll just cultivate honestly within the sect and wait for another opportunity." Xu Chen hadn't expected that the news of the magical equipment shared by his good brother would cause such an impact in just a few days.
"In that case, I might as well stabilize my newly learned cultivation techniques and divine abilities," Zong Changshou nodded.
"Then I suppose I should head back and prepare to break through to the Precious Body Realm," Li Chengfu said, casting a somewhat envious glance at the faint spiritual pressure radiating from Zong Changshou.
"Then I will continue cultivating and studying Daoist scripts."
Originally, Xu Chen had wanted to quickly break through to the Precious Body Realm and head to the battlefield, but now, learning that he couldn't go, he felt a slight sense of disappointment.
Disappointed, Xu Chen was just about to return to continue conquering his clone when his disciple token suddenly rang.
Xu Chen took out the token, read the incoming message, and furrowed his brow slightly.
At the Miscellany Hall, Xu Chen looked at the task token resting in his palm.
"Human Realm, Ascending Immortal Road, fifty thousand miles."
Had he not received this mission, Xu Chen wouldn't even have remembered the Ascending Immortal Road.
"Missions for core disciples are customized based on their individual capacities."
"If you don't like this one, I can have the elders who issue missions swap it for another," Chief Steward Bai asked carefully beside Xu Chen.
"Making a trip to the Ascending Immortal Road is no trouble at all."
(End of this chapter)