Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 1049: Chapter 640: Tier 3_2 Chapter 1049: Chapter 640: Tier 3_2 With the resources produced from his domain and those obtained from the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion, combined with his own efforts and those of his heroes and the Mingxiao Taoists, Xu Yang tenaciously created several hundred thousand third-order epic equipment over the past century, which he then stockpiled in the armory, converting them into standardized armament for the Mingxiao Taoists.

Hundreds of thousands of epic-quality third-order equipment—that was feasible only for him; other third and fourth order lords, even those backed by Ninth Order forces like the Heaven-connecting Immortal Palace, would find such an endeavor extremely challenging.

After all, competition between the Sky-reaching Tower and the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss was fierce; high-level competitors had their high-level counterparts, and low-level ones faced their low-level enemies. Just like in horse racing, top-tier horses compete against other top-tier horses, lower-tier horses against other lower-tier horses. Each tier of horse needed equivalent resources to maintain its competitiveness.

If you were to take some of the feed from the top-tier horses and give it to the lower-tier horses, while the lower-tier ones might thereby manage to excel in their own tier, what about the competition among the top-tier?

How would the top-tier horses, short on feed, face their adversaries?

Thus, while great powers were formidable, they could hardly divert too many resources to nurture newcomers or dedicate hundreds of thousands of epic equipment to self-developed troops, a task so desperate that probably only Xu Yang could accomplish.

However, investment corresponded to returns; with attributes enhanced to the Breakthrough limit, epic equipment, and the careful cultivation of five major troop type skills by Xu Yang, even Mingxiao Taoists placed into the fourth order would be considered first-rate or even top-notch.

To speak of the third order was needless; although they couldn’t compete with legendary heroes, they were barely inferior to epic heroes. Furthermore, after a qualitative change and increase, a third-order lord might not possess a hundred thousand epic heroes, but could command a hundred thousand self-developed troops.

Although Xu Yang’s hundred thousand Mingxiao Taoists hadn’t all reached the True Man Rank yet, they were close enough; deployed in battle, they still could deliver a devastating blow to their enemies.

…

“Lord!”

“Dragon Monarch!”

Just as Xu Yang finished upgrading his troop types, a group of heroes entered the grand hall of the Taiping Palace.

A contingent of heroes, numbering over a hundred, arranged into four columns.

One column, led by Hua Mulan, consisted of commander type heroes.

Another, led by Lv Qiling, was composed of fierce general type heroes.

A third, overseen by Gongshu Ling, included technical type heroes.

The last, headed by Ao Chi, constituted spell type heroes.

The four columns, encompassing over a hundred individuals, were of at least third-order epic quality; the ten in the front rows even reached legendary status. In total, there were more than forty legendary heroes, over sixty epic heroes, and Ao Chi, a uniquely mythical hero.

Advancing heroes was an arduous task. Despite Xu Yang’s game-like assistance, over the past century, he had only cultivated over thirty third-order legendary heroes. As for originally legendary heroes like Hua Mulan, Lv Qiling, Gongshu Ling, and Li Cunxiao, he was only able to elevate their rank, not their quality rank.

This was already with Xu Yang’s help in perfectly executing advanced tasks. In the case of lower-class lords who couldn’t use methods like “Heavenly Thunder Tempering” to aid heroes, even completing the lowest tier advanced tasks was, in itself, fortunate enough not see a decline in quality rank.

Many examples within the Sky-reaching Tower bore this out: a first-order legend converting into a second-order epic, a second-order epic into a third-order rare, and third-order rare… would usually go no further, as such heroes likely wouldn’t live to reach the fourth order.

This also shows just how powerful Ao Chi’s “Nine Transformations” special skill was, ensuring that prior to reaching the ninth order, a hero’s quality rank would never decrease, and there was even a chance of enhancement to Immortal Spirit, making it a guaranteed cultivation of at least a ninth order mythical hero.

Xu Yang couldn’t provide all heroes with such a guarantee, but ensuring no drop in rank was still achievable, especially now as he had transferred breakthrough pills like the Foundation Building Pill and the Five Elements Golden Core Formation Pill to this world using his Elixir Skills, allowing the Mingxiao Taoists to establish a complete production line.

With these breakthrough pills, advancing his heroes generally guaranteed maintaining their hero rank, with a decent chance of improvement. The over thirty legendary heroes after Hua Mulan and Lv Qiling were cultivated in this manner.

Now, with all commanders assembled, it was time for a test of battle, a time to verify the results.

The third-order new domain lord’s grace period was about to end!

Over the years, for the sake of growth, he had incurred more than a few sworn enemies, even deadly foes.

Internally, there was no need to elaborate; the Heaven-connecting Immortal Palace and the Zhou Clan considered him a thorn in their side, and major powers had objections to the actions undertaken by the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion over the years.

The hatred was considerable!

Yet, with the lessons learnt from Zhou Tianqi and others the last time, without ample confidence, they likely wouldn’t make a move.

They would wait and watch, letting others set off this landmine.

Which others?

It was indeed the Demon Abyss!

The Heaven-connecting Immortal Palace, no matter how one put it, was an internal force of the Sky-reaching Tower. Although they would rather eliminate Xu Yang as quickly as possible, this was more about hatred and interests intertwined. It wasn’t small, but it hadn’t reached a life-or-death situation.

The Ten Thousand Demon Abyss was different.

Internally, Xu Yang still held back, even against the Heaven-connecting Immortal Palace and the Zhou Clan, it was just defense and counterattack, stopping once achieved the necessary means, without wanton slaughter or repeated attacks.

But for the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, he no longer held back. The Demon Abyss Lords on the Second Order Reputation List had been repeatedly cut down by him, suffering heavy casualties, nearly leading to the extinction of their lines.

The upper levels overshadowed the lower levels, and the lower levels supported the upper levels. Such actions of his had caused devastating damage to the low-order ecosystem of the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, directly shaking the structure of the higher levels.

If he continued to develop in this manner, the low-order lords of the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss would inevitably be purged, and the high-order lords would eventually also be threatened.

Therefore, the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss couldn’t tolerate him, especially those third-order Demon Abyss Lords. As he advanced, these people had now come to a life-or-death situation.

They had no choice but to make a full-out effort, either to eliminate this threat or to be eliminated by it.

The forces like the Heaven-connecting Immortal Palace were quite happy to let the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss step onto the mine. If they could eliminate Xu Yang, then all would be well. If not, they would avoid the risk and could wait for further developments to deliver a deadly strike.

Thus, the next period would witness the war between Xu Yang and the Demon Abyss, where high-level lords, although unable to join the battle themselves, would certainly financially back their forces to eradicate this significant threat among the third tier.

Xu Yang summoned his generals to make preparations before the war.

In such a manner…

“Safety time ended!”

“You have reached the first position on the Third Order Rising Star Ranking!”

“You have reached the first position on the Third Order Reputation Ranking!”

“Demon Abyss Lord ‘Xiu Tu’ used a Conquest Order (Designated) to launch an attack on your territory!”

“Demon Abyss Lord ‘Hun Xie’ used a Conquest Order (Alliance) to join the war!”

“Demon Abyss Lord ‘Gudu Can’ used a Conquest Order (Alliance) to join the war!”

“Demon Abyss Lord ‘Beiming Feng’ used a Conquest Order (Alliance) to join the war!”

“Demon Abyss Lord…”

“Enemy Hero ‘Jiu Panpo’ used a special skill—Great Darkness Without Boundary!”

“Due to the effect of Great Darkness Without Boundary, your territory and enemy lord ‘Xiu Tu’s territory are temporarily connected!”

“Due to the effect of Great Darkness Without Boundary, your territory and enemy lord ‘Hun Xie’s territory are temporarily connected!”

“Due to the effect of Great Darkness Without Boundary…”

“Enemy Hero ‘Shi Pi’ used a special skill—Twelve Heavens Secret Demon Technique!”

“Due to the effect of Twelve Heavens Secret Demon Technique, the Spiritual Energy within your territory began to transform gradually into Demonic Qi.”

“Due to the effect of Twelve Heavens Secret Demon Technique, all your major spells harmonized with heaven and earth weakened by 50%, and the effect deepened as the transformation of Spiritual Energy into Demonic Qi intensified.”

“Due to the effect of Twelve Heavens Secret Demon Technique, your territory was sealed by Demonic Qi and you and your heroes under you would be unable to enter and exit the Sky-reaching Tower.”

“Due to the effect of Twelve Heavens Secret Demon Technique…”

“Enemy Hero ‘Shang Yinyang’ used a special skill—Yin Yang Boundaryless!”

“Enemy lord used a special skill…”

“Enemy lord used a special item…”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!