Chapter 94: The Phantom Spirit King's Proposal

Jiang Chen’s equipment choice was simple.

A third-tier primal-energy battle saber, a third-tier shield, and two third-tier primal-energy weapons known as Sky-Dodging Shuttle.

The two shuttles were used for flight support and long-range attacks respectively. With the shield for defense and the battle saber to make up for close combat, it was the simplest configuration, but also the most complete.

It was not that Jiang Chen did not want better weapons; rather, he had not studied them carefully.

The more powerful a weapon was, the more thought had to be devoted to mastering the way it was used.

A powerful mental-force weapon, if one had never studied it and tried to use it by force, would often perform worse than a weapon one was already familiar with, even if it was not as strong.

—

Across the desert, tens of kilometers ahead of Jiang Chen, dense figures began to appear.

More than ten thousand humans, like Jiang Chen, possessed third-tier stellar primal energy and mental force. They stood in neat formations with sabers and shields in hand.

A huge countdown number materialized in the sky.

Three, two, one!

When the countdown reached zero, Jiang Chen and the ten thousand strong warriors ahead of him moved at the same time.

Fields erupted one after another, and streams of multicolored light crossed the sky.

Countless mental-force weapons came at Jiang Chen.

Driven by the wind law, Jiang Chen became a streak of light, carving an astonishingly graceful arc through the air at incredible speed, skirting around the enemy vanguard and plunging toward the flank of their battle formation.

Jiang Chen was utterly focused, stripping away all the other aspects of the wind law and pursuing only one thing: speed!

With the wind law’s amplification, Jiang Chen rode the Sky-Dodging Shuttle, his flight speed exceeding that of the enemy’s mental-force weapons by several times.

A cyan streak crossed the sky like a long rainbow, covering the dozens of kilometers in an instant and appearing on the left flank of the formation.

“Swordfish formation!”

Jiang Chen cast out the Sky-Dodging Shuttle. Under the command of his mental force, the two shuttles swiftly took on a swordfish-like shape and charged into the formation.

With Jiang Chen’s mastery of the Sky-Dodging Shuttle, he could already unleash its third form, the blade formation.

But controlling three things at once—watching for the enemy’s long-range attacks, operating the mental-force weapon beneath his feet to fly and evade, and attacking the enemy—made the second form, the swordfish formation, far less taxing and far more sustainable.

Moreover, under the blessing of the law, the swordfish formation’s offensive power was more than enough to deal with these third-tier stellar foes.

The swordfish formed from 365 blades, as though it were truly alive, weaving swiftly through the crowd.

Each contact claimed an enemy life with ease.

Even ninth-level domains crumbled at a touch before the swordfish empowered by law.

As for the third-tier shield, the swordfish’s speed was so great that the enemies could not react in time; it could easily slip past the shield’s protection and strike at their fatal points.

Still, Jiang Chen was not without pressure.

Although he held the advantage in speed, the enemy numbers were simply too great.

A tidal wave of mental-force weapons came at him from every angle, continually shrinking the space he had to move and forcing him to dodge and shift again and again, while seeking openings to break through the encirclement and avoid being trapped in one place.

Every attack posed a considerable threat to Jiang Chen.

And it was not only the mental-force weapons.

These enemies possessed not only third-tier stellar mental force, but also third-tier stellar primal energy.

Under the rules of the killing space, they were equally adept at ranged combat and close combat.

They could even use crude soul attacks.

The only good news was that Jiang Chen’s soul was sufficiently strong. With the amplification of Mind Sublimation, third-tier stellar soul attacks posed no threat to him at all.

Otherwise, if he had to dodge close-range and long-range attacks while also guarding against the formless, insidious ambushes of soul attacks, the pressure would have been far too great.

But even with soul attacks rendered harmless, Jiang Chen still faced immense pressure.

The closer he got, the smaller his space to evade became.

—

Yet if the distance was too great, his long-range mental-force attacks would pose far less of a threat, giving the enemy more time to react, evade, or block.

Only when the distance was close enough could Jiang Chen guarantee a single strike kill.

But every time he approached the enemy main force to attack, he had to risk injury.

“My primal energy and mental force are abundant. I don’t need to worry about running out. The priority is to avoid injury. If I’m not fully confident, I’d rather not strike!”

Jiang Chen continually analyzed every aspect of the enemy in his mind.

Although one could estimate a rough idea from levels, weapons, and the like, the finer details still had to be judged from actual combat.

Moreover, while these ten thousand warriors were all at the ninth level of domain, the attributes of the domains they mastered were random.

Even domains of the same type differed in emphasis, which meant that almost every individual varied in speed, attack, defense, and other specifics. They could not be regarded as a single whole.

Fortunately, stellar beings possessed astonishing memory and information-processing ability.

Remembering each person’s strength, specialties, and so on in the midst of battle was one of the most basic requirements.

Although the pressure was enormous, requiring Jiang Chen to maintain absolute focus, it was still barely possible for him to spare a sliver of attention to observe and memorize each person’s traits.

As he grew more and more familiar with the enemy’s methods, he handled the increasingly complex situations with greater ease.

Which attack emphasized speed, which had tremendous force and had to be avoided completely—all of this became a flood of data in Jiang Chen’s mind, allowing him to make the most precise judgment of the situation at once.

—

Outside the field.

The Phantom Spirit King watched Jiang Chen’s performance and commented, “His combat techniques are a little rough, but among stellar beings, they are already quite good. He can make maximum use of his law, bringing his strengths into full play while avoiding his weaknesses. It is a rather conventional approach, but an effective one.”

After a pause, the Phantom Spirit King continued, “From what I can see, he has comprehended the ‘wind element,’ ‘speed,’ and ‘cutting’ aspects of the wind law. Though his understanding in each area is still very superficial, the same can be said of stellar beings as a whole—this is already quite rare.”

She then looked at Kinya and smiled. “The little fellow you discovered is indeed not bad. His weapons and secret techniques are all common, easy-to-obtain items, with no other special means. It seems he truly has no background. He has never been taught by a formidable master, nor had access to good resources, yet he still managed to comprehend a law. If given a better environment, he may truly soar to great heights.”

Kinya said, “Phantom Spirit King, according to the records I investigated, Erso came from an indigenous planet that was destroyed by an interstellar adventure team, and he himself became a slave. He only recently regained his freedom.”

As if remembering something, Kinya added, “In the application I submitted to the Alliance, there is a detailed file on Erso.”

“Oh? Born a slave?” The Phantom Spirit King seemed to take an interest.

Although she had been sent to oversee this assessment, with her strength and stature, why would she bother examining the files of some stellar-level youngster?

But after seeing his performance and hearing Kinya’s explanation, the Phantom Spirit King did develop a trace of interest in Erso.

She drew upon a sliver of her consciousness to retrieve the application report Kinya had submitted not long before. After reading Erso’s file, she nodded and said, “Coming from slave origins and reaching this point—his talent is indeed monstrous. What a pity he has only comprehended the wind law. If he could grasp even a trace of the time law, perhaps I could recommend him to the Peerless Secret Realm.”

“And this little fellow has a strong will as well. He may have the potential to walk the illusionist path, which makes him worth examining further.”

The Phantom Spirit King’s words made Kinya’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Phantom Spirit King, do you mean to take Erso as your disciple?” Kinya asked in disbelief.

The Phantom Spirit King shook her head. “Though he may have the potential to walk the illusionist path, it is only a possibility. If he is unsuitable, I naturally will not accept him.”

Among the strong of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, the Phantom Spirit King was a very special existence.

When other powerful beings took disciples, they valued character compatibility or law compatibility.

But the Phantom Spirit King cared for none of that. She looked only at whether one’s will was strong enough and whether one was suited to the path of illusionist.

Among the currently active Invincible Kings, she was also one of those with the largest number of disciples. In just the past ten thousand years alone, she had taken on several dozen.

Yet the vast majority had already fallen, leaving only nineteen still alive.

It might sound as though becoming the Phantom Spirit King’s disciple was dangerous, with a high chance of death.

But Kinya knew very well what immense fortune it meant to be accepted as her disciple.

Although the Phantom Spirit King had said she would still assess whether Erso’s talent met her requirements, this already meant that the lowborn genius she had discovered—this slave-born youth—had obtained a tremendous opportunity that even Kinya herself could hardly dare hope for.

Unconsciously, Kinya looked toward Jiang Chen, who was still slaughtering his way through the desert, and began to think about how she might draw even closer to him.

If he truly became the Phantom Spirit King’s disciple, then with such a familial connection in place, both she and her family would gain enormous benefits.

—

The battle lasted for nearly an hour before it slowly came to an end.

For a stellar-level fight, that was an extraordinarily long time.

In a normal clash between two stellar warriors, even if they were evenly matched, victory or defeat could be decided in a matter of minutes.

If the difference in strength was even slightly greater, not even a second would be needed.

Only because there were so many enemies, and because Jiang Chen was so cautious—avoiding every possible risk and refusing to strike unless he had full confidence, even if it meant giving up opportunities to attack in order to ensure he would not be injured—did the battle stretch on for so long.

After an hour of slaughter, Jiang Chen had expended about half of his primal energy and mental force.

Within the stellar tier, that was extremely rare.

Apprentice-level and planetary-level warriors often fought themselves to utter exhaustion, but once one reached the stellar tier, such situations became uncommon.

In most cases, the battle was decided in one or two moves, so the consumption was naturally small.

As the last enemy was slain beneath the swordfish formation, the barrier of the killing space dissipated. The desert and the corpses within it vanished at a visible speed, restoring everything to its original state.

Even the enemy blood staining Jiang Chen’s body disappeared as well.

“Phantom Spirit King,” Jiang Chen returned and bowed.

“The second test, I count you as having passed.”

The Phantom Spirit King looked at Jiang Chen and said softly, “Before we begin the third test, I would first like to ask whether you are willing to accept another trial from me?”

“Another trial?” Jiang Chen asked in confusion.

“Your will and talent are both quite good. I can give you a chance to become my disciple. But my lineage accepts only the ‘illusionist’ among mental-force practitioners. Though you are a mental-force practitioner, whether you possess talent for illusion is still unknown.”

The Phantom Spirit King said, “I can bestow upon you a secret technique of the illusionist. If you can cultivate it successfully within the allotted time, you shall become my named disciple. In the future, once you gradually grow familiar with the abilities of the illusionist and pass even more stringent trials, you will also have the chance to become my direct disciple.”

A disciple?

An illusionist secret technique?

Jiang Chen had not expected the Phantom Spirit King to suddenly make such an offer.

He knew very little about her. The few fragments he knew came from the original story, from that brief section concerning Hong’s romance.

As for the Phantom Spirit King herself, only two things had been revealed.

First, she was a soul master of the Invincible King rank, skilled in soul enslavement, with many soul servants under her command.

Second, she seemed to have suffered some kind of emotional trauma and forbade her disciples from seeking mates.

As for her temperament, preferences, or even the law system she cultivated, Jiang Chen knew nothing.

Still, whether or not the Phantom Spirit King suited him, taking a master of Invincible King rank would bring Jiang Chen tremendous benefits.

That identity alone would grant him great convenience in his future development.

Only...

The Phantom Spirit King required him to be an illusionist?

That seemed somewhat at odds with Jiang Chen’s plans for the future.

He did not know whether he had any talent in illusion, but what he did know was that his future path would definitely have something to do with technology, not with becoming an illusion master who toyed with souls.

Still, Jiang Chen was also very interested in the cultivation system of illusionists.

If he could learn a little about it, that would not be a bad thing.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Chen asked, “May I ask, Phantom Spirit King, if I take you as my master, must I follow the illusionist path in the future, and be unable to choose other systems?”

“If you become my disciple, I will only teach you the secret techniques of the illusionist. As for warrior or controller paths, if you are interested, I cannot be bothered to interfere. But secret techniques and resources you will have to obtain yourself.”

The Phantom Spirit King glanced at Jiang Chen and said indifferently, “My disciples are not all illusionists. But how much resource and how many secret techniques I grant depends not on strength, but on achievement in the art of illusion.”