Chapter Forty-One: An Unexpected Discovery

Li Jianfeng visited Wu Shu late at night, not only to discuss the upcoming duel between the human and demon races but also to express that he had truly accepted Wu Shu as his brother.

Thinking of the impending rematch with demon prodigies like Ying Mei'er, and believing they would surely reveal their true strength, Wu Shu reminded Li Jianfeng, "The demon race must be well-prepared for this competition. From what I observed in the Giant Elephant Mountains, they did not show their full strength then."

Li Jianfeng had heard rumors about the demons sealing their power upon entering the Kun Kingdom. He said firmly, "The Kun Kingdom has always been resource-poor with thin spiritual energy. To conserve their internal earth-force, many practitioners seal most of their power when entering our territory. The fact that the Shadow Demon clan has done so this time is undoubtedly part of a calculated scheme."

Li Jianfeng had witnessed Wu Shu’s mastery of formations in the Giant Elephant Mountains. However, within the Kun Kingdom, spirit stones were incredibly scarce. Even for the entire Dongsu City, let alone the current Wu family, gathering fifty thousand spirit stones would be a daunting task. Currently, trade in the Kun Kingdom relied primarily on gold, silver, and copper currency.

Handing a bag to Wu Shu, Li Jianfeng said, "Wu Shu, this is a storage bag. I have gathered as many spirit stones as I could. Use them well so we can teach the demon race a lesson."

Wu Shu was delighted to find that the bag was a storage device containing spirit stones. After scanning it with his divine sense, he was overjoyed: there were over three thousand spirit stones, including five or six hundred mid-grade stones and several dozen high-grade ones. To a scion of a great clan in other empires, this might be trivial, but within the Kun Kingdom—and especially to Wu Shu—this was an astronomical sum. It was the first time he had seen so many since his awakening.

With the heavy bag in his hand, Wu Shu said firmly, "With these, I have enough to prepare over the next three days. I will give this battle my all."

Having achieved his purpose, Li Jianfeng cupped his hands and said, "With your word, I am at ease. I, too, shall prepare well." After a few more polite exchanges, Li Jianfeng departed.

After he left, Zhao Fenxing remarked, "Zhao Zhenfeng has always presented himself as a boorish brute, but his conduct tonight shows he possesses true greatness." Glancing at the storage bag, she added, "While spirit stones are rare here, the bag itself is far more valuable. Even in the Eastern Earth Empire, such a storage device would cost hundreds of thousands of low-grade spirit stones."

Wu Shu was no stranger to spatial storage, being well-versed in spatial formations. The thought that such a bag could be worth so much left his heart racing. If he could find enough space-stones, crafting one himself would only be a matter of time. However, his immediate priority was repelling the demons; other matters would have to wait.

"I am satisfied with these stones," Wu Shu said.

Watching him, Zhao Fenxing felt a headache coming on. She despised seeing him so impoverished that a few thousand stones could make him this happy. With a look of disdain, she turned and headed to her room, accompanied by her maid.

Back on his bed, Wu Shu sat cross-legged. He did not rush to use the stones to carve array bases. As he entered the Savage Bull stage in body tempering and the True Essence stage in profound energy, the curse in his bloodline flared up. Although the breathing technique he learned in the Flame Pagoda provided temporary relief, the ancestor of the Night Demons had warned that if the underlying issues were not addressed, the practitioner would eventually face a catastrophic backlash.

Fortunately, Wu Shu’s mental strength was formidable. Using it to observe his internal state was easy, but what he saw regarding the acupoints opened by the curse chilled him. The curse had indeed opened his acupoints, but they were saturated with baleful energy that constantly eroded the surrounding blood vessels. As his strength grew, the curse would eventually open all his acupoints, forcing him to endure unimaginable agony with every move he made in battle.

"Sigh..." Wu Shu let out a weary breath.

If he could neither temper his body nor cultivate his earth-force, he would be forced to rely solely on mental strength. Yet, without a strong physical foundation or profound energy to nourish the body, the limits of his mental cultivation would be severely constrained. He felt like a man of talent denied his chance. Was there truly no way to break the curse? Was his understanding of formations to be relegated only to weapon crafting?

Distressed, he drifted into a semi-conscious state. In this state, his soul seemed to detach from his body, allowing him to see his meridians clearly. To his surprise, while the curse eroded his body, it dared not approach his Dantian. His Dantian emitted a blinding light that the dark, cursed energy feared.

Seeing this, Wu Shu began to circulate his profound technique, guiding a drop of pale yellow profound energy toward the cursed acupoints. As the profound energy traveled through his meridians, the curse recoiled in terror, retreating deeper into the acupoints.

*Could profound energy suppress the curse?* A surge of joy washed over him. He opened his eyes, determined: "I must raise my profound energy as quickly as possible. With its suppression, the bloodline curse will be nothing to fear."