Chapter 293 - 174: Demon Promotion: Erupting Black Ant Mountain (2)
Chapter 293: Chapter 174: Demon Promotion: Erupting Black Ant Mountain (2)
This, then, was the origin of treasure chests in Dungeons.
Besides Dungeons, the outside world also had many such lucky hidden items.
Lu Cang had seen quite a few using his Peeping into Secrets ability.
However, the ones he could pick up were usually just trinkets worth a few Silver or Copper Coins. At best, a slightly luckier find might be worth a few Gold Coins.
Eventually, Lu Cang couldn’t even be bothered to pick up the hidden items he saw in the wild.
The rewards inside Dungeons, however, were always worth opening.
Not long ago, while exploring a Tier Six Dungeon with Chi Cheng, he had even obtained a piece of Pure Hard True Steel.
It was an extremely rare material, arguably the hardest steel in the world.
Chi Cheng had broken it in half and given him a piece.
Now, this resplendent golden treasure chest looked anything but ordinary.
And when he tried to look at this kind of treasure chest with a Perception that even Final Sense couldn’t block, all he saw was a gray, hazy fog.
It was impossible to peer inside these chests; the surprise would only be revealed the moment it was opened.
Lu Cang drew a circular Ritual on the spot.
The Luck Enhancement Ritual.
He laid down the Ritual, though he didn’t know if it would work. In any case, there was no feedback—no glow, no pulse of energy, nothing of the sort.
He opened the treasure chest.
He no longer had to worry about Treasure Chest Monsters. Lu Cang had more than one ability to detect if it was one.
He could see with Spirituality, with Final Sense, and he could also tell based on whether or not it had a soul.
SWISH!
An earth-yellow suit of Armor shot skyward!
"Battle Armor of Perfect Quality."
The same Quality as the Spiritual Star Ring Staff.
The Battle Armor was heavy and solid.
Once worn, the user would be rooted to the spot, unable to move.
However, the ground beneath their feet would also become indestructible. After taking root, their Defense Power would become extremely high, and any defensive Magic, Combat Skills, or Guardian Skills generated within the effective range would be greatly enhanced.
"Not bad at all..."
Lu Cang stored it in his personal Space. The number of secret treasures he owned was steadily increasing.
After collecting his spoils.
His Undead also helped bring over all the dead Demons.
"Hmm, this place is quite good... I’ll set it up here."
Lu Cang raised his hand casually.
Countless ores, vials of blood, potions, eyeballs, and plants flew out in all directions.
The blood drew a complex Array, forming a massive Ritual.
Practice makes perfect.
The Lu Cang of today dared to call himself a master of setting up Rituals.
When it came to the study of Rituals, even some Scholars who specialized in them might not have as deep an understanding as he did.
At least...
Lu Cang considered himself to have mastered many Rituals.
He was wealthy enough to have bought all the books on Rituals in Kernoya.
And he was powerful enough to have free access to almost every library.
He could also use Peeping into Secrets.
In fact, most unspeakable Rituals could only be discovered through a Secret.
The average Scholar or Array Master truly didn’t know as many Rituals as Lu Cang.
SWISH!
The next instant, a massive mountain materialized within the Array!
Countless Black Ants poured out from the body of the mountain!
"Ant Mountain."
"You’ve been with me for so long, you’ve earned your keep."
"Even though you’re a mindless, foolish Demon... you’ve still helped me so much one way or another."
Without the Thousand Army Ant Mountain, Lu Cang wouldn’t have been able to advance so quickly.
Just running around searching for souls would have taken a considerable amount of time.
Farming a few hundred million souls a day versus running all over the place to earn a few hundred thousand to a million is a completely different concept.
"Today, I’ll help you climb higher on this path of a Demon..."
Among Ruijia’s Forbidden Books, there was one titled Path of Demon Promotion.
The book mentioned a Demon named Di Que and its journey from weakness all the way to a High Tier.
It was a very peculiar book, written from a Demon’s perspective, almost like a novel.
But in reality... hidden within that book was a Secret: the Demon Promotion Ritual.
Shed the old shell, gain a new life—
From non-Spirituality, glimpse ignorance and enlightenment.
I climb ever upward, until my Radiant Ascension at the final end.
This was what was recorded in the Path of Demon Promotion.
"Evolutionary direction."
"Reproductive quantity, higher conversion efficiency..."
Before this, Lu Cang had already presided over the promotion of three other Demons, all of them Tier Four Nation Destruction Level Demons.
So he had accumulated a fair bit of experience.
Lu Cang disliked doing critical tasks without preparation, as it was easy to make mistakes.
Lu Cang adjusted the Ritual, and the materials placed at the various nodes of the Array increased or decreased.
"It has some striking similarities to Beyond Magic..."
The shadow of Magic could be found in all things in the world.
"Sacrifice..."
"Death and soul."
"A Radiant Ascension of its being."
Lu Cang raised his hand—
SWISH!
Souls continuously poured into the Ritual, and the fresh corpses of Tier Six Demons placed in distant corners began to dissolve under the Ritual’s influence.
They transformed into motes of light that surged toward the Demon at the center!
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
The Thousand Army Ant Mountain jumped wildly! With every leap, it spewed out a surging swarm of ants!
Its body began to grow, the holes on its surface became denser, and the swarms of ants it produced became smaller and more delicate. However, these smaller Black Ants possessed much stronger bodies.
"It doesn’t need such strong bodies."
"The main thing is quantity."
Lu Cang reduced the amount of flesh and blood at one of the Array’s nodes.
Then he added more insect eggs to a corner of the Array.
The number of ants produced by the Thousand Army Ant Mountain increased again, but their bodies became weaker.
They were clearly Tier Two Black Ants, yet they were as weak as Tier One.
But their numbers were even greater, even more terrifying.
The originally fist-sized Black Ants had become thumb-sized, but they were now densely packed and innumerable...