Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!

Of course, this markup was necessary because there were countless disciples of the sect and countless wars going on around the huge Tian Ming Continent at all times. Using Li Ling as an example, if he did not give Pang Wen 80% of those spoils, he would have earned slightly over a million low-grade spirit stones, able to go on a brutal second-realm-level shopping spree.

However, it should be made obvious that the things that could be purchased from this branch store were limited to equipment, resources, and items. One could not purchase sect-related techniques from the Six Paths Pavilion with spirit stones, only merits, which was the rule throughout the Six Paths Demon Sect.

As such, when Li Ling walked in, his eyes immediately fell on the various shops that were indicated on the pavilion's in-store map. This pavilion was more like a mall in the modern world than a typical cultivation store, in that first of all, there was no one to hold your hand and guide you to make purchases, and secondly, it was a huge building split into smaller stores with different purposes and targets.

The first thing one saw upon entering were the Pills and Pellets Bazaar on the right and the Artifact Refining Store on the left, the two most frequented shops by disciples, as everyone was always looking to enhance their weapons, buy new ones, or obtain pills for various purposes.

Li Ling naturally angled left and entered the Artifact Refining Store, which was a mixture of a normal weapons shop and an active forge, split by a formation at the Fourth Grade that he did not recognize. Nonetheless, this prevented the searing heat from the forging area from reaching those outside, creating a comfortably cool temperature in the shop area where orders were taken for forging or pre-made artifacts were bought outright.

Li Ling actually took his time to browse the artifacts, especially the spears and the flying swords. His Mountain Splitting Blade was good, but it was getting outdated since, due to its nature as a pre-made weapon, it was firmly stuck at the peak of the First Grade.

He was at the peak of the second realm in both body and qi, and while he used his flying sword for traveling and qi-related battles, it was barely able to slay his current foes due to his Perfected Spirit Sense Control technique and the element of surprise.

As for his previous spear, the Blood Drinking Spear, it had long been destroyed by that bastard Jian Chen, so Li Ling getting to slay him and his righteous group could be seen as avenging the spirit of his weapon that had followed him since his breakout of Number 9 Qing Shan marketplace.

As such, with money in hand, it was time to furnish himself appropriately!

Li Ling saw that the artifacts listed here reached up to the peak of the third realm because that was the realm limit of the Six Paths Halls. By Nascent Soul, you would have already entered the middle layer more likely than not, because the rights to buy the fourth layer of your path's technique could only be obtained by upgrading to that level after the yearly tournament.

In the Six Paths Demon Sect, only the realm of your path-related cultivation was counted when handling your status within the sect. It did not matter what level your qi cultivation was if you were in the Asura or Beast Path because those required body cultivation.

It also didn't matter what body cultivation you practiced if you were in any of the other four paths; only your qi cultivation mattered. Of course, it did create awkward situations where someone who was at Nascent Soul in some random qi cultivation method joined the Six Paths Demon Sect as an Asura Blood Hall disciple at the first realm.

However, the sect had ways to deal with such anomalies.

Since the limit here was the third realm, Li Ling decided to splurge on just that—to buy something at the peak of the third realm that could be used for a while, especially in the upcoming tournament battle to decide who gets to go up and who stays below.

However, none of the pre-made weapons could really catch his eyes. Now that he had money and was in a high-level store—at least compared to those at Qing Shan and Boundless Joy markets—he naturally wanted something that was not only unique but extremely compatible.

Of course, since this shop primarily catered to the various Six Path Hall disciples, most of the weapons here had attributes or natures that synergized with the various techniques. Li Ling saw many swords, clubs, spears, and all sorts of killing weapons radiating a dark red miasma, which were actual demonic weapons meant to work with the Blood Energy of the Blood Asura Descent.

However, they were too generic, so he directly walked up to the counter where a lanky True Human disciple that was quite sleepy was posted, handling various orders as they came. When Li Ling came over, he did become a bit more alert as Li Ling did not hide his perfected second-realm body cultivation aura.

Path Lords at the peak of their realm were usually the managers of various wings in their halls and had statuses only below those of the Hall Masters as well as the Path Ascenders, who were the official names of those who reached the third realm of their practice and wanted to ascend to the next level.

"Greetings, Senior Brother. How can I assist you today?" the fellow asked with a calm expression, taking out a jade slip to begin recording Li Ling's details with his spirit sense.

"I would like to commission a special natal artifact. It should be a spear that is compatible with the Blood Asura Descent and my own ability, able to grow with me if I nurture it." Li Ling stated what he knew, basing it off some of the basic artifact refining stuff he knew in this world and from Earth.

The face of the recording disciple became strange as he broke decorum and sized Li Ling up and down. "Senior Brother, your order contains too many high-level things, so before we continue, I must ask if you really have enough spirit stones. At least 500,000 low-grade spirit stones are necessary, and it may increase as we refine your order before starting work."

No wonder the fellow acted so direct—it was because this involved big money. Li Ling did not just have the 165,400 spirit stones Pang Wen shared with him; he also had the wealth of Jian Chen and his righteous group's spirit rings, of which his two major gains were the Fourth Grade Golden Sword Hilt and the Fourth Grade Void Breaking Talisman.

The Golden Sword Hilt Li Ling wanted to exchange for merits so that he could buy some new techniques to spend Slaughter Points on, while the Void Breaking Talisman he planned to sell for money to exchange his equipment from top to bottom.

The rest of the things in those spirit rings amounted to about 1.5 million low-grade spirit stones, mostly because it involved the accumulated wealth of seven Foundation Establishment talents from the number three righteous sect on the entire continent, along with 26 Qi Refinement peak youngsters who were seen as the next generation.

It was no wonder Pang Wen acted so worried when he saw the Golden Sword Hilt because it involved the slaughter of a lot of important disciples.

But Li Ling did not care, not because of recklessness or arrogance, but because about half of the wealth in these spirit rings was looted by Jian Chen's group from the various Six Path Halls disciples they slaughtered over the course of the past week.

Li Ling was not a staunch faction supporter, but he believed that if it was okay for Jian Chen's group to kill their people, then it was also okay for their people to kill Jian Chen's group. It was that simple.

Still, he had to be sure, so he nodded to the fellow and walked out of the store, heading to the Requisition Area. This was where Six Path Hall disciples who gained goodies outside but did not need them could come and sell them to the sect for spirit stones or merit points.

However, the reason why Li Ling—and most disciples—preferred to still set up stalls outside and thug it out was because the sect bought things at market price only. A Foundation Building Pill, for example, was priced at a thousand low-grade spirit stones as a market average, but you would be hard-pressed to find any vendor selling it at that price.

That wasn't even factoring in auctions at low-level areas where this pill was scarce and precious, going for up to 10,000 and above spirit stones.

So for the most part, people just preferred to sell things manually because they would always find someone who needed it more and would be able to sell above market price. Only those like Li Ling, who were lazy or simply had too large an inventory to sell piece by piece, would dump things here.

Here was another True Human Hall disciple, this time a scowling young lady who seemed utterly bored and impatient. Yet when she saw the handsome Li Ling, her scowl faded a bit as she sized him up and down rudely, not caring about his higher realm.

Yet Li Ling was not surprised, because to be able to manage the Requisition Area of the Six Paths Pavilion indicated her backing was solid in the sect, with extremely high levels of trust.

Not in the mood to cause a scene, Li Ling directly handed over the void rings containing everything but the Golden Sword Hilt and the Void Breaking Talisman. This caused the young lady to snort with satisfaction as she scanned the rings one by one with her spirit sense, but she did not touch the recording jade slip beside her.

When she was done, she put the last ring down and glanced at Li Ling calmly. "Sure, everything here is worth 1.25 million low-grade spirit stones. Do you want that in merits or in currency?"

Li Ling glanced at her untouched recording slip, where she was supposed to input the items before giving the valuation, then at her calm face, which was becoming impatient, raising an eyebrow.

"Skimming off the top? And skimming so much? Do you think I don't dare to kill you?" Li Ling asked with puzzlement as he unveiled his Blood Aura, ready to make a move.

However, the young lady did not even flinch, only scowling once more. With a helpless tsk, she picked up the recording jade slip and inputted the details, finally tossing it over to Li Ling, who scanned it.

1.45 million spirit stones? Still skimming some off the top? And even daring to input it into the official accounts?

Li Ling looked at her again, who had folded her arms and was smiling at him provocatively, as if daring him to make a move. Wondering where she got her confidence from, Li Ling decided to scan her with the system.

｢Name: Cao Xian

Status: Healthy.

Age: 26/620

Slaughter Points Value: 1070

Cultivation Base: Core Formation Perfection (100%) || Body Foundation level 7 (66%)

Remarks: Cao Xian is the third daughter of Deva Elder Cao Ling and is heavily doted upon due to her transcendent talent in the True Human Way of the Six Paths Demon Sect. She is currently waiting for the tournament at year's end to begin to rise to the next layer of the sect, whiling her time away by managing the Requisition Store in various war fronts to make a quick buck. Due to her high backing, she has gotten information about you and is one of the candidates being made to pair with you due to your talent, so she is testing you to see if you are worthy.｣

Li Ling remained silent, feeling that he was getting quite tired of this. At every corner was a trap, a plot, or a trick waiting for him, and if it weren't for the Infinite Slaughter System, he might not have even known how he was played to death by now.

At this moment, he dearly missed the simple days of Qing Shan Number 9 marketplace, where even the smartest person there was only about as cunning as he was, so he was like a fish in water. Since meeting Bai Ruyi and coming to this damned demon sect, it was as if he had been rubbing shoulders with miniature Aizens and Yagamis!

"Mmm, I'll take the spirit stones, thanks." Li Ling responded, taking the current offer without a change in expression, which made Cao Xian's provocative smile fade as she rolled her eyes. Still believing she was undiscovered, she processed the transaction for him and tossed over a single void ring with the spirit stones within.

Li Ling did not glance at her even once and turned to leave resolutely, making Cao Xian fold her arms with a slight frown. She accessed her own True Human Token, which was located in her lower dantian, sending a message to her sister.

"Big Sis, he is quite dull. Are you sure he's worth my time?" Cao Xian asked with dissatisfaction.

Cao Tian, the Hall Master of the True Human Hall, responded rather quickly. "Don't cause trouble. I've had to pay a heavy price to make Old Tang offend the fellow and forcibly assign you to him. If everything goes well, you should be set for the middle layer."

Cao Xian frowned and looked at Li Ling's back, ignoring the next person who was trying to signal her to gather her attention. In the end, Cao Xian's eyes narrowed as she decided to see how things would play out, angrily glancing at the irritated fellow who had been made to wait, causing the fellow to flinch with terror as she unveiled her aura.

As for Li Ling, he returned to the Artifact Refining Shop and nodded to the fellow who was now dealing with another person making an order. Once that person was done, he beckoned Li Ling over, and they resumed hashing out the details of his order.

"So to be clear, the features you want are a natal artifact with growth properties, Asura Blood Energy compatibility at a personal level, compatibility with your martial attainment in Spear Will, and an artifact spirit core for nurturing spirituality?" the fellow asked with raised eyebrows after the back and forth.

Li Ling nodded. "And any other useful features that may be applicable."

The fellow nodded and finalized the jade slip, tossing it through a gap in the formation he opened, which was taken by another True Human disciple within. After scanning it, the person on the other side looked at Li Ling with interest before chuckling, then imprinting on the jade slip and throwing it back.

When the person at the counter took it and glanced within, he sucked in a deep breath and looked at Li Ling with hesitation. "The final price is quoted to be… 1.25 million low-grade spirit stones."

Hearing this, Li Ling's smile faded a bit. "So expensive? What guarantees can I get for the final product?"

"None… except for the artifact's potential, which can reach Dao Integration before needing to be replaced or upgraded further," the fellow replied with an audible gulp, because this was as good as saying nothing.

Li Ling's expression darkened slowly, glancing at the fellow on the other side who nodded to him cordially. In the end, he calmed himself down and paid the full amount before having the order logged to his Asura Blood Token, turning to leave without looking back.

When he stepped out, he checked the in-store map once more and began walking toward the actual marketplace, because his severely reduced funds could no longer support buying any of the overpriced things in this store. He only put up with it because of the quality and because, in the end, these things were not that important to him compared to Slaughter Points and killing power.

Of course, no one liked overpaying for things, not even a filthy rich person, because that was exactly how one goes from a billionaire to a millionaire or worse.

On the streets, the stalls were set up by disciples of all paths, spread out rather cleanly but without distinction. One stall had some righteous path pills necessary for qi or body cultivation, while some also had demonic path resources.

Li Ling felt like one could probably find everything they needed here alone and was like a curious rabbit, checking every stall for anything interesting. Just because he didn't conventionally need these things did not mean that he couldn't find some unique use for them with the Infinite Slaughter System.

Especially when he reached a stall that sold what seemed to be the legacies of a second-realm-level sect, which included alchemy manuals, talisman-making books, and so on for the four main arts. They even had equipment like pill cauldrons, talisman brushes and ink, as well as blank formation plates.

Li Ling decided to treat himself and bought everything, feeling that with his currently powerful Sea of Consciousness, mastering these things should not be difficult, even without the system's help. This was why most cultivators waited until they were of higher levels to learn a side art, as those who started from the lower levels were only usually encouraged to do so if they had a strong talent for it.

Like Li Ling himself, whose formation talent was extremely high due to his background as an architect on Earth, able to form Heaven, Earth, or Man Arrays with relative ease up to the second realm previously.