The Elven Cultivator

Alternatively, Spirit Stones could be embedded as a power source.

But for a being at the level of the Six Ding and Six Jia Guardian Divine Generals, simply absorbing the free-floating energy of the world to accumulate enough power for a single battle of normal intensity would take an extremely long time.

For a Daoist Soldier of this caliber, there were generally two faster ways to ”recharge.”

The first was to consume a massive amount of Spirit Stones to replenish its energy.

This method was the fastest, capable of restoring the Divine General to its peak state in almost no time.

But the cost was also the greatest. Given the Guardian Divine General’s power, which was close to the Nascent Soul Stage, fully replenishing its energy in one go would require a painfully large number of Spirit Stones.

Anton had made a rough estimate. The energy the Jia Shen Divine General consumed in a single battle of normal intensity would require at least two to three years of the Silver Moon Race’s entire Spirit Stone production.

This was clearly not feasible.

The Silver Moon Race was currently facing a tight Spirit Stone supply and simply didn’t have enough surplus to charge the Jia Shen Divine General.

Unless they waited for the Spirit Stone Vein to complete its transformation and drastically increase production, this method could only be used a few times, on rare occasions.

The second method was to place the Jia Shen Divine General at the core of an Earth Vein Node and use an Array as a medium to slowly channel energy into it from a Spirit Vein.

This method took relatively longer but didn’t require much of an additional cost. And while it was time-consuming, it was still much faster than passively absorbing ambient energy.

In the Cultivation Realm, many sects recharged their Guardian Divine Generals by placing them at the core of their Mountain Protection Array during peacetime, using the energy gathered by the Array to infuse them.

Anton estimated that with the current scale and energy concentration of Taichu City’s Mountain Protection Array, it would take about a decade to infuse the Jia Shen Divine General with enough energy for one normal battle.

’The scale and energy concentration of the Mountain Protection Array are still a bit low.’

Anton frowned slightly.

The Primordial Five Elements Grand Array, being based on a Spirit Vein, had an energy concentration far surpassing the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array in the Silver Moon Forest. However, Taichu City had only been built for a few decades. The Array’s various functions were still improving slowly and were far from reaching the limit that the Spirit Vein could support.

However, this problem was not unsolvable.

Once the Silver Moon Forest was connected to Taichu City and the two great Mountain Protection Arrays merged into one, the overall scale and energy concentration of the combined Array would increase significantly.

The charging speed for the Jia Shen Divine General would also increase accordingly.

Besides, with the Jia Shen Divine General’s power, unless it encountered an enemy at the Saint level, it would likely defeat its foes in far less time than a battle of normal intensity would last.

Charging it for half a year or so would probably be enough for it to act once.

”I’ll be counting on you to destroy the spatial node next.”

With a wave of his sleeve, Anton put away the Jia Shen Divine General. His figure then flickered and vanished from the puppet workshop.

When he reappeared, he was already at the core of the Ninefold Celestial Tower.

This was the hub of Taichu City’s entire Array cluster, and also the place where energy was most concentrated.

Anton took the Jia Shen Divine General from his sleeve and placed it on an energy node of the core Array.

He then formed a hand seal, drawing the energy of the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array. It surged from all directions like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, converging inside the Divine General.

The Divine General was quickly enveloped in a hazy Spiritual Light.

After finishing, Anton nodded in satisfaction. His figure flickered and disappeared from the core hub.

Returning to his quiet chamber, he sat cross-legged, summoned his Sword Pill, and began to cultivate.

After advancing to the Golden Core Second Stage, Anton had begun to study Sword Dao Divine Techniques.

At first, he had been hesitant about which Sword Dao Divine Technique to choose.

Although the number of Sword Dao Divine Techniques was not as vast as the sea of Five Elements Divine Techniques, there were still quite a few.

Each one was the culmination of a lifetime of effort by the great Sword Cultivators of history, and each possessed its own profound mysteries and power.

Within the Dao of the Killing Sword, there were two Great Divine Techniques: the One-Thought Annihilation Sword and the Essence-Severing Sword.

The former was said to slay an enemy in the span of a single thought, capable of directly severing the opponent’s Life Force at the soul level.

The latter could sever the very essence of a technique with a single strike. When this sword was unleashed, all arts of concealment, cloning, and transformation would be exposed and annihilated.

However, the One-Thought Annihilation Sword was too profound, touching upon the very source of life and death. With his current attainments in the Sword Dao, he was far from being able to cultivate it.

The Essence-Severing Sword, on the other hand, was something he could attempt.

But this Divine Technique was more focused on countering and breaking techniques, rather than direct offensive power.

It could produce unexpected results against enemies who excelled in bizarre methods, but it wouldn’t provide an immediate boost to his current combat strength.

After some thought, Anton decided to give it up.

Within the Dao of the Extreme Sword, there were ’Heaven and Earth as Neighbors’ and ’A World Away’.

The former allowed one to ignore spatial distance, appearing anywhere the sword light reached in the span of a thought.

The latter could drastically increase the speed of the sword light, even to the point of near-teleportation.

But what Anton lacked now was not speed, but a killing blow that could deal fatal damage to a powerful enemy.

No matter how fast the sword, it was useless if it couldn’t inflict sufficient damage.

After much deliberation, only ’One Sword, Ten Thousand Techniques’ from the Dao of the Transformation Sword seemed most suitable.

Strictly speaking, One Sword, Ten Thousand Techniques was not a specific Divine Technique, but rather a method for embodying Divine Techniques.

Its philosophy was to merge all techniques into the sword light and carry the profundity of the Dao within the Sword Intent.

The sword was no longer just a sword, but a vessel for the Dao, an extension of the Law.

Take the Profound Yellow Dragon-Grasping Hand for example. If this Divine Technique were integrated into his Swordsmanship, every ray of sword light he unleashed would be imbued with an immense, heavy power capable of shattering mountains and splitting peaks.

The force would arrive before the sword itself, making the enemy feel as if they were being crushed by an invisible mountain. Their movements would become sluggish, and even breathing would become difficult.

If he integrated the Beiming True Water into his sword light, it would contain a vast, profound, and corrosive intent.

Wherever the sword light passed, it would be like an abyssal flood. The enemy’s Life Force and Magical Power would drain away silently like sand in an hourglass. By the time they noticed, it would be too late.

This was the profound mystery of ”One Sword, Ten Thousand Techniques.”

It forged the fundamental Dao profundity of a Divine Technique into the Sword Intent, causing the sword light itself to possess the might of the Divine Technique.

This way, he wouldn’t need to divide his attention to cast a separate Divine Technique during battle.

For years, Anton had been studying this method, attempting to integrate the Dao profundity of the Profound Yellow Dragon-Grasping Hand into his sword light.

Although he hadn’t fully succeeded yet, he had made some progress.

With a thought, a ray of Profound Gold Sword Light leaped from his chest and hovered before him.

The sword light was as clear as water, its sharp edge concealed. It seemed no different from before.

But if one looked closely, they would see a faint layer of earthy yellow light slowly circulating around its edge.

The light was not bright, but it exuded a sense of weight as heavy and solid as a mountain.

It was a sliver of the Dao profundity from the Profound Yellow Dragon-Grasping Hand.

Anton stared at the sword light, and a glint suddenly flashed in his eyes.

The sword light shot out abruptly, instantly crossing the streets of Taichu City, passing over the city walls, and striking a huge boulder on a distant hillside.

The moment the sword tip touched the rock’s surface, the massive boulder silently crumbled into dust as if an invisible mountain had rolled over it, scattering to the ground with a soft rustle.

Anton retracted the sword light and nodded in satisfaction.

He had only just scratched the surface. The strand of heavy intent within the sword light was still faint, far from being comparable to a true Divine Technique.

But even so, the overall power of the sword light had already increased considerably.

Given time, once the Dao profundity of the Profound Yellow Dragon-Grasping Hand was fully integrated into the sword light, his Swordsmanship would surely reach a new level.

By then, every ray of sword light would be equivalent to a strike of the Profound Yellow Dragon-Grasping Hand. When two hundred fifty-six rays of sword light were unleashed at once, it would be like two hundred fifty-six Divine Techniques descending simultaneously.

The mere thought of such a scene was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.