Chapter 77: Golden Blood Armor

　　Xue Yuesha’s spatial ring had even greater storage capacity than the new one given to Qi Ying by Master Thirteen. Its capacity was at about twenty cubic feet, which was even larger than a small storage unit. There were many items placed in there, including a small mountain of crystals, some treasured armor, weapons, pills, battle techniques, cultivation methods, and various other things. It was certainly not a pitiful collection as Master Thirteen had predicted.

　　However… Master Thirteen was not less wealthy than any of the four major families, so Xue Yuesha’s net worth really wasn’t all that noteworthy to him.

　　The value of everything in that spatial ring combined probably couldn’t even compare to any one of the valuable Colosseum beasts.

　　But to Qi Ying, it was a massive treasure trove!

　　There were so many valuable items that Qi Ying didn’t even know where to start.

　　However, his attention was soon attracted to the most valuable few items.

　　“That’s the Yellow Tier High Rank treasured tool, the Blood Drop Zhan Lu Sword, Yellow Tier High Rank treasured armor, Golden Blood Armor, the Yellow Tier High-Rank battle technique, Blood Shadow Flash… And that crimson scimitar appeared to be a Dark Tier Low Rank treasured tool? They’re all such valuable items… There’s even a large batch of Yellow Tier High-Rank pills! And is that a Dark Tier Pill?”

　　Only then did Qi Ying understand that Master Thirteen had essentially given all of Xue Yuesha’s belongings to him as a present!

　　All of that stuff would be enough to support Qi Ying’s cultivation for quite a while.

　　In particular, the treasured armors and treasured swords inside were all going to be very important for him in the upcoming tournament.

　　Qi Ying pulled out the Golden Blood Armor first.

　　That was a set of compact crimson armor that was was mainly designed to protect the wearer’s trunk.

　　Qi Ying took off his robes and put on the Golden Blood Armor. He discovered that after injecting his True Energy into it, a red defensive barrier similar in shape to an egg would automatically appear around his body. That barrier would be quite useful for defending against long-range battle techniques.

　　The defensive properties of the Golden Blood Armor itself were also quite outstanding; it was able to protect Qi Ying’s chest, waist, and back from direct stabs and slashes unleashed by Yellow Tier Intermediate-Rank treasured swords.

　　The shoulder caps on the suit of armor also worked to buffer some of the force that traveled to his shoulder joints, which was extremely practical for Qi Ying, as he often used his left hand in battle, in which case his left shoulder was always the weakest link.

　　“This is a fantastic suit of armor!”

　　Qi Ying was elated.

　　The Golden Blood Armor wasn’t as cumbersome as suits of heavy armor, which had stunning defensive properties, but impeded the wearer’s movement. Not only did it not obstruct his movements, its slight weight gave him a gentle sense of pressure, which helped to improve his control in his strength output.

　　The Blood Drop Lu Zhan Sword was also something that Qi Ying quickly became quite fond of.

　　He didn’t know how to use swords, but that weapon eliminated the need to study swordsmanship. He would only have to drip a drop of his blood essence onto it, then inject his True Energy into the sword to create a sword projection comparable to that unleashed by Yellow Tier treasured tools.

　　Aside from that, Qi Ying also pulled out a pair of dark grey leather boots.

　　Those were the Yellow Tier Intermediate-Rank treasured tool, Feather Tread Boots.

　　After putting on the boots and injecting his True Energy into them, his speed would be enhanced by ten to thirty percent.

　　Xue Yuesha owned many more things, but those three were the only useful ones to Qi Ying at the moment.

　　They were almost perfect for the upcoming tournament commencing the next day. The only downside to them was that immense amounts of True Energy were required to use them all at once!

　　Due to his left hand, Qi Ying’s True Energy expenditure rate was inherently faster than that of other warriors at the same rank. If he were to use those treasures at once, and unleash his battle techniques as well as movement techniques at the same time, he would not be able to last long at all.

　　After all, Qi Ying had exhausted all of his True Energy after unleashing a few Peerless Staff Strikes, while maintaining his Flowing Shadow Strike for less than a minute.

　　Even after progressing to the Fifth Energy Martial Stage, he probably wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.

　　However, as long as he had sufficient pills to replenish his stamina and True Energy, that shouldn’t be a problem.

　　Furthermore… Qi Ying also had his left hand as a secret weapon, and that could also be used in critical moments to facilitate recovery.

　　Xue Yuesha’s battle techniques weren’t all that useful to Qi Ying. There was simply no point in trying to master them with such little time left before the tournament.

　　His priority was to further polish the battle techniques he had already attained.

　　The greater the level of mastery, the more efficient he could be with his True Energy expenditure when using those battle techniques.

　　Thus, in a sense, that would help him to conserve True Energy.

　　Whoosh!

　　Whoosh whoosh!

　　Purple claw projections tore through the night.

　　Gradually, Qi Ying’s movements became quicker and more powerful.

　　He could retract his hands immediately after unleashing a burst of claw projections, thereby minimizing the cooldown period that arose after using battle techniques. Therefore, he was able to maintain greater continuity and fluency in his attacks.

　　Furthermore, the power of his claw projections had also improved.

　　Whoosh!

　　He swept a hand through the air, and purple claw projections hurtled toward the river.

　　Bam!

　　Splashes of several dozen feet in height erupted from the surface of the water.

　　Qi Ying was like a predatorial falcon sinking his claws into his prey.

　　He was accurate and powerful!

　　Thus, he reached the perfected level of his Dark Falcon Illusionary Claw.

　　For Yellow Tier battle techniques, the perfected level was the upper limit.

　　After that, Qi Ying practiced his Flowing Shadow Strike and Peerless Hero Staff Techniques for a while.

　　When the sun began to rise in the East, Qi Ying had developed a better grasp on both of those battle techniques.

　　He had reached the great success level on both the Flowing Shadow Strike and the Peerless Hero Staff Techniques.

　　Not only was he slightly faster when unleashing his Flowing Shadow Strike, he could also create a maximum of four shadows. That meant that he could split himself into five, thereby giving him a far greater chance of evading enemy attacks during mass brawls.

　　As for his staff techniques, he had become more proficient in them, and was able to unleash more power as well.

　　All in all, following that series of improvements, Qi Ying was confident that he would be able to hold his own against any Energy Martial Stage warrior.

　　There was a decent chance that he would even be able to defeat masters like Lu You.

　　The only concern was that his enemies in the tournament were not going to just be limited to the members of the four major families. Additionally, he was also going to have to face disciples of the Celestial River Academy, as well as participants from other powers.

　　Those guys from the county army were the truly terrifying ones!

　　After receiving arduous military training, they were on a completely different level when compared to academy disciples of the same tank.

　　A normal Eighth Energy Martial Stage army official could probably beat up ten Eighth Energy Martial Stage Duan Guchengs.

　　They were all formidable foes, and there were many of them, thereby giving Qi Ying a severe headache.

　　However, nothing could shake his determination and resolve!

　　Whoosh!

　　He tapped a foot into the ground, and his body rose into the air as he flew toward the Myriad Spring Brothel.

　　…

　　At the Celestial River Academy.

　　All of the academy disciples got onto horse-drawn carriages one after the other.

　　At the forefront of the group was a massive luxury carriage drawn by eight prized horses!

　　The ones sitting in that carriage were not the principal nor the elders. Instead, they were the thirty disciples chosen to participate in the Celestial River County Youth Battle Tournament!

　　All of them were considered to be powerful beings in the academy. For example, there was Sun Changyu of the Sun family and Wang Shaoping of the Wang family, both of whom were elite warriors of their respective major families, as well as renowned young prodigies below twenty years of age.

　　“Principal, we’re missing someone!”

　　“Who is it?”

　　“Qi Ying!”