Chapter Seventy-One: The Legendary "Pure Land"

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the title of Grand Lord. Do you wish to accept the territory?”
At that moment, the system’s prompt sounded again.
“Damn, I almost forgot about that.”
“The system is actually asking if I want to be a Grand Lord?”
“Perhaps being a Grand Lord has its perks, but it’s mostly just being a punching bag. I refuse.”
“Ding! Refusal successful. Congratulations to the host for becoming a One-Star Elite of the Spirit Realm.”
“What? A One-Star Elite? There’s such a thing?”
Qin Chuan glanced at his panel and found that a new title, One-Star Elite, had appeared, along with an increase of five points to each attribute.
“Ugh, this title is rather useless, more like a symbol of strength.”
“Well, better than nothing.”
Then Qin Chuan turned his gaze to the Grand Treasury, his eyes going wide with awe.
“There’s actually Cold Jade here to increase freeze chance, finished Spirit Iron, and various colored crystals. My god, there’s so much!”
“Bro, stop staring—I can’t resist anymore.”
“Look at you, drooling! All right, let’s get to work.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Qin Chuan was not slow at devouring, but Sleepy Bug was a bit more time-consuming.
So, sword and bug, immersed in bliss, spent more than half a day cleaning out the entire treasury.
By now, Qin Chuan’s sword body glowed faintly with orange light, the dark dragon patterns looming beneath the surface.
At the junction of hilt and blade was embedded a green Spirit Pearl, making it look like an incomparably sharp treasure sword.
The green Spirit Pearl was the mark of the third rank, granting Qin Chuan another 10% bonus to sharpness.
Moreover, the transformation from purple to orange light was a qualitative leap.
It was clear that Qin Chuan’s essence had once again advanced in quality.
His quality had evolved from a rarity envied by all spirit artifacts to a level utterly unattainable: Unique.
Unique signified brilliance and glory.
In other words, there was no other longsword in the Spirit Realm like Qin Chuan.
For he was the one and only, peerless existence in this world.
Naturally, Qin Chuan’s power increased dramatically, and his stats were absolutely dazzling.

[Host]: Qin Chuan
[Title]: One-Star Elite
[Type]: Mutated Cold Iron Sword (3)
[Rank]: Third Rank, Lower Grade (Sharpness +20%)
[Quality]: Unique (All Attributes +15%)
[Level]: 20
[Attributes]
Sharpness: 416 + 228.8 (55%) + 145.6 (35%)
Tenacity: 368 + 132.48 (36%)
Speed: 382 + 145.16 (38%)

Evolution Points: 2,384,300 / 6,552,000
Experience: 18,653,600 / 52,414,400
Rage: 20 / 100
Slaughter: 1,424 / 5,000
[Skills]
Flow Strike: Phase One - Level 3, Phase Two - Slide Level 1 (5 meters)
Blink: Phase One - Level 3, Phase Two - Immunity Level 2 (0.6 seconds)
Enhance: Phase One - Level 3, Phase Two - Freeze Level 5 (Slow 25%, Freeze Chance 23%, Freeze Duration 2.5s)
Heavenfall Flow Strike: Phase One - Level 3, Phase Two - Pending Activation
[Additional Attributes]
Critical Hit: 10%
Burst: 3%
Slow: 10%
Freeze: 5%

“Holy hell, holy hell, holy hell!”
Qin Chuan looked over his attributes, exclaiming in disbelief at the sheer power of the numbers.
“Damn, all three main stats are over 500, and sharpness alone is a whopping 790+.”
“Ha! This is insane!”
This time, Qin Chuan truly felt like flying with joy—these stats were absolutely top-tier.
An hour or two later, Sleepy Bug finally finished refining all the resources, his golden body shining even brighter.
“Ding! Discovered Level 20, Third Rank Lower Grade Golden Lotus Bug, Quality: Exceptional, One-Star Elite.”
Qin Chuan was a bit surprised. “Wow, this guy also has a title?”
Just then, Sleepy Bug blinked his innocent eyes and said excitedly, “Big bro, I’ve got a title now!”
“I see. But how did you get one?”
“Big bro, didn’t you know? In the Spirit Realm, if you don’t want to be a lord, once you reach level 20, you get the One-Star Elite title.”
“Oh, so that’s how it works. Well, there’s nothing left for us here. Let’s head for the Illusory Forest.”
“Yes, finally we can go to the legendary Pure Land!”
Qin Chuan looked at the empty treasury with a touch of nostalgia.
After touring the Contested Plains, his strength had grown immensely, and he had learned much.
Sword and bug crossed the core region, forded a great river, passed through a barren sandy expanse, and finally glimpsed the distant, mist-shrouded Illusory Forest.

As soon as Qin Chuan stepped into the Illusory Forest, word spread wildly across the Contested Plains: a single purple-black Demon Sword had swept the core region alone.
This news eventually reached both the Violet Spirit Manor and Blackwind Cliff, but since both sides were busy preparing for war, they didn’t pay much attention.
After all, purple spirit weapons weren’t particularly rare in their eyes.
However, there was one who took great interest—Violet, the sixth sister mentioned by Zihan Jade.
As the youngest and most beloved daughter of the Violet Spirit Manor, Violet was both clever and adorable, always full of surprises.
Upon hearing the news, she quickly devised a plan.
While the manor was busy preparing for the battle against Blackwind Cliff, she slipped away quietly to the Contested Plains.

After some inquiries, she learned that the Demon Sword had entered the Illusory Forest, so without hesitation, she followed.
Once inside, however, she nearly lost herself for good.
The Illusory Forest, though poor in spirit fruits, flowers, herbs, and mineral resources, was lush with vegetation, teeming with water plants, insects, snakes, ants, and beasts.
Due to the perpetual toxic miasma, most spirit creatures here were fierce and venomous.
Constant battling and devouring were the norm—a true hellish struggle.
Though called the Pure Land, the Illusory Forest was in reality a purgatory.
Be enslaved or descend into torment—such was the fate of its denizens.

The moment Sleepy Bug entered, he felt uncomfortable all over and grumbled, “Big bro, the environment here is really nasty!”
Qin Chuan, however, was unfazed and chuckled, “If this place were any good, outsiders would have seized it long ago. The only advantage here is that you don’t have to worry about being enslaved.”
“That’s true. In a place this harsh, those noble types wouldn’t be interested.”
Sleepy Bug nodded in agreement.

Just then, a series of roars echoed nearby—clearly, spirit beasts were locked in combat.
Qin Chuan’s eyes lit up and he laughed, “Little brother, let’s go take a look. There might be some profit to be had.”
“Yes, yes!”
Sleepy Bug, now addicted to banditry, perked right up at the prospect of loot.

Following the sounds, sword and bug soon found three Venomtail Scorpions besieging a Venombelly Snake.
The scorpions were about a meter long, their bodies emerald green with tails stretching over two meters.
The Venombelly Snake was seven or eight meters long, black and white patterned, coiled and flicking its tongue, though it clearly wasn’t in good shape.

“Brothers, let’s snag ourselves a Two-Star Elite title today.”
“Yeah, who knows what luck this wretched snake had to get a Two-Star Elite.”
“Haha, what a joke—this rotten snake showing off in the wrong territory, deserves to die at our hands.”
The three scorpions, certain of victory, sneered at the snake.

“If you three filthy scorpions hadn’t ambushed me, how would I be injured now!”
The Venombelly Snake hissed menacingly, voice full of fury.

“Ding! Discovered Level 21, Third Rank Lower Grade Mutated Venombelly Snake, Quality: Exceptional, Two-Star Elite.”
“Ding! Discovered Level 21, Third Rank Lower Grade Mutated Venomtail Scorpion, Quality: Exceptional, One-Star Elite.”
...

Qin Chuan was intrigued. “Oh? That Venombelly Snake is a Two-Star Elite. Seems promising.”
But the sight of such fierce poisonous creatures made Sleepy Bug a bit nervous. “Big bro, they’re fighting for titles. What do you plan to do?”
“That’s easy—just go over and deal with them directly!”
Qin Chuan was no longer the blackwood sword from before; there was no need to wait for an opportunity to steal a kill.
Now, when facing spirit beasts of a similar level, there was just one word: Fight!

Thus, his every word and action brimmed with confidence and dominance.