Chapter 359: Jiang Lin: Want to Get Stronger? If You Do, Then Spend Some Money!
This is why, in most cases, the sword and its swordbearer must be separated.
Because a sword capable of cutting through the world has a completely different perspective on the world, or rather, the sword's view is unlike that of the vast majority of people in the world! The swordbearer, on the other hand, is a manifestation of the original worldview, which means that the sword has become extremely dangerous due to the shifting worldview, and at this point, the sword is naturally no longer qualified to be its own swordbearer.
However, only when the sword needs an anchor point does it choose a swordbearer. Choosing a swordbearer is essentially a confused action from the sword regarding its future.
In an uncertain future, the sword doesn't know whether it's on the right path, even doubting its own principles and being unable to make a decision. At this moment, a swordbearer from the 'old worldview' is needed to make a judgment.
Jiang Lin wanted to be his own swordbearer. This path was undoubtedly extremely difficult.
However, in Jiang Lin's view, the sword also had the qualifications to be its own swordbearer.
But such an approach would be seen by the public as...
A sword taking a deviant path!
"Crystal Pills and things that require special composite Dou Qi for refinement still need to be made by specific groups of people. But Spirit Stones are different. This thing follows a similar refining logic to Crystal Pills, but because of its unique positioning, Spirit Stones are for everyone. After all, this is a world for cultivating Dou Qi, and as long as you can cultivate Dou Qi and refine it, you can produce Spirit Stones and also absorb them."
In the vast mountains of the Magical Beast Mountain, Jiang Lin roughly explained to Yun Yun some data about the Spirit Stones: "In a sense, it can be considered self-produced and self-sold, but this method isn't efficient. When you produce Spirit Stones, there's an energy loss, and when you absorb Spirit Stones, there's also energy loss. If you produce Spirit Stones and then absorb them, the energy you absorb will go through two rounds of loss in the same amount of time. It's not worth the effort and is counterproductive."
Whenever Jiang Lin thought about this self-produced and self-sold method, some strange thoughts would arise in his mind. To put it in his words, Spirit Stones were essentially... a manifestation of labor. You produce Spirit Stones and then absorb them, but the final value you get from this process is probably less than half of the labor you invested. He couldn't say too much more—if he did, it would start to feel like a phantom pain.
"The real audience for this stuff is actually the Dou Qi cultivators with strong financial power. Spirit Stones can be considered a new trading currency," Jiang Lin thought for a moment and then realized that the 'purchasing power' of Spirit Stones was actually greater than the cost of production, or rather, Spirit Stones would be very valuable when exchanged for other things. It's only when Spirit Stones are exchanged for other Spirit Stones that they will essentially go in a circular motion.
To give a simple example: Jiang Lin puts in 100 units of effort to refine something that only provides 50 units of value. At this point, ordinary people wouldn't spend more than 50 to buy a Spirit Stone, and Jiang Lin wouldn't want to sell it either. However, for other noble offspring, spending 200 to buy something that only provides 50 units of value wouldn't be much of a concern.
This was quite similar to Jiang Lin's Crystal Pills: spending money to buy cultivation and combat power.
Jiang Lin: Want to get stronger? Then spend some money!
"Of course, the real use of Spirit Stones lies in their potential to act as a solid energy source, capable of activating formations that few people in the continent have studied." While Spirit Stones could enhance cultivation, they were similar to Crystal Cores. This meant that if Xiao Yan, with a Fire-type Crystal Core, continued cultivating with Fire-type Spirit Stones, his cultivation speed could only reach the theoretical value of 2, which was the maximum possible speed of the Crystal Core.
(The Crystal Core provides nearly double the cultivation speed, but it consumes a portion of the energy, so the theoretical value is 2, though in normal conditions it is not quite reached. Fire-type Spirit Stones can help reach this theoretical value.)
Spirit Stones are one-time-use Crystal Cores, while Crystal Cores are permanent Spirit Stones. Fire Spirit Lotus is a spiritual root.
So, similar to Crystal Pills, Spirit Stones, for Jiang Lin, could not directly enhance cultivation but could help activate the formations he hadn't paid much attention to.
Jiang Lin had many advanced formations, but he rarely used them. It wasn't that he looked down on formations, but for Jiang Lin, formations consumed too many resources. Without enough financial power, one couldn't endure the expenses of a few formation experiments. Simple basic formations were fine; Jiang Lin could invest in them with his eyes closed. But the formations Jiang Lin possessed were all high-level ones, and each time he activated them, even a financially powerful person like Jiang Lin could feel a pinch.
Especially the Beast Spirit Formation; its perfect form required a Sixth-Grade Magic Core as the core, and it would slowly consume the Sixth-Grade Magic Core. Let's not even talk about whether Jiang Lin had that many Magic Cores; even if he did, he wouldn't play around with them that way.
Of course, Jiang Lin had a backup plan: he could use his 'Inner Core' as the formation's core. Strangely enough, this was a very clever idea. However, for Jiang Lin, it was essentially like removing his own head, putting it into a cannon, and firing it. Would Jiang Lin, as the "mecha," not be more useful than using the Beast Spirit Formation "mecha"?
Crystal Cores were like "mecha cores" to Jiang Lin. Using his mecha core for the Beast Spirit Formation would weaken him to activate a formation. He wouldn't do this unless he had spare Crystal Cores.
Jiang Lin had tested it himself. After reducing the number of Crystal Cores in his body, he noticed terrifying changes in his internal energy. When the energy pressure difference reached the level of "three Cores," he found that his Dou Qi started to become insufficient, and all the energy in his body was used to sustain the consumption of his physical body. If it progressed further to "four Cores," his body would no longer be able to support itself, possibly entering a special "living weapon spirit" state.
At this point, if Jiang Lin dared to throw his Crystal Cores around, it would not be just Crystal Cores that he was throwing—it would be his own life!
Of course, although Jiang Lin wouldn't use the Beast Spirit Formation at the moment, he had already thoroughly understood the technology behind it. If he had the right materials, he could summon the Beast Spirit Formation to play around.
Right now, Jiang Lin was in a "negative one Core" state. He also had the idea of resolving his debuff by seeking out the Purple Crystal Wing Lion King.
(END CHAPTER)
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