CHAPTER 373: CHAPTER 373: BATTLE FOR POSITION (PART 3)_1

Inside the Bamboo Pavilion, Shen Mo’s face was also overflowing with joy.

For cultivators, the pleasure derived from advancing their Realm was a hundredfold more satisfying than fulfilling carnal or sensory desires!

Even though he had broken through Realms more than once, Shen Mo felt genuinely delighted every time.

This represented an elevation in the extraordinary quality of his life; moreover, it signified that he was another step closer to carefree immortality...

No wonder many cultivators with profound cultivation didn’t entertain the thought of seeking a Dao companion.

How could mere physical love compare to the exhilarating sensation brought about by the sublimation of one’s life essence?

Of course, someone like Shen Mo, who often indulged his palate, would not completely abandon his other desires.

In his view, being as "pure" as a Heavenly Demon was not necessarily a good thing!

「...」

Shen Mo circulated his cultivation method to reinforce his cultivation at Layer II. As he focused his five senses and consciousness on his panel, he saw: [Destiny Points: 308].

Although I am ninety percent sure I can defeat Tian Zhiyu and usurp his core disciple seat...

But the Tian Family... especially their patriarch, Tian Zhaoquan, the Affairs Hall Master, will definitely not sit back and watch.

Who knows, he might even prepare some trump card for him!

After all, if Tian Zhiyu is defeated, he won’t just lose a seat; he’ll be completely expelled from the ranks of core disciples and relegated to a sect Elder.

If he can defeat me this time, then when the sect appoints the new Immortal Welcoming Hall Master later, he will effortlessly secure the eighth core disciple seat. Within a few years, he will have no further concerns!

As for me, even if I defeat the other three core candidate disciples, I’ll have to remain in the ninth seat for two years, possibly even acting as his shield...

I obviously do not want to see such an outcome.

Shen Mo wasn’t an incredibly vengeful person, but he had no intention of casually letting the Tian Clan, who had been the first to oppress him, off the hook.

Otherwise, even if he secured a position among the core disciples or even obtained the prestigious role of Main Peak Master, insignificant troublemakers would still emerge from time to time, secretly trying to hinder him.

Then, every move he made would be scrutinized, preventing him from acting as he wished!

Therefore, no matter how he looked at it, he was determined to make an example of the Tian Family.

Crushing Tian Zhiyu utterly was a crucial step; above him in the Tian Family’s hierarchy of troublemakers, only Affairs Hall Master Tian Zhaoquan remained.

To prevent any accidents, I should upgrade a Destiny!

With this in mind, Shen Mo’s gaze fell upon several of his most frequently used Special Destinies.

[Examine (Purple)], [Bright Vision (Blue)], [Martial Performance (Blue)], [Danger Perception (Green)], [Adventure (Green)]...

[Examine], as a Special Destiny of Purple quality, required 100 Destiny Points for each upgrade attempt. The points Shen Mo had accumulated recently were only enough for three attempts.

Based on past experience, three chances were highly unlikely to upgrade it to Orange quality.

After brief consideration, Shen Mo temporarily abandoned the idea of upgrading [Examine].

Currently, this Special Destiny is enough to scrutinize cultivators at the peak of Class III and even Class IV powerhouses!

For me, it is completely adequate.

There’s no urgent need to deplete my few Destiny Points to upgrade its quality.

Shen Mo hadn’t offered ten middle-grade Spirit Stones to attempt scrutinizing Golden Core Realm old masters or Class IV Demon Kings.

After all, Class IV powerhouses, with their incredibly sharp senses, could detect something amiss when their Destinies were being probed, even if they couldn’t ascertain that Shen Mo was the one prying into their secrets.

Given Shen Mo’s cautious nature, he naturally wouldn’t do such a foolish thing that only carried risks and offered no rewards.

However, when he had attempted to use this Destiny to probe Demon Lord Ming Cang, the panel’s feedback indicated it was possible to investigate the informational weaknesses of Class IV powerhouses; Shen Mo simply hadn’t proceeded to offer the required Spirit Stones in the end.

As for [Bright Vision] and [Martial Performance]... the former allowed one to see through to the origin of things, while the latter accelerated cultivation progress!

For Shen Mo, both were very useful Destinies.

However, neither of them could play a critical role in the upcoming battle for a core seat.

They were primarily useful during treasure hunting or when practicing cultivation methods!

After some thought, Shen Mo’s eyes landed on [Danger Perception].

[The cicada senses the autumn wind before it stirs; before a crisis arrives, you can perceive its ominous aura a step in advance.]

I don’t know what kind of trump card the Tian Family has prepared for Tian Zhiyu.

But with my many powerful techniques, as long as I am prepared beforehand, I can surely overcome it.

What I fear most is my five senses being clouded, leaving me no time to deploy my techniques before I’m struck... With the [Danger Perception] Destiny, I can at least foresee impending danger!

However, while the Special Destiny [Danger Perception] had mystical effects, its quality was too low.

When it sensed danger, the feeling was vague and unclear!

It couldn’t distinguish the nature of the danger, its origin, or the consequences it would have for him.

Therefore, although Shen Mo would have this Destiny active when he was out, its practical utility wasn’t very high.

Sometimes, it even had the opposite effect, interfering with the judgment of his five senses!

Let’s upgrade [Danger Perception] first. If there are any Destiny Points left, I’ll use them to upgrade [Martial Performance] and [Bright Vision].

Shen Mo muttered to himself and immediately invested his Destiny Points into [Danger Perception].

[You have consumed Destiny Points in an attempt to upgrade the Destiny [Danger Perception]. The attempt has failed.]

[You have consumed Destiny Points in an attempt to upgrade the Destiny [Danger Perception]. The attempt has failed.]

[You have consumed... The attempt has failed.]

Each attempt reduced his Destiny Points by 10, and all he received in return was a stream of failure notifications.

Shen Mo was already accustomed to this. His expression remained serene as he continued to spend his points.

Upgrading from Gray to White, or White to Green, consumed 1 Destiny Point per attempt.

Upgrading from Green to Blue, or Blue to Purple, consumed 10 Destiny Points per attempt.

Subsequent promotions to Orange and the highest tier, Gold, would each consume 100 Destiny Points!

Given that [Danger Perception] was currently of Green quality, Shen Mo had a full thirty attempts. He refused to believe he could be so unlucky as to fail to upgrade this Destiny in thirty consecutive tries.

Thirteenth attempt.

Fourteenth attempt.

Fifteenth attempt.

In the blink of an eye, half of his Destiny Points had been consumed.

At this, Shen Mo could no longer maintain his composed demeanor; a hint of distress and impatience crept into his eyes.

"I refuse to believe it! Again!"

[You have consumed Destiny Points in an attempt to upgrade the Destiny [Danger Perception]. The attempt has failed.]

[You have consumed... The attempt has failed.]

[You have consumed Destiny Points in an attempt to upgrade the Destiny [Danger Perception]. The attempt was successful. Congratulations, you have obtained the new Destiny: [Danger Perception (Blue)].]

It wasn’t until the eighteenth attempt, after consuming a total of 180 of his Destiny Points, that Shen Mo finally succeeded.

Shen Mo heaved a long sigh of relief. He then noticed that the name of the [Danger Perception] Destiny hadn’t changed; it had simply been upgraded from Green quality to Blue quality.

Shen Mo muttered to himself, "Apart from the name, the description hasn’t changed much either."

[Danger Perception (Blue)]: The cicada senses the autumn wind before it stirs; you can detect the aura of danger one step in advance and identify the nature of the crisis.