I Can See Your Combat Power

“At the age of fourteen, Mi Chu shed his mortality, awakening his beast soul lineage. Therefore, since 1770 of the Longzhou Calendar, the Mi Clan has been purchasing five hundred spirit beasts every year from the Beast Taming Sect! Assuming each spirit beast costs ten million, the Mi Clan spends fifty billion gold just on spirit beasts each year. Is that correct, my lord?”

“Indeed.” Mi Jing did not deny it. Everyone in Xiling knew that the Mi Clan originally rose to prominence through the secret art of beast taming. They were even the largest customer of the Beast Taming Sect in Longzhou.

The Mi clan procured a large number of spirit beasts from the Beast Taming Sect every year. Even more so ten years ago, with an annual expenditure reaching over fifty billion gold. Everyone in the Mi Clan knew about this.

“Well, do you know that these yearly five hundred beasts didn’t end up in the South Ridge Beast Valley, but instead, ended up in the stomach of Lord Chu!?” Tang Luo crossed his arms and said coldly.

“Impossible!!!” Mi Jing subconsciously wanted to refute Tang Luo’s absurd claim, but then he felt Lord Chu, who was standing quietly by his side, shiver. This subtle change shocked him.

The crowd, upon hearing Tang Luo’s claim, was in an uproar. People’s eyes darted frantically between Tang Luo and Mi Chu. No one could believe this explanation.

“Preposterous! A spirit beast weighs several thousand pounds, are you implying Lord Chu does nothing but eat beast meat all day?”

“Exactly, five hundred spirit beasts amount to a total of fifty billion gold. Which noble family would spend such a fortune on a martial artist’s food!”

“Right, Lord Chu himself is only at the Mortal Realm, not even a Fierce Realm expert could afford such extravagance!”

“Right, Lord Chu!?”

The crowd’s discussion was incredibly heated, culminating in a forceful question directed at the silent Lord Chu. But the one most capable of refuting Tang Luo remained silent with his head lowered. His eerie behavior gave the once-confident crowd a jolt of unease.

Could it be… what Tang Luo said is true?

“Holy crap, it can’t be!!”

“An annual fifty billion gold????”

“Lord Chu has been transcending the Mortal Realm for ten years….”

“That means….”

“Five…five…five hundred billion gold?”

“Gulp”

A collective swallow could be heard, revealing the surprise among these young lords and ladies.

To them, ‘billion’ was the limit of resources they could access in their lifetime, and Lord Chu had consumed a staggering five hundred ‘billion’ in just ten years of shedding his mortality.

No wonder he was so powerful, no wonder his strength seemed overwhelming compared to others at the Mortal Realm.

In an instant, they began to understand certain things, like why they had to consume spiritual foods and precious herbs to enhance their bodies, while the other party needed to spend such vast resources.

Though Mi Chu still kept his eyes lowered, there was little difference between his silence and confirmation.

Even Tang Qian, who had been standing behind Tang Luo the entire time, was taken aback. In ancient times, a fearsome secret art required a vast amount of resources, just like how ancient divine beasts had an insatiable appetite. He wondered what unique trait Mi Chu possessed that justified such a massive investment from the Mi Family. An annual expense of fifty billion gold was enough to hire a Fierce-level squad.

Listening to the astonished chatter around him, Tang Luo remained calm. “As things stand now, the Mi Family has invested five hundred billion gold in Mi Chu. To break through to the Fierce Realm, it might take him fifteen to twenty years, which means the Mi Family will have to invest at least seven hundred and fifty billion to one trillion more. This, is the worth of the Pride of Xiling, Lord Chu!”

To cultivate a top martial artist, such colossal resources are needed. Ji Fu’s 5th grade Undying Body, Xu Lao Ying’s minor achievement in the Tongming Sword Body – these supreme secret arts aren’t something that can be achieved through cultivation alone. Only their families know how many resources were spent on just one of these secret arts, let alone others.

Take Tang Luo himself, his 5th-grade Undying Battle Body consumed around a million millennium-graded divine herbs and precious plants. Depending on the type, the price of each plant can range from a hundred thousand to a million. Just to advance the Undying Battle Body to the 4th grade, Tang Luo had consumed a trillion in resources.

So, the reason he could thrash Mi Chu was not because he was much superior than Mi Chu, the Pride of Xiling but rather because the resources he had consumed were twice as much!

And the disparity in combat power resulted from twice the resources was enough to overpower Mi Chu.

This is the main reason why ordinary martial artists can only dream of reaching the level of top martial artists.

Because for ordinary martial artists, even if a trillion resources were piled in front of them for the taking, their enhancement in combat power would still be limited, let alone fully utilizing such a vast amount of resources. But, Mi Chu was different.

What does it mean to be a genius?

For noble families, there’s only one standard for a genius.

If you can continuously convert resources into combat power, you are a genius!

“So, do you still think that it’s unreasonable forme to mark the price of Mi Chu’s life at one trillion?” With a cold smile at the corners of his mouth, Tang Luo asked Mi Jing, whose face was as pale as death.

Mi Jing’s face turned an ashen color. He was just an ordinary martial artist. Although he had a large reputation, he knew it was just because he had learned a few secret arts. If it weren’t for Tang Luo’s revelation today, he would not have known that such a massive cost was required to cultivate a top martial artist.

He thought that spending a hundred billion resources to break through to the Fierce Realm was already an impressive achievement, but looking at Mi Chu who had already used five hundred billion at twenty-five, he felt a deep sense of pressure.

Because with this information now known to the public, no one would think that the price of one trillion gold was unreasonable. After all, the Mi Clan had already invested five hundred billion in him and continued to do so. The flippant price of one trillion gold now seemed well-reasoned and convincing. This put Mi Chu’s side in an unprecedented passive position.

Because Tang Qian, who had always maintained a blank expression, was now showing a murderous intent. His spirit soul was firmly locked onto Mi Jing, none of his moves escaping his gaze!

If Tang Qian, the Martial Ancestor, felt that Tang Luo was bluffing just now, he had now completely understood the implications – wasn’t Mi Chu’s life worth one trillion?

Any martial artist in whom such a tremendous amount of resources were invested, wouldn’t be done so without careful consideration by the astute Mi Clan. Today, either they pay a ransom of one trillion gold, or leave Mi Chu’s life behind.

Mi Jing felt the intense killing intent directed at him and inwardly lamented his situation. They knew that his old rival was fully on guard and would attack at the slightest sign of activity from them. While he himself could protect Mi Chu, he definitely couldn’t escape with Jiang Lin, let alone safely take him away.

The only problem now was that Mi Chu was too weak to withstand the power of the Xuanji Jade, otherwise he could have used the Xuanji Jade to teleport away.