Chapter 240: Chapter 156: Middle Tier Crystal Stone; Royal Family Intelligence

Evening fell, and the sky began to darken.

In their main hall.

The family had just finished dinner when the little girl scampered off to play with the other children.

Perhaps she knew her big brother was very busy, or maybe her mother had taught her, but she wasn’t as clingy with Cheng Zongyang anymore.

Cheng Zongyang felt a little helpless about it, but he was also happy to see the girl playing more with children her own age. Even though she was only four, she spoke and walked with confidence.

As for Cheng Zongliang’s behavior, it was quite a surprise.

He had actually gone back to his room to study!

"Mom, what’s going on?"

In the kitchen, Cheng Zongyang asked his mother curiously.

Mrs. Zhou of the Cheng Family smiled. "Your father lectured him a few days ago. He told him that as one of only two male heirs in the Cheng Family, he couldn’t be so irresponsible and would have to help you with things in the future. After that, he started acting like this."

Cheng Zongyang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he didn’t try to stop him.

Just as his father had said, the Cheng Family had few male heirs. In the future, regardless of whether he was in charge or not, his younger brother was destined to be more than a mediocre man. Unless, of course, he could have several capable sons of his own—a classic case of the sons making up for the father’s shortcomings.

He had the Wilderness World, so he was destined to be unable to handle the clan’s affairs forever.

He would get married, have children, and expand the family line, but who would be chosen as the Clan Leader for the second or even third generation was a decision for the future. After all, his father was still young.

However, the disciples of the Cheng and Zhou Families all had the Foundation Establishment Medicine Bath, so it was guaranteed that their future achievements in Martial Arts would not be low.

Cheng Guanghai didn’t stay long after dinner and left to handle more matters. Cheng Zongyang didn’t stay idle either. He turned and headed for the mountains, preparing to enter the Wilderness World for a look.

——

[Your trade request has been completed. Please check it yourself.]

——

The moment he appeared, the sudden notification brought a look of joy to Cheng Zongyang’s face, and he quickly looked toward the counter.

Sure enough, resting on the counter were three relatively round, thumb-sized red Crystal Stones!

At 1,400 Points per Crystal Stone, Cheng Zongyang was more than willing to pay the price. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the note he had left or some other reason, but all that mattered was that he’d managed to buy them.

He hurried over, picked one up to examine it, and information about it immediately appeared.

——

[Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone]

Description: A special Crystal Stone from the Valley of the Dead in the Wilderness World. It automatically condenses and collects Souls within a two-hundred-meter radius. When it has collected enough Souls, the Crystal Stone will light up and can release a complete Soul. When the Soul is released, it will inherit and merge with one of the collected memories, condense a physical body, and become the Soul Slave of its releaser, offering absolute obedience.

Special: When the Soul Slave condenses its physical body, the releaser can shape its appearance and grant it 20 Four-dimensional Attribute Points. These points can be allocated to one of the four Attributes—Body, Spirit, Strength, or Agility—and cannot be changed or increased afterward.

Restriction: The Soul Slave can only operate within the Wilderness World. The Skills copied by a Soul Slave condensed from a Middle Tier Crystal Stone can be upgraded.

Progress: 0/2000

Quantity: 1 (piece)

Points: 1200

——

Looking at the description of the Middle Tier Grade Soul Crystal Stone, Cheng Zongyang carefully read through it and understood the differences.

First, the absorption range had expanded. A Low Tier Soul Crystal Stone had a hundred-meter range, while a Middle Tier one had a two-hundred-meter range. This vastly increased the collection area, despite the radius only increasing by fifty meters.

Second, it granted an additional 10 Attribute Points, although they still couldn’t be changed or increased later.

Third, for a Soul Slave created from a Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone, any Skills it copied from him could be upgraded!

Fourth, the Soul collection progress requirement had increased by 1,000 points.

But relatively speaking, Cheng Zongyang felt the third point was the most important!

Compared to a Soul Slave created from a Low Tier Soul Crystal Stone, a Middle Tier Soul Slave naturally had far more potential.

However, he didn’t have many Skills—other than his Specialized Level Archery, there was only Medicine.

His Soul Slaves could learn Medicine, but he didn’t need too many of them to do so. Therefore, he needed to acquire other Skills.

Only then could he maximize the potential of the Middle Tier Soul Slaves.

’I should use this time to learn a few more crafts. As long as I reach the Beginner level, the Soul Slaves can improve on their own.’

He looked at the Soul Crystal Stone again to use it, and another prompt appeared.

However, when he saw that the required number of corpses had also changed, he was speechless.

"It actually needs three corpses!"

With this, one of the Soul Crystal Stones would have to be set aside.

Not dwelling on what was already set in stone, Cheng Zongyang could only put them away for now. He would take them to the Chaotic Burial Mound to slowly collect Souls when he delivered the rice seedlings to the County Town in a few days.

Now that he had the Soul Crystal Stones, Cheng Zongyang prepared to go check on the cave to make sure there were no surprises.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the mouth of the cave with a lit torch.

Sounds of arguing came from within, likely caused by their inability to get out.

Cheng Zongyang wasn’t in a hurry to enter. ’They’re alive, so they won’t be looking for death.’ Hearing the loudness of their voices proved they were in decent spirits. It was just that their limbs were crippled; they couldn’t even think about walking or fighting right now.

He had originally planned to ignore them for the time being, but then he thought of the Thirteen Royal Families. It seemed only they would know more about that.

With that, Cheng Zongyang took his torch and walked inside.

Perhaps hearing the footsteps from outside the cave, the voices of the six people inside abruptly stopped, replaced by a series of sharp shouts:

"Who is it?"

"Who goes there?"

"What kind of scoundrel dares to... MMPH MMPH MMPH!"

As it turned out, one of them was cut off mid-sentence, and only muffled sounds could be heard as someone covered his mouth.

A smile on his face, Cheng Zongyang walked to the end of the cave and raised his torch high. In the faint light, he could see the six of them huddled together. Two of them were clamping their hands over another’s mouth, their faces filled with vigilance.