C4 Birdman
"You're too late! You've forced my hand, and now it's going to take a thousand red crystals to smooth things over," the man in the embroidered robe said with a menacing tone.
"Damn, this guy has no shame!" Xu Tianzhi inwardly cursed, yet managed to conjure up a strained smile and said, "Senior brother, luck wasn't on our side this time. We only managed to unearth a little over eight hundred."
While speaking, Xu Tianzhi produced another pouch of red crystals from his storage ring.
"Ha, you've seen what I'm capable of and you're finally playing nice!" The man in the embroidered robe let out a sinister laugh and advanced toward Xu Tianzhi.
As the distance between them closed, the embroidered-robed man reached out to snatch the bag of red crystals from Xu Tianzhi's grasp. At that moment, Xu Tianzhi's face subtly twitched.
A chilling blast burst forth from Xu Tianzhi's wrist, spraying directly at the man in the embroidered robe. The man was suddenly drenched in a frigid stream, the temperature plummeting to a bone-chilling minus one hundred degrees Celsius.
Martial arts had ten levels, but arrays only had nine since the first martial level, Guidance, served no practical purpose. The might of a third-level array was roughly equivalent to the power of a Foundation Establishment martial artist.
"You!" The man's eyes bulged with fury, but he quickly realized that the severe cold had rendered his limbs rigid. He barely managed to bend his knees in an attempt to jump away before becoming completely immobilized, his body swiftly encased in a thin layer of ice.
"Why resort to thievery when you could do anything else? And to think you're one of the Protoss," Xu Tianzhi chided, seizing the moment to kick the man in the embroidered robe to the side of the road.
If the fury in his eyes could be ignited, the heat from the embroidered-robed man's gaze would surely have melted the icy side effects enveloping him.
Under the man's incinerating stare, Xu Tianzhi's belt shimmered with a green light. Engraved with a Lightness Array, the belt enhanced Xu Tianzhi's speed significantly, allowing him to vanish from the scene in a flash.
Seven or eight seconds ticked by, and the man clad in the brocade robe began to stir. Being a member of the Protoss, his physique was naturally more robust than a mere mortal's. Coupled with the ceaseless flow of spiritual energy within him, he swiftly shook off the paralysis that had gripped him.
A mere ten seconds later, the man in the brocade robe was back to his usual self. Xu Tianzhi's burst of cold had only ensnared him momentarily—a few seconds at best.
By that point, however, Xu Tianzhi was nowhere to be seen.
"Xu Tianzhi, do you not realize that Hee Xiangjiu, the Elder of the Law Hall, is my father?" bellowed the man in the brocade robe, his voice thundering into the heavens and sending a flock of birds into a startled flight from the trees nearby.
...
Xu Tianzhi, of course, was out of earshot of the man's furious roar, having made his way to Condensed Jade Peak. The Heavenly Pavilion atop the peak was where Hero Sect disciples traded red crystals for Spirit Stones. Beyond the exchange, the pavilion also offered an array of materials for cultivation, though all transactions required Spirit Stones.
"Xu Tianzhi, I've heard you've been mining red crystals for three months and hit quite the jackpot, eh?" The accountant at the Heavenly Pavilion greeted him with a squint and an inquisitive tone as Xu Tianzhi walked in.
"Not too shabby—I've got 1,200," Xu Tianzhi replied, promptly producing a bag filled with the red crystals and setting it before the accountant.
Despite having unearthed over four thousand red crystals, Xu Tianzhi was all too aware of the perils of flaunting wealth. His past experiences with theft had taught him to keep his mining yields within reasonable bounds.
"Excellent, excellent," the accountant praised, and with Xu Tianzhi watching, he extended four hands—hands that were anything but human. Resembling bird claws more than anything, they lacked palms and ended in elongated, talon-like fingers. The accountant's lowly Protoss lineage was evident, his bloodline mingled with the divine, yet marked by the peculiar, non-human traits inherited from his ancestral gods.
According to widespread belief, the lower Protoss have impure ancestral god bloodlines, which is why they are born with various non-human traits. In contrast, ordinary Protoss are entirely human in form!
The accountant's bird-like claws are evidence that he hails from a birdman tribe!
The lower Protoss naturally possess certain advantages, with some even having divine powers from birth. However, their potential for cultivation is quite limited; they are typically born with a set ability and remain at that level.
In comparison, ordinary Protoss have the potential to reach near-ancestral god levels through dedicated cultivation!
Of course, this potential hinges on the individual's innate talent for cultivation and their commitment to rigorous training. Bloodline purity also plays a role.
The accountant's four bird claws worked swiftly, a clear advantage of his avian lineage. In just moments, he tallied the red crystals: "One thousand two hundred. Xu Tianzhi, would you like to exchange these for low, middle, or high-level Spirit Stones?"
A single red crystal could be traded for ten low-level Spirit Stones, which in turn could be exchanged for one middle-level Spirit Stone, and ten of those for one high-level Spirit Stone.
"Convert them into high-level Spirit Stones," Xu Tianzhi promptly responded. His storage ring was brimming with red crystals, and he was keen to conserve as much space as possible.
