Celestial Taoist

Chapter 39 Universal Core Shield

Those Dao Foundation Realm figures hidden in the shadows, having lost the support of the slime monster, began to solidify, unable to hide any longer, and were forced to reveal themselves one by one, their surrounding black mist constantly dissipating.

Seeing this, Li Mofan's eyes flashed with wild joy, knowing he had made the right bet! "Huo Di, well done!" Without further hesitation, his spiritual power erupted once more, and several merciless swords rained down, accurately striking the black shadows that were gradually revealing themselves. Without the cover of the shadowy figures and without the support of the slime monster, these black shadows, struck by the merciless swords, all turned into black mist and dissipated, without even a chance to resist.

In the blink of an eye, the remaining shadows were completely wiped out. Only a few scattered flames burned on the battlefield, and no more slime monsters emerged from the ground. The flames surrounding Huo Di dimmed completely, and he collapsed to the ground as a weakened figure, his breath faint, yet still carrying a faint smile: "It...it's done..."

Li Mofan hurriedly floated down to Huo Di's side to check his injuries. Seeing that he had only exhausted his bloodline essence and was not in mortal danger, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. Huo Di had put in a lot of effort this time, and if he died like this, he would feel a little guilty.

No new monsters appeared on the ground. Taking advantage of this rare free time, Li Mofan quickly bandaged his still-bleeding wound, sat down to regulate his breathing, and felt completely unsafe due to his depleted spiritual energy.

As he meditated, the remaining wisps of black mist dissipated, replaced by fresh air. The environment returned to what it was before the mission began. Once the black mist had completely dissipated, Li Mofan finally received a system notification.

[Mission Completed] [You have been promoted to Junior Talented Individual]

[Rewards for completing the mission will be distributed upon your return.]

He gathered the little spiritual energy he had just recovered under his feet and flew straight towards the portal he had come from. This unexpected assignment as a sinner left Li Mofan feeling choked up. It seemed that someone was targeting him again, and he didn't want to stay in this place any longer! The Heavenly Punishment World was much safer than this secret realm.

The middle-aged man who led the group was still standing in front of the portal. To be honest, Li Mofan had only been inside the portal for a little over an hour.

Seeing Li Mofan emerge from the portal, the man's surprise was palpable. He immediately stood up, a friendly smile on his face.

"Young man, impressive skill!" The middle-aged man's voice was steady and powerful. His gaze swept over Li Mofan, and his tone became more earnest. "You broke through the Sinner's Trial Realm in just over an hour. This level of skill is unique among sinners."

Li Mofan paused, calmly looking at him without replying. He harbored resentment towards everything about this trial, let alone the leader of this inexplicable mission. Seeing this, the middle-aged man wasn't annoyed. He slowly withdrew the spiritual light around him and softened his tone, saying, "My name is Wang Guangyao. I'm a resident leader of secret realm missions. I have a small team under me, all of whom are beginner-level talents with similar strength to you. If you're willing to join my team, I can prioritize arranging safe secret realm missions for you in the future. Even if you're a criminal, I can find a way to arrange low-difficulty secret realm missions for you."

These words silenced Li Mofan. He wasn't a sinner; entering this trial seemed more like a meticulously planned scheme. Besides, although Su Qingyao's temperament was unpredictable, the fact that she could unleash the strength of a Dao Fruit at the Foundation Establishment stage meant she was no ordinary person, and he had no intention of leaving her Qinglan Squad for the time being.

As Wang Guangyao spoke, he handed over a token engraved with a lion pattern. The token emitted a faint spiritual energy fluctuation. Seeing that Li Mofan did not reply, he continued, "This is the team token. With this, no one will dare to easily harm you in the secret realm. You don't need to answer in time. You can contact me through the token whenever you've thought it through."

Although he had decided not to join, Li Mofan still did not refuse. He took the token and cupped his hands, saying, "I am Li Mofan. Thank you, team leader. I will consider joining the team carefully when I get back."

After saying goodbye to Wang Guangyao, he returned to his residence and accepted the mission reward.

After taking a short breath, his doorbell rang. When he opened the door, he saw a tall young man dressed in white gold-plated mecha armor with a scale-like waist belt.

A surge of cyan spiritual energy erupted from the young man's hand, and a package the size of a human head appeared, clearly belonging to the person delivering the mission rewards.

This young man seemed to be quite capable, so the mission reward would probably be good too. Li Mofan quickly took the package, went back to his room and opened it. Inside the box of unknown synthetic materials, there was a palm-sized breastplate lying quietly.

Defensive equipment? No, Li Mofan connected to the quantum computer interface.

【Universal Meta-Shield】

[Whether to bind]

Focusing my mind on the name of the equipment, the computer displayed a series of information, a brief description of the equipment:

The Universal Core Shield, produced by Yaohe Industrial, a subsidiary of Tianfa Technology, is an energy storage device that can store a total of 3000 points of energy. Different types of energy cannot be stored together.

According to the unified measurement of energy in the Heavenly Punishment System, 1 point of energy corresponds to 1 point of spiritual power or 1 point of magical power.

In other words, this energy storage device can store 3000 points of spiritual power, which is twice the maximum spiritual power storage capacity of Li Mofan himself. With this device, he will no longer be embarrassed by insufficient spiritual energy when doing missions in the future. 3000 points plus his own nearly 1500 points of spiritual power are enough to unleash more than twenty Amorous Swords. The loss of universal energy is negligible, and each Amorous Sword only needs to incorporate a tiny amount of universal energy to exert its normal power.

However, having storage equipment does not mean that it is meaningless to push one's spiritual power limit through breathing exercises. It is said that when one forms a Dao Fruit, the upper limit of one's spiritual power is extremely important.

There's no rush to bind the universal elemental shield and store one's own spiritual power, since the spiritual power consumed in the secret realm hasn't been fully recovered yet.

Then he opened the Heavenly Punishment System. After advancing to the level of a beginner talent, his quantum computer interface had an additional guide in addition to the personal panel, missions, shop, and team.

With his mind focused on the new function, he felt countless streams of information. After a simple filtering, he received information about the early stages of a Taoist's cultivation.

The above list outlines the basic information about a Taoist's cultivation before achieving the Dao Fruit. First, there are those who have not yet entered the realm of talent. They can choose different cultivation paths based on their own talents. However, both Taoist talents and mechanics are professions that cannot cultivate other talents simultaneously.

There are many methods for Taoists to form a Dao foundation, which can be broadly divided into four schools: Body, Vessel, Elixir, and Spirit. However, the general principles are similar, all of which refine all the extraordinary potential of the gifted individual into a unique Dao foundation based on their spiritual root.

Li Mofan realized that he and Su Qingyao should belong to the "Weapon" school. However, the four schools of Dao Foundation all lead to the same goal, and their impact on forming the Dao Fruit is almost identical.