"No wonder it took 10,000,000 spiritual power." Wang Linchi gazed at the Tree of Immortality's skeletal branches throughout the entire town, all turned to fine powder.

Two months ago, after fleeing the battle between the Black Dragon Envoy and Yan Ming King, Wang Linchi escaped to another remote town. Through research, he successfully developed a method to hatch eggs using a host.

Today, he successfully hatched the Ghost Pattern—Egg of the Guardian Spirit.

This Guardian Spirit indeed satisfied him. It had a particularly robust appearance, making it a perfect meat shield.

Its entire body was covered in Scale Armor, forming a full-body protective suit, and it stood almost two meters tall. Additionally, with its sharp claws and massive arms, it was definitely dominant in close combat.

It also integrated the two snakes from the Snake Bone Witch. However, these two snakes had undergone a mutation and no longer possessed their original attributes.

This appearance... it's somewhat like the Saint Master?

Mmm, an upgraded version of the Saint Master.

The original Saint Master was green and had a dragon's head. However, his Guardian Spirit was not green but white, seemingly due to the Tree of Immortality. Its head was a skull assembled from bones, without any real facial features.

'Guardian Spirit' feels a bit inappropriate. It's more like a Stand-in, isn't it? Wang Linchi had a whim and casually changed the Guardian Spirit's name.

[Stand-in Saint Master (Mythology Level)]

[Fruit of Longevity: All attributes +100%, resistance +100%, recovery power +100%. Damage reduction 50%.]

[Companion Twin Snakes: Possesses two well-coordinated companion snakes—the Green Snake with strong poison spell-casting ability and the Red Snake with powerful melee ability.]

[Blessing Protection: Accumulates a wisp of Blessing daily, forming protection and a Stabilize Luck effect on oneself. The effect's intensity depends on the amount of Blessing.]

[Protection Seal: If more than 1 meter away from the protected person, it forms a protective seal around them, rendering them completely immune to any external damage, attacks, or interference. The seal's strength depends on the protected person's spiritual power.]

[Soul Melting Poison: Attacks inflict simultaneous Soul, mental, spiritual, and cognitive quadruple damage, along with five additional layers of Toxins.]

[Diamond Indestructible: Physique +100%, physical strength +100%.]

[Unmatched Power: Strength +100%, physical strength +100%.]

[Wind Speed: Agility +100%, physical strength +100%.]

[Soul Absorption: Absorbs life force, soul, spirit, Luck, etc., from enemies to heal oneself. When Luck accumulates to a certain amount, it transforms into a wisp of Blessing.]

[Ghost God Qualification: Harmonizes one's own yin and yang and five elements. Can enhance one's potential capacity through Soul Absorption.]

Truthfully, Wang Linchi was somewhat overwhelmed by the Stand-in Saint Master's strength. Looking at all those 100% stat increases, he was at a loss for words.

More importantly, its grade was Mythology Level, the highest known so far, yet it could continue to improve through its last two abilities.

Of course, the ability that surprised Wang Linchi most was Blessing Protection. Originally, it consumed Blessings. But now, with the added Stabilize Luck effect, the amount of Blessing would only increase, never decrease. Regardless of whether he encountered situations of Turning Misfortune into Blessing or gained additional opportunities, it wouldn't decrease—unless there were attacks specifically targeting his Luck.

However, this also meant Wang Linchi could no longer rely on a decrease in Blessings to determine if danger was present.

The Stand-in Saint Master's initial strength was at the Mithril Level, and it should be able to reach the Gold Essence Level after a period of growth.

However, it wasn't without drawbacks. Wang Linchi himself was the Stand-in Saint Master's primary drawback.

Firstly, the Stand-in Saint Master lacked intelligence, possessing only the instinct to protect Wang Linchi and kill enemies. After all, its purpose was to be a bodyguard, so these were its only two functions.

Secondly, the Stand-in Saint Master and Wang Linchi shared attributes related to their Spirit, Mind, and Soul, meaning Wang Linchi was currently holding the Stand-in Saint Master back.

The Stand-in Saint Master possessed a strong physique and power that reached the Mithril Level, but its spiritual power was only slightly over 10,000. Luckily, it shared Wang Linchi's Soul Seed Effects. This increased the toughness, resistance, and immunity of the Stand-in Saint Master's Spirit, Mind, Soul, and Thought.

Looking at the current situation, it seems the Potential stat doesn't limit the development of Soul Resemblance, Wang Linchi thought, looking at the towering Stand-in Saint Master.

The Stand-in Saint Master's Ghost Pattern was now entrusted to the Book of Records. There was no need to worry about its death, as it could be restored through the Book of Records. Originally, it was on him, but Wang Linchi disliked tattoos, so he had transferred it to the Book of Records.

Thus, the cover of the Book of Records now featured not only the Nascent Soul cradling a Golden Core but also a depiction of it resting atop a Longevity Fruit crafted from white bone, forming a unique image.

The people of the Dajing Dynasty never really intended to invest in research. It's costly, time-consuming, and high-risk. More importantly, there's no guarantee of a return on investment. Those resources and time would be better spent on Cultivation for quicker improvements. That's why non-combat Awakeners hold such a low status.

Well, here comes another Gold Swallowing Beast. This is going to be tough to handle.

Wang Linchi mentally listed his various major expenses and felt the pressure mounting.

The Stand-in Saint Master needed to grow stronger, and that was impossible without his nurturing. For him, a mere Black Iron Level, to cultivate a Mithril Level being was truly asking too much.

For the Stand-in Saint Master to fully unleash its true power, I need to advance all the Soul Seeds on my body to the Mythology Level and quickly increase my own strength. Wang Linchi checked and noted that the Soul Seed Energy Diversion technique was already achieved.

During these past days, although he had spent most of his time concerned with the Stand-in Saint Master's incubation, aside from active research, much of that time was spent merely monitoring. This didn't require significant mental effort, so he had also continued his other research.

Now, all that remained was to complete the Soul Seeds' evolution, after which they would successfully ascend to become Legendary Level Soul Seeds.

Good. I'll take a couple of days' rest to evolve the Soul Seeds. After the Stand-in Saint Master completes its thorough initialization, I'll go find Yan Ming King and see if I can get a Mythology Level Soul Seed from him.

If I could get three... tsk, tsk... Wang Linchi thought, his hopes high. However, he didn't think it was very likely. He didn't believe Mythology Level Soul Seeds would be that easy to obtain. Yan Ming King likely had them, but he just might not be willing to give any to him.

Perfect. I can also create a few derivative Soul Skills from the Soul Seed Boiling Series. Wang Linchi felt he had to show some sincerity. Otherwise, just offering a new generation of Soul Seed Boiling wouldn't feel novel enough.

「Two more months passed in a flash.」

This was largely due to the lengthy period required for updates and upgrades.

Firstly, his four Soul Seeds ascended to the Legendary Level, gaining two new effect entries: Shield and Exemption.

Shield absorbed damage. Exemption, however, was one of Wang Linchi's true core abilities. It was a potent ability based on the four previously established entries: toughness, resistance, immunity, and Shield. As long as he successfully triggered Exemption against an opponent's attack or interference, he wouldn't be affected at all, essentially rendering him invincible to it. This meant that concerning his Mind, Soul, Spirit, and Thought, an opponent's attack would either overcome his Exemption and cause damage, or fail to overcome it, rendering the attack ineffective.

This potent entry was formed by building upon the four previous entries. The strength of Exemption naturally depended on the strength of his own four attributes (Mind, Soul, Spirit, and Thought). The higher these attributes, the stronger the Exemption. Furthermore, the amplification effect on himself from the previous four entries (toughness, resistance, immunity, Shield) and their weakening effect on external attacks, increased the Exemption's effectiveness by an additional 50%. An Exemption that could originally negate 50 points of attack strength could now negate 100 points after this enhancement.

The main reason was the difference in amplification effects between the Epic Level and Legendary Level. The former had a maximum boost of 20%, while the latter had a maximum of 50%. The four linked entries provided a 50% boost, and the Exemption entry itself contributed another 50%, so its effectiveness naturally doubled. Once it reached the Mythology Level, the Exemption strength could reach a 200% modifier, meaning it could go from negating 100 points to 200 points.

It's still my own weakness holding it back. No matter how high the percentage enhancements are, my base attributes are too low. Wang Linchi felt helpless. He had good Talent, yes, but his 'pool' was vast, meaning he required far more to advance.

Besides this, his two Soul Seed Pages had also reached Legendary Level, obtaining two new effects each.

Fanciful and Fickle gained Corrosion and Illusion, further amplifying its negative effects.

[Corrosion: Upon Impact, produces a corrosion effect, enhancing negative effects.]

[Illusion: Upon Impact, produces an illusion effect, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.]

Storage Space gained Enhanced Dimension and Enhanced Static. The former increased the layering of the storage space, while the latter provided preservation capabilities.

[Enhanced Dimension: Expands a single space into multiple independent storage sub-spaces, allowing for categorized storage of different item types.]

[Enhanced Static: Creates a stasis field within the space, preserving stored items and preventing their corrosion or decay.]

Only six months left. I should be qualified to make some significant gains now. Wang Linchi looked at the Stand-in Saint Master. With its help, even if I don't qualify to be a Chess Player, grabbing some leftover scraps and then making a run for it shouldn't be a problem.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.