All Chapters of Astral Ascendant: My Goldfinger's Forte is Deception: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
43 chapters
Breakthrough to One-Star
Simultaneously, the spiritual energy in th surrounding stirred and became attracted to Zhao Fao's body.Previously, Zhao Fao had sense the spiritual particles in the atmosphere but lacked the 'organ' to devour them. Now, his circulation of the Mist Galaxy Refinement Art became the key to finally absorbing the spirit particles into his body.Every second, strands of Astral Qi equivalent to consuming Astral Brew Pills drilled into his body at a steady pace. Zhao Fao slowly got lost in this state and only had the galaxy in his mind eye, no longer paying attention to the progressive increase in the spiritual energy in his body.The One-star realm primarily tempered the body and spiritualized the acupoints to serve as temporary reservoirs of astral Qi. For this reason, it was also known as the Astral Body Realm.With the absorbtion intensity of the Mist Galaxy Refinement Art, it would take about three months before Zhao Fao devoured enough Astral Qi to breakthrough the mortal limit and bec
Core Functions Unlocked
"It's a pretty good function!" Zhao Fao mused. As long as he had enough Exchange Points, he could set conditions to tweak reality and get anything he wanted. Overall, it matched perfectly with the reality-deception ability that the Ultimate Deception System hinted earlier."As for the other functions.... Permanent Personas and Mission Optimization." Zhao Fao requested for additional details and got the gist.For the former, he had actually inadvertently met a criteria previously and condensed one such Persona, a Divine Ape Spawn. Due to his infiltration disguise being extremely perfect and in sync with the fate trajectory of the Ironlimbed Ape, he condensed a real Divine Ape Child that he could transform to anytime at will.Unlike the beast created by the Mirror Beast Talisman, this Divine Ape Child was capable of true demonic cultivation and even possessed mystical abilities in line with the intrinsic skills associated with its appearance. In this case, the effect of the Divine Alch
Joining a Department
At the end of the day, Zhao Fao chose to join the Spirit Refinement Department.His reason was a bit weird. In those novels, the coolest MCs were the ones that joined the bottom peaks and elevated their standing. He wanted to be just like that, bringing the department all the way to peak status with his majestic coolness.When Su Jie and Ling Xue heard his reason, they weren't very surprised. It appeared Zhao Fao's unique thought process wasn't very strange to them by now."I'll be joining the Swordsman Department. Let's see who gets a massive strength boost first, you or me!" Su Jie smiled meaningfully at Zhao Fao.Ling Xue felt she was being ignored and spoke loudly, "I'll be joining the Mystic Allure Peak."Zhao Fao recalled the description of the department and frowned. Wasn't that the department that had inheritances on the sensual applications of spiritual energy?In short, it was the equivalent of the Yin-Yang Sect from ancient times! Ling Xue was a prideful young lady, so it w
Budding Conflict
Zhao Fao was both discombobulated and incensed.For one, he had assumed this was a vengeance case triggered by the unfortunate Forest Zone 346 incident. Perhaps, one of the students had a brother or sister in the school and consequently decided to confront him about the fishiness of the situation or thereabout.But no, that wasn't the case. Instead, it was this tall hunk who was here to claim his sovereignity over beauty rankings.Zhao Fao strained his head higher and said bluntly, "The ranking did not lie. You are indeed several cuts below my level."Tian Shi–or Boss Tian as he was referred to by his minions–almost choked on the gum he was chewing with reckless abandon. After coughing it out in one swift motion, he stooped a bit to meet Zhao Fao at eye level."Here's the thing. I have a problem when anyone dares to be as good-looking as me.""I feel the same,"Zhao Fao was actually contemplating pummeling the irritating face as he spoke. After a disfigured jaw and swollen eyes, he wan
Spar
The same day, in an open field.Zhao Fao and Ji Jing stared at each other alertly. The former was bare fisted and posed a defensive stance while the latter had a longsword in her hand.Some metres away, Teacher Ji was closely observing the two."The winner will be determined by the first to land a solid hit to the other. You may begin now!"At the sound of his voice, both Zhao Fao and Ji Jing lunged forward at each other simultaneously.The sword in Ji Jing's hand seemed as light as a feather as it cut through the air towards Zhao Fao's neck.Meanwhile, Zhao Fao seemed unbothered as he shifted his wait and pressed down with his feet towards the earth.With one explosive leap......He jumped right into the air in a diagonal parabola and soon appeared above her head.Ji Jing felt her vision blur in a split second and suddenly saw a big shoe inching close to her head. An oddly familiar stench of moist socks pervaded her breathing space at the same time, causing her expression to turn irr
Oscillating Resonant Acupoint Technique
"I'll teach you the Spirit Refinement Department's Oscillating Resonant Acupoint Technique now. According to the school rules, you should exchange for it yourself, so I'll register my impartation as an overdraft you will settle later."Teacher Ji did not wait for Zhao Fao's input and directly taught him the technique.Beside them, Ji Jing was not paying much attention. It was obvious that while she was a student of the department, her heart belonged elsewhere.Meanwhile, Zhao Fao assimilated the lesson attentively.Although he already grasped the method to oscillate Astral Qi in battle earlier, it was far lacking compared to the real orthodox technique.The Oscillating Resonant Acupoint Technique wasn't hard to grasp, especially when one had an excellent foundation. Zhao Fao soon entered the threshold of the method based on his rough understanding and started to refine his circulation of the technique.Teacher Ji exhaled and looked away from Zhao Fao who had his eyes closed and addres
Greenleaf Spirit Village
Of course, Zhao Fao had no way of knowing that he had just incurred some trouble unintentionally after taking on the mission originally eyed by someone else.At this moment, he took a teleportation array directly to Greenleaf Spirit Village. It only cost him a few Spirit Stones.Once again, he enjoyed the novelty of travelling in a spatial vortex.When his vision cleared, Zhao Fao found himself in a farm.The air was very fragrant and the Spirit energy in the atmosphere was quite concentrated. As far as he could see, there were rows upon rows of spirit plants growing in all direction.With the sun setting, an ethereal glow was cast over the farm, forming a picturesque scene. Zhao Fao's heart stirred and he impulsively started performing the moves of the Basic Fitness Method.Subconsciously, he also integrated the pressure field of the Oscillating Resonant Acupoint Technique into his strikes, causing the spirit plants around him to sway out of place.His insights grew rapidly under the
Hidden Master
Zhao Fao stifled the vengeful ire in his heart and suddenly asked the old man, "How many people do you have working on the farm?"The old man seemed startled at first as the implication of Zhao Fao's words settled in his mind. He shook his head without hesitation, "It has nothing to do with any of my people for sure."Zhao Fao shook his head too, more out of exasperation than anything, "I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm just asking a question."The old man eyed him suspiciously for a bit, "Well, there are only a couple of labourers on the farm. With the Immortal methods at our disposal, a lot of tedious mechanical work can be substituted easily. Take manual seed dispersal for example, activating a Wind Spell Talisman is usually enough to..""It's alright, that's enough," Zhao Fao massaged his temples. "Just call out the workers, I'd like to see them."A moment later, he gazed intently at the fourteen robust men dressed in farm wear. Despite their burly builds, they did not look
Bewitchment
Immediately, Zhao Fao panicked and called the system in his mind.However, the system was quiet for the first time ever and did not heed his call for some unknown reason. Only the memory of the earlier mission notification remained.Zhao Fao finally realized a key clue as he pondered over the mission again and again. He noticed the portion of the prompt which specified that he had to 'uncover the mystery of the spirit farm without aid'.'To think this is my first active system mission!' Zhao Fao grumbled in distate. Compared to the demo mission from earlier where he had the system shop open with all sorts of useful resources to utilize, it seemed he had to solely depend on himself this time.This meant that the system shop would be closed during this period, and he couldn't even utilize Deception Slate to tweak the occurrence of events to his advantage either. Zhao Fao attempted to transform into his Divine Ape Child form and realized the option still existed though, but he hurriedly
Collateral Genocide
*****Far away from Zhao Fao's location, somewhere in the number one sect in the world, a tall lady donned in dazzling apparel and expensive-looking jewels shifted her 'loving' gaze from the middle-aged man in front of her and frowned slightly.In her mind, the 'Mother Seal' as she and other 'blessed' called it suddenly manifested and was projecting a scene. It was that of Zhao Fao resisting the branding force of the Spirit Imprint.Subconsciously, Zhao Fao had shifted to his Divine Ape Form during the struggle, so the tall lady and countless others viewing the scene did not see his true features. None of them actually questioned why the 'Mother Seal' was bestowing 'grace' to a beast but were more incensed at something else."What the hell is this creature, daring to refuse the favour of Mother?""Of the seven hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred and ten of us, none of us put up any resistance when Mother found us and bestowed us grace!""Damn it. If not for the fact that Mother