Elven cultivators

Chapter 113 The Elven Ruler, the Demon Within

"How so?"

Anton was greatly encouraged.

"I asked a friend, and the annual production of Moon Essence Elixir is limited. The Jadeite Royal Court doesn't easily distribute it to outsiders, unless..."

At this point, the Grand Elder's expression became somewhat subtle. "Unless the Silver Moon Clan is willing to become a vassal of the Emerald Court, then the Emerald Court will be willing to give us a small amount of Moon Essence Elixir in exchange for each year."

The Emerald Court is the elven power that established the City of Ten Thousand Trees.

It is the largest and most powerful elven clan on the Dawn Continent, without exception.

"A vassal state?" Anton asked, somewhat surprised. "Like Dragon City?"

"No." The Grand Elder shook his head. "We are not required to pay any tribute. On the contrary, we are allowed to open up trade routes to the City of Ten Thousand Trees and trade with the Emerald Court. The only requirement is that we recognize the Emerald Court as the royal family of the Elven race and respond to the court's call to participate in war when necessary."

Anton's expression shifted, and he asked, "Besides our clan, the Emerald Court must have offered similar conditions to other clans, right?"

"That's right." The Grand Elder nodded slightly. "It is said that the Emerald Court has sent many delegations to various parts of the continent to make contact with various elven clans."

Anton understood.

In other words, the Emerald Court wants to become the overlord of the Elven race and the supreme leader recognized by all Elven clans on the Dawn Continent.

As for the purpose...

Anton had a vague suspicion in his mind.

The Jade Court has likely already learned of the changes that have occurred in the Dragon Court.

After all, if the Silvermoon Clan can investigate something, the Emerald Court can certainly do the same, and may even have more detailed intelligence.

Although it's unclear how much the Jade Court knows about the whole affair, their restless intentions are obvious.

The first step was to secretly unite with elven clans in various regions.

By becoming the nominal supreme leader of the Elven race, one can, to a certain extent, control the Elven forces across the entire continent.

If the Dragon Court doesn't give them a chance in the future, then so be it. But if they reveal a weakness, the Jade Royal Court will definitely not hesitate to draw its sharpened blade and deliver a fatal blow.

In fact, in Anton's memory, the future Jade Court did indeed do just that.

And it's not just the Jade Court.

The top powers of the four major races—dwarves, orcs, humans, and sea creatures—have likely already noticed something amiss and are secretly sharpening their knives.

The surface of the Dawn Continent may appear calm on the surface, but beneath lies a turbulent undercurrent.

However, none of this concerns Anton for the time being.

To step out of the chessboard and become a player who wields the pieces, one must at least reach the Legendary rank.

He doesn't have that power yet, so thinking about it is pointless.

"What do the elders think?" Anton asked.

The three elders exchanged glances, and finally the eldest elder said, "We intend to agree to the Emerald Court's conditions."

The Third Elder quickly added, "Anyway, it's just a title, we don't have to pay any price, and there are even benefits, so we won't lose out by agreeing."

"That makes sense." Anton nodded slightly.

By simply giving up a title, they could establish a trade partnership with the City of Ten Thousand Trees and even trade Moon Essence Elixir. For them, the benefits certainly outweighed the drawbacks.

Even if they acknowledge the Emerald Court as the overlord of the Elven race, it does not mean they must unconditionally obey the latter's orders.

It's fine to offer free and easy things like waving flags and cheering, but if it comes at a significant cost, the Silvermoon Clan certainly won't agree.

The same must have been true for other clans.

Of course, if the Emerald Court is willing to offer sufficient benefits, the many Elven clans will not resist the order.

In truth, the title of the sovereign of the Elven race can only truly be effective if it is backed by profound foundations and formidable strength.

Otherwise, it would just be all show and no substance.

Of all the elves on the entire continent of Dawn, only the Emerald Court has this qualification.

"In that case, I will reply to the Jade Court later and agree to their conditions."

The Grand Elder made the decision.

"The Jade Court should send a delegation to sign an agreement later, and then we can talk to them about the Moon Essence Elixir."

After finishing their business, the three elders did not keep Anton any longer, but told him to go back and rest.

Back in the treehouse, Anton quickly washed up, changed into clean clothes, and then began to tally up his gains from the trip.

First, there are various ores.

Mithril, Ghost Mushroom Copper, Skull-Weeping Gold, Abyss Silver, Dull Iron... all sorts of ores, big and small, almost filled half the space of the dimensional ring.

Anton roughly estimated that these rare metals were enough for him to forge another five or six hundred elite soldiers.

The prerequisite is that the supply of magic cores can keep up.

In addition, these metal ores need to be smelted.

However, Anton intended to entrust this task to the elves of his tribe, bypassing the dwarves.

Leaving aside other rare minerals, the origin of mithril is difficult to explain.

It is not advisable to let the dwarves know about the existence of the mithril vein at this time.

Secondly, there are various materials.

Blood moss, dark mushroom, ghostly crystal, shadow root grass... these were all found in the most remote corners.

In addition, there were the corpses of hundreds of subterranean creatures.

Anton planned to process it when he had some free time, saving it as materials for future weapon crafting and alchemy.

Finally, there was the corpse of the Mind Flayer.

Anton counted them; there were a total of 237 bodies.

This includes a high-ranking Mind Flayer at the peak of the Gold rank, and twelve slightly lower-ranking Mind Flayers at the Gold rank.

In the Dawn Continent, the bodies of Mind Flayers are themselves precious alchemical materials.

Their skin can be used to make resistant leather armor, their tentacles are the core material for making mind protection items, and their brains are rare raw materials for making certain advanced potions.

The mind flayers' reproductive and survival methods endow their brains with unique properties.

They are psychic beings with highly developed brains, and they like to devour the brains of intelligent beings. After millions of years of evolution, their brains have developed a mental energy processing capacity that far exceeds that of most intelligent beings.

The brain of an adult Mind Flayer has mental activity that is dozens or even hundreds of times greater than that of an ordinary human brain.

In addition, it has the properties of amplifying spiritual energy and storing large amounts of spiritual energy.

It is precisely because of these characteristics that the mind flayer's brain becomes an excellent material for making psychoactive drugs.

"In life, he liked to devour the brains of other intelligent beings. After death, his brain was used as material. It can be considered a cycle of cause and effect."

Anton sighed, then a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

The characteristics of the Mind Flayer's brain reminded him of a material called Nightmare Jade.

Nightmare Jade is a rare type of jade that originates from the underworld or the abyss of extreme yin.

It needs to be placed in a place where many living beings have perished and resentment has gathered, and be imbued with yin energy for hundreds of years before it can solidify into jade.

It naturally possesses the ability to "amplify" and "manifest" thoughts and emotions, and can arouse the obsessions, fears, regrets, etc. deep in the hearts of cultivators, amplifying them and manifesting them as illusions.

Therefore, Nightmare Jade is often used to set up illusionary formations or to refine hallucinogenic potions.

But one of its more widely known uses is for crafting the Heart Demon Spell.

When Foundation Establishment cultivators condense the most advanced Grade One Golden Core, they often trigger inner demons and tribulations. They must see through illusions and achieve inner peace in order to successfully condense the core.

For most cultivators, the tribulation of inner demons is even more dangerous than the condensation of the core itself.

After all, the process of condensing the core tests one's aptitude, cultivation accumulation, and resources. There are patterns to follow. As long as one has sufficient resources, a superior cultivation method, and is supplemented by the Core Formation Pill, one has a 70-80% chance of successfully condensing the core.

The inner demon tribulation tests the most hidden flaws in one's Dao heart, nature, and soul. It is impossible to prepare for or take shortcuts. The inner demon is born from you and knows you best. What you fear will come to pass, and what you cling to will become what you are attached to. If you are not careful, you will be trapped in the illusion forever, and even with the highest cultivation, you will be powerless to turn back.

Many exceptionally talented cultivators, with sufficient cultivation and abundant elixirs, still succumb to the tribulation of inner demons.

It's not that we lack the ability, but rather that our mindset is not right and we haven't been tempered enough.

The Heart Demon Suppressant is an auxiliary elixir created to solve this problem.

Its core effect is to amplify the obsessions and emotions deep within a cultivator's heart, triggering a controllable, low-intensity simulated inner demon tribulation in advance, allowing the cultivator to personally experience the various changes of the inner demon without any worries, tempering their Dao heart, and filling in any gaps in their understanding.

When the time for condensing the elixir arrives, one's state of mind will be perfect, and with sufficient experience, overcoming the tribulation of inner demons will be a natural and effortless task.

To train soldiers, first train the generals; to overcome tribulations, first train the mind.

This is the significance of the existence of the Inner Demon.

Anton's goal is to condense a first-grade golden core, and the inner demon tribulation is a hurdle he must overcome.

He had considered using the Inner Demon to temper his Dao Heart in advance, but he couldn't find any materials to replace the Nightmare Soul Jade, so he had to put it aside for the time being.

But now it seems there's a solution to this problem.

"If we can use the Mind-Stealing Demon's brain to refine the Mind-Stealing Demon Guide, the success rate of condensing cores in the future will be greatly improved."

Anton quickly made up his mind.

Looks like I'll need to find some time to study the Heart Demon Induction technique next.

After taking stock of all the spoils, Anton nodded in satisfaction.

Having acquired so many resources in just three days in the Underdark, it's fair to say that the Underdark is indeed a treasure trove... at least for him.

"I've plundered all the mines around the Mind Flayer City-State. I won't get enough ore in the short term, so I'll leave it for a while."

Anton decided to go down into the Underdark every now and then to reap some rewards.

"And the military outposts of the Dragon Fang defense line haven't been attacked for two years either. Let's take this opportunity to make an move."

"We'll need to go hunting every now and then, and we can also earn some contribution points from the Meteor Dragon Society to exchange for resources."

Anton suddenly had the illusion that he was playing a dungeon in a game.

He was like a player, running back and forth between the Underdark and the Surface World to collect resources and improve his strength.

The surface world's boss is Kreisor Dragon City, and the final boss is Dragon Court.

The boss of the Underdark is the Mind Flayer City-State, and the final boss...

Anton suddenly remembered something.

Dragon Court established Dragon Cities throughout the Dawn Continent, even in the deep sea.

But there's one thing missing.

That is the Underdark.

The reasons are different.

But only Anton knew that the real reason was the existence of an ancient creature called the Abomination in the Underdark.

Historically, evil remained dormant until the rise of the gods, when it would awaken and begin to wreak havoc on the Underdark.

Even a powerful dragon god is extremely wary of the existence of evil beings.

They even went so far as to strictly forbid the Dragon Court from entering the Dark Territory, for fear of waking the evil from its slumber.

This is precisely why the Underdark is the only region that does not suffer from the exploitation and oppression of the dragons.

Of course, given the extremely harsh living conditions in the Underdark, it makes no difference whether or not there is the oppression of the dragons.

Perhaps even the dragons themselves don't want to suffer in the Underdark.