My Synthesizer Has Talent

A Demon Fiend had appeared in the mining area.

The fiend before him was formed from a pile of dead mortals and Demon Beasts.

It was inside the Void Nether Stone Mine.

It seemed to possess some spatial abilities.

Its appearance was grotesque. The faces of Demon Beasts and humans were all mashed together, resembling a giant, crawling insect.

Each face let out a horrifying wail, their hollow eyes flickering as they pleaded for Su Qing to join their "family."

Su Qing unleashed his God Demon True Essence Flame and incinerated it, delivering them from their suffering.

It was reduced to ash that scattered throughout the mine.

’Things are getting more and more chaotic.’

Su Qing sighed.

In the past few days, a number of Tier One Demon Beasts had been killing people indiscriminately, and Su Qing had dealt with them.

Today, a Demon Fiend had appeared.

It was a sign that the times were growing troubled.

...

He spent the next ten days killing continuously.

Su Qing felt he had killed almost all of them. He regretted not studying Array Formation sooner; now, he couldn’t find a moment’s peace.

...

[Array Formation: Tier One (3/10,000)]

He immediately put his thoughts into action.

Su Qing had already read numerous entry-level books on Array Formation.

Relatively speaking, Array Formation was a bit more difficult than Alchemy.

Array Formation required memorizing a great deal, from the yin-yang transformations of the Five Elements to the spiritual affinity of the materials used.

Then there was the matter of the array’s orientation.

Each aspect was incredibly intricate.

[Unknown Tier One Top-Grade Array: The ultimate Tier One Defensive Array. Requires Yang Stone, Thunderstruck Jade... for construction. The array is purely yang-natured and isolates the majority of Yin Qi.]

The array Su Qing synthesized was the product of just two uses of his Evolution Talent.

A Tier One Top-Grade Array.

He extracted it and immediately put it to use.

Setting it up at the mine entrance solved half his problems.

This made life much easier for Su Qing.

’Arrays really are incredible. I feel like I could already form an array using just my Magical Power.’

’But for a long-lasting array, I’ll still need to use materials.’

A smile spread across Su Qing’s face.

As for Array Formation, it was a cinch.

——

——

"That Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Body from the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect... why hasn’t the Purple Thunder Mink returned yet? It’s been gone for so long."

"Who knows? He’s just a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Shouldn’t he have been easy to kill?"

"The plan was to search his soul *before* killing him!"

"Don’t tell me the Purple Thunder Mink got the Thunder Technique and just ran off with it?"

"Impossible. He swore an oath."

"Let’s send an inside agent to see if that True Inheritor is dead. That’ll clear things up."

"The three-month deadline has passed. I’d say the odds are against him."

Four Golden Core Realm experts from the Demon Race were conferring somewhere in the territory of the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect. Beside them lay the body of a freshly killed Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

"Send someone? Why don’t a few of us just go kill him ourselves? Even if that Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Body’s master is there, we have nothing to fear. We kill him and get out of the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect’s territory."

"Fine. What’s that human saying? Something about avoiding complications that arise from delays. We don’t want to alert our target."

"Exactly. Let’s go kill him quickly and get out of the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect’s lands."

"We of the Demon Race must obtain that Thunder Technique."

...

...

「Seven days later.」

Su Qing was leisurely reading a secret manual on Array Formation.

Suddenly, he stood up and flew far away from the mining area.

"Chase!"

...

Once he was a good distance from the mining area, Su Qing turned and saw three members of the Demon Race.

They were all in human form.

All at the Third Realm of strength.

In an instant, Su Qing’s Blade of Wholeness appeared and plunged into the Demon Core of the rearmost demon.

The Demon Core shattered instantly.

Just as a violent burst of energy was about to erupt from it...

...it vanished without a trace.

"What!"

"The Hidden Blood Bat... dead just like that?"

"Isn’t he supposed to be in the Foundation Establishment Realm?"

Something was very wrong.

Two male demons, one female demon.

Sensing that things had gone sideways, they tried to flee.

"I’m afraid the three of you can’t leave," Su Qing said with a faint smile, his tone placid.

Before the words had even faded.

His God Demon Illusion-Breaking Eye, Heaven-Soaring God and Demon, the Blade of Wholeness in his hand—his speed was peerless. Combined with his own power and the blade’s ability to shatter defenses, the three Demon Kings never stood a chance of escaping. He crippled the Inner Cores of all three demons, one impossibly precise sword strike for each.

Three strikes, and the three Demon Kings were utterly ruined.

Devouring!

He devoured all the energy within the three Demon Kings’ Inner Cores, increasing his own lifespan by several decades.

Four Demon Kings were now dead.

And Su Qing had killed them all with casual ease.

’Four Third Realm Demon Kings, but their bloodlines must not have been very strong.’

’Still, the energy from four of them should be equivalent to one Demon King with a powerful bloodline, right?’

Su Qing retracted his Blade of Wholeness.

He flew back to the mining area.

’An eventful year... a very eventful year.’

Su Qing sighed.

Spring had only just begun, yet so much had already happened. How could Su Qing not sigh?

’Why are there so many Third Realm Demon Kings?’

Su Qing truly didn’t understand.

’Why are they targeting me? Do I look that easy to kill?’

’How could anyone possibly kill the man I am today without being in the Divinity Transformation Realm?’

’How?’

’I’m asking you, how? It wouldn’t matter how many Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators they send!’

...

「The next day.」

Su Qing was lounging comfortably in a rattan chair when someone approached.

"Master, what brings you here?" Su Qing asked without getting up. He had already sensed Ouyang Mingming’s presence.

He opened his eyes, and sure enough, it was that familiar foxy face.

"You’re completely unharmed?" Ouyang Mingming asked, her expression full of suspicion.

Su Qing was rendered speechless. "Don’t tell me you were actually hoping something bad would happen to your disciple?"

"Yesterday, our sect’s Spirit Plant Garden was destroyed, as was the Spirit Medicine Garden. And the people at three Spirit Stone Veins were massacred."

"All of the Foundation Establishment Realm Inner Sect Disciples guarding those locations were killed."

"From the looks of it, they were utterly overwhelmed and killed, unable to put up any resistance."

"And yet you, the one guarding this Void Nether Stone Vein, are completely unscathed?"

Ouyang Mingming had rushed over the moment she heard the news today. Seeing her disciple just sunbathing filled her with a surge of frustration.

"What did you expect?"

"Go ask the miners. Did they say anything happened?"

"At most, we get a few minor demons now and then, or the occasional Demon Fiend in the tunnels," Su Qing said, looking perfectly comfortable in his rattan chair.

"Oh, by the way, Master, do you have any Talismans?"

"I do. Why?" Ouyang Mingming asked.

"Give me some of your most useless Tier One Talismans. I have a use for them."

"I don’t have any. The lowest I carry are Tier Two, Lower Grade," Ouyang Mingming said with a look of disdain. She was a Golden Core Master; why would she ever use a Tier One Talisman?

"Then I’ll take a few of those," Su Qing said.

"Tier Two Blast Flame Talismans." Ouyang Mingming took out over thirty of them.

After a moment, Su Qing severed his connection with the Ice God’s protection.

After he held the Talismans for a while...

[Unknown Talisman: A Tier Four Talisman variant. Possesses natural Spiritual Wisdom. Can automatically deploy an Ice and Fire Shield to protect the master’s soul and body. If the shield is broken, it will explode outward. It can then teleport the user to a safe location within one hundred thousand li. It autonomously absorbs ambient energy to replenish itself and can be used repeatedly.]

"Master, this is for you." Su Qing handed the Ice God Talisman to Ouyang Mingming.

Ouyang Mingming was completely baffled.

She didn’t recognize this Talisman in the slightest.

"Master, just put a drop of your blood on it and wear it at your waist," Su Qing said mysteriously.

"In any case, your disciple would never harm you."

Though her expression was puzzled, Ouyang Mingming did as he said. "You take my Talismans, then give me one I don’t even recognize... Disciple, what are you up to?"

She let a drop of her blood fall onto the Talisman, which pulsed with a faint spiritual light.

"It’s for your protection, Master," Su Qing said with a sigh of resignation.

"It’s a treasure I found. You’re always out there fighting the Demon Race, and I worry that one day... I won’t see you again."

"Listen to you! Worried you won’t see me? I’m the one who’s worried I won’t see you! A mere Foundation Establishment pipsqueak, worrying about me."

Ouyang Mingming shot him a look of playful disdain. "I guess you have a conscience after all. When you break through to the Golden Core Realm, I’ll get you a Golden Core Technique as a reward."

"Cultivate diligently. And if anything seems off, your first instinct should be to run back to the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect. You can’t go wrong with that."

"Yes, I know, Master." Su Qing watched as Ouyang Mingming prepared to leave.

"Goodbye, Master."

Ouyang Mingming flew away.

...