novelraw Chapter 170, Grinding Experience, But not for Him?
Chapter 170, Grinding Experience, But not for Him?
Lin Yi moved to the next island.
He did not want to do this. The knowledge of that was present and accurate and he allowed it to be present without giving it decision-making because the Celestial Slave Mark was not a situation where his preferences were the relevant variable.
The binding did not ask what he wanted. His actions naturally adhered to the master’s will, which was to generate experience for the level 240 to 250 climb, which meant hunting, which meant moving from island to island in the same pattern he had been executing since the expanse began, except that the product of each kill was going somewhere else.
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[Celestial Dreadhorn ×9 | Level 153 — Rare Elite]
HP: 168,400 / 168,400 each
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Wide arc with Absolute Domain active.
[Celestial Dreadhorn ×9 Defeated — Rare Elite Bonus ×9]
[EXP Gained: +54,800 × 9 = +493,200]
[Reward Amplification Triggered — ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +4,932,000,000]
[Experience Redirected — Celestial Slave Mark Active]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
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He knew that the thresholds between levels 240 and 250 weren’t recorded anywhere he could find. No one from his world had ever come close to reaching those heights, so there was simply no data available. His own experience beyond level 200 had already shown him how brutal the cost curve could get, with each step demanding exponentially more effort than the last. By the time you reached level 240, gaining even just one more level likely meant putting in an enormous amount of hunting time, repeated constantly, even if your power was boosted ten thousand times over.
And he had about a month to make it happen.
Without hesitation, he set himself in motion.
[Ashenveil Predator ×18 | Level 155]
All eighteen in range of the wide arc.
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[Ashenveil Predator ×18 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +32,600 × 18 = +586,800]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +5,868,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
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[Gravestone Colossus ×7 | Level 150]
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Resonant Strike through the blade, the secondary burst from within each target in sequence, seven individual contacts in under four seconds.
---
[Gravestone Colossus ×7 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +30,400 × 7 = +212,800]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +2,128,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
He quickly cleared the first group and went straight to the next without stopping. The Spatial Storage Token quietly absorbed the enhanced drops as they appeared. The materials remained his, despite the binding; after all, its design focused on channeling experience, not on keeping physical items away. This detail registered in the back of his mind, the part still quietly analyzing his condition while the rest concentrated on the repetitive task.
The drops remained his. Only the experience was redirected. The conditions were clear about what was transferred and what stayed.
Without hesitation, he activated Heaven Step and moved over to the second cluster.
[Nebula Titan ×11 | Level 161]
---
[Nebula Titan ×11 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +48,200 × 11 = +530,200]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +5,302,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]**
---
[Voidclaw Ravager ×12 | Level 157]
---
[Voidclaw Ravager ×12 Defeated]
[EXP Gained: +40,200 × 12 = +482,400]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +4,824,000,000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
[Notification: Cang Yutian — EXP Progress Updated]
[Cang Yutian Level 240 — EXP Accumulated: 18,340,000,000 / Threshold Unknown]
---
The threshold remained marked as unknown since the system lacked any reference data for the gap between levels 240 and 241. Meanwhile, the accumulated total kept growing steadily. However, he had no way of knowing if that amount would actually meet the real threshold or fall short, as that information wasn’t available to him.
Without hesitation, he shifted his focus to the Cluster Guardian.
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[Heaven’s Warden | Level 173 — Cluster Guardian]
HP: 391,000 / 391,000
---
Absolute Domain. Concentration mode. One exchange.
---
[Heaven’s Warden Defeated — Cluster Guardian]
[EXP Gained: +154,000 — All Bonuses Applied]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +1,540,000,000]
[Cluster Reward — Celestial Jade ×1000]
[EXP Transferred to: Cang Yutian]
[Your level: 230 — No change]
---
The jades still went to his own count. He noted it again, deliberately, confirming it against what he had already observed. The binding did not interfere with jade collection. The Sub-Class Awakening competition was still in effect, still progressing, and his total continued to accumulate without obstruction. Whatever outcome that count would produce at the event’s conclusion existed outside the influence of the slave mark’s mechanics.
Separate systems.
Separate outcomes.
One thing at a time.
He moved to mount the qilin.
The thought came first, automatic, ingrained through repetition. The motion followed a fraction of a second later, his body already beginning to shift into position—then he stopped.
The qilin wasn’t there.
The absence was immediate and absolute, the same absence that had persisted since Cang Yutian’s counter in the upper atmospheric layer. The connection that had once been constant, present through every movement since the Allheaven Expanse, was simply... gone. No response. No presence. Nothing to anchor the instinct that had just acted on its own.
For a brief moment, the disconnect lingered.
Then it settled.
The instinct to mount, to move with the efficiency they had refined together through Heaven Step, had surfaced independently of reality. A habit with nothing left to attach to.
He adjusted without hesitation.
He activated his own Heaven Step and crossed to the next cluster on foot, the movement clean, direct, and entirely his own.
.....
The days accumulated.
He did not track them consciously, but the Allheaven Expanse moved in cycles that could not be ignored. The shifting ambient light, the rise and fall of energy density, the subtle changes in the surrounding glow all followed a rhythm. Not day and night in the traditional sense, but something close enough to measure.
He had been counting since the binding activated.
Seven cycles formed a week, and he had crossed seven cycles.