SWNOVELXO Chapter 567: Half a Year Later
```
Tip: Acquired Experience Points 582,000, acquired currency 820 taels.
Once again, after Jiang Liu successfully killed the illusion of the Tathagata in front of him, the system prompt echoed in his mind.
After having chased down his target, Jiang Liu waited for a bit, but seeing no further appearance from the Tathagata or Gaoyang, he sighed silently in his heart and then sat down to one side.
Calculating the time, it seemed that the half-year period he had been locked in the Illusionary Demon Cave was almost up, wasn't it?
At the beginning, he was afraid of ghosts, so he spent a long time in the Illusionary Demon Cave killing ghosts.
After he was no longer afraid, the Illusionary Demon Cave began to spawn Gaoyang and the Tathagata instead.
So much time had passed, and the scenes emerging from the Illusionary Demon Cave hadn't changed; the only difference was that, as he kept killing, his strength kept increasing, and so the level of the Tathagata rose with the tide as well.
For example, now after killing the Tathagata, he could almost gain 500,000 to 600,000 Experience Points.
It looked like today's battle was over. Jiang Liu's tense nerves relaxed somewhat, and at the same time, he silently invoked the character panel.
Quickly, he opened his character panel. Relatively speaking, not only had his level increased significantly after entering the Illusionary Demon Cave, but more importantly, he had also changed quite a lot of equipment.
The overall strength had multiplied several times over.
Although he was truly frightened at the start in the Illusionary Demon Cave, he had to admit that after half a year of slaughter, the gains he made were enormous.
ID: Jiang Liu (Blue).
Gender: Male.
Profession: Compassionate Bodhisattva.
Level: 68 (1,327,500,000/1,600,000,000)
Equipment:
Fire Tip Spear (Epic Level): Requires level 70, Attack +275,000, Special Effect: Attack speed +20%, Durability 1800/18000.
Bodhi Robe (Legendary Level): Requires level 70, Defense +186,000, Special Effect: While meditating in cultivation state, Experience Points acquisition speed +5%, Durability 1410/1500.
Golden Haze Crown (Epic Level): Requires level 60, Defense +88,000, Special Effect 1: Can summon three thousand Fire Dragon Soldiers to serve, each Fire Dragon Soldier has level 40 Cultivation Level, Special Effect 2: Invisibility effect, when worn, can activate the ability of invisibility, avoiding most detection methods, never wears out.
Black Jade Prayer Beads (Legendary Level): Requires level 35, Defense +1,800, Special Effect: can reduce 5 levels of equipment requirement, Durability 20/50.
Phoenix Feather Belt (Legendary Level): Requires level 68, Defense +90,000, movement speed +10%, Durability 832/900.
Supreme Ring (Legendary Level): Requires level 72, Attack +125,300, deals +15% damage to targets below one's own level, Durability 1200/1350.
Godslaying Ring (Epic Level): Requires level 55, Attack +13,000, Special Effect: Active Ability, consumes 10% of current maximum Life Value to deal double damage on the next attack, no Cooldown Time, Durability 57/100.
Warm Jade Bracelet (Perfect Level): Requires level 71, Defense +78,500, Durability 820/1000.
Ice Iron Bracelet (Legendary Level): Requires level 71, Defense +10,500, Flame damage -20%, Durability 980/1000.
Tiger Charge Boots (Epic Level): Requires level 60, Defense +14,800, Special Effect: Tiger Pounce, can eject a distance below one's feet, instantly propelling oneself within a radius of a hundred meters, also dealing 120% of one's own Attack as damage to the ground below, Cooldown Time 120 seconds, Durability 62/100.
Skill Bookcase (Special Equipment): Can place three other Profession's Skill Books in it, obtaining the conditions for learning the skills.
Skill Badge (Special Equipment): After equipping, an additional skill can be stored in the badge, Durability 55/60.
Eighteen Lotus Petals (Divine Level): No level requirement, upon activation, can cause damage, Defense, and confinement effects, specific effects depend on one's own Cultivation Level, never wears out.
Remembering that he was at level 61 when he entered the Illusionary Demon Cave, he was already at level 68 now.
It required 1.6 billion Experience Points to level up, and he already had 1.3 billion.
Half a year's time had enabled him to increase so many levels, naturally, Jiang Liu was very delighted.
Moreover, these equipments on his body—the Fire Tip Spear, Bodhi Robe, Supreme Ring, Ice Iron Bracelet, Warm Jade Bracelet, Phoenix Feather Belt—all of these were swapped during this half year, and were all around level 70 equipment.
Not only had the increase in Cultivation Level been significant, but with the change of equipment, the amplification in all aspects was also very substantial.
Furthermore, during half a year's time, by killing monsters and earning money, he had accumulated over a million taels. Along with the money he already had, he now possessed a total of 3.5 million taels.
In the marketplace system, he could buy a couple of pretty good Innate Spirit Treasures, such as Primordial Golden Dou, Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, Seven-Arrow Nail Book, Banishing Heaven Seal, and so on...
And a Divine Level Unsealing Talisman cost 1.5 million taels apiece, he could afford to buy two of them now.
He said that with his current low Cultivation Level, he did not dare to unseal the true form of the Godslaying Spear, the Nine-Ring Staff.
But the Seal on the Brocade Kasaya could be removed at any time with a Divine Level Unsealing Talisman.
It's just that after unsealing, wearing the Plain Colored Cloud Boundary Flag was too ostentatious and, having been seen by the Tathagata and others, there would be no way to explain, so Jiang Liu was not in a hurry to unseal the Plain Colored Cloud Boundary Flag's seal.
```
"Drip, drip, drip..."
Just as Jiang Liu was secretly checking his character panel and tallying up his gains from the past half-year, suddenly, Sun Wukong's icon in his friends list began to bounce around.
"Master, the half-year deadline is almost up, isn't it?"
"Yes, it should be in these next few days, Guanyin Bodhisattva should let me out!" Jiang Liu replied to the message from Sun Wukong, asking about it.
"Then should Bajie and I go to the original place to wait for you?" Sun Wukong sent another message, inquiring.
"That's not urgent, your teacher will see if I can stay a bit longer..." However, Jiang Liu rejected Sun Wukong's suggestion.
At the beginning, when that female ghost crawled out of the television, it indeed scared the life out of him.
But now, Jiang Liu enjoyed the daily battles with the Tathagata and levelling up—he had developed quite the taste for it and was not so willing to leave anymore.
Having stayed in the Illusionary Demon Cave for half a year, he had gone up 7 levels. Where else could one find a better holy leveling ground than this?
Even if a Nine Revolutions Golden Pill played a role in this, it was still an enormous gain for Jiang Liu.
Moreover, unlike the replicas from the Map of Mountains and Rivers, within this Illusionary Demon Cave, as his level increased, the Tathagata's strength would also rise correspondingly.
Jiang Liu estimated that with his current speed of killing the Tathagata, even if it took 1.6 billion Experience Points to level up, he'd need only about a month to do so. Where could he find a better place than this?
"Master, you still want to stay inside? Weren't you very eager to escape at the beginning?" Sun Wukong was obviously surprised by Jiang Liu's response.
"Well, how should I put it? Life is like that thing— if you can't beat it, try to enjoy it. Now, your teacher is quite enjoying this life..." Jiang Liu replied to Sun Wukong's message.
The master and disciple were idly chatting back and forth.
For Jiang Liu, having nothing else to do but chat with someone was indeed the only pastime he had to pass the time this past half-year.
Otherwise, if he really had been locked up in the Illusionary Demon Cave all alone without anyone to talk to, he might have gone insane long ago.
Just as Jiang Liu was chatting with Sun Wukong, suddenly, he felt something and looked towards the entrance of the Illusionary Demon Cave.
At this moment, the prohibition that had been blocking the entrance had dissipated on its own.
Then, beneath the dazzling Buddhist Light, the Guanyin Bodhisattva, seated on a Lotus Platform, appeared at the entrance of the Illusionary Demon Cave.
"Is this another illusion of the Illusionary Demon Cave?" Seeing the Guanyin Bodhisattva who had appeared, Jiang Liu muttered to himself. Then, he opened the character panel of the other to take a look.
Alright, a cultivation level of Great Luo Golden Immortal, it seems like this is the real Guanyin.
"Amitabha, Xuanzang, your half-year period in the Illusionary Demon Cave has passed, you are free!" After entering the Illusionary Demon Cave, Guanyin Bodhisattva glanced at Jiang Liu, her eyes flickering.
Although her mouth spoke calmly, her heart was in great astonishment.
The kasaya on Jiang Liu had apparently been changed, looking like more than a mundane item.
And his weapon in hand?
If she was not mistaken, that should be the Fire Tip Spear of Third Prince Nezha, shouldn't it?
How did the Fire Tip Spear of Nezha end up in Xuanzang's hands?
Moreover, hadn't Xuanzang been locked in the Illusionary Demon Cave this entire half-year? Even if Nezha had wanted to give it to him, how could that be possible?
After all, the Fire Tip Spear was one of Nezha's most important Dharma Treasures—how could he possibly gift it to someone else?
And upon carefully sensing the cultivation aura within Jiang Liu's heart, Guanyin was even more shocked.
In just half a year, Jiang Liu's cultivation level had increased significantly, and it seemed he was getting closer to the Taiyi True Immortal realm, wasn't he?
Could it be the privilege of a person favored by destiny? This rate of cultivation increase, why does it seem as simple as eating and drinking?
Ordinary people, if locked up in the Illusionary Demon Cave, would be utterly unable to calm their minds for cultivation due to the countless potential illusions that seemed both real and fake.
Why then has his cultivation level increased so much?
This period of improvement, could it be equivalent to what others would achieve in hundreds of years of cultivation?
"Bodhisattva..."
Jiang Liu tidied up his appearance a bit, then bowed slightly to the Guanyin Bodhisattva, saying, "Disciple has endured six months of hardships in this Illusionary Demon Cave and has come to understand many things. The Tiger Conquering Arhat who died by my hand... I truly committed a heinous crime. Thus, with a heavy heart, disciple feels that a mere half-year is far from sufficing to cleanse myself of the sins..."
Upon saying this, Jiang Liu paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued, "Disciple is willing to stay in this Illusionary Demon Cave for an additional ten years, to seek clarity of thought and peace of conscience. I hope the Bodhisattva will grant this request!"
Guanyin Bodhisattva: "..."
If it wasn't for the fact that Xuanzang was screaming in terror begging for her help when he first entered, one would doubt if he actually enjoyed staying in the Illusionary Demon Cave.