However, Jiang Chen was not intimidated by the situation. On the contrary, this state of affairs only made him feel more exhilarated. He had been worried before that the disciples of the four great sects would be too incompetent, robbing him of any sense of challenge.
Now it seemed he had worried for nothing.
Even the Ding-class disciples in the Mysterious Spirit Zone were at the fourth level of the Spirit Realm. From this, the disciples in the higher tiers above must surely include many young talents with astonishing potential.
The thought of such a challenge made the hot blood within Jiang Chen's body boil slightly.
He craved this feeling; it was an experience he never had in his past life. This was a feeling only cultivators could experience. In his previous life, despite his vast knowledge, on the path of martial arts, he could only be a spectator.
"Just now, I used my pressure to suppress that Senior Brother Cheng, and incidentally employed a bit of my spiritual sense control techniques. It seems the effect was quite good. Senior Brother Cheng lost his sense of self almost instantly, his actions and words completely beyond his control. That was clearly not just the effect of my pressure alone; my spiritual sense manipulation played a role too. It seems developing divine abilities related to spiritual sense and mental power is also necessary."
Jiang Chen had not yet specifically cultivated any techniques for bewildering the mind or controlling mental power. It was only during his usual cultivation of the Heart of Rock and the Seven Apertures Spiritual Resonance that he inevitably touched upon this domain.
Just now, he had only applied a little, yet the effect was surprisingly potent.
Of course, this only gave Jiang Chen a direction. For the time being, during this selection tournament, he didn't have the leisure to specifically cultivate abilities in this area.
In the initial five trials, Jiang Chen had gained enormously.
With the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, his progress in the dual attributes of water and fire had been explosive.
However, for a genius possessing all five elemental attributes, while dual-cultivating water and fire made him stronger than most martial artists, for him personally, it was still a bit lopsided.
The transformation from the Five Dragons Open Heaven Pill had developed his Spirit Sea and expanded his domain, granting Jiang Chen a five-element talent that most people did not possess.
Generally speaking, only those with an Innate Body could advance simultaneously in all five elemental talents.
The transformation the Five Dragons Open Heaven Pill gave Jiang Chen, while not yet comparable to the innate superiority of an Innate Body, was for Jiang Chen undoubtedly a transformative, rebirth-like alteration.
The Ice Fire Demon Lotus allowed Jiang Chen to make rapid strides in the dual water and fire attributes.
His progress in the other three attributes, however, was relatively slower. While this overall did not affect his strength and combat power, if he could fully develop all five elemental attributes, his strength and combat power would be even more astonishing.
"There's a saying that goes — ideals are plump, but reality is bony. Although I had the Five Dragons Open Heaven Pill to transform my Spirit Sea, resources are limited. To have all five meridians soaring together for now still requires a bit more fortune. Previously, the Ice Fire Demon Lotus let my water and fire meridians advance rapidly. Now, in the third trial of the initial test, I've acquired the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain, which is a great treasure trove, perfect for tempering my metal attribute meridian."
Jiang Chen's attention finally settled on the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain.
The Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain was indeed a great treasure trove.
The Yuan Magnetic Force could form a field, slowing opponents, restraining them, and protecting himself. Once a Yuan Magnetic Storm was generated, it swallowed everything in its path.
The power of Metal could refine his Metal meridians. If he then cultivated a body-refining divine ability to forge an Indestructible Golden Body, it would make his body hard as metal and stone, unbreakable and indestructible, impervious to blades and spears.
If he could fully control the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain, he could also conjure blade demons, sword demons, and metal-armored monsters at will. Individually, they might not be strong, but formed into a group, their destructive power would be astonishing.
There was also that Evil Golden Eye; one glance could directly petrify a person into metal and stone, transforming a flesh-and-blood body into a metal sculpture. This skill was even more terrifying.
Of course, the most terrifying thing would be awakening the Golden Seal Lord. If he could fully control the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain and awaken the most supreme Golden Seal Lord, its combat power was something Jiang Chen dared not even imagine.
The Golden Seal Lord he had encountered in the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain before had only awakened a portion of its energy. Using merely a tenth of its power in an attack against Jiang Chen had still felt incredibly difficult to deal with.
If it were a peak Golden Seal Lord launching a full-force attack, Jiang Chen believed that even if the four great ancestors joined forces, they probably couldn't withstand it.
Of course, awakening a peak Golden Seal Lord wasn't something he could do just by wanting it. Before completely mastering the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain, everything was just a beautiful fantasy.
Besides these, Jiang Chen had not forgotten that on the ninth floor of the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain, there were also the Lei Yun Golden Cicadas and the Lei Yun Wood.
Whether it was the bloodline of the Lei Yun Golden Cicadas or the Lei Yun Wood itself, both were treasures.
Furthermore, his gains in the Bright-Dark Valley were another massive windfall.
The Flame Crow King and that flock of Flame Crows—their life crystal cores were extremely valuable fire-attribute treasures. The tail feather of the Flame Crow King, meanwhile, was a perfect material for artifact refining.
The Scarlet-Scaled Fire Salamander was a treasure from head to toe. Its flesh and blood had gone to the Gold-Munching Mouse clan, but the Scarlet-Scaled Fire Salamander's scales possessed heaven-defying defensive power. Its spirit bones, which even the Gold-Munching Mouse clan couldn't gnaw through, were testament to its toughness, making them rare and precious materials for artifact refining.
Jiang Chen took out two Scarlet-Scaled Fire Salamander scales. Fitting two scales together would roughly cover the upper body of an adult.
The Scarlet-Scaled Fire Salamander was enormous; it had roughly two hundred such scales on its body.
Jiang Chen currently wore armor, but it was still the Sky Silkworm Giant Whale Soft Armor given to him by Princess Gouyu back in the Eastern Kingdom.
Within the True Qi Realm, this soft armor was impervious to anyone. But now that he had entered the Spirit Realm, the opponents he encountered were basically all at Spirit Realm levels. The protective effect of this soft armor had become rather negligible.