Chapter 10 – First Spirit Stones, Setting Foot on the Path of Immortality!
by spirapiraChapter 10 – First Spirit Stones, Setting Foot on the Path of Immortality!
【Jin Congxue hesitated for a moment before telling you that Demon-Sealing Pass was the lifeline of the human race. Humanity faced an extraordinarily powerful enemy, and the current situation at Demon-Sealing Pass was far from optimistic.】
【You wanted to ask more, but Jin Congxue refused to say anything further.】
【The next day, you escorted Jin Congxue to Demon-Sealing Pass.】
【One month later, you attended Jin Congxue’s funeral. You felt neither joy nor sorrow—only the desire to strengthen yourself as much as possible.】
【You chose to liquidate all your assets, obtaining over fifty billion in cash.】
【You spent this money purchasing a large quantity of body-tempering equipment, hoping to break through to the second layer of Body Tempering: the Bone Forging realm.】
【Three years passed. Your Body Tempering cultivation steadily advanced, but you always felt you were just a hair’s breadth from the Bone Forging realm, yet for some unknown reason, you could never break through.】
【Finally, the day you remembered so well arrived.】
【A colossal beast that blotted out the sky appeared above Great Xia.】
【Countless citizens across the entire nation were stricken with terror. Several golden figures soared into the sky, besieging the enormous beast!】
【They failed. The sky-blotting beast swallowed the entirety of Great Xia in a single gulp.】
【Before being swallowed, you widened your eyes and raised your middle finger at the beast in the sky.】
【You died at the age of thirty-six!】
【You activated the talent Die With Eyes Open!】
【You were swallowed into the beast’s belly. You discovered that not everyone had died instantly.】
【The beast’s stomach was extraordinarily vast, like an entire world unto itself.】
【The ground began to tremble incessantly as a mysterious energy started corroding all life and matter in the vicinity…】
【Your eyes were digested and absorbed as part of the beast. The talent Die With Eyes Open has been nullified!】
【Ding! This simulation has ended!】
【You may select one of the following rewards: You’ve Gone Bald, but You Haven’t Gotten Stronger (talent), Half-Step Bone Forging (cultivation), Qi Refinement Second Layer (cultivation), Two and a Half Spirit Stones (item)】
There it was! He’d successfully brought spirit stones out!
Su Xing suppressed the excitement surging in his chest and examined the costs of each reward.
【You’ve Gone Bald, but You Haven’t Gotten Stronger】: White-tier talent, priced at 1,000 energy.
【Half-Step Bone Forging】: Cultivation, priced at 500 energy.
【Qi Refinement Second Layer】: Cultivation, priced at 100 energy.
【Two and a Half Spirit Stones】: Item, priced at 2,500 energy.
Su Xing ran his fingers through his thick hair and didn’t even glance at the rip-off talent.
The Half-Step Bone Forging cultivation, however, caught his attention for a few extra moments.
Judging by the simulator’s description, the version of him in this simulation had truly been just a sliver away from breaking through to the Bone Forging realm, yet simply couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Perhaps it was due to insufficient aptitude, or maybe the lack of a Body Tempering secret technique, or the right Body Tempering medicinal ingredients?
Su Xing had no way of knowing, but right now, the spirit stones he craved most were right before his eyes.
“Surprisingly cheap…”
Su Xing raised an eyebrow. He understood that spirit stones probably weren’t particularly precious items—they were simply extremely scarce in the real world.
“Redeem the two and a half spirit stones!”
【Ding! You have chosen to bring back spirit stones from the simulation. 2,500 energy consumed. Remaining energy: 18,940.】
Three thumb-sized spirit stones materialized in Su Xing’s hand.
The spirit stones were crystalline and translucent, smooth as jade. Merely bringing them close to his body filled him with a refreshing clarity.
Two of the stones were about the size of a thumb, while the third was only as large as a pinky finger—presumably partially consumed during the simulation.
“By that calculation… a single spirit stone should be worth around one thousand energy…”
Su Xing began studying the spirit stones in his hand.
First, he asked the simulator for the buyback price of a spirit stone.
【Ding! Detected one low-grade spirit stone. Buyback price: 100 energy. Proceed with buyback?】
Su Xing: ???
What the hell!
It cost me 1,000 energy to bring one out, but the buyback price is only 100 energy? This simulator is highway robbery!
“Damn it—may the world be rid of secondhand dealers profiting off the spread!”
Su Xing grumbled.
He then took the half spirit stone in his palm, sat cross-legged, and began circulating the Eternal Spring Art.
Wisps of warm energy flowed from the spirit stone, passing through his palm and spreading to every limb and bone in his body, leaving him feeling invigorated and refreshed all over.
“Hss~ So this is what absorbing spiritual energy feels like?”
Su Xing’s eyes went wide. After the spiritual energy entered his body, he could clearly feel subtle changes occurring within him.
Su Xing cultivated continuously for a full hour before he felt his meridians could no longer absorb any more spiritual energy.
At the same time, the spirit stone in his hand had shrunk by roughly one-twentieth.
“As I thought—a single spirit stone would be enough for at least half a month of cultivation, right?”
Longing gleamed in Su Xing’s eyes, but he chose not to continue absorbing.
Because these few spirit stones in his hand had an even greater use!
Over the following week, Su Xing continued his routine of power-leveling and farming equipment as usual, amassing over five hundred thousand in just seven days.
During this period, he deliberately refrained from absorbing spirit stones for cultivation.
Then came the day when Su Xing’s simulator cooldown refreshed once more.
Su Xing took a deep breath and gripped the spirit stones in his hand. He needed to verify an idea.
“Begin simulation!”
【Simulation costs 600 energy. Remaining energy: 18,340. Remaining simulation uses: unlimited.】
【Simulation begins!】
【Drawing a white-tier talent costs 100 energy; a green-tier talent costs 1,000 energy. Would you like to draw?】
“Draw a white-tier talent!”
【Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the white-tier talent: Fitness Fanatic!】
【Fitness Fanatic】: You have greater natural talent for physical training than ordinary people.
Su Xing blinked in surprise at the talent, then murmured:
“Could it be… that this fitness fanatic is actually a Body Tempering-oriented talent?”
This unexpected talent disrupted Su Xing’s plans, but he decided to run the simulation first and see what happened.
【You are in the dormitory, staring blankly at the two and a half spirit stones in your hand.】
【You begin absorbing spiritual energy from the spirit stones. As the energy enters your body, your Qi Refinement cultivation improves slightly.】
【Over the next month, you spend your days taking freshman girls through dungeons to level up and earn money, while devoting your free time to absorbing spirit stones and converting them into cultivation progress.】
【Thanks to your respectable Qi Refinement technique and sufficient spirit stones, your Qi Refinement cultivation advances rapidly.】
【In just one short month, your cultivation reaches Qi Refinement Fourth Layer.】
【New Era, November 10th, 2023. On this day, you leave Capital Vocational Academy and purchase a high-speed rail ticket to Jinling City.】
【The following evening, you arrive in Jinling City.】
【You spend an entire week searching the outskirts west of Jinling City, hoping to find the dungeon Jin Congxue once mentioned.】
【But your search yields nothing. You fail to locate the dungeon called “Azure Cloud Spirit Fields.”】
【You refuse to give up and continue searching.】
【Several more days pass. On the western outskirts of Jinling City, you encounter a woman. She is strikingly beautiful, yet radiates an air of cold aloofness.】
【A premonition stirs within you—this woman is most likely Jin Congxue!】