Chapter 170 – Suxing’s Small Goal: Aiming for the Void-Shattering Realm! (5k)

As the simulator’s notification faded, a mysterious transformation began occurring within Su Xing’s body…

First came the change to his spiritual root.

Su Xing could feel that his sensitivity to the surrounding spiritual energy had become far more acute.

With just the slightest circulation of his technique, the heaven and earth spiritual energy around him surged madly into Su Xing’s dantian.

This speed was at least three times faster than before!

Beyond the increased speed of absorbing spiritual power and cultivating, the rate at which Su Xing recovered after exhausting his spiritual power had also dramatically increased.

“Hiss… so this is the power of a heavenly spiritual root?”

Su Xing was astonished.

No wonder the quality of one’s spiritual root determined how far a cultivator could go.

Comparing a heavenly spiritual root to a Five-element mixed spiritual root, the difference in cultivation speed was probably a hundredfold!

One year of someone else’s cultivation was equivalent to a hundred of yours…

How could you possibly compete with that?

Su Xing’s understanding of the heavenly spiritual root’s wonders was still far from complete.

After all, his cultivation was already bottlenecked at Spirit Transformation stage Great Perfection.

Only after breaking through into the Void Return stage would the true power of the heavenly spiritual root manifest itself.

Beyond the spiritual root upgrade, what Su Xing sensed next was the change in the primordial energy within his body.

Peering inward with his spiritual consciousness, Su Xing perceived a seed slowly taking root within his dantian.

It was the primordial energy seed!

Primordial energy flowed from the seed like a trickling stream, continuously nourishing Su Xing’s physical body and primordial energy reserves.

Then, in just a few breaths, Su Xing’s primordial energy seed underwent a tremendous transformation.

From its originally feeble state, it rapidly grew several times larger in both size and aura!

That once-trickling stream had thickened several times over in mere moments, and the speed of primordial energy replenishment increased beyond measure.

After carefully sensing these changes, a look of enlightenment appeared on Su Xing’s face.

“No wonder — although I’d previously cultivated Projection-level primordial energy abilities… and my combat power was formidable, I simply couldn’t sustain it.”

“Meanwhile, ordinary Spirit Transformation and Divine Power Realm cultivators can fight major battles lasting days on end… how could my primordial energy possibly hold up for that?”

“But now… with this primordial energy seed, even fighting continuously for several hours wouldn’t exhaust my primordial energy…”

“And if I conserve during battle, only using primordial energy at critical moments, I could probably sustain combat for days, couldn’t I?”

A look of pleasant surprise spread across Su Xing’s face.

The birth of this primordial energy seed had boosted his overall combat strength by more than fifty percent!

His ability to maintain sustained combat at maximum power had multiplied several times over!

After spending some time alone in the spirit field grotto-heaven sensing the improvements to his strength, Su Xing began planning his goals for the next simulation.

“Given my current cultivation progress, the difficulty of stepping into the Void-Shattering Realm is definitely lower than the Void Return stage…”

“My primordial energy is currently at Third Rank Major Mastery, and it’s not far from Perfection… in the next simulation, I’ll definitely be able to cultivate it to Perfection!”

“And my divine ability Protective Hardened Qi has already reached Minor Mastery… in the next simulation it should at least reach Major Mastery…”

“At that point, I should be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Void-Shattering Realm, right?”

Thinking this, Su Xing felt a surge of excitement.

The three requirements for advancing from Divine Power to Void-Shattering: Divine Power Realm Great Perfection, primordial energy Third Rank, and an extreme location.

Su Xing had not only met all three conditions, but had also learned an additional protective divine ability.

As such, his chances of breaking through to the Void-Shattering Realm were extremely high!

“The only question is… with my current strength, can I withstand the pressure inside the giant beast’s stomach?”

Su Xing wasn’t sure, but he was prepared to try.

Having planned out his goals for the next simulation, Su Xing began his daily routine of refining pills, tending the spirit field, and collecting spirit liquid.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Xing had refined a full four thousand pills, and was ready to meet Jin Congxue at the villa.

Su Xing first disguised his appearance and concealed his aura, then swept the villa’s surroundings with his spiritual consciousness. After confirming no one was watching, he entered the villa.

Seeing Su Xing’s appearance, Jin Congxue was momentarily stunned.

Then it clicked, and she couldn’t help rolling her eyes as she teased:

“Whoa, big boss, aren’t you being cautious!”

Su Xing awkwardly rubbed his nose and said nothing, but being cautious was never wrong.

The two began enjoying the food that had been prepared in advance.

After they’d eaten and drunk their fill, Jin Congxue brought up business.

“Oh right, the spirit rice plan has already been set in motion… I reported the spirit rice to my grandfather… er, a Martial Emperor powerhouse in Xia’s military.”

“Once they learned of the spirit rice’s miraculous properties, Xia’s military sent people to negotiate with me, hoping I’d give them the coordinates of the dungeon that produces spirit rice.”

“But I didn’t agree. I told them the spirit rice yields two million jin per year, and our Tarot Society is willing to give Xia’s military the entire annual output, but…”

“In return, I need the contracted mining rights for six mining dungeons!”

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

Wasn’t it four mining dungeons? How did it become six?

Jin Congxue explained:

“Of course… Xia’s military naturally didn’t agree. After some back-and-forth haggling, the number of mining dungeons was ultimately settled at four, which met our expected target.”

As she said this, a glint of cunning flashed in Jin Congxue’s eyes, making her look like a little fox whose scheme had succeeded — utterly adorable.

Su Xing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

So even transactions between top-tier commerce groups and the government involved haggling like buying vegetables at a market?

Su Xing then asked:

“So our deal is confirmed — the Tarot Society has gained four more mining dungeons?”

Jin Congxue nodded:

“That’s right, four mining dungeons, and they’re all tier-one mining zones!”

“The paperwork is nearly finished, and we’re currently recruiting miners… within seven days at the shortest, two weeks at the longest, we’ll have a stable output of exotic metal!”

“Of course, in exchange, we’ll need to supply Xia’s military with two million jin of spirit rice annually.”

Su Xing nodded slightly. That amount of spirit rice was nothing — as long as the mining dungeons could begin production quickly, it was worth it.

After finishing their business discussion, Su Xing and Jin Congxue chatted for a while longer.

Then Su Xing handed over this week’s four thousand pills to Jin Congxue and collected the new week’s goods.

After leaving the villa, Su Xing took a roundabout route through the Capital City.

Once he confirmed no one was following him, he ducked into a secluded corner, changed his appearance again, and reverted to his true form.

Afterward, Su Xing returned to the school dormitory and deftly entered the spirit field blessed land.

First, he converted the new week’s goods into simulation energy, and his energy reserves surged by another thirty million.

Reaching five hundred sixty-five million.

On August 12th, 2024 of the New Era, Su Xing initiated a new round of simulation.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation costs 4,800 energy points. Remaining energy: 565,050,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: unlimited.】

【Simulation begins!】

【Drawing a blue talent costs 10,000 energy points. Drawing a purple talent costs 100,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?】

“Draw a purple talent!”

Su Xing thought silently.

【Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the purple talent: Longevity Seed!】

【Longevity Seed】: Purple talent. You possess a unique bloodline, and your lifespan is twice that of ordinary cultivators. (PS: Everyone just wait — watch this young master outlive every last one of you!)

Su Xing’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw this new purple talent.

This Longevity Seed talent was indeed absurdly powerful!

If a Mahayana stage cultivator possessed this talent, their lifespan would simply double!

Ten thousand years of lifespan, instantly becoming twenty thousand!

Good heavens, this was absolutely every cultivator’s dream talent…

But the problem was — Su Xing had absolutely no use for it!

Setting aside that his current Spirit Transformation stage cultivation already granted him a thousand years of life…

In twenty-five years, the alien race would descend, and by then he’d barely be fifty years old…

He wouldn’t even have lived one-twentieth of his natural lifespan…

This talent was truly useless to Su Xing.

“Sigh, if only this were a cultivation world without any threats, how wonderful would that be?”

“With this talent alone, I could hide away in the cultivation world until the end of time…”

Su Xing let out a sigh, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.

“For this simulation, let’s set a small goal — break through to the Void-Shattering Realm!”

【In the spirit field blessed land, you realize you are in a simulation.】

【You begin your daily cultivation of primordial energy and the divine ability Protective Hardened Qi.】【Thanks to the primordial energy seed, you can maintain five hours of divine ability cultivation each day.】

【Under this high-intensity divine ability training, your comprehension of Protective Hardened Qi improves by the day.】

【Soon a week passes. Jin Congxue informs you that mining operations in the dungeon mineral zone have officially begun, and exotic metal will be supplied to you on a weekly basis going forward.】

【You breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing this, though your mind is elsewhere.】

【Having confirmed that the exotic metal supply is stable, you prepare to head to the Advent Cult.】

【You travel to Shuangqing City, suppress your divine sense somewhat, and begin luring Old Dog Zong out.】

【Sure enough, Old Dog Zong appears a few days later. He treats you with the utmost respect, addressing you as ‘senior’ with every breath.】

【You naturally put on the airs of a senior expert, and under Old Dog Zong’s introduction, you join the Advent Cult.】

【After joining the Advent Cult, you act like sworn brothers with Old Dog Zong on the surface, while in reality you’ve already gathered a considerable amount of medicinal materials through Luo Shuying.】

【And so you settle comfortably within the Advent Cult, refining pills on one hand and cultivating primordial energy divine abilities on the other.】

【Two years pass in the blink of an eye.】

【In the third year, you refine over a hundred thousand pills in total, and claim the vast majority of the medicinal materials from the Advent Cult’s treasury.】

【You decide the time is ripe and choose to defect from the Advent Cult, taking Luo Shuying with you.】

【After your defection, the Advent Cult sends assassins after you.】

【But thanks to the protection of Xia’s military, you remain safe… though Old Dog Zong isn’t so lucky…】

【After joining Xia’s military, you maintain your daily schedule of pill refining and cultivation. Another two years pass in the blink of an eye.】

【In the fifth year, you refine all the medicinal materials accumulated over the years into pills, adding many powerful fighters to Great Xia’s ranks.】

【At the same time, you’ve accumulated seventy days’ worth of “Great Wisdom” duration, which you plan to use for primordial energy cultivation.】

【Your goal in this simulation is clear — you decide to focus exclusively on primordial energy cultivation, temporarily setting aside the tempering of divine sense and visualization techniques.】

【In the sixth year, maintaining five double-hours of daily cultivation, your mastery of Protective Hardened Qi steadily improves.】

【You occasionally use the “Great Wisdom talent” during divine ability cultivation, which accelerates your training speed considerably compared to before.】

【Amid the monotony of cultivation, another two years pass in the blink of an eye.】

【In the eighth year, one day you sense a familiar aura — it turns out the fugitive Old Dog Zong has been hiding near Capital City.】

【You don’t hesitate, quickly launching a surprise attack on Old Dog Zong.】

【Old Dog Zong dodges the ambush. Knowing he’s no match for you, he turns to flee.】

【You spend three days hunting him down, but unfortunately Old Dog Zong’s storage artifact is destroyed in the process, leaving you unable to claim his possessions.】

【After killing Old Dog Zong, you return to your peaceful daily cultivation.】

【In the ninth year, since you can only cultivate primordial energy divine abilities for five double-hours each day, you have more energy to spend with family and friends.】

【Occasionally, when the situation at Demon-Sealing Pass grows tense, you enter the pass and slay some enemies.】

【In the tenth year, one day after cultivating your primordial energy divine ability, you decide to head to Demon-Sealing Pass to kill some enemies for lack of anything better to do.】

【You happen to encounter a Demon Emperor charging up onto the wall.】

【Without hesitation, you wrap primordial energy around the Blackice sword and deliver a single slash!】

【That one slash cleaves the Demon Emperor clean in two. You collect the Demon Emperor Blood Essence and begin checking the injuries of the surrounding soldiers.】

【To your surprise, among the soldiers caught in the ambush is your good brother Yu Yan!】

【After more than a decade apart, not only has Yu Yan survived Demon-Sealing Pass, he’s even broken through to become a Heavenly King-stage powerhouse!】

Seeing this, the corners of Su Xing’s mouth curved upward slightly.

“As expected, that Fatty Yu isn’t so easy to kill!”

“Ten years later and he’s still alive at Demon-Sealing Pass. That puts my mind at ease…”

Su Xing said with a sigh of emotion.

At this point, it had been just over a month since their class graduated.

Yu Yan had also successfully joined Demon-Sealing Pass, fighting for Xia’s military.

Su Xing had been in occasional contact with Yu Yan during this time. After being tempered by the battlefield, Su Xing could clearly sense that Yu Yan had become much more composed.

Previously, Su Xing had also used Jin Congxue’s connections to sponsor the soldiers at Demon-Sealing Pass in the name of the Jin Commerce Group.

Among these, he’d given Yu Yan several purple epic-grade pieces of equipment.

Yu Yan was one of his few friends, and Su Xing naturally didn’t want anything to happen to him.

So he helped wherever he could. Those few pieces of purple equipment would greatly improve Yu Yan’s survivability.

“Come to think of it… this time next year, my little sister should be graduating too, right?”

Su Xing let out a sigh. Over the past year, he’d been so busy with simulations and improving his strength that he hadn’t even gone home for the holidays.

Su Xiaomei was also enrolled at a top academy in the south. Now that Su Xing was wealthy, he’d occasionally transfer some money to her.

The Jin Commerce Group had considerable influence in the south.

So Su Xing had even asked the Jin Commerce Group to hire Su Xiaomei, assigning her some safe missions but with very generous rewards.

This had significantly accelerated Su Xiaomei’s growth in strength.

Reflecting on everything that had happened, a complex expression flickered in Su Xing’s eyes.

How could he not want to spend every day by the side of his family and friends?

But the apocalypse loomed over Su Xing’s heart like a great mountain.

What Su Xing envisioned was this: once he cultivated to immortality and possessed sufficient strength…

At that point, forget a hundred years with his parents and family — even a thousand years, ten thousand years, what difficulty would that pose?

With this thought, Su Xing’s resolve to pursue the Dao grew even firmer, and his gaze returned to the simulation panel.

【After saving Yu Yan, you begin observing the situation on the battlefield.】

【As expected, although the human race has gained many additional powerhouses over the years thanks to you, compared to the formidable foreign races, the gap remains vast.】

【In most situations, the humans can only rely on the mighty Demon-Sealing Pass to resist the invasion of demonic beasts.】

【You take all of this in, and simply redouble your cultivation efforts.】

【In the eleventh year, you continue your primordial energy cultivation. Even with the primordial energy seed, you can only sustain five double-hours of primordial energy training per day.】

【In your remaining time, you fight at Demon-Sealing Pass, reducing the losses suffered by the human race.】

【Even though you know this is a simulation, you cannot stand by and watch your friends and compatriots die before your eyes.】

【You slay numerous Demon Emperors, but by now Demon Emperor Blood Essence is of little use to you personally.】

【So you begin researching whether Demon Emperor Blood Essence can be used to enhance the strength of human Class Users.】

【According to your research, when ordinary human Class Users consume Demon Emperor Blood Essence, they’re unable to digest the energy contained within, resulting in only a slight increase in strength.】

【So you attempt to research refining the blood essence into pills, hoping this method can enhance humanity’s power.】

【In the twelfth year, you cultivate daily, spending your free time researching the medicinal properties of blood essence.】

【According to descriptions in the Separation Fire Alchemy Art, there is a pill called the Rebirth Pill. This pill is only of low grade.】

【Its effect is to remedy the innate deficiencies of Qi Refinement cultivators — even those with frail bodies can greatly improve their constitution after consuming multiple Rebirth Pills, achieving a physique comparable to early-stage Body Tempering practitioners.】

【The main ingredient of the Rebirth Pill is the flesh and blood of certain precious spirit pets, as it contains life essence.】

【By your reasoning, if you slightly modify the main ingredient, Demonic Beast Blood Essence might prove even more effective.】

【And so you cultivate while simultaneously attempting to refine this new pill.】

【In the twelfth year, you achieve a minor breakthrough in your cultivation of Protective Hardened Qi — Major Mastery is no longer far off.】

【That same year, your research on the Rebirth Pill advances further. Initially using Demon King Blood Essence as the main ingredient, you find that while the effects are remarkable, the medicinal potency is too violent and carries significant side effects.】

【You don’t experiment on humans, instead capturing some monsters from dungeons for testing.】

【You discover that some monsters experience increased strength after consuming the pill, while others explode and die on the spot.】

【Unsatisfied with these results, you spend your time outside of daily cultivation attempting to improve the formula.】

【In the thirteenth year, your Protective Hardened Qi divine ability draws ever closer to Major Mastery.】

【Meanwhile, after numerous refinements, the side effects and instability of the Rebirth Pill have been greatly reduced, though it’s still not ready for use on Class Users.】

【Through grueling daily cultivation and countless iterations of the formula, two years slowly pass.】

【In the fifteenth year, on a calm and sunny afternoon, after years of arduous cultivation, your Protective Hardened Qi divine ability finally reaches Major Mastery!】

【At the same time, your mastery of primordial energy draws ever closer — Perfection of the third stage is no longer far off.】

【That same year, you finally succeed in refining the Rebirth Pill. Its potency is so powerful that it’s comparable to a mid-grade pill!】