Chapter 180 – Seventy Years of Epiphany, the Terrifying Difficulty of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Second Update)

Chapter 178 – Seventy Years of Epiphany, the Terrifying Difficulty of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Second Update)

Looking at the simulation rewards before him, Su Xing raised an eyebrow and murmured:

“How is this Eight Trigrams Divination Art so expensive… just the Beginner-level alone costs fifty million energy?”

Su Xing was somewhat astonished.

But this precisely demonstrated that the Eight Trigrams Divination Art’s tier surpassed even ordinary Heaven-grade cultivation arts and secret techniques.

The more expensive it was, the more it proved the preciousness of this secret art!

After consoling himself with this reasoning, Su Xing didn’t hesitate much and silently recited:

“I choose to bring out the Ruyi Visualization Method (Minor Mastery) and the Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Beginner-level)!”

【You have successfully brought out the Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Beginner). Cost: 50 million energy. Remaining energy: 239,460,000 points.】

【You have successfully brought out the Ruyi Visualization Method (Minor Mastery). Cost: 80 million energy. Remaining energy: 159,460,000 points.】

As the simulator’s notification faded, two streams of mysterious energy surged into Su Xing’s body.

What Su Xing felt first was an influx of countless memory fragments and knowledge within him.

These were cultivation insights regarding the Eight Trigrams Divination Art.

From divining one’s own fortune to the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Art…

Over a dozen techniques of varying scale related to fortune — Su Xing mastered them all in just a few breaths.

“The Human Fortune Chapter… not only can it measure one’s own fortune and avert danger… it turns out it can also reveal the fortune of others…”

Su Xing’s eyes gleamed faintly.

The Human Fortune Chapter recorded that all living things in the world possessed fortune, and after mastering this secret art, Su Xing’s eyes could perceive the fortunes — good or ill — of other living beings.

“Tsk tsk, this Eight Trigrams Divination Art is truly unfathomable… I’m only at the Beginner-level right now, and I should already count as a half-immortal among mortals, shouldn’t I?”

Su Xing sighed softly. His Eight Trigrams Divination Art was a genuine, bona fide fortune-reading technique — nothing like those fraudulent blind fortune-tellers.

“With this art, it’s truly a trump card for staying alive at home or escaping pursuit…”

Su Xing mused inwardly.

After digesting the memories and cultivation insights of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art, Su Xing next perceived the visualization image flickering in and out of existence within his mind.

That Ruyi visualization image depicted mountains and water, a person, and most importantly, that jade ruyi scepter…

Previously, Su Xing could only make out the mountains and water but couldn’t see the old Daoist or the jade ruyi in the painting clearly.

But now, with his divine sense having reached the Minutiae Realm, he could see the old Daoist’s appearance plainly.

“This old Daoist’s features are both righteous and sinister… how strange indeed…”

Su Xing muttered a remark, shook his head slightly, and his figure vanished from the spirit field grotto-heaven.

Returning to the real world, Su Xing closed his eyes and began testing the current state of his divine sense.

With a thought, his divine sense spread outward like a tide.

In an instant, it enveloped more than half of Capital City.

Not only that, Su Xing’s divine sense continued expanding step by step.

Seven thousand zhang… eight thousand zhang… nine thousand zhang…

Finally — ten thousand zhang of divine sense!

With Su Xing at the center, everything within a radius of ten thousand zhang (33.33 kilometers) was perceived with crystal clarity.

This range didn’t just cover the entirety of Capital City — it even extended to the surrounding villages, towns, and mountains…

“What a feeling… truly marvelous!”

Su Xing sighed softly. After experiencing the range of his divine sense, he began studying the differences between the Minutiae Realm and the Five Senses Realm.

With a thought, Su Xing’s divine sense drifted to eight thousand zhang away.

At that moment, a fly entered Su Xing’s perception range.

Su Xing observed the fly beating its wings, discerning the minute patterns on their surface.

He could even see the fly’s compound eyes with perfect clarity!

After a long while, Su Xing withdrew his divine sense and marveled:

“The Minutiae Realm… observing all things down to the finest detail… tsk tsk, this level of divine sense is truly formidable!”

Su Xing quickly realized the greatest practical use the Minutiae Realm divine sense held for him at present.

Alchemy!

“Tsk tsk, with such minute observation — precise down to the fraction of a hair — if I used this for pill refinement, wouldn’t the success rate skyrocket?”

Su Xing was very pleased with the transformation in his divine sense realm.

With a thought, Su Xing summoned his attribute panel and reviewed his skills and cultivation arts.

【Name: Su Xing】

【Age: 22】

【Profession: Immortal Cultivator (Unique Hidden Profession)】

【Cultivation: Spirit Transformation stage Great Perfection, Void-Breaking Realm First Layer】

【Cultivation Arts: Ruyi Visualization Diagram, Eternal Spring Art, Thousand Blazing Flame Art】

【Talents: Wisdom in Foolishness, Sword Maniac, Spontaneous Epiphany, Alchemy Prodigy, King of Gluttons, Lightning-Wood-Fire Triple Spiritual Root, Strength to Uproot Mountains, Fortune in Commerce, Peerless Adonis, Descendant of Shennong, Die With Eyes Open, Blessed by Fortune, Blessed by Fortune…】

【Skills: Separation Fire (Minor Mastery), Alchemy Art (Minor Mastery), Spirit Burst (Minor Mastery), Shennong Spirit Cultivation Technique (Beginner-level), Ten-Thousand-Zhang Divine Sense (Minutiae Realm), Elemental Force (Projection-level Perfection), Three Talents Sword Art (Human Sword: Perfection, Earth Sword: Beginner), Myriad-Mile Tracking Art (Beginner), Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Beginner)】

【Special Constitution: Heavenly Thunder Body】

Compared to the beginning, Su Xing’s current attribute panel was nothing short of magnificent.

The Ruyi Visualization Diagram, that divine sense cultivation art, had also been categorized under the cultivation arts column.

With this, the number of cultivation arts Su Xing primarily practiced totaled a full three.

Numerous talents… numerous secret techniques and skills…

What surprised Su Xing the most was that the Heavenly Thunder Body had added an entirely new Special Constitution section to his panel.

“Currently I still have around 160 million energy… after collecting new goods next week, the simulation energy should exceed 200 million…”

“That should be enough to cover the next simulation or two…”

Su Xing thought to himself, but immediately felt a headache coming on.

“But advancing through the realms after Void-Breaking is truly a bottomless pit! It takes a billion energy just to cultivate to the Great Perfection realm…”

“Sigh, the only option is to work even harder at alchemy!”

Su Xing muttered a remark, then began his daily routine of refining pills, harvesting spirit liquid, and tending to the spirit field.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

During this week, Su Xing had refined close to six thousand pills.

And that was with Su Xing handling numerous miscellaneous tasks on the side…

As Su Xing’s divine sense had undergone its transformation, his pill-refining speed had improved by more than just a notch.

Soon enough, the day arrived for Su Xing and Jin Congxue to meet again.

Su Xing deftly applied his disguise and suppressed his aura, then entered the villa.

After the two shared a meal, Jin Congxue handed over the new week’s goods to Su Xing.

They chatted casually for half an hour before Su Xing left the villa, carefully scouting his route as he cautiously returned to the dormitory and entered the spirit field grotto-heaven.

He converted the new week’s goods into simulation energy.

As expected, Su Xing’s simulation energy once again exceeded 250 million.

On September 2nd of New Era 2024, Su Xing punctually initiated a new round of simulation.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation costs 5,100 energy. Remaining energy: 250,560,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: Unlimited.】

【Simulation begins!】

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

“Draw a purple talent!”

Su Xing said decisively.

【Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the purple talent: Talisman Expert!】

【Talisman Expert】: Purple talent. You possess extraordinary talent for crafting talismans, learning new talismans more easily than ordinary people, with a slight increase in talisman crafting success rate.

“Good grief — alchemy, formations, artifact refining, talismans… so all four great money-making paths of immortal cultivators have assembled?”

Su Xing muttered to himself.

Among the four great side professions of immortal cultivators, each had its own strengths and was extremely demanding of talent.

In theory, alchemy, formation-laying, artifact refining, and talisman-making were on equal footing with no clear hierarchy.

But if one were to ask which craft had the highest barrier to entry—

It would absolutely be talisman crafting!

Because crafting talismans was the most meticulous and mentally draining of tasks — the special characters inscribed within a talisman had to align perfectly, without even the slightest deviation.

As such, it placed extremely high demands on one’s divine sense!

“Come to think of it… with Minutiae Realm divine sense, crafting talismans should be considerably easier, right?”

Su Xing stroked his chin as he pondered. “Besides, talismans are something that… while difficult to craft, apparently have no requirements regarding the user’s strength…”

“That means if one possessed a talisman of sufficient grade, even an ordinary person could use it to kill Spirit Transformation or Void Return stage powerhouses!”

Su Xing recalled the information about talismans stored in his mind.

“I remember there seemed to be secret manuals on talisman crafting within the Luotian Grand Sect… If there’s ever a need in the future, perhaps I could take a look?”

After analyzing his newly acquired talent, Su Xing sighed softly:

“But talisman crafting isn’t urgent!”

“The pressing matter is finding a way to instantly kill Old Dog Zong and obtain his storage artifact…”

With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【In the spirit field grotto-heaven, you became aware that you were in a simulation.】

【You stayed in the Capital City for a few days, then prepared to join the Advent Cult.】

【You arrived in Shuangqing City and released your divine sense, drawing out Old Dog Zong.】

【You knew you couldn’t kill Old Dog Zong yet, and because of this, Old Dog Zong sensed no danger from you.】

【Old Dog Zong treated you with great respect, addressing you as “senior” with every breath.】

【Under Old Dog Zong’s introduction, you joined the Advent Cult.】

【After joining the Advent Cult, you began secretly contacting Luo Shuying and obtained a large quantity of spirit medicines.】

【And so you quietly laid low within the Advent Cult, refining spirit medicines daily while studying the Eight Trigrams Divination Art and the Sword-Controlling Technique.】

【Soon, two years passed…】

【You had stockpiled over a hundred thousand pills and gotten your hands on most of the Advent Cult’s medicinal ingredients.】

【You were ready to defect from the Advent Cult. Before leaving, you tried to find Old Dog Zong one more time, but as expected, he had vanished.】

【You knew Old Dog Zong had sensed danger and fled preemptively. Without dwelling on it, you took Luo Shuying and defected to the Capital City.】

【After joining Xia’s military, you continued your steady daily routine of refining pills and training diligently.】

【In the blink of an eye, two more years passed…】

【In the fourth year, you gave all the pills you had refined over the years to Xia’s military, bolstering Great Xia with many new powerhouses.】

【At the same time, with more energy to spare, you began devoting yourself fully to studying the Eight Trigrams Divination Art and the Sword-Controlling Technique.】

【In the fifth year, through arduous cultivation, your training in the Sword-Controlling Technique finally reached the introductory level.】

【And so, above the skies of the Capital City, one could occasionally spot a handsome young man soaring on a flying sword.】

【After reaching the introductory level in the Sword-Controlling Technique, your movement speed improved dramatically.】

【In the sixth year, you continued studying the Eight Trigrams Divination Art and the Sword-Controlling Technique daily.】

【Your mastery of the Sword-Controlling Technique grew with each passing day, your cultivation speed remarkably fast — perhaps because you were simply born to be a Sword Immortal.】

【But unfortunately, you were destined never to be a fortune-telling mystic. After years of cultivation, your mastery of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art remained stuck just before the threshold of Minor Mastery.】

【In the seventh year, one day you were practicing the Eight Trigrams Divination Art as usual.】

【Suddenly, a flash of inspiration sparked in your mind, and before your eyes appeared many strange lines of light hovering between illusion and reality.】

【When you studied the Eight Trigrams Divination Art again, you found that all the previously obscure and incomprehensible knowledge had become crystal clear.】

【You successfully triggered the talent Spontaneous Epiphany!】

【You fell into a mysterious state where your comprehension was enhanced several hundredfold.】

【You wasted not a single moment, seizing the opportunity to delve deeper into the Eight Trigrams Divination Art.】

【As your cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, seven days flew by in the blink of an eye…】

【When you emerged from the epiphany state, a sense of wistful loss lingered in your heart.】

【Then you glanced at the time and were shocked — this was the longest epiphany you had ever experienced.】

【A full seven days, equivalent to seventy years of cultivation for an ordinary person!】

【You began to assess what level your Eight Trigrams Divination Art had reached.】

【As expected, you had cultivated the Eight Trigrams Divination Art to the Minor Mastery level… and were even just a hair’s breadth from Major Mastery!】

【At Minor Mastery Peak, your sensitivity to danger through the Eight Trigrams Divination Art became far more acute. You could precisely detect omens of fortune and misfortune regarding how events would develop for you.】

【Combined with your Blessed by Fortune talent, you could predict most dangers to yourself in advance and avoid them as early as possible.】

【If you were willing to expend cultivation, you could even observe omens of fortune and misfortune for others, faintly glimpsing the destiny of mortals.】

【However, the stronger the target, the more cultivation it would cost you…】

【Beyond that, regarding your mastery of the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Art, you could now shield your own fate with near-perfect reliability. Ordinary cultivators would be unable to observe your destiny.】

【Under the concealment of the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Art, a layer of gray mist seemed to envelop you, capable of evading the vast majority of divination attempts.】

【But the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Art was not omnipotent — if the opponent’s divination arts surpassed yours, they might still detect certain traces.】

Su Xing let out a long breath of relief at this, though a hint of astonishment lingered in his heart.

“A full seven days of epiphany… equivalent to seventy years of normal cultivation, and it still wasn’t enough to break through to Major Mastery in one go?”

Su Xing found it somewhat hard to believe.

Just what kind of hellish difficulty was this Eight Trigrams Divination Art?

“Adding in the twenty-odd years I cultivated before… that’s nearly the equivalent of over a hundred years spent on the Eight Trigrams Divination Art!”

“And while my comprehension isn’t exceptional, it’s at least above average… yet it’s still this difficult!”

Su Xing finally understood the true weight behind the secret art’s description: “Only those with exceptional comprehension may grasp it.”

“I just wonder what level Old Dog Zong has cultivated his Eight Trigrams Divination Art to? Surely he’s not a tier above me?”

Su Xing wasn’t certain. Old Dog Zong had managed to master this secret art on his own, so his comprehension couldn’t be lacking.

And Old Dog Zong had been cultivating for one or two thousand years…

It was entirely possible he had comprehended more than Su Xing.

Su Xing stroked his chin and murmured:

“Still, after seven days of epiphany, my Eight Trigrams Divination Art isn’t far from Major Mastery…”

“There are still over twenty years left in this simulation. Perhaps I should try and see if I can break through to Major Mastery first?”

Su Xing decided to play it safe and hold off on confronting Old Dog Zong for now.

If the simulation was nearing its end and he still hadn’t cultivated the Eight Trigrams Divination Art to Major Mastery, then he would have no choice but to attempt killing Old Dog Zong by force.

With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【In the eighth year, after your breakthrough in the Eight Trigrams Divination Art, you maintained your daily rigorous training, hoping to reach the Major Mastery level as soon as possible.】

【In the ninth year, your mastery of the Sword-Controlling Technique improved slightly, and your movement speed was noticeably faster than before.】

【In the tenth year, on the day of the Awakening of Insects, you traveled to a mountain range to attempt collecting Spring Dew Purified Water. You wanted to know how much you could gather at once with your current strength.】

【Your divine sense instantly blanketed the sprawling mountain range.】

【When the first spring thunder cracked across the sky, you sensed the rain beginning to fall.】

【Tens of thousands of raindrops — their falling trajectories seemed to slow before your eyes.】

【Standing atop your flying sword, your figure moved… becoming a blur that returned to its original position half a second later.】

【You opened your palm. There, suspended within a wrapping of spiritual energy, nine crystalline drops of Spring Dew Purified Water floated quietly.】

【You felt deeply satisfied. Though there were only nine drops, this was more than any previous attempt.】

【At the same time, you had a premonition — to collect all ten drops, you would likely need to achieve Minor Mastery in the Sword-Controlling Technique.】

【And so you trained even harder in the days that followed. In the blink of an eye, three more years passed…】

【In the thirteenth year, though your movement technique had grown ever faster with years of training, your Sword-Controlling Technique still hadn’t reached Minor Mastery.】

【You had made multiple attempts on the Awakening of Insects over these years, but the Spring Dew Purified Water you collected remained at nine drops. You knew this was your current limit.】

【In the fourteenth year, after years of bitter cultivation, your mastery of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art achieved a slight breakthrough, drawing ever closer to the Perfection level.】

【With less than ten years remaining before the giant beast’s descent, you knew time was precious. You dared not waste a moment and trained even harder.】

【In the blink of an eye, two more years passed…】

【In the sixteenth year, you felt your mastery of the Sword-Controlling Technique growing increasingly refined, now just one step away from Minor Mastery.】

【At this point, with but a thought, you could behead an enemy ten thousand meters away with the sword in your command.】

【Your movement speed had also increased by no less than fifty percent compared to before.】

【In the eighteenth year, your Sword-Controlling Technique remained stuck just before the threshold of Minor Mastery…】

【But what you never expected was that, through decades of arduous cultivation, your mastery of the Eight Trigrams Divination Art had naturally and seamlessly advanced into the Major Mastery level!】

【With Major Mastery in the Eight Trigrams Divination Art, shielding your own fortune and fate became second nature to you.】

【As for divining fortune and misfortune, and glimpsing the currents of fate — such things were now effortless…】

【After mastering the Eight Trigrams Divination Art, you had evaded at least several hundred assassination and ambush attempts targeting you, sending those human traitors back empty-handed.】

【Now, with the Eight Trigrams Divination Art at Major Mastery, you knew clearly — it was time to attempt killing Old Dog Zong once more…】

(One more update this afternoon~ Please vote with your monthly tickets~)