Chapter 148 – First Active Talent, Wisdom in Foolishness! (5k)

“This talent… seems quite powerful?”

Su Xing roughly understood the function of the Wisdom in Foolishness talent.

Simply put, it traded low intelligence and low comprehension during ordinary times for high comprehension and high intelligence at critical moments!

The three states—Foolish, Ordinary, and Wisdom—should be adjustable at any time.

Su Xing quickly thought of how to use this talent.

“If I maintain the Foolish state during normal times, my intelligence drops… but when I need to comprehend divine techniques or learn new pill recipes, I trigger the Wisdom state—wouldn’t my learning speed skyrocket?”

Su Xing’s eyes lit up as he murmured, “I just don’t know how much the Wisdom state boosts comprehension and aptitude.”

Clearly, this was a talent born specifically for simulation! In the real world, Su Xing could simply maintain the Ordinary state without being affected at all.

But in simulation, trading “Foolishness” for “Wisdom” would undoubtedly allow him to reach his goals much faster.

Most crucially, this talent could be activated at will!

There was absolutely no need to rely on luck to trigger epiphanies like with Spontaneous Epiphany.

Thinking of this, anticipation filled Su Xing’s eyes.

“Let me see just how effective this Wisdom in Foolishness talent really is!”

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【In the Blessed Spirit Field, you became aware that you were in a simulation.】

【You turned your attention to your talent, Wisdom in Foolishness.】

【You began tinkering with this talent. You quickly figured out how it worked, and after setting trigger commands, you attempted to enter the Wisdom state.】

【But nothing happened…】

【You understood—you had to first trigger the Foolish state in order to accumulate time for activating the Wisdom state.】

【So you shouted the command “I admit there’s a gambler in me” and entered the Foolish state.】

【After entering the Foolish state, you felt as though someone had smacked the back of your head with a brick. Your intelligence plummeted rapidly.】

【Problems that used to be simple now left you racking your brain with no answers, and your eyes involuntarily went cross-eyed.】

Su Xing: ???

Seeing this, black lines appeared on Su Xing’s forehead as he complained:

“What the hell—after triggering the Foolish state, you turn into an idiot in seconds! How did it even give me cross-eyes?”

“And what’s with that command? Does it really think it’s some elementary school class clown?”

Though he had anticipated this, Su Xing still hadn’t expected the Foolish effect to be this strong.

“Then… if I trigger the Wisdom state, what would the effect be like?”

Su Xing felt a surge of anticipation as his gaze returned to the simulation panel.

【You attempted to refine pills. Fortunately, the craft of pill refinement was already etched into your “deoxyribonucleic acid,” so even with reduced intelligence, you could still produce unranked and low-grade pills—just much more slowly.】

【In this manner, after ten days, you refined five thousand pills.】

【On this day, you shouted the command “I want to become smart” and entered the Wisdom state.】

【After entering the Wisdom state, you felt your intelligence soar. Problems that once left you agonizing for hours, you could now solve effortlessly. Both your intelligence and comprehension were greatly enhanced.】

【You attempted to comprehend the Three Talents Sword Art. Sure enough, just one day of comprehension yielded results equivalent to three days of normal cultivation.】

【On the second day, the Wisdom state’s enhancement ended, and you returned to the Ordinary state.】

Su Xing nodded slightly at this, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“I see—ten days in the Foolish state can be exchanged for one day of the Wisdom state?”

“In the Wisdom state, comprehension and intelligence should be tripled—one day of comprehension equals three days of normal practice!”

“And the Foolish state doesn’t turn you completely brainless. As long as you don’t try learning new things or tackling high-difficulty tasks, performing actions that don’t require intelligence or that you’re extremely proficient in will only be slightly affected.”

Su Xing pondered for a while and quickly identified the scenarios where Wisdom in Foolishness would shine.

“During immersive simulation, if I’m learning a new divine technique, twenty-four hours costs 2.4 million energy points. To fully learn it might take over ten days—that’s 24 million energy points…”

“But in the Wisdom state, the time and energy needed to learn a new divine technique would be reduced by two-thirds!”

“Looking at it this way, perhaps learning higher-level techniques through the Luotian Assembly instance is worth attempting now!”

Su Xing’s eyes brightened. Whether it was his current Eternal Spring Art or the “Heaven, Earth, and Human” Three Talents Sword Art, both urgently needed upgrading.

With this Wisdom in Foolishness talent, Su Xing could save a great deal of time and talent points.

“Beyond that, when refining high-quality pills, lack of ingredients is a major problem—but triggering the Wisdom state means one refining session equals three!”

“This way, I can master new pills faster and even reach Minor Mastery or Mastery-level more quickly!”

A flash of excitement passed through Su Xing’s eyes.

In short, this talent draw had truly struck gold!

Although the comprehension boost was far inferior to Spontaneous Epiphany, the advantage was that it could be triggered at will, making it far more practical!

“Tsk tsk, looks like this simulation, I can make another trip to the Luotian Assembly instance. I can memorize the second half of the Three Talents Sword Art first, then comprehend it slowly afterward!”

Su Xing already had a plan in mind as his gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【You quickly grasped how to use the Wisdom in Foolishness talent, and for the next ten days, you maintained the Foolish state.】

【In the Foolish state, you stayed peacefully in the Blessed Spirit Field, refining pills and tempering your body.】

【After ten days, you shouted the command “Heh, mere mortals” and entered the Ordinary state, then prepared to enter the Luotian Assembly instance.】

【You were in luck—on the very next day, you obtained the qualification to enter the Luotian Assembly instance and successfully entered.】

Seeing this, Su Xing’s heart stirred as he silently recited, “Activate immersive simulation function, duration twenty-four hours!”

【Ding! You have successfully activated the immersive simulation function. Duration: 24 hours. Energy cost: 2.4 million. Remaining energy: 43.73 million points.】

A flash of white light passed before Su Xing’s eyes. The scenery shifted, and he appeared inside the instance.

“Good disciple, go to the rear mountain and invite Shennong Martial Uncle to attend the Luotian Assembly!”

Su Xing looked up. The speaker was the familiar Grand Elder Niu Rulie.

“Yes, Master!”

Su Xing bowed respectfully and headed toward the rear mountain.

Along the way, Su Xing reviewed the memory fragments flooding his mind.

“My identity is still Luo Xiaochuan, true disciple of the Luotian Sect… except now I’m a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator at the late Divine Power Realm—a genius?”

“One of the three most outstanding geniuses of the current Luotian Sect generation under a hundred years old. Before even reaching a hundred, he formed a Nine-Revolution Golden Core, broke through the five barriers, and achieved Spirit Transformation… an existence qualified to become an immortal?”

After absorbing the identity memories, Su Xing grew thoughtful.

“It seems this Luotian Sect is even more powerful than I imagined!”

“A Spirit Transformation cultivator is merely a true disciple? Then what cultivation level would an Elder need… or even a Holy Son?”

What Su Xing knew now was that the old woman in the Scripture Pavilion was at least a Body Integration stage cultivator.

And his master Niu Rulie, though primarily focused on Body Tempering, likely possessed strength no weaker than a Body Integration cultivator…

“Incredible—as expected of an immortal cultivation sect with a legacy spanning hundreds of thousands of years. The number of immortals who have emerged from the Luotian Sect must be considerable. Such depth of heritage… truly terrifying!”

Su Xing felt a surge of joy.

The stronger the Luotian Sect was, the greater the benefits for Su Xing.

Because this meant the treasures within this “mirage” were all the richer, and Su Xing could obtain even more techniques and divine arts.

With this thought, Su Xing quickly arrived at the rear mountain and met Shennong Martial Uncle.

Shennong Martial Uncle still had that same simple farmer’s appearance. Upon seeing Su Xing arrive, he set down the farm work in his hands.

Walking up to Su Xing, he smiled and praised, “Martial nephew, your cultivation grows ever higher. Not yet a hundred years old, and already a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator. If you push a bit harder, you might just become a Holy Son of our Luotian Sect!”

Holy Son?

Su Xing’s heart stirred at this, and he quickly asked, “Martial Uncle, what are the requirements to become our sect’s Holy Son?”

Shennong Youtian gave Su Xing a puzzled look but explained nonetheless:

“Your Body Tempering cultivation has already reached the late Divine Power Realm. If you break through to the Void-Shattering Realm or the Void Return stage and reach Perfection before the age of one hundred, you can become our sect’s Holy Son!”

“Becoming the Holy Son is equivalent to having one foot on the path to immortality — the chances of achieving immortality are very high…”

At this point, Shennong Youtian said with considerable pride:

“This martial uncle right here was the Luotian Sect’s Holy Son three thousand years ago!”

Su Xing was somewhat startled upon hearing this and blurted out:

“Then Martial Uncle, could it be that you’ve achieved immortality?”

Shennong Youtian’s face darkened, and he coughed twice:

“Ahem, ahem — you really know how to hit a sore spot! Let’s go, let’s just head to the Luotian Assembly!”

Su Xing’s words seemed to have struck a nerve with Shennong Youtian. He didn’t say a single word the entire way.

Before long, after escorting Shennong Youtian to the Luotian Assembly, Su Xing bid farewell and headed straight to the Scripture Pavilion.

Seeing the old granny dozing at the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion, Su Xing glanced at her with a guilty conscience and thought to himself:

“Come to think of it, I still owe this old granny a favor! But she probably doesn’t remember anymore!”

Su Xing greeted the old granny, then walked directly to the Sword Cultivation General Compendium that recorded the “Heaven, Earth, and Human” Three Talents Sword Art.

“I want to become smarter!”

Su Xing shouted the embarrassing catchphrase and entered the Wisdom state.

In the Wisdom state, Su Xing felt his mind become extraordinarily lucid — his learning ability and comprehension both multiplied several times over!

He checked the time. There were still twenty-three hours before he would exit the instance.

Su Xing began studying the second part of the Three Talents Sword Art — the Earth Sword.

The Earth Sword connected heaven and earth, capable of channeling the will of heaven and earth to empower oneself and unleash the forces of nature, vastly increasing one’s power!

Su Xing’s mind was crystal clear at this moment. He knew he had less than a day, so he focused single-mindedly on memorizing the Earth Sword’s contents through rote repetition.

Soon, the day passed. The immersive simulation ended, and Su Xing returned to the real world.

Back in reality, Su Xing rubbed his slightly throbbing temples and murmured:

“This Three Talents Sword Art is profoundly unfathomable, its contents vast as an ocean. I spent the entire day memorizing by rote, committing at least tens of thousands of characters to memory, and I barely managed to memorize one-third of the Earth Sword’s content…”

“If I want to completely memorize the Earth Sword portion, I’ll need at least two more attempts!”

Su Xing was beginning to understand just how powerful Spontaneous Epiphany truly was.

This time, with his intelligence and comprehension tripled, an entire day had only been enough to memorize one-third of the Earth Sword’s content.

But that previous Spontaneous Epiphany — triggered just once — had been equivalent to ten years of study and comprehension.

Not only had it allowed him to completely memorize the Human Sword portion, but he had also fully comprehended its contents, and even learned the underlying principles of sword cultivation from the Sword Cultivation General Compendium.

By comparison, the difference in effectiveness was enormous!

“Ah, if only I could trigger Spontaneous Epiphany one more time!”

Su Xing sighed and murmured:

“Even if I manage to memorize the entire Earth Sword by rote, fully understanding its contents would probably take over ten years, right? And if you add in actual sword practice… the time required would increase dramatically!”

Su Xing shook his head slightly.

Still, the good news was that his purpose this time had been twofold. First, he wanted to test the effects of the Wisdom in Foolishness talent — and it had indeed exceeded his expectations.

Second, this was merely a precautionary measure. His Human Sword was currently only at Minor Mastery, which was already struggling to keep pace with his seventh-level Divine Power Realm cultivation.

Going forward, Su Xing would find a way to cultivate the Human Sword to Perfection. When the time came to practice the Earth Sword, his combat power would absolutely leap to an entirely new level!

“If I can fully comprehend the Earth Sword, perhaps I’ll be able to attempt forcing my way through the Slaughter Battlefield!”

Excitement flickered in Su Xing’s eyes as he turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【After exiting the Luotian Assembly instance, you began looking for a way to infiltrate the Advent Cult.】

【You deliberately disguised your appearance and concealed your aura, then traveled to Shuangqing City in Southwest Province.】

【You then employed your old trick, arrogantly sweeping the city with your divine sense.】

【Sure enough, within a few days Old Dog Zong came looking for you, believing you to be a cultivator from another world just like him.】

【After a conversation in which both sides harbored ulterior motives, you exchanged Life-Sustaining Pills for some precious spirit medicines, as well as an opportunity to join the Advent Cult.】

【Afterward, thanks to your formidable strength, you smoothly became an Elder of the Advent Cult!】

【On the surface you treated Old Dog Zong like a sworn brother, while secretly maintaining contact with Luo Shuying. Through Luo Shuying, you obtained a large batch of medicinal ingredients.】

【You began refining pills as you always had, accumulating a massive stockpile of ingredients.】

【After becoming an Elder, you enjoyed relatively free movement.】

【In the second year, you found an opportunity and saved up a day’s worth of the Wisdom state in advance, preparing to enter the Luotian Assembly instance.】

Seeing this, Su Xing nodded slightly. He used the immersive simulation function once more, with a duration of twenty-four hours.

After running through the mission procedures, Su Xing continued memorizing the Three Talents Sword Art — the Earth Sword portion.

The twenty-four hours passed quickly, and Su Xing returned to the real world once more.

“Very good. Everything went exactly as I predicted. Just one last section remains, and I’ll be able to memorize the Earth Sword in its entirety!”

Su Xing’s gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【In the third year, having stockpiled sufficient pills, you determined the time was ripe and betrayed the Advent Cult along with Luo Shuying.】

【After defecting from the Advent Cult, you were pursued, but thanks to the protection of the Great Xia Military, the Advent Cult didn’t dare act too brazenly.】

【Old Dog Zong, however, was not so fortunate — he could only flee for his life.】

【You contributed the pills you had stockpiled over the years to the Great Xia Military, bolstering Great Xia with many powerful fighters.】

【You then saved up the Wisdom state in advance and found another opportunity to enter the Luotian Assembly instance.】

Seeing this, Su Xing nodded slightly and spoke again:

“Use the immersive simulation function! Duration: twenty-four hours!”

【Ding — you have successfully used the immersive simulation function. Duration: 24 hours. Energy cost: 2,400,000. Remaining energy: 38,930,000 points.】

As the notification faded, Su Xing’s consciousness entered the Luotian Assembly instance.

The familiar mission procedures completed, Su Xing continued memorizing the Three Talents Sword Art.

The immersive simulation time ended swiftly, while in the outside world, barely a minute had passed.

Su Xing’s consciousness returned to the real world, a trace of joy on his face.

“Excellent — I’ve finally memorized the entire Earth Sword portion! From here on, I just need to practice the sword art step by step!”

After obtaining the Wisdom in Foolishness talent, Su Xing had also set a goal for this simulation.

“This simulation — let’s see if I can push my Body Tempering cultivation to Great Perfection of the Divine Power Realm… or at the very least, advance further in the Human Sword stage of the Three Talents Sword Art!”

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

【In the fourth year, you continued refining pills and practicing sword arts. You gave all the pills you had refined over the years to the Great Xia Military, producing tens of thousands of Grandmaster-level fighters, several hundred Heavenly Kings, and dozens of Martial Emperors.】

【Afterward, you joined Demon-Sealing Pass, hoping to further advance your Body Tempering cultivation and hone your swordsmanship through its battles!】

【In the fifth year, you spent the entire year fighting and slaying enemies at Demon-Sealing Pass. Throughout this period, you fought exclusively with swordsmanship, and your mastery of the Three Talents Sword Art improved further!】

【That same year, you consumed large quantities of Demon Emperor Blood Essence, but because your strength had already reached the late Divine Power Realm, the blood essence’s benefit to your cultivation grew increasingly diminished.】

【You began yearning to slay demon royalty in order to obtain higher-grade blood essence.】

【Unfortunately, royal-class demon beasts were almost nowhere to be seen on the battlefield, and your cultivation speed fell far short of what it had been before.】

【In the sixth year, you spent an entire year slaying over ten Demon Emperors, over a hundred Demon King-level demon beasts, and countless demon beasts below the Grandmaster level.】

【Through constant battle, your comprehension of the Human Sword deepened even further!】

【You consumed up to eight jin of Demon Emperor Blood Essence daily, and under the influence of such massive quantities, your cultivation slowly advanced.】

【In the seventh year, your understanding of the Human Sword reached new heights. Through relentless combat, you felt that your Human Sword had drawn close to the Major Mastery level!】

【That same year, your Body Tempering cultivation continued its slow advance.】

【In the eighth year, your fame at Demon-Sealing Pass continued to grow. Over these years, no fewer than dozens of Demon Emperors had fallen to your blade.】

【One day, a Fierce Rhinoceros Tribe demon beast — the very kind you had been longing for — came to your door of its own accord and issued you a challenge.】

【Your strength had grown far beyond what it once was. Knowing full well the Fierce Rhinoceros Tribe beast was no match for you, you decided to seize this precious opportunity to temper your swordsmanship!】

【You battled the Fierce Rhinoceros Tribe beast for three days and three nights, fighting exclusively with sword arts the entire time. Your mastery of the Human Sword realm surged rapidly!】

【In the end, with a single stroke of your sword, you severed the head of the Fierce Rhinoceros Tribe demon beast and claimed victory!】

【At the same time, your Human Sword finally broke through to Major Mastery!】

【Congratulations — you have successfully grasped the embryonic form of sword momentum!】