Instant-Killing Old Dog Zong, A Chance Encounter with Luo Shuying! (Monthly Ticket Bonus)

Chapter 182 – Instant-Killing Old Dog Zong, A Chance Encounter with Luo Shuying! (Monthly Ticket Bonus~)

What answered Su Xing was silence.

But Su Xing didn’t dare let his guard down, because ever since he’d killed Old Dog Zong, his spiritual sense had detected a presence following him the entire time.

The other party had used some unknown method that prevented Su Xing from pinpointing their exact location.

“Heh, if you don’t dare show yourself… then by all means, keep following!”

“Once we reach the Capital City, I wonder if you’ll still have the nerve to tail me?”

Su Xing called out his threat in a loud, clear voice.

A stretch of silence hung in the air.

Before long, a figure stepped out from the shadows, staring at Su Xing as they asked:

“Why did you ambush and kill Protector Zong?”

Su Xing secretly gathered his vital energy, preparing to silence this witness permanently.

But when he saw the figure clearly, Su Xing froze.

“Luo Shuying, is that you?”

Su Xing never would have imagined that the person who happened to stumble upon the scene of him killing Old Dog Zong was none other than Luo Shuying!

The black-clad figure fell silent upon hearing this. She never expected that Su Xing would actually recognize her.

After all, Luo Shuying was her true name—no one in this world should have known it.

So Luo Shuying grew secretly wary and asked in confusion:

“How do you know my name?”

Su Xing suddenly spoke:

“Do you still remember the little girl who cried through an entire rainy night? There’s no going back, Luo Shuying!”

This was the code phrase Su Xing had previously established with Luo Shuying.

Sure enough, the moment Luo Shuying heard these words, her slender body trembled, and she said in disbelief:

“Who exactly are you? How could you possibly know that phrase?”

Su Xing began to explain.

“Luo Shuying, across different timelines, we’ve long since known each other… We’ve been comrades-in-arms who fought side by side for years, who can trust each other completely!”

“Together, we fought against the alien races, preventing them from invading our world…”

Su Xing recounted the explanation he had used countless times within the simulator.

Luo Shuying’s expression shifted from shock to, ultimately, trust.

Su Xing took all of this in.

Finally, Luo Shuying said:

“Comrades who rely on each other… Then, is there anything you need me to do?”

Su Xing’s heart leapt with joy at her words.

He had originally been worried that after Old Dog Zong’s death, he would have no excuse to join the Advent Cult in future simulations.

But now, wouldn’t it be just the same if Luo Shuying brought him in?

So Su Xing said:

“One month from now, we’ll meet here again. When the time comes, I need you to get me into the Advent Cult… There’s something I need in there!”

Luo Shuying nodded obediently and didn’t ask any further questions.

The two didn’t exchange any contact information, and simply parted ways.

……

Soon, the immersive simulation time ended, and Su Xing returned to the real world.

Back in reality, Su Xing let out a long breath and murmured:

“Based on this simulation, if I kill Old Dog Zong one month from now in reality, it’s entirely feasible!”

“When that time comes, I’ll truly be able to claim Old Dog Zong’s inheritance!”

“However… the one issue is that it will attract Luo Shuying’s attention…”

Su Xing frowned slightly.

Honestly, Su Xing didn’t want to meet Luo Shuying in reality just yet.

Not because he didn’t trust her, but because there were too many potential variables involved.

Possible assassination attempts or a whole chain of troubles…

“But if I want to kill Old Dog Zong, running into Luo Shuying is unavoidable…”

“Besides, meeting Luo Shuying isn’t necessarily all bad!”

Su Xing fell into deep thought.

After killing Old Dog Zong in reality, it would become more troublesome for Su Xing to infiltrate the Advent Cult through the simulator.

But if he had Luo Shuying’s introduction, the effect would be the same.

Moreover, as Su Xing’s strength grew, he had gradually set his sights on the Advent Cult’s treasury.

If he wanted to raid the treasury, he might very well need Luo Shuying working from the inside…

“Perhaps, after killing Old Dog Zong, I really should seize the opportunity to make contact with Luo Shuying. After all, she can be trusted…”

“The only thing is, I can’t use the ‘crossing timelines’ excuse anymore… After all, in reality, you only get one life…”

Su Xing closed his eyes and thought for a while, then murmured:

“Perhaps I can meet Luo Shuying using a disguised identity… It’s not that I don’t trust her, but better safe than sorry.”

“But if I don’t use that code phrase, how do I get her to trust me?”

A flash of inspiration struck Su Xing, and he suddenly thought:

“That’s right! Master of Success Studies (The Art of Persuasion)! With that talent, I should be able to win Luo Shuying’s trust!”

The corner of Su Xing’s mouth curled upward. He planned to bring out this talent in a future simulation and give it a try.

“But for this simulation, it’s time to accumulate resources… I need to prepare for breaking through to the Void Return realm!”

Su Xing murmured, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.

【You returned to the Capital City. One month later, you met with Luo Shuying right on schedule.】

【With Luo Shuying’s help, you successfully joined the Advent Cult.】

【At the same time, you discovered the Advent Cult was investigating the cause of Old Dog Zong’s death. But because you had acted covertly and concealed your heavenly secrets, the Cult failed to find the true culprit.】

【With Luo Shuying’s assistance, you obtained a large quantity of medicinal herbs and collected a considerable number of pills.】

【Several more months passed. To your surprise, Protector Dragon actually left the Advent Cult’s treasury stronghold and made a trip to the Cult’s main headquarters.】

【Just as you suspected, Protector Zong had been introduced into the Advent Cult by none other than Protector Dragon.】

【And the reason for his visit was precisely to investigate the cause of Protector Zong’s death.】

【He investigated for an entire month. During that time, he found no issues whatsoever. But as he was leaving, he fixed you with a long, penetrating look.】

【You thought Protector Dragon had noticed something amiss, but he simply returned to the treasury. Nothing further happened after that.】

【From Protector Dragon, you sensed an oppressive pressure. His strength seemed to be considerably greater than yours.】

Su Xing frowned slightly at this and murmured:

“So it’s true… The old dragon that Protector Zong mentioned in his diary—that was Protector Dragon?”

“Could this Protector Dragon be of the dragon race? Considerably stronger than me… Could he be at Void Return stage, Great Perfection, or even a Body Integration stage cultivator?”

Su Xing immediately felt a sense of unease.

If he wanted to raid the Advent Cult’s treasury in the future, a confrontation with Protector Dragon would be inevitable.

And the stronger Protector Dragon was, the worse it would be for Su Xing…

“It seems… I’ll need to reach at least Void-Breaking Realm, Grand Perfection before I can be confident enough to raid the Advent Cult’s treasury…”

Su Xing furrowed his brow. He recalled a talent he had once obtained called “Dragonslayer.”

It seemed to grant an innate ability to suppress and intimidate the dragon race?

“Dragonslayer… Perhaps when the time is right, this talent should make its appearance…”

Su Xing murmured.

“Did Protector Dragon figure out that I was the one who killed Old Dog Zong?”

“Probably not… Otherwise, Protector Dragon would have seized me on the spot. The Heavenly Secrets Concealment Art must have evaded Protector Dragon’s detection!”

“As for why he took notice of me, perhaps it was because I’m also a cultivator of immortal arts? Or perhaps… he sensed that my strength was formidable?”

Su Xing had some guesses, but since Protector Dragon hadn’t set his sights on him for now, Su Xing was naturally happy to continue developing and strengthening himself.

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

【Nothing of note happened over the following months. You continued to stay within the Advent Cult, peacefully refining pills and cultivating the Sword-Controlling Technique.】

【The second year, on the day of the Awakening of Insects.】

【You arrived deep within a vast mountain range. Your spiritual sense spread outward like a tidal wave, instantly blanketing the entire sprawling mountain chain.】

【Every birdsong, every faint breeze across the entire mountain range fell within the perception of your spiritual sense.】

【The moment the spring thunder struck, you moved—riding your flying sword, ethereal as an immortal, streaking across the sky like an afterimage.】

【Within that half-second, the trajectory of every falling raindrop was within your perception.】

【Half a second later, you stopped.】

【Opening your palm, wrapped within spiritual energy, was unmistakably a wisp of Spring Dew Purified Water.】

【Exactly ten drops, not one fewer…】

【You departed with satisfaction, returning to the Advent Cult to continue refining pills.】

【In the third year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you made time to visit the mountain again. Your accumulated Spring Dew Purified Water reached twenty drops.】

【That same year, you embezzled all the medicinal ingredients within the Advent Cult, refining over a hundred thousand pills.】

【You prepared to defect from the Advent Cult.】

【On a late night, you awakened Luo Shuying and fled with her toward the Capital City.】

【She asked no questions, simply following you in silence, trusting you unconditionally.】

【You gifted her the Mind-Condensing Pills you had refined over these years, helping her successfully break through to become a Legendary-stage powerhouse.】

【Afterward, you were pursued by the Advent Cult’s assassins, but your strength was exceptional. Along the way, you even counter-killed several Protectors at Peak Martial Emperor level.】

【After arriving at the Capital City, you continued refining pills daily with unwavering consistency, providing pills to Great Xia.】

【In the fourth year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you once again collected Spring Dew Purified Water, bringing the total to thirty drops.】

【That same year, you gave all the pills you had refined over the years to Xia’s military, adding many new powerhouses to Great Xia’s ranks.】

【With no more pills to refine, you freed up time to sort through Old Dog Zong’s inheritance. Apart from some treasures, you obtained eighty thousand Spirit stones.】

【You did not use these Spirit stones, instead carefully preserving them.】

【In the fifth year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, your Spring Dew Purified Water total reached forty drops.】

【That same year, you traveled to Demon-Sealing Pass to fight the enemy, hoping to find a path beyond the Void Shattering realm.】

【There were plenty of Demon King and Demon Emperor-level demonic beasts at Demon-Sealing Pass, but Legendary demonic beasts were rarely encountered.】

【With your current strength, let alone Demon King Blood Essence — even Demon Emperor Blood Essence yielded negligible results.】

【So you remained at Demon-Sealing Pass, slaying enemies daily.】

【Whenever the Day of Awakening of Insects arrived, you would travel to the real world to collect Spring Dew Purified Water.】

【And so, three years slowly passed.】

【By the eighth year, the Spring Dew Purified Water in your possession had reached seventy drops — enough to refine seventy batches of Void-Refining Pills.】

【But as one of the most difficult mid-grade pills to refine, you currently had no confidence in successfully producing Void-Refining Pills…】

【So you decided to continue collecting Spring Dew Purified Water, to bring out as a simulation reward.】

【One day, while slaying enemies at Demon-Sealing Pass, you encountered an unexpectedly formidable demonic beast.】

【This beast stood less than a hundred zhang tall, yet possessed strength comparable to a Legendary-stage being.】

【Such a physique, among Legendary-stage demonic beasts, was the equivalent of a dwarf among humans.】

【Yet this beast was extraordinarily strong and incredibly fast — not even inferior to you.】

【But compared to those thousand-zhang-tall Legendary demonic beasts, its defensive capabilities fell far short.】

【You battled this Legendary-stage demonic beast for hundreds of rounds, and relying on your exceptional endurance, strength, and Protective Hardened Qi, you finally cut it down.】

【Afterward, you obtained three hundred jin of precious Legendary demonic beast blood essence!】

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this, a thoughtful look crossing his mind.

“So… among Legendary-stage demonic beasts, not all of them are those enormous monsters standing a thousand zhang tall…”

“There are also smaller ones, like the Shadow Tribe demonic beast from before that was barely ten meters tall… or this hundred-zhang-tall Legendary beast…”

Thinking this, Su Xing let out a breath of relief and said:

“Compared to those massive Legendary demonic beasts… these Legendary beasts are also tough to deal with, but their defense isn’t nearly as absurd, so they won’t be a match for me.”

“So perhaps I can kill these agility-type demonic beasts to obtain blood essence? After all, though their sizes differ, the amount of blood essence they contain is roughly the same…”

But then Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly and said:

“However, the massive Legendary-stage demonic beasts are far more numerous on the battlefield…”

“If I want to kill them, I must rely on the sword in my hand. Training in the Three Talents Sword Art should be put on the agenda…”

“I just don’t know — how much would Legendary-stage demonic beast blood essence help me as I am now?”

With these doubts in mind, Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【After killing the Legendary-stage demonic beast, you began consuming the beast’s blood essence to enhance your Body Tempering cultivation.】

【You discovered that Legendary-stage demonic beast blood essence was quite effective for you. With the boost from the King of Gluttons talent, your cultivation improved steadily day by day.】

【One day, on a whim, you wondered whether a Rebirth Pill refined from Legendary-stage demonic beast blood essence might aid your cultivation.】

【So in addition to your daily training and beast-slaying, you began attempting to refine Rebirth Pills.】

【In the ninth year, refining the Rebirth Pill proved even more difficult than you had imagined. Since you hadn’t brought out any pill-refining experience from previous simulations, you had to start learning from scratch again.】

【Day after day, you went through trial and error, correcting the formula through constant experimentation.】

【With the support of large quantities of Demon King and Demon Emperor Blood Essence, your technique for refining Rebirth Pills improved steadily.】

【And so, another three years passed.】

【By the twelfth year, your accumulated Spring Dew Purified Water reached one hundred and ten drops, which you carefully preserved.】

【Over these three years, your Body Tempering cultivation had improved considerably, but there was still a significant gap before reaching the second level of the Void Shattering realm.】

【At the same time, you had made great progress in refining Rebirth Pills. You had successfully mastered the Demon King-grade Rebirth Pill, with minimal side effects.】

【You began working on mastering the Demon Emperor-grade Rebirth Pill.】

【That same year, you and Luo Shuying worked together to slay another Legendary-stage demonic beast.】

【You stored over three hundred jin of Legendary demonic beast blood essence, setting it aside for future pill refining.】

【And so, amid the daily cycle of training, pill refining, and demon slaying, another three years passed.】

【In the fifteenth year, you successfully mastered the Demon Emperor-grade Rebirth Pill and began attempting to refine using Legendary demonic beast blood essence.】

【You felt a stirring of anticipation — if this Rebirth Pill could be successfully refined, your cultivation progress in the Void Shattering realm would surely accelerate by more than double!】

【That same year, your accumulated Spring Dew Purified Water reached one hundred and forty drops.】

【In the sixteenth year, this was your three hundredth failed attempt at refining a Legendary-grade Rebirth Pill.】

【Despite achieving perfection and meticulous precision every single time, you could only produce waste pills.】

【You suspected the medicinal properties were imbalanced — the Legendary blood essence’s properties were too volatile, even causing your furnace to explode multiple times. You had ruined several pill furnaces forged from second-order exotic metal.】

【You began experimenting with new auxiliary ingredients to neutralize the Rebirth Pill’s volatile properties.】

【Unfortunately, your remaining Legendary demonic beast blood essence was depleted through repeated refining attempts, and you began looking for ways to hunt more Legendary beasts.】

【In the seventeenth year, you once again worked with Luo Shuying to slay a Legendary demonic beast, then extracted its blood essence and continued refining pills.】

【This year, your Spring Dew Purified Water reached one hundred and sixty drops.】

【In the eighteenth year, through relentless experimentation, you made an unexpected discovery — Snow Bone Jade Ginseng possessed cold, calming properties that could effectively neutralize the volatile properties of Legendary demonic beast blood essence.】

【You were elated and prepared to continue your refining attempts.】

【But after your one thousandth attempt, what awaited you was still failure.】

【Through continuous experimentation, you gradually identified the root of the problem.】

【Your Separation Fire Technique’s temperature was insufficient… You needed more advanced fire-control methods. You needed to cultivate the Separation Fire Technique to Major Mastery level…】

【Furthermore, the pill furnace forged from second-order exotic metal was not sturdy enough. Only the pill furnace that Qingyunzi had left you — though battered and worn in appearance — could withstand extreme temperatures.】

【You knew that advancing the Separation Fire Technique to Major Mastery was not something that could be done overnight, so you had no choice but to temporarily halt your research on the Rebirth Pill.】

Su Xing let out a slight sigh at this.

“What a shame… If I could develop a Legendary-grade Rebirth Pill, my cultivation speed in the Void Shattering realm would probably more than double, wouldn’t it?”

“But I still need to master the Separation Fire Technique, so that will have to wait for future simulations…”

Su Xing wasn’t particularly disappointed by this. After all, his goal this time was to extract the Spring Dew Purified Water and acquire a large quantity of Spirit stones along the way.

These were to be saved for future Void Return stage cultivation.

Attempting to refine the Rebirth Pill had merely been a side endeavor.

“It’s time to visit those ancient tomb ruins again…”

Su Xing murmured, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.

【In the nineteenth year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you collected a wisp of Spring Dew Purified Water.】

【With this, the total Spring Dew Purified Water in your possession reached one hundred and eighty drops.】

【One month later, you entered the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon, preparing to extract the Spirit stones from the ruins.】

【You spent a week finding three fragments of a broken jade pendant, then successfully located the mountain’s position.】

【After breaking through the boulder formation, you entered the ancient tomb ruins.】

【Not long after entering, you encountered that living-dead puppet with strength comparable to the Void Shattering realm.】

【You battled it for hundreds of rounds before cutting it down.】

【Afterward, you broke through the formation barrier and entered the core area of the ancient tomb ruins.】