Chapter 219 – First Real-World Epiphany, Comprehending a True Divine Art! (5k)

Su Xing was stunned by what he heard.

One million simulation energy to exchange for a single point of Origin Force?

Su Xing did a quick calculation, then slowly let his jaw drop.

Didn’t that mean these one million units of Origin Force… would require one trillion simulation energy!?

What the hell? One trillion energy…

Even emptying every merchant guild in all of Great Xia might not be enough!

All the simulation energy Su Xing had earned to date amounted to barely one percent of this piece of wood?

“A supreme treasure of this caliber… trying to bring it out through simulation is clearly unrealistic…”

“The only way is to find a means of obtaining it in reality!”

Su Xing took a deep breath, his desire burning even stronger.

And so, Su Xing now had yet another reason to kill Perfected One Myriad Wood!

The innate supreme treasure branch, and the Spirit Vein Dragon!

Either one of these treasures, taken out on its own, would be enough for mighty immortals to fight to the death over.

Yet now, Su Xing had not only learned of both treasures’ existence—he even had a chance to obtain them!

“Stay calm… I must stay calm!”

“Before I deal with the matter of being hunted by the mysterious person… I can’t act rashly!”

“These two items… aren’t of much use to me at my current level… Only after breaking through to the Body Integration stage will I truly need them!”

“The priority right now is still to improve my own strength as much as possible!”

Thinking this, Su Xing calmed himself down and turned his gaze toward the other rewards on the simulation panel.

“Gimme That!”—this purple talent did look quite good. Randomly stealing an item from a target could be hugely profitable if the stolen object turned out to be exceptional.

But for Su Xing at the moment, it wasn’t particularly useful. There were simply too few scenarios where he could use it. Perhaps it would only become convenient later when he entered the cultivation world?

“My comprehension of the Essence of Strength… is still at the superficial stage. This progress seems far too slow…”

“If I can’t trigger a Spontaneous Epiphany, superficial-level comprehension is of limited use to me. It’s better than nothing… but all I can do is accumulate slowly…”

Su Xing sighed, hesitated for a moment, then murmured:

“So be it—I’ll try once more! If I still can’t trigger a Spontaneous Epiphany… then I’ll have no choice but to rely on gradually accumulating my comprehension of Origin Force on my own…”

“As for the Myriad Wood Scripture Core Method… it’s a Heaven-tier core cultivation method capable of reaching the immortal realm…”

“But my current Thousand Blazing Flame Art is already sufficient to break through to the Body Integration stage… Besides, there’s still the advanced version of the Thousand Blazing Flame Art at the Luotian Assembly that I haven’t memorized yet, so there’s no rush to bring it out!”

Su Xing realized that although this simulation had yielded many rewards, there were really only two worth bringing out.

“I choose the Five Elements Cycle Art and Spirit Burst at Perfection!”

Su Xing intoned silently.

【You have successfully brought out the Five Elements Cycle Art (Minor Mastery-level), costing 100 million energy. Remaining energy: 3,122,030,000 points.】

【You have successfully brought out Spirit Burst (Perfection-level), costing 200 million energy. Remaining energy: 2,920,330,000 points.】

As the simulator’s notification faded, two streams of profound energy entered Su Xing’s body.

A flood of memories poured into Su Xing’s mind.

“The Yin-Yang Five Elements Mutual Generation Art… Metal flourishes when it meets Fire, and only then can it be forged into vessels… Metal can overcome Wood, but too much Wood depletes Metal… Fire flourishes when it meets Water, and only then can mutual balance be achieved…”

A short passage of the incantation entered Su Xing’s mind, and he felt his grasp of the Dao of the Five Elements and of five-element spiritual energy become dramatically sharper.

In mere moments, Su Xing’s mastery of five-element spiritual energy had risen several levels beyond where it was before.

“Incredible~ The Five Elements Master truly was an extraordinary genius. Just the Minor Mastery-level Five Elements Cycle Art alone has elevated my understanding of the essence of spiritual energy to a whole new plane!”

Su Xing gently closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and carefully sensed the spiritual energy between heaven and earth around him.

Then, the attributes of every type of spiritual energy throughout the entire spirit field grotto-heaven registered clearly in Su Xing’s perception.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth… each type of spiritual energy danced like a sprite, leaping joyfully within Su Xing’s body.

With a mere thought, Su Xing could tease apart the threads with surgical precision, extracting Wood and Fire attribute spiritual energy separately, then blend them together into a stable state.

“No wonder I couldn’t even reach the introductory level of Spirit Burst before. When it comes down to it, Spirit Burst is a purely offensive art formed by compressing and detonating spiritual energy…”

“But the five elements of spiritual energy counteract each other… If unstable spiritual energies are compressed and blended together, it inevitably causes instability in the five-element spiritual energy and instability in the compressed space of the Spirit Burst.”

“Only by precisely controlling the spiritual energy, blending and compressing it according to the principles of five-element mutual generation, can its power be maximized!”

Su Xing felt the Five Elements Cycle Art in his mind and sensed his Perfection-level mastery of Spirit Burst.

A flash of insight seemed to flicker at the edge of his awareness, as though he had brushed against some profound state.

Questions that had long eluded his understanding suddenly found their answers in that single instant.

Gradually, Su Xing sank into a state of complete selflessness, of utter self-forgetting…

This was—a Spontaneous Epiphany!

That’s right. This was the first time Su Xing had triggered a Spontaneous Epiphany outside of simulation—in reality!

And this epiphany lasted a full two days!

Three days later, when Su Xing finally emerged from that near-omniscient state, he slowly returned to himself.

A trace of a tear seemed to streak past the corner of Su Xing’s eye.

“I was… in a state of Spontaneous Epiphany?”

At this moment, Su Xing felt an indescribable bitterness in his heart.

In the state of epiphany, Su Xing’s mental comprehension had approached that of a deity.

But once he left that state, the feeling of plummeting from an omniscient god to a mere mortal left him with an aching sense of loss.

This was Su Xing’s first time experiencing such a dramatic rise and fall, so it was only natural that he lost his composure for a moment.

After a long period of adjustment, Su Xing finally recovered.

At that point, he discovered that his comprehension of both Spirit Burst and the Five Elements Cycle Art had leaped to an entirely new level!

Instinctively, Su Xing opened his attribute panel and glanced at it.

On the attribute panel, his comprehension of the Five Elements Cycle Art had advanced from Minor Mastery to Mastery-level!

But what surprised Su Xing was that his comprehension of Spirit Burst had actually gone from Perfection down to Beginner-level!

“Strange… the Five Elements Cycle Art advancing in comprehension makes sense…”

“But why has Spirit Burst dropped to Beginner-level instead?”

Su Xing carefully recalled the insights regarding Spirit Burst in his mind, then his eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open for a long time.

“It actually… Spirit Burst has actually transformed from a lesser divine art into a true divine art!”

Su Xing’s heart was pounding wildly.

A lesser divine art and a divine art… though they differed by only one word, their meanings were entirely different!

Among all the offensive techniques Su Xing currently possessed, perhaps only the Perfection-level Earth Sword could barely qualify as divine-art level…

And even that might not truly count!

Only after cultivating it to the Heaven Sword stage could it truly reach the divine-art level!

Because all divine arts were, at their core, applications of Origin Force…

Only then could they possess such astonishing power.

“Unbelievable—I actually comprehended and created a true divine art on my own!”

An irrepressible surge of pride welled up in Su Xing’s heart.

After all, this wasn’t something Su Xing had learned from anyone else—it was something he had truly comprehended himself.

The implications of that were entirely different!

Su Xing held out his palm, wanting to test the power of Spirit Burst now that it had ascended to a divine art!

He carefully injected roughly one-tenth of his Wood-attribute spiritual energy, then added a wisp of Fire-attribute spiritual energy…

Then Su Xing stopped, gazing at the spiritual energy vortex before him, and murmured:

“Unbelievable—using only one-tenth of my spiritual energy, the power is already comparable to when I used one-third before…”

“If I continue injecting more spiritual energy, I’m afraid Spirit Burst’s power would multiply several times over!”

“And this is only Beginner-level Spirit Burst… If it reaches a higher realm, the power would be beyond imagination!”

Su Xing took a deep breath but didn’t continue injecting spiritual energy. Instead, he slowly dispersed the Spirit Burst.

After all, if some accident occurred, the spirit field grotto-heaven might very well be destroyed by Spirit Burst.

“I’ll save testing Spirit Burst’s maximum power for a simulation where I can try properly…”

Su Xing murmured.

Regardless, this Spontaneous Epiphany had given Su Xing an enormous and delightful surprise.

It was practically equivalent to saving the time of an entire simulation.

“Still… I need to break through to the Body Integration stage as soon as possible!”

“Only after reaching the Body Integration stage will my strength undergo a true qualitative leap!”

Su Xing murmured.

Over the next three days, Su Xing continued as usual, refining Fasting Pills daily.

In just three short days, Su Xing had ground out nearly four thousand Fasting Pills.

When December 8th arrived, Su Xing disguised his appearance, concealed his aura, shielded his heavenly secrets, and slipped out of Capital City without a trace.

After leaving Capital City, Su Xing headed to the location he had agreed upon with Luo Shuying.

The eighth of every month was the day Su Xing and Luo Shuying had arranged to meet.

When he was still over two hundred kilometers from the meeting point, Su Xing cautiously extended his divine sense, scanning the area around the designated location.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Luo Shuying — he was worried that if she had been followed, his own identity would be exposed.

Fortunately, Su Xing detected only Luo Shuying’s aura.

After confirming that absolutely no one was tailing her, Su Xing arrived at the meeting point and appeared right on time.

“Senior!”

Luo Shuying’s spirits surged the moment she saw Su Xing.

Ever since their last conversation, she felt as though she had found a mentor in life — a beacon illuminating her future.

Upon seeing Luo Shuying, Su Xing gave a slight nod and said:

“Recently, you haven’t run into any trouble, have you?”

Luo Shuying shook her head gently. “No. The Advent Cult has always trusted me…”

Hearing this, Su Xing retrieved a small bottle of Mind-Condensing Pills from his storage artifact and handed it to Luo Shuying.

“These pills can help you step into the Legendary realm!”

Luo Shuying’s excitement was palpable as she accepted the small bottle of pills and said respectfully:

“Thank you, Senior!”

With that, Luo Shuying also produced a storage ring and handed it to Su Xing.

“Senior, these are some medicinal herbs and treasures I’ve been exchanging for with my contribution points from the treasury over this period. I thought they might be of some use to you…”

Su Xing accepted without hesitation. He swept the storage ring with his divine sense, confirmed that no one had tampered with it, then placed it into his spirit field grotto-heaven.

Seeing Su Xing accept her storage ring, Luo Shuying was immediately delighted, feeling that she had made a meaningful contribution.

But then, a look of regret crossed her face as she said:

“Senior, regarding the matter you asked me to investigate — there are still no leads…”

“However, based on my observations, the one who guards the treasury — a cadre called Protector Dragon — holds an extremely high position!”

“He seems to rank even half a tier above the other two faction leaders… I suspect he may be the leader of the conservative faction who has never shown himself!”

“Also…”

Luo Shuying relayed all the intelligence she had gathered during this period to Su Xing.

After listening, Su Xing nodded and cautioned:

“It’s fine. There’s no rush on this matter… Your own safety is the most important thing. Whatever you do, don’t expose yourself!”

Hearing Su Xing’s concern, Luo Shuying was once again deeply moved.

Su Xing then asked:

“By the way, you’ve been trying to absorb the power of foreign races… to strengthen yourself, haven’t you?”

“This method carries many hidden dangers. You must not attempt it lightly in the future!”

“Show me — let me see how far the mutation in your body has progressed…”

A conflicted expression flickered across Luo Shuying’s face, but she nodded and activated her power.

She removed her gloves, revealing a pair of fair, smooth, delicate hands.

Then, in just a few breaths, those hands underwent a dramatic transformation.

The skin turned black and became far rougher, their shape resembling a pair of claws more than human hands.

Luo Shuying said with a hint of dejection:

“Senior… I once happened upon the corpse of a Shadow Tribe member, and from its body, I obtained this power…”

“When I activate this power, my strength, speed, and even my defensive capabilities all undergo tremendous changes… But at the same time, I lose the ability to control objects with my mind…”

“Furthermore, this Shadow Tribe power occasionally causes me to lose myself… If not for the naturally powerful psychic abilities of the Spirit Clan, I would likely have been reduced to a monster entirely…”

Su Xing listened and nodded slightly. In previous simulations, he had witnessed the scene of Luo Shuying activating this power.

In fact, when the transformation spread across her entire body, Luo Shuying would change from a stunning beauty into a terrifying alien monstrosity.

In that form, she would possess power nearly rivaling the Legendary level…

As for Spirit Clan members, their innate power was psychic force — essentially a power akin to telekinesis!

After a moment of thought, Su Xing said:

“Going forward, focus solely on cultivating your Spirit Clan’s innate abilities… If you walk the path of psychic power to its peak, it is by no means weaker than any other power system!”

“Though the Shadow Tribe’s power is formidable, the side effects are too severe, and ultimately it is not your own strength… You must stop cultivating it from now on.”

“Additionally, I’ll look into finding a way to purge the side effects from your body afterward…”

Hearing Su Xing’s words, Luo Shuying obediently nodded.

After that, Su Xing and Luo Shuying discussed a few more matters before parting ways.

Before leaving, Su Xing shielded the heavenly secrets of the area and swept away every trace of their presence.

Only then did he take to sword flight, making several wide detours before returning to Capital City.

Back in Capital City, after entering the spirit field grotto-heaven, Su Xing took out the storage ring Luo Shuying had given him and examined its contents.

Two thousand stalks of Essence Nurturing Grass, two thousand stalks of Yellow immortal Essence… along with several dozen Dragon Spirit Flowers and Primordial Martial Grass… and an assortment of miscellaneous herbs.

Looking at the medicinal materials inside the storage ring, Su Xing felt a wave of gratitude.

He had only mentioned it in passing, yet Luo Shuying had gone and gathered all of this for him.

“Essence Nurturing Grass and Yellow immortal Essence… these are herbs that can help Grandmaster-stage Class Users break through to the Heavenly King stage!”

“Even within the Advent Cult, these things may not be considered particularly precious, but Luo Shuying must have paid a considerable price to obtain them…”

Su Xing thought to himself.

He planted a portion of these herbs in his medicinal fields. Once they grew, Su Xing would essentially have an inexhaustible supply of spirit herbs.

The remaining portion, Su Xing set aside for future pill refinement.

Though it wasn’t yet the right time for Essence Nurturing Pills and Organ Tempering Pills to appear in the world, the day would come when they’d be needed.

It wasn’t until December 9th that Su Xing went to meet Jin Congxue as arranged.

Jin Congxue was wearing a light blue wool tunic paired with a pair of flared jeans today, looking youthful and radiant.

The two sat facing each other and quickly got down to business.

“Boss, the matter you assigned me last time has been successfully resolved!”

“Fifty thousand pills is enough to secure a ten-year lease on one second-order exotic metal mining zone! During that period, all exotic metal extracted from the zone will belong to us!”

“Moreover, Xia’s military says they want as many of these pills as we can provide. If we can supply five hundred thousand pills, even ten second-order exotic metal mining zones would be no problem!”

Su Xing nodded slightly upon hearing this.

A ten-year lease was, for Su Xing’s purposes, no different from permanent ownership.

After all, ten years from now, Su Xing would likely have already become an ultimate powerhouse of the Three Thousand Worlds.

With that thought, Su Xing handed the stockpiled pills to Jin Congxue and said:

“This batch, combined with the ones I gave you before… should come to roughly fifty thousand pills, just enough to purchase one second-order exotic metal mining zone…”

“Going forward, we’ll focus all our efforts on acquiring exotic metal mining zones. Roughly every two months, we should be able to acquire another second-order exotic metal mining zone!”

Su Xing said.

For him, the primary ingredient for Fasting Pills was Spirit rice, so materials would absolutely never be in short supply.

What he lacked was the time needed to refine pills.

Working alone, no matter how fast his pill refinement speed, he could produce at most just over a thousand pills per day.

“It seems I need to find a way to refine more pills… Only by increasing my pill production speed can I acquire more energy!”

At this thought, something stirred in Su Xing’s mind, and he murmured:

“In the Myriad Wood Sect ruins, I encountered living-dead puppets capable of tending spirit fields… So could there also be living-dead puppets capable of refining pills?”

At this thought, Su Xing’s eyes lit up.

If he could truly create puppets capable of pill refinement, his rate of acquiring pills would increase dramatically!

“In Old Dog Zong’s storage ring, there are still eight puppets… Perhaps I can put them to use…”

“However, I don’t know much about the art of puppetry. Perhaps I should visit the Luotian Assembly dungeon again to learn more!”

Su Xing was gaining an ever deeper appreciation for the importance of knowledge in the cultivation world.

The hundred arts of cultivation — pill refinement, formation arrays, Talismans, artifact forging, and more — the art of puppetry was naturally among them.

“For me right now, if I can create puppets capable of refining pills, my efficiency in acquiring energy will undergo a qualitative transformation!”