Chapter 250 – The Precious Vermilion Bird Tail Feather, Achieving Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment! (Two-in-One, Ten Thousand Words)
by spirapira【Year Seven: You devised a plan to eliminate the Transhuman Faction leader and took his place…】
【Year Eight: You killed Protector Dragon and became the leader of Earth’s Advent Cult.】
【You knew full well that Blood Three would descend upon Earth in three years, but until then, you called the shots on Earth.】
【And so, you put your Geological Expert talent to work, devoting more of your daily energy to searching for spirit veins and Exotic Metal Ore.】
【Year Eleven: You searched over half the Immortal Martial Continent’s territory, but still failed to discover a single spirit vein.】
【Fortunately, however, you discovered even more exotic metal veins, recording each one on the map you had drawn.】
【That same year, Blood Three arrived at the Advent Cult. You presented the spirit vein dragon, earned Blood Three’s trust, and managed to obtain a transit pass.】
【This year, Blood Three ordered you to intensify your investigation of the Celestial Secrets Pavilion.】
【After you sweet-talked Blood Three into leaving, you continued your diligent search for traces of spirit veins…】
In the Real World, Su Xing gave a slight nod as he read the text.
“At this point, my cultivation has already reached Body Integration Perfection and I temporarily cannot break through, so the spirit vein dragon isn’t needed for this simulation…”
“On the other hand, that branch imbued with the Great Dao of Wood and Fire — I could try to comprehend the origins of wood and fire.”
After a brief pause, Su Xing continued:
“But what’s given me an even bigger surprise is this Geological Expert talent… With this talent, finding exotic metal veins has become much simpler…”
“The only question is whether spirit veins still exist within the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon?”
Curiosity stirred in Su Xing’s heart as his gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【Year Twelve: You continued exploring the Immortal Martial Continent, discovering numerous exotic metal mining zones containing considerable energy.】
【But to your slight disappointment, you had not found a single spirit vein.】
【Three years passed in the blink of an eye…】
【Year Fifteen: One day, you suddenly sensed a peculiar vein.】
【This was not the kind of exotic metal vein you had encountered before — it was a spirit vein!】
【However, this spirit vein was extremely faint; you could only vaguely sense some spirit stones buried deep underground.】
【Without hesitation, you swiftly began mining this area.】
【One hour later, you had dug five hundred meters underground and found over a hundred low-grade spirit stones.】
【But as you continued digging deeper, you sensed that even more spirit stones lay below!】
【This filled you with excitement, spurring you on to dig with renewed vigor.】
【Three days later, you finally discovered a small spirit stone vein concealed a thousand zhang beneath the earth’s surface.】
【The quality of this spirit vein was not high — merely a low-grade spirit mine — but the quantity of spirit stones was substantial.】
【Atop the vein sat a small formation array that not only masked the spirit vein’s aura, but also prevented the slow diffusion of spiritual energy from within.】
【This worked entirely in your favor. You spent three days mining the entire vein to completion.】
【This vein lay thousands of meters underground and stretched ten kilometers across.】
【After fully mining it, you obtained three hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones…】
【Having found the spirit vein, you continued surveying the Immortal Martial Continent…】
【Year Seventeen: Having confirmed that you had traversed every corner of the continent, you meticulously recorded all possible exotic metal veins and returned to Earth.】
Su Xing looked at the simulation text before him, a flash of surprise in his eyes.
“So it seems that even in this Age of Dharma Decline, spirit veins haven’t completely ceased to exist!”
“This spirit vein was likely already there thousands of years ago. Perfected One Myriad Wood must have overlooked its existence back then… which is why it survived until now.”
“Three hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones — not a huge amount, but still quite good for me…”
Su Xing nodded with satisfaction, then silently thought:
“Use immersive…”
【Ding…】
…
One hour later, Su Xing returned to Earth. By now, every piece of information about the exotic metal veins within the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon had been committed to memory — including that spirit vein!
“Mm, not bad!”
“There are nearly a thousand exotic metal veins ranging from first to fourth order… among them eighty-seven Third Rank exotic metal veins, and even sixteen fourth-order exotic metal veins…”
“These veins will provide me with more than enough exotic metal to mine!”
Su Xing was quite pleased with this outcome.
Previously, finding exotic metal had been extremely difficult, but with the Geological Expert talent, the difficulty of locating exotic metal veins had been drastically reduced!
His gaze returned to the simulation panel.
【Year Eighteen: You visited the Beast Taming World dungeon and slaughtered several hundred Legendary demon beasts, as well as three Demon Emperors.】
【In the time that followed, you remained in the Beast Taming World, hoping to find more exotic metal mining zones.】
【You discovered that the Beast Taming World also possessed special metals known as fine gold and mithril, metals that could barely qualify as third or fourth-order exotic metals in terms of strength.】
【Because exotic metals were, in essence, a collective term for all manner of extraordinary metals that contained abundant energy.】
【Each year, you would set aside three to five months to search for traces of exotic metal veins in the Beast Taming World.】
【Thus, two years passed.】
【Year Twenty: Your comprehension of the Great Dao of Wood and Fire had already reached Beginner-level years ago.】
【You recalled that within the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon, there remained one final set of ruins waiting for you to explore.】
【And so you entered the Flame-Commanding Sect ruins, hoping to uncover the secrets deep within its core.】
【You found that the difficulty of breaking the sealing restrictions at the core of the Flame-Commanding Sect ruins exceeded your expectations.】
【Though your comprehension of the Essence of Fire had reached Beginner-level, it was still insufficient to break through these restrictions.】
【And so you continued to cultivate diligently. Three more years passed.】
【Year Twenty-Three: Your comprehension of the Essence of Fire advanced further. Though it had not yet reached Minor Mastery, it was sufficient to break through the restrictions here.】
【You successfully dispelled the restrictions and entered the core area of the Flame-Commanding Sect ruins.】
【You discovered that the core area was actually a special pocket of earth-core fire.】
【The temperature of these flames was so intense that even you felt a wave of oppressive heat.】
【You swept the surrounding hundred-zhang radius with your divine sense, but found no trace of any puppet.】
【Finally, you turned your gaze toward the bronze stone coffin…】
【You opened the bronze stone coffin and beheld the Fire-Controlling True Master within…】
【But the Fire-Controlling True Master was not a puppet — he had been reduced to a desiccated corpse!】
【In the corpse’s hands lay a storage ring and a voice-recording jade slip.】
【You probed the storage ring with your divine sense and discovered mountains of various magical treasures, artifact refinement methods… the Flame-Commanding Sect’s complete inheritance… and even countless high-grade mineral ores.】
【Satisfied, you pocketed the storage ring, then turned your attention to the jade slip.】
【Before his death, the Fire-Controlling True Master had left behind a message.】
【You probed the jade slip with your divine sense and received this message.】
【As it turned out, after the Fire-Controlling True Master had taken the Yellow Springs Pill and fallen into slumber, he had awakened once during the interim.】
【The reason for his awakening was a Vermilion Bird tail feather. Within that feather lingered the final wisp of a Vermilion Bird’s true spirit consciousness, on the verge of dissipating, which had roused the Fire-Controlling True Master.】
【Upon awakening, the Fire-Controlling True Master noticed the changes in his body. He was absolutely certain that he had become a pawn in someone else’s game, about to be transformed into a puppet devoid of any consciousness.】
【Unwilling to accept such a fate, the Fire-Controlling True Master placed the Vermilion Bird tail feather in his mouth, hoping to harness the Vermilion Bird’s “power of rebirth” to escape his fate of becoming a puppet.】
【But in the end, he had undoubtedly failed.】
【The Fire-Controlling True Master did not become a puppet — instead, he vanished completely from this world, his soul entering the cycle of reincarnation…】
【After receiving the message from the jade slip, a look of astonishment crossed your face. A Vermilion Bird tail feather — that was precious material from a supreme divine beast of the ancient era!】
【You silently offered a prayer for the Fire-Controlling True Master, then pried open his mouth. Sure enough, you found a thumb-thick feather, entirely crimson red.】
【After your examination, you were surprised to discover that the lingering wisp of the Vermilion Bird’s true spirit had completely dissipated…】
【Just as you felt a twinge of disappointment, you suddenly sensed a stirring within your body…】
【You froze for a moment, then realized this tremor originated from the supernatural art you had mastered — the Separation Fire Technique!】
【An epiphany arose within you: the Separation Fire Technique was derived from one of the ancient divine fires, the Southern Illumination Separation Fire.】
【And the Southern Illumination Separation Fire symbolized rebirth through destruction — it possessed not only terrifying destructive power, but also harbored the essence of vitality!】
【While you were lost in contemplation, a flash of red light swept across the Vermilion Bird tail feather before you, and it completely merged into your body…】
【Alarmed, you hurriedly examined your body for any changes.】
【After your inspection, you found no abnormalities whatsoever.】
【With a thought, you cast the Separation Fire Technique, summoning a wisp of Separation Fire.】
【Sure enough, you sensed within the Separation Fire an unprecedented spark of vitality… and what seemed to be a true spirit!】
【But this true spirit had fallen into a deep slumber…】
【You cast the Separation Fire Technique and found no changes in its performance.】
【You speculated that perhaps cultivating the Separation Fire Technique to Perfection might awaken the slumbering Vermilion Bird true spirit…】
In the Real World, Su Xing stared at the simulation text before him, utterly stunned.
“Holy sh*t… The Flame-Commanding Sect ruins — a Vermilion Bird tail feather! A supreme treasure containing the spirit of the Vermilion Bird!?”
Su Xing could hardly believe it. Why would a mere Flame-Commanding Sect possess such a priceless treasure?
Based on Su Xing’s knowledge, the Vermilion Bird was a true divine beast — an existence of terrifying power even in the Immortal Realm.
Even if the Flame-Commanding Sect’s ancestral lineage had once produced an immortal, compared to a Vermilion Bird, the gap was simply too vast!
Even raising their level two or three tiers wouldn’t be enough to reach the Vermilion Bird’s heels…
“This Immortal Martial World truly is extraordinary!”
“The Flame-Commanding Sect has a Vermilion Bird tail feather inheritance… The Five Elements Sect has the five elemental arts… The Myriad Wood Sect has that branch from the innate Fusang Divine Tree!”
“These three items… none of them seem like things a minor thousand world should possess… Having one might be luck, but all three at once!”
“Could it be… that this world has some connection to a Greater World?”
Su Xing’s mind was rife with uncertainty.
Earth, including the various dungeon worlds surrounding it, was simply too extraordinary!
From the perspective of world hierarchy, only Earth itself could barely qualify as a minor thousand world.
As for the other dungeon worlds, they didn’t even qualify as minor thousand worlds — they could only be considered small worlds at best…
Yet even so, the secrets contained within Earth and its surrounding dungeon worlds were nearly comparable to those of a Greater World!
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly. Various thoughts flickered through his mind, but he couldn’t quite connect them all.
“Soon… As I continue exploring Earth, perhaps I’ll truly be able to uncover the reason why so many powerful beings place such importance on Earth!”
Su Xing murmured to himself. He had this nagging feeling that an invisible web lay draped across Earth, connecting everything together…
“Ah, but my strength is still too low right now…”
“After this simulation, I’ll first enter the Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment realm! Then I’ll enter the Three Thousand Worlds and seek out opportunities!”
Su Xing took a deep breath, his gaze returning to the simulation panel.
【After carefully burying the Fire-Controlling True Master, you departed the ruins.】
【The Vermilion Bird spirit had attached itself to the Separation Fire, but it had not caused any changes in you.】
【In the time that followed, you continued your search for potential exotic metal veins.】
【Two more years quickly passed…】
【Year Twenty-Five: You explored most regions of the Beast Taming World but found no trace of spirit veins.】
【However, you did discover quite a few exotic metal ore veins.】
【At this point, three years remained before the Demon Saint’s descent. You prepared to conduct one final exploration of the Beast Taming World within this time.】
【And so, three years passed.】
【Year Twenty-Eight: You recorded the locations of nearly all the exotic metal ore veins in the Beast Taming World, one by one.】
Seeing this, Su Xing silently recited:
“Activate immersive simulation, duration one hour…”
【Ding…】
After the immersive simulation ended, Su Xing returned to the Real World, a flash of astonishment crossing his eyes.
“I never expected the Beast Taming World to contain even more exotic metal ore veins than the Immortal Martial World!”
“The Geological Expert talent really is a divine skill!”
Su Xing nodded with satisfaction. He knew that dungeon worlds containing exotic metal ore deposits were actually quite rare.
Generally, only sufficiently high-level dungeons would contain them in large quantities.
The ones Su Xing currently knew of were the Beast Taming World, the Immortal Martial World, and the Blood Demon’s Lair dungeon.
There was only one final location left unexplored.
“In this simulation, I need to record the coordinates of every possible exotic metal ore vein…”
“In the future, I can go mine them in person in the real world and earn massive amounts of simulation energy!”
Su Xing nodded slightly, his gaze returning to the simulation panel.
【After leaving the Beast Taming World, you hurried to Demon-Sealing Pass.】
【One month later, the Demon Saint descended.】
【You employed the same tactics as before, fighting the Demon Saint to a standstill and using this to stall for time.】
【In the blink of an eye, five years passed.】
【Year Thirty-Three: The Demon Saint detected something amiss and departed from Demon-Sealing Pass.】
【Knowing that Demon-Sealing Pass would be destroyed in seven years, you resolved to make the most of your remaining time and explore the Blood Demon Realm.】
【You explored the Blood Demon Realm for a full seven years, your footsteps measuring every inch of its land.】
【You found no trace of spirit veins — presumably Old Dog Dragon had already finished exploring them over the past thousand years.】
【However, you did discover numerous exotic metal ore veins, no fewer than those in the Immortal Martial World, and you recorded the coordinates of each one.】
【Year Forty: News arrived that Demon-Sealing Pass had been breached. By then, you had just finished exploring the Blood Demon Realm and returned to Earth.】
In the Real World, Su Xing silently recited:
“Activate immersive…”
【Ding…】
One hour later, Su Xing returned to reality, a smile gleaming in his eyes.
“Not bad! Across the three dungeon worlds, the total number of third and fourth-order ore veins exceeds three hundred… that’s enough to keep me mining for a long time!”
“Once I find the time to go mine them, I’ll never be short on energy again…”
Su Xing decided to remind Jin Congxue to expand the Tarot Society’s scale and recruit more low-rank Class Users to purify Exotic Metal Ore, bringing Su Xing greater exotic metal profits.
“Phew… but we’ve also reached Year Forty. This simulation, I absolutely must break through to the Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment realm in one go!”
Su Xing murmured, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.
【Several months later, the Amalgamated Beast descended upon Earth and swallowed the entirety of Great Xia in a single gulp.】
【You raised your Protective Sword Aura and entered the Amalgamated Beast’s belly.】
【Then you took out a Spirit Awakening Pill and swallowed it in one gulp!】
【This was because the thunder zones within the Amalgamated Beast’s interior space contained vast quantities of the Essence of Lightning.】
【And the Essence of Lightning was one of the most difficult origin forces for you to obtain thus far, as it could only be captured during the spring thunder on the day of the Awakening of Insects, or within thunder zones.】
【As for the others — the Essence of Wood, Essence of Fire, Essence of Strength, origin of the sword, and so on — you all had stable methods of acquisition.】
【Having taken the Spirit Awakening Pill and combined it with the Great Wisdom state, your speed of comprehending origin forces was enhanced a hundredfold!】
【Under this state of vastly amplified perception, you entered a large-scale thunder zone!】
【Boom, boom, boom! Terrifying bolts of massive lightning, writhing like coiling dragons, struck viciously toward you.】
【Your Protective Sword Aura blocked the vast majority of the damage, while the remaining wisps of lightning, together with the Essence of Lightning, continuously tempered your physical body.】
【Wounds quickly appeared across your body, but under the enhancement of the Cockroach talent, you recovered rapidly…】
【After one hour, this thunder zone gradually dissipated, and you proceeded to the next one.】
【In this manner, after entering three large-scale thunder zones in succession:】
【Your comprehension of the Essence of Lightning had reached the Beginner level!】
【Such rapid comprehension speed was attributable not only to the Spirit Awakening Pill’s enhancement, but also to the considerable contribution of the Heavenly Thunder Physique.】
【And throughout this process, your physical body was also inching ever closer to its limit…】
【Over the next three days, you continuously pushed against your limits, ceaselessly absorbing and comprehending the Essence of Lightning…】
【Three days soon passed. You had visited over a dozen large-scale thunder zones in succession, and at this moment, you felt that you were just one step away from shattering your final limit!】
【And so, without hesitation, you stepped into the last thunder zone!】
【Terrifying lightning surged toward you once more, but you had long grown accustomed to it, skillfully tempering your body and comprehending the Essence of Lightning…】
【Finally, you seemed to hear a crisp snap — some shackle upon your body had been successfully broken!】
【Congratulations on becoming a Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment cultivator!】
【But you furrowed your brow slightly, because your comprehension of the Essence of Lightning was still the slightest bit short of reaching the Minor Mastery level!】
【And so, you made a reckless decision!】
【You temporarily deactivated your Protective Sword Aura, and the terrifying coiling lightning struck your physical body directly.】
【The horrifying lightning, accompanied by excruciating pain, instantly penetrated your body.】
【Even a Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment physique was rapidly being destroyed under such thunderous force — your skin began to carbonize rapidly, and your life force started plummeting…】
【But soon, several types of energy surged forth from within your body, swiftly repairing your injuries.】
【Chief among them was naturally the Cockroach talent, which rapidly restored your physical body.】
【And what somewhat surprised you was that the Heavenly Thunder Physique, along with your Essence of Wood comprehension, were also rapidly mending your body, causing your life force to flourish once more.】
【Before the next bolt of lightning could descend, you gritted your teeth and charged out of that thunder zone.】
【At this moment, you could feel that your physical body was saturated with vast quantities of the Essence of Lightning. Enduring the excruciating pain, you began to meditate upon the Essence of Lightning…】
【A full day soon passed…】
【By now, your injuries had mostly recovered.】
【And what excited you even more was that your comprehension of the Essence of Lightning had successfully advanced to the Minor Mastery level!】
【You then resummoned your Protective Sword Aura and attempted to find other thunder zones.】
【But to your disappointment, the thunder zones had long since dissipated, and the void was now filled instead with chaotic spatial rifts.】
【A thought stirred in your mind, and you attempted to comprehend the spatial origin energy contained within the void…】
【You faintly sensed the pulse of spatial origin, but the chaotic spatial rifts were simply too terrifying… this was a force that no one below the Immortal realm could safely interact with.】
【After enduring for merely a quarter of an hour, you were utterly annihilated within it.】
【You died!】
【Ding — this simulation has ended!】
After the simulation ended, a strange light flickered in Su Xing’s eyes.
“So the Amalgamated Beast’s spatial chaos actually contains spatial origin energy? That’s wonderful news!”
If he could comprehend spatial origin, Su Xing would be able to attempt expanding the area of his spirit field grotto-heaven, allowing him to plant more Spirit rice and spiritual plants!
The amount of spirit liquid produced would even increase as well!
“Legend has it that in the cultivation world, great and powerful cultivators can ascend above the Nine Heavens to comprehend the spatial Dao… Could it be that ‘above the Nine Heavens’ actually refers to the void?”
Su Xing’s eyes lit up. If he could comprehend the Great Dao of Space, it would be an enormous boost for him!
At a sufficiently high level of comprehension, Su Xing could even tear open the void himself and travel to other worlds!
“Alas, that still seems far too distant for me… For now, I should focus on advancing my cultivation first!”
At this thought, Su Xing’s heart began pounding with excitement.
The Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment cultivation was about to be his!
Su Xing eagerly looked at this simulation’s rewards.
【Geological Expert】: Purple talent, priced at 1,000,000 energy points.
【Twenty Years of Alchemy Experience】: Upon redemption, existing alchemy insights will increase by a small margin. Priced at 10,000,000 energy points.
【Essence of Lightning (Minor Mastery)】: A fundamental component of the Great Dao of Thunder, possessing terrifying destructive power with bonus damage against evil demons and malevolent entities. Priced at 1,500,000,000 energy points.
【Essence of Fire (Minor Mastery)】: A fundamental component of the Great Dao of Fire, containing terrifying power that can enhance the might of fire-based techniques. Priced at 1,500,000,000 energy points.
【Body Refining Grand Accomplishment Realm, First Layer】: The ultimate realm for mortal body-refining cultivators. At Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment, one can briefly traverse the void. Physical body strength surpasses imagination, possessing the force of thirty mountains. Priced at 2,000,000,000 energy points.
“Minor Mastery-level Essence of Lightning costs 1.5 billion energy?”
Su Xing frowned slightly. The energy required exceeded his expectations.
“Bringing out the cultivation level plus the Essence of Lightning comprehension totals 3.5 billion energy…”
“As for the Geological Expert talent, there’s no need to bring it out for now.”
Su Xing murmured.
For Su Xing, the Geological Expert talent was for locating exotic metal ore veins, and he already had the coordinates of quite a few ore veins stored in his memory.
He just needed to spend some time mining them.
“Currently I have roughly 250 million energy on hand, plus Lu Yuanwu’s shipment this week… If I also convert some of Perfected One Myriad Wood’s legacy into energy, it should be enough!”
Su Xing suddenly noticed that his comprehension of the Essence of Fire had actually reached the Minor Mastery level as well.
“Strange — wasn’t it at the Beginner level? How did it advance to Minor Mastery?”
Su Xing raised an eyebrow. After thinking it over carefully, he concluded there could only be one reason.
That Vermilion Bird tail feather!
Perhaps, beyond transforming the Separation Fire Technique, it had also elevated Su Xing’s comprehension of the Essence of Fire!
“What an unexpected pleasant surprise!”
“Breaking through to the Mahayana realm… requires comprehending one origin force to the Major Mastery level, as well as sufficient divine sense and spiritual energy. This Vermilion Bird tail feather couldn’t have come at a better time!”
Su Xing murmured.
Previously, in the Luo Tian dungeon, Su Xing had once asked about the requirements for breaking through to the Qi Refinement Mahayana stage.
At the time, Su Xing’s master had answered that one must comprehend at least one origin force to Major Mastery or above — Perfection was ideal… as it would be greatly beneficial when breaking into the Body Integration stage!
“Now my Qi Refinement cultivation has also advanced to Body Integration Perfection… The Mahayana stage is no longer far off…”
“Everything is moving in a favorable direction!”
Su Xing nodded with satisfaction, then began disguising his appearance and concealing his aura before heading off to meet Lu Yuanwu.
After completing his trade with Lu Yuanwu, Su Xing did not immediately return to school. Instead, he headed to the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon.
He deftly entered the Myriad Wood Sect ruins, then proceeded into the spirit field grotto-heaven.
Su Xing selected several thousand low-grade magical tools and talisman instruments that he had no use for, and converted them into simulation energy.
Once he had enough simulation energy, Su Xing silently recited:
“I choose to bring out the Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment cultivation… and the Essence of Lightning (Minor Mastery-level) comprehension!”
As his words fell, the simulator’s notification chime sounded in his ears.
【Ding! You have successfully brought out Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment-level cultivation. Energy cost: 2 billion points. Remaining energy: 1,535,530,000 points.】
【You have successfully brought out Essence of Lightning comprehension (Minor Mastery). Energy cost: 1.5 billion points. Remaining energy: 35,530,000 points.】
As the notification sounds faded, two streams of mysterious energy surged into Su Xing’s body.
The first thing Su Xing felt was the tremendous growth in his physical strength.
This energy was continuously transforming Su Xing’s physical constitution. The entire process was extraordinarily comfortable, completely lacking the agony that ordinary body-tempering cultivators endured.
It was as though this cultivation had always belonged to Su Xing…
At the same time, above the ruins where Su Xing was located, thunder rolled across a hundred-li radius, as if a massive storm was brewing.
But in the end, the storm never descended.
Moments later, when Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, his strength had already entered the Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment level!
Feeling the explosive increase of power within his body, a glint of amazement shone in Su Xing’s eyes.
“The Heavenly Thunder Physique has raised the upper limit of my physical body…”
“Right now, with the terrifying force of thirty mountains, even without relying on any other means… I could fight a mid-stage or even late-stage Demon Saint cultivator!”
If he combined that with his Protective Sword Aura, Su Xing was confident he could even challenge a Tribulation Crossing stage cultivator!
As for the even higher Immortal realm…
Honestly, Su Xing wasn’t confident. Though the Immortal realm and the Tribulation Crossing stage were separated by only one realm, it was truly the divide between mortal and immortal!
The gap between them was self-evident!
Unless Su Xing mastered the Heaven Sword technique to Perfection and the Protective Sword Aura to Perfection — only then would he have the confidence, at the Mahayana (Major Mastery) stage, to challenge an Immortal across realms…
And the rewards he’d claimed this time brought Su Xing more than just a new tier of cultivation.
Su Xing focused his mind, and a purple glow surged from his palm.
“Tsk tsk, a Daoist lesser divine art — Palm Thunder, learned without a teacher!”
Su Xing exclaimed in admiration.
The Essence of Lightning was the most fundamental element of all thunder under heaven, an existence that led directly to the Great Dao of Thunder.
Without exaggeration, with this Essence of Lightning, Su Xing’s speed in learning lightning supernatural arts would increase by who knew how many times. Moreover, any spiritual energy techniques he deployed involving thunder would now carry the essence of lightning within them.
Against monsters of an evil and sinister nature, this provided tremendous suppression.
“Phew… Now that I’ve reached Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment, it’s time to head to the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm and enter the Hundred Thousand Mountains…”
“Even if I’m captured by the Tiger Immortal, I’ll be able to simulate for several more decades, explore the Three Thousand Worlds, and work hard to improve my body tempering cultivation.”
Su Xing murmured.
“Oh right, since I’ve already come to this Age of Immortals and Martial Arts instance, I might as well mine a couple of exotic metal veins…”
Su Xing recalled the memories in his mind. Within a thousand li of the Myriad Wood Sect ruins, there were two fourth-order exotic metal veins.
Su Xing didn’t hesitate. Using sword flight, he arrived at the vein locations moments later.
Then, wielding the Blackice sword with primordial energy wrapped around it, he began mining underground.
In ordinary veins, Exotic Metal Ore was relatively scattered, so Su Xing needed to excavate on a large scale within a one-li radius to mine out an entire vein.
Moreover, high-grade exotic metals were often buried deep underground.
As a result, Su Xing spent five days mining the two exotic metal veins, extracting approximately three thousand cubic meters of fourth-order Exotic Metal Ore.
These three thousand cubic meters of Exotic Metal Ore weren’t very pure. If exchanged directly, they’d be worth roughly 3 billion energy. But if handed to Jin Congxue for purification, she could refine approximately 300 tons of fourth-order exotic metal.
Converted, that was close to six billion simulation energy!
“Phew, earning six billion simulation energy in just one week?”
“That’s incredibly fast!”
“The only question is how long it’ll take Jin Congxue to purify the exotic metal. I should have her recruit more Class Users specifically for purifying exotic metal!”
Currently, exotic metal was Su Xing’s greatest source of energy, so he planned to focus the Tarot Society’s main operations entirely on processing and mining exotic metal.
Glancing at the time, it was already the early morning of March 24th.
Su Xing prepared to leave this instance and return to Earth.
At noon, Su Xing met with Jin Congxue right on time.
After the two had a meal together, Su Xing took out several storage rings and handed them to Jin Congxue.
When Jin Congxue saw the contents of the storage rings, she was immediately shocked and asked:
“Is this exotic metal mined by the senior members? Hiss… This is all fourth-order exotic metal? Where did you find it?”
Hearing this, Su Xing gave a mysterious smile and said:
“Ahem, that’s an organizational secret. Can’t tell you!”
Jin Congxue rolled her eyes coquettishly, gave a light huff, then suddenly asked with a mysterious air:
“Su Xing… could you put in a word with the seniors and let me join your organization?”
Seeing the eager expression on Jin Congxue’s little face, Su Xing was instantly stunned.
Let Jin Congxue join the Celestial Secrets Pavilion…
But the Celestial Secrets Pavilion didn’t actually exist! It was founded by Su Xing himself, staffed entirely by puppets, an organization built specifically to collect energy for him!
Seeing Jin Congxue’s desperately eager little eyes, Su Xing couldn’t bring himself to refuse directly, so he said:
“Ahem, Sis Xue, your strength is too low…”
“Our organization is very dangerous! For the sake of your safety… I wouldn’t recommend you joining!”
Hearing this, Jin Congxue rolled her eyes, then let a wisp of her aura emanate from her body and said proudly:
“Ha ha ha, bet you didn’t expect this! Your big sis here has successfully advanced! I’m a Heavenly King-stage powerhouse now!”
“From now on, big sis has got your back! How about it — is my strength enough to join?”
Hearing this, although Su Xing really wanted to say no, it didn’t feel quite right.
So Su Xing thought for a moment and said:
“Ahem, actually, when Little White… Senior Bai came to see you a while back, that was an assessment. After he went back, he told me you performed excellently and were already qualified to become a peripheral member of the organization!”
“From now on, I’ll be your superior… All your organizational activities must be reported to me.”
“Of course, you must maintain absolute secrecy about everything related to the organization… The organization will also give you some special rewards!”
Hearing Su Xing’s words, Jin Congxue nodded eagerly.
Then she showed an expression of lingering fear and shock as she said:
“Su Xing… those talismans were also crafted by the seniors in the organization, right?”
“The effects were incredibly powerful! I’ve never seen such formidable tools!”
“You have no idea — when I was doing my advancement mission, I had just finished off one boss when another Heavenly King-stage boss suddenly charged at me… So in my panic, I activated one of the talismans!”
Pausing for a moment, Jin Congxue recalled:
“And guess what happened?”
“Whoosh — a ten-zhang-long golden light flew out and sliced that Heavenly King-stage boss clean in half!”
“That was a Heavenly King-stage boss! And it was instantly killed just like that…”
“It was only thanks to that that I successfully advanced to the Heavenly King stage.”
Hearing this, Su Xing nodded slightly, showing an appropriately astonished expression to satisfy Jin Congxue’s little sense of vanity.
But in truth, the moment he heard about the ten-zhang golden light, Su Xing knew she had activated a sixth-order Gold Blade Talisman — powerful enough to instantly kill a Martial Sovereign-stage boss.
Using that talisman on a Heavenly King-stage enemy was truly overkill.
But Su Xing didn’t criticize Jin Congxue. He simply took out another talisman, handed it to her, and said:
“Sis Xue, these talismans are for your personal use only… You absolutely cannot let anyone else know about them, understand?”
“And unless it’s a matter of life and death, you must not use them…”
Jin Congxue nodded obediently, then asked with a grin:
“Hehe, of course! I have to keep secrets for the organization, after all!”
“I’m just wondering — what’s the first mission the organization has for me?”
Hearing this, Su Xing pointed at the storage rings in Jin Congxue’s hands and said:
“Your first mission is to recruit more Class Users to purify Exotic Metal Ore!”
“There will be a continuous supply of exotic metal coming in. You need to purify it as quickly as possible and then hand it over to me…”
Jin Congxue nodded, gave a playful salute, and said in a serious tone:
“Mission guaranteed to be completed!”
…
After leaving the Villa, Su Xing took a roundabout route back to the school and entered the spirit field grotto-heaven.
This past week, the goods provided to Su Xing by the Tarot Society contained over 300 million in energy!
On the afternoon of March 24th, with the simulation cooldown not yet complete, Su Xing contemplated his goals for the next simulation.
“After reaching Body Tempering Grand Accomplishment… my cultivation can be further improved. Heading to the Three Thousand Worlds and entering the Hundred Thousand Mountains will yield the highest returns!”
“At the same time, I should further explore whether there’s an opportunity to leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains and reach the Azure Cloud Sect…”
“As for that other black world passage, I can give it a try too… See if I can physically traverse the void and enter another space?”
Su Xing nodded slightly. Until he reached the Tribulation Crossing realm, he didn’t need to worry too much about improving his body tempering cultivation.
Because with the Nine Revolutions Pill and the abundance of high-grade blood essences in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Su Xing’s body tempering cultivation would eventually be pushed to Grand Accomplishment Peak.
“It’s just that… after entering the Grand Accomplishment level, further improvement in body tempering will probably be even more difficult…”
Su Xing sighed softly.
Mahayana stage cultivators had a lifespan of five thousand years.
For ordinary cultivators, improving by a single sub-realm could take two or three hundred years at minimum. If they wanted to break through a minor bottleneck, it could easily mean five hundred years of secluded cultivation.
As for body tempering… it was even harder than Qi Refinement!
“However… after entering the Three Thousand Worlds, perhaps I can try to find a body tempering method that could help advance my body tempering realm?”
Su Xing mused thoughtfully.
“Beyond that, I need to reach the Mahayana stage in Qi Refinement cultivation as soon as possible…”
“Currently, what I need to break through to the Mahayana stage is the corresponding origin essence of three attributes matching my spiritual roots… Wood, Fire, and Lightning. I need to cultivate one of the three to Perfection to break through to the Mahayana stage!”
“Although I’ll need to comprehend all three origins after entering the Mahayana stage… for now, comprehending just one to Perfection will suffice!”
After a moment of deliberation, Su Xing decided to improve the Essence of Fire first.
Because of the existence of that tree branch, Su Xing could work on comprehending the wood and fire origins at any time.
Combined with possessing the Vermilion Bird tail feather, comprehending the Essence of Fire would be even easier for Su Xing.
With the Spirit Awakening Pill, he only needed multiple immersive simulations to comprehend the Essence of Fire to Perfection!
“Phew, the simulation cooldown is finally complete. It’s time to begin the simulation!”
Su Xing focused his mind and silently chanted: “Begin simulation!”
【Ding! This simulation consumes 8,000 energy points. Remaining energy: 312,330,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: none.】
【Simulation begins!】
【Drawing a purple talent costs 100,000 energy points. Drawing a gold legendary talent costs 1,000,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?】
“Phew~ Once I have more energy on hand, it’ll be time to try upgrading the gold talent probability…”
Su Xing murmured:
“But for now, I’ll of course go with drawing a gold talent!”
As his words fell, the simulator’s notification sounded in his ears:
【Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the gold talent Heaven Devourer. Pity counter reset to zero. Probability of drawing a gold talent next time: 10%…】