Chapter 360 – The Dying Su Xing, A Sliver of Hope for Survival!

Chapter 360 – The Dying Su Xing, A Sliver of Hope for Survival!

【Everything within your sight reveals a very simple room, resembling something found in a poor rural village.】

【Though the interior is simple, it cannot be called crude. Everything is tidied up neatly, looking rather like a young girl’s dwelling.】

【You instinctively try to use divine sense to survey your surroundings, but a sharp pain sears through your skull. Divine sense techniques—you simply cannot use them!】

【This sends an inexplicable wave of panic through your heart, and you hurriedly examine your own body’s condition.】

【The spiritual energy within your body is in disarray, your cultivation nearly completely lost. Supernatural arts and techniques are all unusable. The spiritual energy remaining within you is so feeble it doesn’t even compare to a Qi Refinement cultivator…】

【You struggle to rise, but a wave of intense pain washes over your entire body. Your vital blood is severely depleted, your life origin, essence, qi, and spirit all damaged.】

【Your empty left arm tells you that your regenerative abilities have temporarily ceased functioning…】

【Though you still possess the physical body of the Great Shaman Body Forging Art, Fifth Layer, in your current state you can hardly exert even one ten-thousandth of your true strength.】

【After struggling for a while, you decide to continue lying in bed, quietly waiting…】

In the Real World, Su Xing watched this with a complicated expression.

First he let out a long sigh of relief, but then his brows immediately furrowed.

“The good news is, I survived and reached a place where people live…”

“But the bad news is, all my strength has been destroyed. Who knows when I’ll recover, and I don’t even know where exactly I am in the simulation.”

Su Xing pondered for a moment. Based on his estimation, he should have already arrived at his destination—the Heavenly Secrets Domain.

But as for where exactly within the Heavenly Secrets Domain he was, Su Xing had no idea.

“It seems I’ll need to thoroughly explore the Heavenly Secrets Domain… I know very little about conditions here, but this place is the center of the entire Three Thousand Worlds. I had no choice but to come!”

“And given my current state, it’ll probably take decades to fully recover, won’t it?”

Su Xing’s condition in the simulation was truly terrible!

Having gone through a brutal battle, losing his left arm, losing consciousness in the Endless Sea.

His cultivation completely destroyed, his physical body battered and broken, his divine soul damaged…

Had it been any ordinary cultivator, they would have died who knows how many times over.

But Su Xing’s life force was tenacious, and with Heaven-Sent Fortune blessing him, he had barely managed to survive.

Even so, Su Xing was in an extremely disadvantageous state. One careless moment, and he could very well die.

“Sigh, the losses from forcibly crossing the Endless Sea were too great. Let’s see if I can recover as quickly as possible…”

Su Xing thought for a moment, then silently recited:

“Use immersive simulation, duration ten years…”

Su Xing estimated that ten years should be enough for him to get a general understanding of the Heavenly Secrets Domain.

However, with his strength destroyed in the simulation, he would have to act with extreme caution…

【Ding! You have successfully used immersive simulation. Cost: 3,650 energy points. Remaining origin energy: 1,207,860 points…】

As the simulation Chime faded, Su Xing’s consciousness entered the simulated world.

Su Xing felt his vision shift, and in the next second he appeared in an unfamiliar room.

The room was small—calling it bare and empty would not be an exaggeration.

There wasn’t a single electrical appliance or anything of the sort inside, which confirmed for Su Xing that he was in some sort of ancient cultivation world.

As for why Su Xing was certain this was a cultivation world—

It was because of the mural on the wall opposite the bed.

The craftsmanship was crude, looking like some kind of mass-produced, defective painting.

But the content of the painting was something Su Xing knew all too well…

It was the Ruyi Visualization Diagram!

“Tsk tsk, I never expected to see this diagram here in the Celestial Secrets Realm as well…”

Su Xing’s brows furrowed slightly, his thoughts unreadable.

“The Supreme Ruyi Celestial Lord Diagram… so that’s the name of this diagram?”

Su Xing looked at the small line of text in the lower-left corner of the painting and raised an eyebrow.

Though he had visualized it countless times, he had never known the diagram’s name.

And this physical painting before him clearly contained not the slightest trace of spiritual essence or spiritual energy—it was merely an ordinary painting.

Su Xing surveyed the room and found that its owner was truly impoverished.

Apart from this painting, there was hardly anything of value whatsoever.

“Hm?”

Just then, Su Xing seemed to catch the scent of medicinal herbs.

Looking carefully, Su Xing spotted a small wooden box on the table.

His alchemy experience told him that this box contained several types of herbs. Though they were only the lowest-grade herbs for replenishing vital blood, they would be of tremendous benefit to Su Xing.

Su Xing instinctively tried to struggle upright, intending to borrow the herbs temporarily.

But intense pain wracked his entire body. After struggling for a long time, he barely managed to shift from lying flat to half-propped against the bed, yet every ounce of strength had already been spent, and agonizing pain radiated from every inch of his skin.

Seeing that he couldn’t move, Su Xing pursed his lips and tried to summon a wisp of spiritual energy to perform a telekinesis technique.

But after trying for a long time, he couldn’t produce even the slightest bit of technique.

“Sigh, this body’s condition is even worse than I imagined… I can’t even cast the most basic of techniques?”

Su Xing shook his head slightly. His current state could only be described as rock bottom—even some Spirit Transformation cultivators could probably kill him.

“Sigh, though my physical strength remains, my vital blood has dried up… and my body is involuntarily drawing on what little stamina remains to repair its injuries…”

“If I can’t absorb energy to replenish my vital blood, it won’t be long before this body withers and dies from exhaustion!”

“And with how weak my divine soul currently is, once my physical body is destroyed, I’ll probably die outright!”

Su Xing was growing agitated. Since setting foot on the path of cultivation, when had he ever suffered such a devastating loss?

“Damn it, in this state… I might as well just kill myself and start over!”

Su Xing cursed—it would just mean wasting one simulation attempt, nothing more!

But on second thought, he had barely managed to cross the Endless Sea and reach the Heavenly Secrets Domain.

Having survived by the skin of his teeth, if he didn’t obtain any valuable information, Su Xing would have taken a massive loss!

As Su Xing was lost in thought, he suddenly felt his vision begin to change, his perspective involuntarily rising higher.

“Huh? How am I flying? Did my spiritual energy recover…”

“Wait, why does that handsome fellow on the bed look so familiar… Holy shit, that’s me!”

Su Xing’s eyes went wide. His current state was soul separation from the body!

This state only appeared in the dead!

Though Su Xing wasn’t dead yet, his physical body had been drained to the point of exhaustion—virtually no different from death.

If his soul didn’t return to his body soon… if separated for too long, Su Xing might truly be done for…

And so Su Xing’s soul desperately tried to drift toward his physical body, but it involuntarily floated further and further away.

If this continued, Su Xing would truly be finished.

Just as Su Xing was in a state of extreme panic, the room’s door was suddenly pushed open.

Two figures darted in from outside—a boy and a girl.

The girl looked about sixteen or seventeen, with fine features, but wore tattered gray cloth garments. On her back was a herb-gathering basket half her height, and she looked travel-worn and weary.

As for the boy, he was only eight or nine years old, still carrying baby fat on his cheeks. He also had a small herb-gathering basket strapped to his back in imitation of his sister.

“Hm? Could it be these two who saved me?”

Su Xing raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t detect much cultivation from either of them.

The girl’s cultivation was slightly higher—around the sixth or seventh layer of Qi Refinement.

But the boy was merely a little kid who had just entered the first layer of Qi Refinement.

“With their level of cultivation, how could they have ventured deep into the Endless Sea to rescue me?”

This thought arose in Su Xing’s mind, and he suspected someone else had actually saved him.

However, the boy’s words dispelled Su Xing’s suspicion.

The boy struggled to set his herb basket on the ground, then leaned curiously against the head of the bed and asked:

“Sis, do you really think this person is one of those legendary great cultivators?”

Hearing the boy’s words, the girl rubbed his head, then looked toward Su Xing with a glimmer of hope in her eyes and said with certainty:

“Little brother, Father once said that anyone who can return alive from the Endless Sea must be a formidable person!”

“As long as this man recovers… he’ll definitely help us!”

As she spoke, the girl’s gaze returned to Su Xing, silently praying for something in her heart.

The boy nodded with a half-understanding expression, then said:

“Sis, but this person has been lying in bed for a full three years now… He still hasn’t woken up. Is he already dead?”

Hearing the boy’s words, the girl choked for a moment, looked at Su Xing on the bed, and said uncertainly:

“He shouldn’t be, right? Father said that when people die, their bodies rot!”

“But look at this person—though he’s been lying in bed without moving this whole time, his body has stayed exactly the same. He shouldn’t be dead, right?”

Su Xing’s soul floated in the air, silently watching the siblings’ conversation, shock rising in his heart.

“I was actually unconscious for a full three years?”

“Then right now… it should be approximately year 285 of the simulation?”

“No! Three years is only how long it’s been since they found me… How long before they discovered me—that’s still unknown!”

Su Xing frowned slightly. He finally understood why his body was in such terrible shape.

Most likely, after that great battle, he had fallen unconscious and drifted through the void of the Endless Sea for a very long time.

And his physical body and divine soul, worn down by the Endless Sea, had deteriorated into their current state.

“Sigh, I must return to my body as soon as possible, otherwise there’ll be no coming back!”

Su Xing desperately tried to enter his physical body. As long as his soul could re-enter his body, he could speak, and he could ask the siblings to give him the herbs.

Even low-grade herbs, in sufficient quantity, could help Su Xing rapidly recover from his injuries—at the very least, he’d regain some combat ability!

But Su Xing was currently in soul form, and these two siblings’ cultivation was too low. They hadn’t yet developed divine sense and could not perceive Su Xing’s existence no matter what.

“So… what do I do?”

Just as Su Xing was racking his brain, he overheard the siblings’ conversation.

The girl produced a deep crimson herb, then took out a grinding stone and carefully crushed it before applying it to Su Xing’s wounds.

The eight-or-nine-year-old boy imitated her, crushing herbs while asking:

“Sis, these herbs are the ones we were going to trade at the shop for cultivation pills…”

“You’ve only got a little over a year before that big assembly. Don’t you need to break through to Foundation Establishment stage before then?”

Hearing the boy’s words, the girl fell silent for a second, then forced a smile and said:

“Don’t worry, little brother! Your sister will definitely break through to Foundation Establishment stage and be accepted into the White Cloud Sect!”

“These herbs are being used to keep this man alive…”

The boy nodded slightly, then said with a trace of guilt:

“Sis, it’s all my fault… If I hadn’t consumed so many pills and still turned out to be so useless, you would’ve already broken through to Foundation Establishment stage…”

Hearing this, the girl said nothing. She simply rubbed the boy’s head in silence, then went back to working on the herbs in her hands.

Meanwhile, Su Xing watched from the side, burning with anxiety.

“No wonder I’ve been unconscious all these years yet my body hasn’t collapsed… But the way this girl is using the herbs is such an utter waste!”

Su Xing’s soul-form mouth twitched.

He could tell that what the girl held was Bone-Mending Grass, used for healing injuries.

But the problem was, this herb could only treat surface wounds—it was practically useless for Su Xing’s injuries!

Moreover, this herb was meant to be taken orally, not applied externally…

If not for Su Xing’s flawlessly refined physical body being able to absorb the medicinal properties even through external application, the herbs would have been completely wasted!

Just then, Su Xing’s gaze locked onto a particular herb in the boy’s hand.

Soul-Guiding Grass!

“Soul-Guiding Grass—hahaha… it’s actually Soul-Guiding Grass! Heaven hasn’t forsaken me!”

Su Xing’s heart surged with wild joy. Whether it was his Heaven-Sent Fortune talent taking effect or not, he had actually encountered Soul-Guiding Grass!

This herb wasn’t particularly high-grade, but its effect was to guide a cultivator’s separated soul back into the body!

For Su Xing’s current situation, it was exactly what he needed!

“Quick, quickly feed the Soul-Guiding Grass into my mouth…”

Su Xing shouted frantically, but the siblings couldn’t hear him at all.

Watching as the boy was about to smear the Soul-Guiding Grass onto Su Xing’s arm, Su Xing nearly lost his mind.

“Damn it, applying Bone-Mending Grass externally is one thing… but Soul-Guiding Grass too?! Who on earth taught these two their herbal knowledge?!”

Su Xing was getting a headache.

In this situation, he could only rely on himself!

If he missed this Soul-Guiding Grass, who knew how long he’d have to wait for another chance!

“Ahem, looks like I have no choice but to take a gamble…”

Su Xing mustered every last bit of strength, separating a single wisp from his few remaining strands of soul power, then directed it toward his own physical body.

This was the soul telekinesis technique!

As long as Su Xing’s soul was powerful enough, he could use it to manipulate physical objects!

Though Su Xing’s soul was severely damaged, its grade was still sufficient. Briefly controlling an object for just an instant wasn’t too difficult.

The wisp of soul power drifted toward Su Xing’s face, finally settling on his mouth.

His previously closed mouth slowly opened.

After accomplishing this, Su Xing felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, and he murmured, “I can only hope they notice…”

The boy, who had been about to apply the herbs to Su Xing, froze when he saw Su Xing’s mouth suddenly open.

He rubbed his eyes first, then looked toward his sister and said uncertainly:

“Sis, this person’s mouth seems to have suddenly opened? It was closed just a moment ago!”

Hearing the boy’s words, the girl took a look and discovered that Su Xing’s mouth really had opened. She was immediately startled.

“Could it be… this person really isn’t dead? Is he actually about to wake up?”

“But… what does him opening his mouth mean?”

The girl racked her brain but couldn’t figure out why Su Xing’s mouth had suddenly opened.

It was the boy who, looking at the herbs in his hand, said hesitantly:

“Sis, do you think he opened his mouth because he wants to eat our herbs?”

Hearing this, Su Xing’s eyes lit up. He nodded frantically and shouted soundlessly:

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s exactly it! Hurry up and feed the herbs into my mouth!”

Su Xing felt certain this was going to work.

But to his dismay, the girl stood up, rapped the boy on the head, and scolded:

“You can’t just randomly eat herbs!”

“We don’t even know what effects these herbs have… What if eating them kills him?”

“As long as we apply them to his body, they’ll help his injuries heal faster… But swallowing them? That’s a whole different matter!”

With that, the girl spoke with the confidence of a seasoned expert:

“This is herbal knowledge, understand?”

“Little brother, when Father was teaching me about herbs, you were still too young. It’s normal that you don’t know much… Just follow your big sister and learn well from now on!”

“Even if your cultivation talent isn’t great, as long as you understand some herbal knowledge, you’ll be able to get by!”

After hearing his sister’s words, the boy thought carefully for a moment, then gave her a thumbs up and exclaimed:

“Sis, you’re amazing!”

Meanwhile, Su Xing’s disembodied soul was going absolutely insane:

“Damn it, who the hell taught this girl her herbal knowledge?! I’m going to beat them to death!”

“At this point, there’s only one option left…”