Chapter 478 – Red Talent: Shaman Ancestor! Exploring the Eighth Heaven!
by spirapiraChapter 478 – Red Talent: Shaman Ancestor! Exploring the Eighth Heaven!
That batch of blood essence from Red Moon provided Su Xing with just over 500 million origin energy!
At this moment, Su Xing once again possessed the capital to advance his cultivation — enough for simulations for quite some time to come.
“Tsk tsk, a full 500 million origin energy!”
“Red Moon really doesn’t hold back!”
Su Xing couldn’t help but marvel. After all, the previous 500 million origin energy had taken him half a year to accumulate, and that was from dealing with numerous foreign-race deities.
Yet now, from a single transaction with Red Moon alone, he had obtained 500 million origin energy!
How could Su Xing not be excited?
“Mm, I still have five simulation chances remaining… 600 million origin energy — that’s certainly enough to begin a new round of simulations!”
Su Xing was currently in his human race identity, having rarely ventured outside.
It was enough for Su Xing to use his main body’s lesser demon disguise simulation method, maximizing his returns!
Thinking this, Su Xing silently chanted:
“Begin simulation!”
【Simulation #204 initiated. Current remaining origin energy: 612,396,347 points… Remaining simulation chances: 5.】
【Simulation begins!】
【Drawing a talent costs 1 origin energy point. Draw?】
“Yes!”
【Ding! Congratulations, you have drawn the red talent Shaman Ancestor. Next draw probability: gold talent 80%, red talent 20%…】
【Shaman Ancestor】: Red talent. You possess an astonishing bloodline inheritance, granting you terrifying potential in body tempering that rivals the Twelve Ancestral Shamans.
“Holy crap, Shaman Ancestor!”
Su Xing exclaimed in shock, gazing at his newly drawn red talent with great satisfaction.
Shaman Ancestor was without question the highest-tier body tempering talent Su Xing had ever drawn.
From Strength to Uproot Mountains, Innate Divine Power, and others… all the way to the previous Ancient Shaman Physique — Su Xing’s body tempering talents had been progressively improving.
But Ancient Shaman Physique had only granted Su Xing the body tempering talent of an ancient-era shaman.
While it could be called top-tier in this era, looking back through history, among the Wu Clan of the ancient era, it would only qualify as a minor prodigy — far from being one in a million.
“Shaman Ancestor! Just those two words alone are enough to demonstrate its value!”
A strange gleam flashed through Su Xing’s eyes as his mind recalled the ancient texts he had once studied.
In the ancient era, the human race was weak. The rulers of heaven and earth were the Demon Tribe and the Wu Clan!
Among them, the strongest of the Shaman Ancestors were the Twelve Ancestral Shamans!
Legend had it that each of the Twelve Ancestral Shamans possessed terrifying cultivation talent and strength.
Even the weakest Ancestral Shaman possessed Peak Great Firmament Golden Immortal strength, while Ancestral Shamans like Gonggong and Zhurong wielded half-saint power.
Furthermore, legend spoke of one among the Twelve Ancestral Shamans named Houtu, who governed reincarnation and the earth’s meridians, and had attained Sainthood!
From this, one could glimpse the terrifying talent of those twelve Shaman Ancestors.
“A red-tier Ancestral Shaman talent… I wonder just how much stronger it is than the previous Ancient Shaman Physique?”
“Might as well give it a try!”
Su Xing murmured, preparing to thoroughly test the effects of this new talent.
“Beyond improving my strength… it’s also time to start tracking down the Soulsever Grass and Bewilderment Branch…”
Su Xing murmured.
During the previous six months, Su Xing had also tried using the time reversal function, but he hadn’t reached the era when the Bewilderment Branch existed, and had instead wasted a simulation chance.
As for the Soulsever Grass, Su Xing already had some intelligence.
The Soulsever Grass was located in the Eighth Heaven of the Nine Heavens Domain!
After breaking through to Supreme Unity Golden Immortal, Su Xing barely qualified to venture into the Eighth Heaven.
“Although Soulsever Grass is rare even in the Eighth Heaven, I already learned its specific location from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master.”
“As long as my luck isn’t too terrible, a few searches at most should be enough to find it!”
Having set his goal for this simulation, Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.
【Please select Plus One…】
“I choose to enhance the Late Bloomer talent…”
【In the spirit field grotto-heaven, you realize you are in a simulation!】
【As planned, you travel to the Azure Cloud Sect to trade and collect the Luo Tian legacy, then head to the Heavenly Secrets Domain before the tenth year.】
【After arriving in the Heavenly Secrets Domain, over the next several decades, you travel to the Fifth Heaven to collect a portion of rare treasures and transplant them into the Luotian Realm.】
【In the seventieth year, you leave the Heavenly Secrets Domain and head to the Celestial Demon Domain.】
【In the hundredth year, you successfully obtain the Luotian Black Pearl and decide to travel alone through the Nine Heavens Domain.】
【In the hundred and first year, you arrive at the Seventh Heaven and decide to enter seclusion here to cultivate and comprehend the Great Dao.】
In the Real World, Su Xing nodded slightly upon seeing this:
“Since I need to reach the Eighth Heaven, I naturally need to make thorough preparations…”
“My current strength is more or less sufficient for the Eighth Heaven.”
“However, the foreign races in the Eighth Heaven are extremely dangerous. Searching for the Soulsever Grass may not go smoothly…”
“Starting from the hundredth year, after the immersive simulation ends, there will only be a mere four hundred years remaining… The remaining time should be enough for my search!”
Su Xing understood that gains came with sacrifices.
Since he needed to search for Soulsever Grass in the Eighth Heaven, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the various benefits from the lower realm — such as the Void Realm, the vital blood treasures provided by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, and so on.
Fortunately, he had gathered a batch in advance from the Fifth Heaven and placed them inside the Luotian Realm to nurture.
With a tenfold time differential, this could provide a portion of what Su Xing needed for cultivation.
Su Xing silently chanted:
“Begin immersive simulation, duration: 274 years!”
【Ding… Remaining origin energy: 612,296,347 points…】
As the Chime faded, Su Xing’s consciousness entered the simulated world.
…
When Su Xing opened his eyes again, he had already arrived within the Seventh Heaven.
Finding a secluded location, Su Xing laid down layer upon layer of defenses and Concealment Formations before beginning to comprehend the Great Dao of Space.
He took his first sip of Dao-Enlightenment Tea, and the first three-year session of comprehension officially began.
Sensing the Dao essence emanating from the numerous spatial treasures around him, Su Xing’s comprehension of the Great Dao of Space advanced rapidly.
Three years later, Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, a look of surprise crossing his face.
“Hm? Comprehending the Great Dao in the Nine Heavens Domain… the efficiency seems far greater than in the lower realm!”
Su Xing was somewhat pleasantly surprised.
Within the Seventh Heaven, the speed of Dao comprehension was roughly fifty percent faster than in the Five Great Domains of the lower realm!
“Dao essence treasures all have their limits…”
“After my Dao reached the sixth realm, the boost from those spatial treasures dwindled to a mere twenty or thirty percent.”
“Yet here in the Seventh Heaven, the speed of comprehension has increased dramatically!”
Su Xing reflected thoughtfully.
“In the ancient era, between the upper and lower realms, the upper realm was closer to the Dao… That’s why so many powerful beings emerged in those times!”
“No wonder they say the secret to attaining Sainthood may lie in the Ninth Heaven… The Dao essence in the upper realm is indeed far richer than in the lower realm!”
Su Xing was thoroughly delighted by this discovery.
A fifty percent increase in comprehension speed might not seem like much on the surface, but for Su Xing, it was an enormous change!
If it originally took Su Xing three years of real-world time to push a single Great Dao into the seventh realm, then now it would only take two years!
That improvement in speed was nothing short of remarkable!
“The Seventh Heaven alone offers such enhancement… Then what about the Eighth Heaven?”
Su Xing’s anticipation grew even stronger.
“Still, for a first exploration of the Eighth Heaven… there might be some risks!”
“Better to use up all the Dao-Enlightenment Tea and Dao-Hearing Pills first…”
With that thought, Su Xing could hardly contain himself and continued comprehending the Great Dao of Space.
In the blink of an eye, another 270 years passed.
In the final year before the immersive simulation ended, Su Xing concluded his seclusion early.
Carefully taking stock of his gains from over 270 years of seclusion, Su Xing was quite satisfied.
“The efficiency has indeed improved by over fifty percent!”
“At this rate, within five simulations, my spatial Dao will likely reach sixth realm Minor Mastery!”
“And reaching sixth realm Perfection would take at most a hundred simulations!”
Su Xing was deeply pleased. If his spatial Dao reached sixth realm Perfection, he could even travel freely between the various domains!
Traveling from the Azure Cloud Sect to the Endless Sea would take only a little over a month!
And traveling from the Azure Origin Domain to the Heavenly Secrets Domain would take merely half a year!
The travel time to the Celestial Demon Domain could even be compressed to under two years!
Reaching the Celestial Demon Domain in two years to obtain the Luotian Black Pearl — that was a completely acceptable cost for Su Xing!
“Tsk tsk… and this is merely the enhancement effect of the Seventh Heaven…”
“Logically speaking, the Eighth Heaven is a level above… perhaps even closer to the Dao!”
At this thought, Su Xing raised his head skyward, eager beyond measure to go explore it.
No sooner said than done. Su Xing deployed the power of space, and with a single step, crossed a distance of millions of li.
Then, at an astonishing speed, he headed toward the Eighth Heaven.
About a month later, Su Xing could feel the “pressure” from the Eighth Heaven growing ever stronger.
Before long, Su Xing finally saw it — the “barrier” that divided the Seventh Heaven from the Eighth Heaven!
“This is…”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly, gazing at the vast, boundless expanse of water above his head.
Gentle ripples danced across the surface, reflecting Su Xing’s image in the water.
“Passing through this water surface will take me to the Eighth Heaven?”
Su Xing pondered. He could sense that the water above seemed to exert some invisible force, drawing him in.
To be cautious, Su Xing deployed eight thousand one hundred strands of Protective Sword Aura and released his Spirit Domain within a ten-li (5 km) radius around himself.
After shielding his own karmic secrets, Su Xing plunged into the water.
Like a fish, Su Xing swam upward through the water at an extremely fast pace.
Suddenly, in a single instant, Su Xing felt the world spinning around him, as if everything had been flipped upside down.
Several breaths later, Su Xing broke through the surface and emerged into an unfamiliar world.
“Hss… such dense spiritual energy!”
Su Xing’s eyes widened as he surveyed his surroundings.
After emerging from the water, Su Xing could clearly feel that he was no longer in the Seventh Heaven.
“This… is the Eighth Heaven!”
“The concentration of spiritual energy here… it’s at least equivalent to a supreme blessed land!”
Su Xing blinked. He wasn’t sure whether his “spawn point” upon entering the Eighth Heaven happened to be a treasure site, but it surely couldn’t be that much of a coincidence.
So, the more likely explanation was…
Any random location throughout the entire Eighth Heaven possessed spiritual energy at the level of a supreme blessed land!
And those Secret Realms and treasure sites within the Eighth Heaven were probably at least at the grotto-heaven level!
It was even possible that the Grand Grotto-Heaven Su Xing had painstakingly constructed could form naturally in the Eighth Heaven!
“Tsk tsk, the upper realm… truly the treasure land that ancient cultivators dreamed of!”
Su Xing’s moment of pleasant surprise lasted only briefly before he quickly snapped back to attention, launching himself away from the lake with a whoosh.
He then concealed his aura, doing his best to avoid detection by other living beings.
After all, the Eighth Heaven was the aliens’ home turf!
Hundreds of millions of alien beings inhabited the Eighth Heaven, while human race powerhouses numbered only a few dozen.
If the aliens discovered him, Su Xing would be in serious trouble!
After leaving the lake, Su Xing deployed his movement technique, keeping his divine sense within a ten-li (5 km) range as he swiftly surveyed the environment of the Eighth Heaven.
About two hours passed like this.
With Su Xing’s movement speed, even though he was only traveling slowly while exploring the Eighth Heaven, he had still covered millions of li.
By now, Su Xing had roughly determined his position and the general situation of the surrounding area.
Based on the intelligence Su Xing had previously gathered:
The Eighth Heaven was roughly divided into five regions.
They corresponded one-to-one with the Five Great Domains of the lower realm — East, South, West, North, and Central — and each was just as vast as an entire great domain!
The difference was that unlike the lower realm, no Endless Sea separated the regions from one another.
Crossing between great domains was incredibly easy. Theoretically, if one wanted to traverse the entire Eighth Heaven,
with the aid of spatial nodes, at Su Xing’s speed, it would take only a thousand years to succeed.
“However… the Eighth Heaven is practically the aliens’ home turf!”
Su Xing narrowed his eyes.
Within a million li (500,000 km) of him alone, the number of aliens he could sense was well over a million!
Every single alien possessed at least Legendary-level strength.
And there was no shortage of alien deities among them…
By comparison, Su Xing hadn’t spotted a single human cultivator.
After all, in the vast expanse of the Eighth Heaven, there were only the few dozen people led by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master!
“Phew… but the spiritual energy in the Eighth Heaven really is leagues beyond the lower realm!”
In his brief exploration, Su Xing had already detected no fewer than a hundred grotto-heaven level treasure sites.
On average, there was a grotto-heaven every ten thousand li (5,000 km).
There were even one or two supreme-grade grotto-heavens…
However, most of these grotto-heavens had been occupied by the aliens.
“Grand Grotto-Heavens are still rare even in the Eighth Heaven…”
Su Xing quickly confirmed his position.
Because he had entered the Nine Heavens Domain from the Celestial Demon Domain,
his current location was in the “center of the western region” of the Eighth Heaven.
“My position… seems to be less than a hundred million li (50,000,000 km) from the Soulsever Grass…”
Su Xing narrowed his eyes. This was precisely why he had chosen to enter the Eighth Heaven from the Heavenly Secrets Domain.
From here, he was extremely close to the Soulsever Grass’s location that he had obtained.
“No rush to search for the Soulsever Grass just yet… let me first get a feel for how fast I can comprehend the Great Dao in the Eighth Heaven!”
After finding a secluded mountain cave, Su Xing began comprehending the Great Dao of Space.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
“The Eighth Heaven… boosts Great Dao comprehension by at least eighty percent!”
“Moreover, it’s unevenly distributed…”
“In some places, the comprehension bonus can reach double, or even more!”
Su Xing summarized his findings.
In the Eighth Heaven, the speed bonus for Great Dao comprehension ranged from eighty percent to double!
At maximum comprehension speed, it was equivalent to three times the speed in the lower realm!
“The more valuable the treasure site, the denser the spiritual energy… the higher the efficiency of Great Dao comprehension!”
“It’s just that most of those treasure sites have been occupied by the aliens… finding a site with double the bonus is already no easy feat!”
The Great Dao comprehension that human cultivators needed and the aliens’ Power of Laws were essentially the same thing.
And the aliens occupied the most precious regions in the Eighth Heaven, so naturally their speed of comprehending laws was faster.
“Even so, double the comprehension speed compared to the lower realm… is a massive boost for me!”
Su Xing estimated that if he could comprehend the Great Dao in the Eighth Heaven over an extended period, in perhaps just over a year, his mastery of the Great Dao of Space could reach sixth realm Peak!
At that point, Su Xing could attempt to travel to the Heavenly Secrets Domain and obtain the Luotian Black Pearl…
“The Eighth Heaven is truly a wonderful place!”
Su Xing sighed with admiration, then headed toward the location of the Soulsever Grass from his memories.
…
The immersive simulation soon ended, and Su Xing’s consciousness returned to his body.
Before the immersive simulation concluded, Su Xing had confirmed the location of the Soulsever Grass.
“It’s just that obtaining that Soulsever Grass… won’t be so easy!”
Su Xing narrowed his eyes.
“That Soulsever Grass is actually located within a Grand Grotto-Heaven level treasure site!”
“And within that treasure site, the number of alien deities alone is no fewer than a thousand, with over a hundred second-tier deities and several first-tier deities…”
“Among them, there’s one aura that even I find alarming — it should be a peak first-tier deity!”
Rubbing his brow, Su Xing felt a headache coming on.
The good news was that he had found the Soulsever Grass’s location.
The bad news was that the treasure site containing the Soulsever Grass was a major alien stronghold.
With Su Xing’s current strength, he probably couldn’t obtain it for now…
“Phew… confirming the location is enough!”
“As for obtaining the Soulsever Grass, once my strength reaches that level, it’ll only be a matter of time!”
“Next, I’ll find a secluded spot to continue cultivating… and of course, if I can find a way to rendezvous with the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master, that would be even better!”
So Su Xing thought, as his gaze shifted to the simulation panel.
【In your 380th year, you found a hidden cave dwelling in the Eighth Heaven and began cultivating…】
【Entering the Luotian Realm, where the time differential between inside and outside was tenfold, you consumed vital blood treasures and practiced the Great Shaman Body Forging Art.】
【Thus, 220 years passed in the outside world!】
【By your 600th year, for you inside the Luotian Realm, you had cultivated for over 2,000 years!】
【By this point, the Celestial Primordial Tree within your body had grown to twelve zhang (39.96 m), and your vital blood and strength had improved modestly.】
【With the boost from your ‘Wu Clan’ talent, a mere 200-plus years was equivalent to nearly a thousand years of your previous cultivation results!】
【Your talent for cultivating the Great Shaman Body Forging Art improved dramatically. At this rate, you could reach Great Shaman Body Forging Art, Seventh Layer Perfection within two to three years, far surpassing your Qi Refinement talent.】
【But what troubled you was that the precious materials and treasures you had previously accumulated were now completely exhausted.】
【You needed to find more vital blood treasures to sustain your cultivation.】
【And the Eighth Heaven was brimming with countless precious materials in its various treasure sites and Secret Realms… more importantly, the blood essence of those aliens was a great tonic for you!】
【The blood essence of first-tier deities, in particular, was equivalent to top-grade precious materials for you!】
【And so, you began attempting to hunt first-tier deities…】