Chapter 129 – Another Path to Riches: Life-Extending Secret Medicine! (Second Update)

Su Xing saw this and nodded slightly. Everything had gone exactly as he predicted.

The Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass had matured, his spiritual sense had surged in strength…

Next, as long as he could bring these rewards out, Spirit Transformation would be just around the corner!

“I wonder if Spirit Transformation cultivation combined with Divine Power Realm, Grand Perfection… would be enough to fight that Old Dog Zong?”

Su Xing thought briefly, then shook his head.

“Too much uncertainty! That old dog has lived for over two thousand years, and he dual-cultivates both Qi Refinement and Body Tempering. He has too many trump cards… Even after breaking through to the Spirit Transformation stage, I might not be his match…”

“But after reaching Spirit Transformation, if we clash head-on again, at least I won’t be in such a sorry state…”

Su Xing felt a flicker of anticipation.

Although Body Tempering cultivators were somewhat stronger at the same level, the myriad techniques of the Qi Refinement path were clearly what Su Xing yearned for most.

Especially since the various methods of Qi Refinement could help Su Xing earn more energy, providing him with even greater improvements!

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

【Year Twenty-Four: Your spiritual sense finally advanced further, reaching the realm of Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense!】

【Just as you had predicted, Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense was already the limit of the Nascent Soul stage. If you wished to continue strengthening it, you would need to break through to the Spirit Transformation stage.】

【Year Twenty-Five: The situation at Demon-Sealing Pass took a sharp turn for the worse. Under the relentless assault of the legendary beast armies, it teetered on the brink of collapse.】

【Knowing that time was running short, you cast aside all other affairs and journeyed alone to the Arctic Domain.】

【Sure enough, in the extreme cold climate of the Arctic Domain, the Jade Bone Snow Ginseng you had planted long ago was nearing maturity.】

【So you endured the bitter cold, sitting within the spirit-gathering formation each day, using your own spiritual power to hasten the Snow Bone Jade Ginseng’s growth.】

【After a month of this, you finally obtained thirty mature stalks of Snow Bone Jade Ginseng!】

Su Xing’s heart leapt with joy at the sight. He had perfectly achieved the goal of this simulation.

With the Jade Bone Snow Ginseng and Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass, Su Xing could attempt to refine Nascent Soul Tempering Pills—Spirit Transformation wasn’t far off!

“By my calculations, the apocalypse should be arriving soon…”

Su Xing thought as much, then looked at the simulation panel.

【When you returned to Capital City, you learned that Demon-Sealing Pass had fallen a month prior. The entire upper echelon of the human race had been plunged into panic.】

【You took it calmly, having long anticipated this day. Knowing your mission was complete, you settled in to enjoy the time that remained.】

【Over the following three months, you resigned from all duties and began spending time with your family and friends…】

【One day, a sky-blotting colossal beast descended upon Earth and swallowed the entire nation of Great Xia in a single gulp.】

【In your final moments, you raised your middle finger at the beast.】

【Ding! You have died!】

【Your talent Die With Eyes Open activates…】

【Inside the beast’s stomach, you saw the mountains and oceans around you being continuously digested and devoured. The beast’s stomach was like a terrifying black hole, consuming everything…】

【Ding! This simulation has ended!】

Su Xing watched the simulation through to the end and nodded slightly.

Though he had still died in the simulation, Su Xing’s plan had been accomplished.

“However, this time Die With Eyes Open seems to have brought back some information… Just the beast’s stomach alone possesses such terrifying power?”

Su Xing marveled inwardly, gaining an even deeper understanding of how terrifying the alien races were.

“Well, that’s all too far removed from me. Better to focus on what’s in front of me first… Time to pick my rewards!”

Su Xing turned his gaze to this simulation’s rewards.

【Blessed with Descendants】: Purple talent. Price: 1,000,000 energy.

【Twenty-Five Years of Alchemy Experience】: Alchemy insights, contains partial alchemy comprehension. Price: 600,000 energy.

【Divine Power Realm, Third Layer】: Body Tempering cultivation. Price: 20,000,000 energy!

【Shennong Spirit Cultivation Technique Experience】: Farming and spirit cultivation insights. Price: 1,000,000 energy.

【Ten Stalks of Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass】: Three hundred years old, fully mature Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass. Price: 15,000,000 energy.

【Thirty Stalks of Snow Bone Jade Ginseng】: Fully mature Snow Bone Jade Ginseng, possesses the medicinal property of breaking down to rebuild. Price: 15,000,000 energy.

【Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense (Five Senses Realm)】: Possess Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense, able to detect the slightest disturbance within a thousand-zhang radius. Price: 9,500,000 energy.

【Withered Bone Sword (Mid-Grade Treasure Artifact)】: A treasure artifact forged from ground human bone and condensed from countless grievous resentments. Attacks inflict soul-devouring damage on the target. Price: 30,000,000 energy.

【Half a Yellow Springs Pill】: A round trip to the gates of the Yellow Springs. Taking it induces deep slumber and extends lifespan. However, only half remains—taking it carries a chance of falling into eternal slumber. Price: 500,000 energy.

【Soul-Summoning Banner】: Supreme-grade magical artifact. Can summon vengeful spirits. Price: 8,000,000 energy.

【Eight Trigrams Divination Art (Incomplete)】: Heaven-tier secret technique. Can divine fortune and misfortune. Price: 70,000,000 energy.

Su Xing paused slightly upon seeing the rewards. This simulation’s reward selection was nothing short of generous.

The vast majority had dropped from Old Dog Zong, a testament to his considerable wealth. Unfortunately, most were incomplete and would be useless even if Su Xing chose them.

Su Xing studied the reward options, thinking it over.

“The talent goes without saying—absolutely no chance I’d pick it… How does this ridiculous Blessed with Descendants even qualify as a purple talent?”

“As for alchemy experience and cultivation, there’s no rush…”

“Old Dog Zong’s treasures and secret techniques are all incomplete except for that sword—selecting them would be pointless… And the prices are too steep!”

Su Xing paused, his gaze settling on the Withered Bone Sword’s description.

“A mid-grade treasure artifact… Priced at thirty million energy, even more expensive than the Blackice sword. So by that measure, the Blackice sword is probably only equivalent to a low-grade treasure artifact?”

As far as Su Xing knew, cultivator artifact grades ranked from lowest to highest as follows:

Talisman artifacts, magical artifacts, treasure artifacts, spirit artifacts…

And above spirit artifacts lay the legendary immortal artifacts!

This Withered Bone Sword was clearly of considerable grade. A low-grade treasure artifact was probably equivalent to a top-tier legendary weapon in the real world.

“But this Withered Bone Sword has too vile an origin. Using it would be an affront to heaven’s principles…”

Su Xing shook his head slightly and turned his gaze to the remaining options.

After deliberating, Su Xing found himself torn between three reward choices.

Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense, Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass, and Snow Bone Jade Ginseng.

“The Snow Bone Jade Ginseng is a must-pick. If I don’t take it, the next simulation would probably require me to fight Old Dog Zong all over again—not worth the trouble…”

“As for Thousand-Zhang Spiritual Sense and Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass…”

After some hesitation, Su Xing decided to choose the Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass.

After all, with both the Snow Bone Jade Ginseng and Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass, Su Xing would be able to refine Nascent Soul Tempering Pills. That was clearly more critical for him.

As for spiritual sense, if the opportunity arose in the next simulation, cultivating it back to Thousand-Zhang wouldn’t be difficult.

With that decided, Su Xing silently declared:

“I choose to bring out the Snow Bone Jade Ginseng and the Three-Tailed Phoenix Grass…”

【Ding! Your energy is insufficient. Please collect enough simulation energy before exchanging…】

The simulator’s notification chimed in Su Xing’s mind.

Su Xing checked his remaining energy—less than twenty-six million, leaving a shortfall of four million!

“Damn it, didn’t expect to run out of energy this fast… Sigh, I’ll just have to wait. After this week’s shipment is delivered, it should be enough…”

Su Xing immediately felt a headache coming on. Ever since he’d started making money through alchemy, he’d never been short on funds.

But now, on the verge of stepping into the Spirit Transformation stage, energy was tight once again.

Setting everything else aside, just bringing out Spirit Transformation, Great Perfection and Divine Power Realm, Grand Perfection cultivation alone would cost Su Xing tens of millions of energy…

“Sigh, I still need to find ways to make money!”

“The Tarot Trading Company only provides ten million energy per week. At this rate, it’ll take two months of saving just to break through to Spirit Transformation, Great Perfection… That’s way too slow!”

As the saying went, cutting expenses was never an option—only increasing revenue could barely maintain his lifestyle.

“Once the mining zone dungeon gets approved, the energy I earn should increase considerably…”

“But for now, all I can do is push Jin Congxue harder and have her get me more dungeon items!”

Su Xing sighed, first sending Jin Congxue several text messages urging her to help him acquire more dungeon items, then took out his alchemy furnace and got to work refining pills.

The life of alchemy was monotonous and extremely taxing on the mind.

Even a master alchemist could ruin an entire furnace of pills if they failed to control the subtle nuances of flame intensity and timing.

But Su Xing was already a seasoned veteran when it came to alchemy.

In just one short week, Su Xing had refined six thousand pills.

That day, Su Xing packed up the finished pills, left his quarters, and headed to the villa, where he found Jin Congxue.

Today, Jin Congxue was wearing a nightgown with spaghetti straps, with faint dark circles around her eyes, looking as though she hadn’t slept well.

Su Xing handed over the pills and teased:

“What’s wrong, were you out robbing houses last night? You look like you didn’t get any sleep.”

Jin Congxue rolled her eyes and huffed:

“Hmph, it’s all because of you! Didn’t you ask me to buy up dungeon items in bulk a while back?”

“These past few days, I’ve been running all over the dozens of Jin Commerce Group branches and hundreds of warehouses across Jiangnan Province, collecting all sorts of strange dungeon items for you… See for yourself!”

With that, Jin Congxue handed over several storage rings.

Su Xing opened the storage rings and, sure enough, each one was packed with mountains of dungeon items.

Su Xing’s heart stirred as he began scanning each item for energy.

【Ding! Detected substances containing energy. Total value: 16,420,000 energy. Convert?】

【Ding! Detected substances containing energy. Total value: 9,760,000 energy. Convert?】

【Ding…】

Several notifications sounded in Su Xing’s mind. He tallied them up.

Good heavens—the dungeon items stored in these four storage rings totaled nearly fifty million simulation energy!

Su Xing was stunned. He asked:

“How does your Jin Commerce Group have so many dungeon items?”

Jin Congxue replied:

“Class Users come to sell them! Every day, quite a few Class Users come specifically to sell dungeon items. Over time, they naturally accumulate…”

“The Jin Commerce Group has a broad range of business. We occasionally purchase small quantities of dungeon items and resell them for a modest profit.”

After a pause, Jin Congxue added:

“However, the Jin Commerce Group doesn’t have that many dungeon items, and they’re spread out across different locations, making them hard to track down…”

“If you’re interested in these items, you might want to contact the Baili Commerce Group in Guang Province.”

Su Xing asked curiously, “The Baili Commerce Group?”

Jin Congxue nodded slightly and explained:

“The Baili Commerce Group is based in Guang Province, the southernmost part of Great Xia. It’s considered one of the top trading companies. The group’s young master, Baili Qi, has an obsession with collecting these strange dungeon items. After decades of collecting, the sheer volume he’s amassed could fill several mountains and then some…”

Su Xing’s eyes lit up instantly. Good heavens—decades worth of collected dungeon items! If he could actually get his hands on all of that, how much simulation energy would it be worth?

He immediately pressed:

“How do I contact this Baili Qi? I want to buy up all his dungeon equipment!”

Jin Congxue looked troubled:

“Baili Qi has an eccentric personality. He doesn’t like meeting people, and our Jin Commerce Group doesn’t have a close relationship with him either…”

“However, I’ve heard that recently, Baili Qi’s father, Baili Tu, seems to be nearing the end of his lifespan. Apparently, he’s been searching for life-extending items from dungeons. If you could help extend his life, you might be able to trade with Baili Qi for those dungeon items…”

Su Xing’s mind stirred at her words.

Life-extending items—even within dungeons, these were extremely precious, things that countless top powerhouses fought tooth and nail over yet still struggled to obtain.

After all, the behind-the-scenes bosses of these trading companies likely didn’t have much time to improve their strength, given the demands of managing their businesses. They’d probably barely managed to reach Heavenly King-stage by stacking various items.

And at Heavenly King-stage, one’s lifespan was only three to five hundred years. The only way to live longer was to break through to Martial Emperor-stage.

“Life-extending medicine, huh… I’ll figure something out. Once I’ve refined pills that can extend lifespans, you can help me contact the Baili Commerce Group!”

Su Xing said as much.

Jin Congxue was stunned, exclaiming in disbelief:

“You can refine life-extending pills?”

Seeing how shocked Jin Congxue was, Su Xing was somewhat puzzled himself, but explained:

“I’m not certain yet, but I can try. I’d say I have about a fifty percent chance of success…”

As far as Su Xing knew, the Separation Fire Alchemy Art recorded no fewer than seven or eight types of life-extending pills.

After all, wasn’t that exactly what cultivators pursued?

Immortal cultivators refining life-extending pills was the very definition of professional expertise.

From ungraded Health-Nourishing Pills, to low-grade Life-Sustaining Pills and Longevity Pills, mid-grade Eternal Life Pills, and high-grade Azure Firmament Pills…

Their effects ranged from extending life by one or two years, to five years, ten years… even several decades.

However, all life-extending pills built up tolerance. After taking one or two, the same type of pill would lose its effectiveness.

Su Xing was in the prime of his youth and had naturally never thought about refining life-extending pills before.

But looking at it now, life-extending pills might just be the true windfall pills!

Hearing Su Xing say he had a fifty percent chance, Jin Congxue was even more astonished, saying in disbelief:

“Do you have any idea how precious life-extending items are? A single life-extending item from a dungeon is worth as much as legendary-grade equipment—maybe even rarer!”

“If you announced to the world that you could refine life-extending pills, not only would every major faction treat you as an honored guest, even the elderly leadership of Great Xia would come begging at your door!”

Seeing how shocked Jin Congxue was, Su Xing’s expression turned serious. He had just been thinking about the enormous profits life-extending pills could bring, but hadn’t considered the enormous risks lurking behind them!

After a moment of deliberation, Su Xing said:

“I’m not yet confident about the life-extending pills… So please keep this confidential and don’t spread the word.”