Chapter 169 – Raking in 650 Million Energy, the Heavenly Spirit Root Arrives! (5k)
by spirapiraHearing this sudden voice, Baili Tu jerked his head up.
When he saw Su Xing in disguise, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.
He quickly put on a delighted expression and said:
“Senior, what brings you here? You should have given us advance notice!”
Su Xing took note of the shifts in Baili Tu’s demeanor but merely gave a slight nod and said:
“I heard your Baili Trading Company has been making a big show of purchasing dungeon props lately?”
Baili Tu hastily nodded at this.
“Since Senior needs those dungeon props, our Baili Trading Company will naturally spare no effort in acquiring them. Whatever makes Senior happy!”
Su Xing didn’t respond to that, merely thinking to himself that Baili Tu really knew how to talk.
Then Su Xing produced another Life-Sustaining Pill from his robes and said:
“Here is another Life-Sustaining Pill. It can extend your lifespan by another five years… all I need is the same amount of dungeon props as last time.”
The moment the Life-Sustaining Pill appeared, a look of longing surfaced on Baili Tu’s face.
Though he had already extended his life by five years, who would complain about living longer? If he could add another five years… that would be a full ten years of life to enjoy!
Baili Tu hurriedly pulled a storage ring from his pocket and said:
“Senior, my son Baili Qi was inconsiderate before… I’ve already spoken to him about it during this time. These are the dungeon props he collected over the past few years. Allow me to present them all to Senior.”
Su Xing took the storage ring.
Scanning it with his spiritual sense, he found it was indeed piled high with dungeon props — roughly the same quantity as the previous batch.
A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Su Xing’s eyes. He gave a casual toss, and the Life-Sustaining Pill in his hand slid into Baili Tu’s grasp.
“In that case, this Life-Sustaining Pill is yours.”
“The deal is done. I’ll be on my way…”
With that, Su Xing prepared to leave.
“Please wait, Senior!”
Just as Su Xing was about to turn and go, Baili Tu stopped him and handed over yet another storage ring, saying:
“Senior, what we just did was a transaction… but I’ve also collected another batch of dungeon props during this period. Consider them a token of gratitude for Senior’s life-saving grace!”
Su Xing frowned slightly at this, but looking at the simulation energy practically being handed to him, he reached out and accepted it anyway.
After scanning it with his spiritual sense —
Good heavens, there was quite a substantial number of dungeon props in this storage ring! Though not as many as in the traded batch, it was at least thirty percent of that amount!
Its value was probably in the range of one to two hundred million simulation energy.
This was surely the haul Baili Tu had gathered during his high-profile collection campaign.
After a moment’s thought, Su Xing accepted the storage ring and said slowly:
“You… are quite good.”
With that, Su Xing prepared to leave.
But Baili Tu quickly spoke up:
“Senior, how can we contact you going forward? If we acquire more dungeon props, how should we deliver them to you?”
Su Xing frowned slightly at this.
Baili Tu wanted his contact information. On the surface, it seemed like he wanted to fulfill Su Xing’s need for dungeon props.
But in reality, Baili Tu was even more interested in building a relationship with Su Xing — in case the Baili family ever encountered a problem they couldn’t solve, they might need Su Xing’s help.
Thinking this, Su Xing felt the storage ring in his hand grow a bit hot to hold.
After all, he had always disliked owing favors. A clean transaction with no debts on either side was naturally best…
But the dungeon props in this storage ring were worth at least one to two hundred million. Su Xing truly couldn’t bear to give it up.
After a moment’s hesitation, Su Xing said:
“If your Baili family ever faces a crisis you cannot resolve, spread the word publicly that you’ve discovered an earth-shattering treasure inheritance among the dungeon props…”
“When that happens, I’ll understand and come to your aid… However, it will still be business when the time comes. Understood?”
Baili Tu hastily nodded in agreement.
Without further ado, Su Xing turned and left, his figure vanishing into the night.
After Su Xing departed, the smile faded from Baili Tu’s face. His fingers tapped rhythmically against the desk surface as he pondered something unknown.
At that moment, the Martial Emperor powerhouse named Uncle Fu emerged from a hidden chamber in Baili Tu’s room.
“Master!”
Baili Tu gave a slight nod. “Uncle Fu, what do you make of this mysterious powerhouse’s obsession with collecting dungeon props? What could his purpose be?”
Uncle Fu didn’t know either, and ventured a guess:
“Perhaps those dungeon props conceal some earth-shattering secret?”
Baili Tu nodded, then shook his head.
“Dungeon props — throughout the ages, millions upon millions of people have tried to uncover their secrets… yet not a single one has profited from it.”
“But this Senior — for our Baili family, he represents a genuine, tangible opportunity!”
“This Senior should understand what we’re getting at… Perhaps one day, if our Baili family finds itself in dire straits, we might be able to call upon him based on today’s gift and the goodwill it earned.”
Uncle Fu remained silent. He wasn’t well-versed in such calculations.
He had been a servant of the Baili estate for as long as he could remember, having served the family faithfully for several hundred years.
After a moment’s thought, Uncle Fu said:
“Master, this Senior… seems to have grown even stronger.”
“Before, I merely sensed a threat from him… but now, his aura is such that I don’t even have the courage to face him head-on.”
“I suspect this Senior may have already stepped into the Legendary realm…”
After a pause, Uncle Fu added:
“Furthermore, this Senior should have detected my presence, yet he completely disregarded me…”
Baili Tu’s expression grew solemn. After a long silence, he called out loudly:
“Someone! Pass down my orders — double the scale of our dungeon prop acquisitions! Raise the purchase price by twenty percent!”
“I want every dungeon prop across all thirteen provinces of Great Xia funneled into our Baili Trading Company!”
A Legendary powerhouse — that was a transcendent figure who stood above worldly affairs.
If the Baili Trading Company could truly establish a relationship with a Legendary master, it could guarantee the Baili family’s prosperity for a thousand years!
This was Baili Tu’s one and only thought at this moment! All the scheming and calculations in his heart had vanished, replaced by a singular desire to build goodwill with Su Xing…
This was the change that absolute strength brought about…
…
Meanwhile, after obtaining the two storage rings, Su Xing traveled several hundred kilometers through the night back to Fudong Province, then caught the earliest available flight to return to the Capital City.
The next day, back at school, Su Xing couldn’t wait to enter the spirit field blessed land, ready to convert the dungeon props from both rings into energy.
【Ding — Detected large quantity of energy-containing materials. Total energy value: 476,820,000. Convert?】
【Ding — Detected large quantity of energy-containing materials. Total energy value: 156,790,000. Convert?】
Listening to these delightful notification sounds, Su Xing said without hesitation:
“Confirm conversion!”
And so, Su Xing watched the simulation energy on his panel skyrocket.
From just over twelve million, it surged all the way to 646,050,000!
After steadying his excited emotions, Su Xing opened the simulation panel, ready to redeem his dungeon rewards.
“I choose to redeem Protective Hardened Qi and the Ruyi Visualization Method!”
【You have successfully extracted Protective Hardened Qi cultivation results (Minor Mastery). Cost: 50,000,000 energy. Remaining energy: 596,050,000.】
【You have successfully extracted Ruyi Visualization Method cultivation results (Beginner-level). Cost: 40,000,000 energy. Remaining energy: 556,050,000.】
As the simulator’s notification faded, two streams of mysterious power flowed into Su Xing’s body.
Immediately after, a massive flood of memory fragments surged into Su Xing’s mind.
These were the cultivation results for Protective Hardened Qi and the Ruyi Visualization Method! In mere moments, Su Xing had mastered the primordial energy divine ability Protective Hardened Qi, reaching Minor Mastery-level directly!
Su Xing slowly opened his eyes. With a thought, he murmured softly:
“Primordial energy armor…”
Instantly, a thin layer of primordial energy enveloped his entire body.
Once the primordial energy armor wrapped around Su Xing, his impact resistance and defensive power more than doubled in an instant.
But that wasn’t all.
After sensing the invisible primordial energy armor on his body, Su Xing murmured again:
“Protective Hardened Qi — activate!”
The next second, an invisible primordial energy barrier formed three feet beyond Su Xing’s skin, encasing him in complete protection.
The barrier was like an airtight transparent glass dome, isolating Su Xing from all harmful substances in the outside world.
Forget attacks and ambushes — not even a fly or even poison gas could penetrate this layer of Protective Hardened Qi! Most critically, the Protective Hardened Qi and the primordial energy armor could exist simultaneously!
“Incredible… no wonder I didn’t die immediately when I entered that giant beast’s stomach cavity during this simulation…”
“Protective Hardened Qi plus primordial energy armor — with such terrifying defensive power… even a Legendary-stage powerhouse couldn’t break through instantly, could they?”
Su Xing’s heart surged with excitement.
If one were to judge purely by defensive capability, with both the primordial energy armor and the Protective Hardened Qi, Su Xing could likely rival a warrior who had just entered the Legendary stage!
“Such terrifying defensive power… If I train both of these to their absolute limits, I might truly be able to break through my limits inside the great beast’s stomach space and achieve Void-Shattering!”
It took Su Xing quite a while to rein in the excitement in his heart.
Afterward, Su Xing appeared in the real world, wanting to test just how powerful his divine sense had become. With a thought, his divine sense spread outward like a surging tide.
In an instant, it enveloped the entire Capital Academy.
And it was still expanding outward!
Three thousand zhang… three thousand five hundred zhang… four thousand zhang!
Five thousand zhang… six thousand zhang…
Finally — a full seven thousand zhang of divine sense range!
What kind of concept was seven thousand zhang?
It meant that with Su Xing as the center, everything within a 26-kilometer radius fell within his perception!
This range was enough to cover nearly the entire Capital City.
“Tsk tsk, the entire Capital City — not a single person can hide from my divine sense…”
As he experienced what it felt like to blanket an entire city with his divine sense, an indescribable feeling welled up inside Su Xing.
It was as if… Su Xing were the god of this city!
Su Xing finally understood why, in the cultivation world, ordinary mortals were no different from ants in the eyes of powerful cultivators.
After all, the sensation of fully unleashing one’s divine sense was like activating a god’s-eye view.
It made one uncontrollably arrogant and conceited.
But Su Xing was, after all, a cultivator who had passed the five trials of Spirit Transformation. Before such pride could even begin to sprout, he had already stamped it down.
Returning to the spirit field blessed land, Su Xing began repeatedly drilling it into his own mind.
Be humble! Be cautious!
Damn it, you haven’t even become humanity’s strongest — what the hell is there to be arrogant about?
As long as the foreign races remain undefeated, life and death will always be in someone else’s hands…
Once his mental state had settled, Su Xing resumed his weekly routine of pill refinement and spirit liquid collection.
Five days passed quickly. Su Xing brought the pills to the villa, then picked up the week’s shipment of goods.
Since Jin Congxue was busy handling trading company affairs this week, Su Xing returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven early.
The new week’s goods once again provided Su Xing with close to thirty million energy points.
August 5th, New Era 2024. The summer heat was at its peak as Su Xing initiated a new round of simulation.
“Begin simulation!”
【Ding! This simulation consumes 4,800 energy points. Remaining energy: 586,050,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: unlimited.】
【Simulation begins!】
【Drawing a blue talent costs 10,000 energy points. Drawing a purple talent costs 100,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?】
“Draw a purple talent!”
Su Xing silently commanded.
【Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained the purple talent: Wood-Fire Dual Heavenly Spirit Root!】
【Wood-Fire Dual Heavenly Spirit Root】: You are a one-in-a-million cultivation genius, possessing an exceedingly rare Heavenly Spirit Root. Your cultivation speed is over a hundred times that of ordinary cultivators. Furthermore, your Heavenly Spirit Root appears to have undergone a certain mutation, granting it one additional elemental attribute compared to a standard Heavenly Spirit Root.
Seeing this unexpected windfall of a talent appear before him,
a complicated look flashed through Su Xing’s eyes.
The good news was that he had drawn an even more powerful spirit root.
The bad news was… this spirit root seemed to have come a bit late.
“Oh well — a good meal is worth the wait!”
“After all, with a Heavenly Spirit Root, my cultivation during the Void Return stage should be considerably easier!”
Su Xing understood that talent draws couldn’t always go exactly as one wished.
Drawing a Heavenly Spirit Root at this point was already tremendously good news.
“With a Heavenly Spirit Root, will breaking through the Void Return stage… be a bit easier?”
Su Xing mused, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.
【In the spirit field blessed land, you become aware that you are in a simulation.】
【With a Heavenly Spirit Root, you are far more sensitive to the surrounding spiritual energy. You feel that your spiritual energy affinity has increased.】
【Given the same amount of spiritual energy, you can absorb and convert it into spiritual power in a much shorter time — a full three times faster than before!】
【After experiencing the wonders of the Heavenly Spirit Root, you prepare to begin training in primordial energy and Protective Hardened Qi.】
【After a little over two hours, your primordial energy is depleted. Feeling satisfied, you continue cultivating the visualization method.】
【Three weeks pass quickly in this manner.】
【After three weeks, Jin Congxue brings you good news — the mine dungeon has been officially contracted. From now on, exotic metal can be produced every week.】
【You are pleased with this. You remain in Great Xia and continue cultivating for another two months.】
【Afterward, you prepare to infiltrate the Advent Cult.】
【You travel alone to Shuangqing City, keeping your divine sense restrained within a certain range, hoping to draw out Zong Laogou.】
【Sure enough, within a few days, Zong Laogou appears. He treats you with great respect.】
【Because even with your divine sense restrained, he believes you to be at least a half-step Void Return stage expert!】
【To curry favor with you, Zong Laogou invites you to join the Advent Cult.】
【You naturally do not refuse, successfully joining the Advent Cult. Moreover, by virtue of your strength, you receive a personal audience with the leader of one of its factions.】
【Subsequently, you smoothly become a nominal Protector of the Advent Cult.】
【Not only do you rarely carry out missions, you also enjoy considerable freedom.】
【So you secretly contact Luo Shuying and obtain a large batch of spirit medicines.】
【You remain in the Advent Cult for two full years. During those two years, aside from the four hours of daily cultivation you deem necessary, you spend the rest of your time refining pills.】
【You accumulate nearly sixty days’ worth of the “Great Wisdom” state enhancement.】
Seeing this, Su Xing couldn’t help but curl his lips upward.
“As expected — in this world, strength is everything!”
Previously, when Su Xing’s strength was roughly on par with Zong Laogou’s, he had to proactively offer gifts just to earn the man’s friendship.
But now, with Su Xing’s divine sense having skyrocketed, Zong Laogou mistook him for an expert approaching the Void Return stage.
Zong Laogou even took the initiative to ingratiate himself with Su Xing.
“And that’s with my divine sense restrained… If I released my full divine sense, wouldn’t Zong Laogou take me for a genuine Void Return stage expert?”
“At that point, the moment Zong Laogou saw me, he’d probably be so terrified he’d drop to his knees and kowtow!”
Su Xing couldn’t help but sigh.
In the cultivation world, realm and power were everything.
To a Spirit Transformation cultivator, a Nascent Soul cultivator was no different from a weakling.
The gap between Spirit Transformation and Void Return was even greater!
With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze back to the simulation panel.
【Year three. Over the past two years, you have refined over a hundred thousand pills, and have nearly exhausted the spirit medicines.】
【So you take Luo Shuying and defect from the Advent Cult.】
【Afterward, Zong Laogou suffers a brutal pursuit…】
【After defecting from the Advent Cult, you settle down peacefully in the Capital and continue refining pills.】
【Year four. You exhaust the spirit medicines you previously smuggled out. The pills you refined have added many new experts to Great Xia’s ranks.】
【With no more pills to refine, you have more time for cultivation.】
【In order to break through to the Void-Shattering Realm as soon as possible, in addition to your daily training in divine abilities, body tempering, and Hardened Qi, you also intensify your primordial energy cultivation!】
【After two hours of Protective Hardened Qi training each day, your primordial energy is completely depleted.】
【You then push yourself to recover your primordial energy. The process of forcibly restoring it is excruciating — as if countless ants are gnawing at your primordial energy pathways, an intensely sour agony.】
【But you grit your teeth and persevere.】
【Training in this manner, another two years pass swiftly.】
【Year six. Because the Pill Poison from the Mind-Condensing Pills has fully dissipated from your body, your divine sense cultivation speed increases once again.】
【Over these years, your divine sense has grown from seven thousand zhang to seven thousand seven hundred zhang.】
【But what delights you even more is the rate of progress in your primordial energy and Protective Hardened Qi.】
【Through the day-after-day practice of Protective Hardened Qi, your mastery of primordial energy grows ever more refined.】
【And by pushing your primordial energy to complete depletion every day, you maximize the stimulation of your latent potential, accelerating your primordial energy recovery speed.】
【Year eight. Another grueling year of cultivation. This year, your divine sense grows to eight thousand one hundred zhang!】
【At the same time, you can feel that your externally-projected primordial energy seems to have made another small breakthrough, taking a solid step toward Major Mastery-level external projection.】
【Year ten. This year, your divine sense range expands further, growing to eight thousand five hundred zhang.】
【That same year, on the day of the Awakening of Insects, you attempt to collect Spring Dew Purified Water, but ultimately end in failure.】
【However, what delights you is that through your relentless daily cultivation of primordial energy, you can feel that your mastery of primordial energy is not far from the third stage — Major Mastery…】