A New Round of Simulation: Spirit-Gathering Flowers and Formation Dao (Introductory)!

He exchanged all of the new week’s exotic metals and goods for simulation energy.

With that, Su Xing’s simulation energy surged by over 700 million once again! Adding in what he had left over, his total energy reached a staggering 1.2 billion!

On the afternoon of October 7th, 2024 of the New Era, Su Xing began a new round of simulation right on schedule.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation consumes 5,600 energy points. Remaining energy: 1,213,560,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: unlimited.】

【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?】

“Draw a gold-quality talent!”

Su Xing said without hesitation.

Even though he knew it was unlikely to draw a gold talent directly, what he was after was the ten percent pity probability increase.

After all, at most ten million energy would guarantee a gold-quality talent. There was no reason not to draw.

【Ding! Congratulations, you have drawn the purple talent Blissfully Lost. Your probability of drawing a gold-quality talent next time is 25%…】

【Blissfully Lost】: No matter what environment you find yourself in, you can always find enjoyment in it, becoming immersed and savoring that sliver of happiness amid hardship. (Basically, you’re someone who finds the fun in everything!)

Su Xing frowned slightly upon seeing the new talent.

A fun-seeker talent? What the hell was this?

“Sigh, looks like another useless talent. Oh well… at least next time there’ll be a one-in-four chance of getting a gold-quality one…”

Su Xing consoled himself.

“Let me simulate killing Old Dog Zong one last time, and then I’ll try to plant as many Spirit-Gathering Flowers as possible during this simulation…”

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【In the spirit field grotto-heaven, you realize you are in a simulation.】

【You disguise your appearance and suppress your aura, then set out for Shuangqing City in Southwest Province under the cover of night.】

【You extend your spiritual sense, blocking your own fate from detection, attempting to lure out Old Dog Zong.】

【The next day, Old Dog Zong is indeed drawn to you.】

【Old Dog Zong treats you with great deference.】

Su Xing nodded slightly at this, a thought stirring in his mind as he silently intoned:

“Use immersive simulation…”

【Ding…】

Soon, one hour of immersive simulation time concluded, and Su Xing returned to the Real World.

“Excellent. After simulation after simulation, killing Old Dog Zong and earning Luo Shuying’s trust without exposing my identity is practically a sure thing now!”

In truth, Su Xing had always harbored a certain worry.

That worry was the unknown danger from the alien races… Throughout his simulations, aside from that one Legendary Shadow Beast encounter, he had never again faced a high-intensity assassination attempt from the alien races.

At most, the Advent Cult would come to assassinate him.

Was it because the alien races lacked the strength? Su Xing didn’t think so.

After all, that sky-blotting Amalgamated Beast that would descend upon Earth many years later likely possessed power far surpassing the Emperor level… perhaps even reaching the level of an Immortal!

And yet, despite possessing such power, the alien races had never launched a high-intensity assassination against Su Xing within the simulator.

In Su Xing’s view, there was probably only one explanation…

Everything he had done in the simulations was nothing more than child’s play.

Whether Earth was destroyed in fifteen years or twenty-five years made no difference to the alien races as a whole…

But if Su Xing grew powerful enough to truly contend against those hundreds of Legendary demon beasts and Demon Emperors—would an even greater crisis then descend upon him?

Su Xing had no way of knowing for now.

And not knowing this was precisely why he never dared expose himself in the real world.

“Legendary, or even Emperor-level… to the entire alien race, these are still nothing but ants…”

“Then I’ll reach a sufficient height! Reach a level of power that draws the attention of the alien races—or even allows me to contend with them… What would happen then?”

A glint of anticipation shone in Su Xing’s eyes as he turned his gaze back to the simulation panel.

【You killed Old Dog Zong and made an agreement with Luo Shuying.】

【You return to the Capital City and begin planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers daily.】

【You plant 1,500 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds. With the abundant spiritual energy in the spirit field grotto-heaven, combined with your Descendant of Shennong talent and daily use of spiritual power to accelerate their growth, the Spirit-Gathering Flowers mature rapidly.】

【However, tending to the Spirit-Gathering Flowers each day consumes the vast majority of your time.】

【You water and fertilize the flowers day after monotonous day, yet this tedious lifestyle brings you nothing but joy. You happily embrace your life as a farmer.】

【One month later, you go to meet Luo Shuying as agreed. With Luo Shuying’s introduction, you join the Advent Cult.】

【After joining the Advent Cult, you quickly attract a batch of fanatically devoted followers.】

【But you continue to spend your days in the spirit field grotto-heaven refining pills, devoting most of your time to planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers.】

【Two years pass in this manner… You accumulate sixty days’ worth of the Great Wisdom state boost.】

【In the third year, you successfully cultivate 1,500 mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers and harvest 2,000 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds.】

【During this period, you also find time to refine 50,000 pills.】

【Though you haven’t refined that many pills, you have already emptied the Advent Cult’s treasury. You then take Luo Shuying and defect from the Advent Cult.】

【After arriving at the Capital City, the Advent Cult’s followers predictably come looking for you. You sweet-talk them into joining Demon-Sealing Pass to fight for the human race.】

【Having accomplished all this, you don’t rush to continue planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers. Instead, you devote all your energy to refining pills.】

【Planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers doesn’t require much mental effort, so you continue accumulating Great Wisdom state duration…】

【In the fifth year, you finally exhaust all the spiritual herbs from the Advent Cult’s treasury.】

【You hand over all these pills to Great Xia’s military. The human race gains many more powerful fighters.】

【Having ensured the simulation timeline can be maintained beyond 25 years, you begin devoting yourself fully to planting Spirit-Gathering Flowers.】

【In the seventh year, the second batch of Spirit-Gathering Flowers finally matures. You harvest another 2,000 mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers and 2,500 seeds.】

【Over these two years, you pour all your energy into cultivating Spirit-Gathering Flowers, having no time to train or do anything else.】

【That same year, you sow another 2,000 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds. Tending to 2,000 plants simultaneously is already your limit.】

【You grind from dawn to dusk every single day, working all twelve double-hours, yet you find joy in it and feel no fatigue whatsoever.】

【And so, another two years pass…】

【In the ninth year, you harvest another 2,000 mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers and 2,500 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds.】

【That same year, you choose to sow 1,500 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds, which means you’ll be able to bring out exactly 7,000 mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers.】

【Combined with the Spirit-Gathering Flowers you already possessed, the total number of mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers in your spirit field grotto-heaven will just barely exceed 10,000!】

【This year you have slightly more free time, so you head to Demon-Sealing Pass, hoping to slay a Legendary-stage demon beast in order to refine a Legendary-grade Rebirth Pill.】

【You’re in luck. You successfully hunt down an early-stage Legendary demon beast and obtain 300 jin of Legendary blood-flesh essence.】

【And so, another two years pass…】

【In the eleventh year, the 1,500 Spirit-Gathering Flowers you planted finally mature. You obtain 2,000 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds.】

【You carefully store away the 3,000 Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds you have accumulated over these years.】

【At the same time, as the number of Spirit-Gathering Flowers in your spirit field grotto-heaven surpasses 10,000, the spirit field grotto-heaven begins to undergo a tremendous transformation!】

【In just one week, the density of spiritual energy in the spirit field grotto-heaven more than doubles!】

【Your spirit field grotto-heaven has been promoted from a lower-grade grotto-heaven to a mid-grade grotto-heaven!】

【You are very pleased with the changes in your spirit field grotto-heaven. Your spirit liquid production has doubled!】

【You can now collect a full 2,000 drops of lower-grade spirit liquid every week!】

【In one year, you can collect 110,000 drops of spirit liquid!】

【But you are still not satisfied, because you realize that although the spiritual energy in the spirit field grotto-heaven is sufficiently dense, it is not being utilized to its maximum potential.】

【You understand that to produce even more spirit liquid, you must set up a more refined spirit-gathering formation!】

【But your understanding of spirit-gathering formations is not yet sufficient to arrange one of this caliber.】

【And so, you prepare to begin studying formation knowledge and the arrangement of spirit-gathering formations.】

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

The growth rate of the Spirit-Gathering Flowers was indeed as he had predicted—in just over ten years, he could cultivate more than seven thousand of them.

And the spirit field grotto-heaven had also successfully advanced from a lower-grade grotto-heaven to a mid-grade grotto-heaven!

This meant that in a single 25-year simulation, Su Xing could collect around 2.7 million drops of spirit liquid!

The quantity was vastly greater than before!

“But this spirit-gathering formation… could arranging a more precisely constructed spirit-gathering formation dramatically increase the rate at which spirit liquid is produced?” Su Xing hadn’t known this before—presumably, his future self in the simulator had discovered it.

“Then let’s give it a try… naturally, the more spirit liquid collected, the better…”

“What a shame. If I’d known about this earlier, I would have chosen the Formation Dao Prodigy talent…”

Su Xing shook his head slightly, but still decided to give it a try first.

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【Year 12: You began attempting to study Formation Dao knowledge.】

【Although the Shennong Spirit Cultivation Technique contained detailed explanations of spirit-gathering formations, your understanding of fundamental Formation Dao knowledge was not comprehensive.】

【So you retrieved the Formation Dao jade slip obtained from Old Dog Zong’s storage artifact and began studying.】

【The Formation Dao recorded in this jade slip was not particularly advanced, but it was well-suited for beginners.】

【During your ten-plus years of cultivating Spirit-Gathering Flowers, you had accumulated a full year’s worth of Great Wisdom state enhancement!】

【Under the Great Wisdom state’s enhancement, your comprehension was vastly elevated, and learning this level of basic Formation Dao knowledge came as naturally as a fish taking to water.】

【Amid your daily study of introductory Formation Dao knowledge, two years passed in the blink of an eye…】

【Year 14: You had fully mastered all the foundational Formation Dao knowledge in the jade slip, and your overall grasp of Formation Dao could finally be considered introductory level.】

【At the same time, you also learned dozens of basic formations, including the Maze Formation, Illusory Vision Formation, Concealment Formation, Fire-Gathering Formation, and more…】

【You discovered that the path of formations was far more interesting—and far more practical—than you had imagined.】

【For instance, you could deploy the Maze Formation in the Real World, and ordinary people passing by—even Grandmaster-stage Class Users—might not necessarily detect anything amiss.】

【The Concealment Formation could be deployed around yourself, achieving an effect similar to Invisibility.】

【The Fire-Gathering Formation could increase the proportion of fire-element energy within the formation’s area, greatly benefiting your cultivation and use of fire-type techniques and spells…】

【During your two years of studying basic formations, you gained a much deeper understanding of the principles and internal composition of spirit-gathering formations.】

【You learned that the spirit-gathering formation was a type of composite formation, internally composed of multiple Minor Spirit-Gathering Formations.】

【Two Minor Spirit-Gathering Formations could form a basic composite formation, dramatically increasing the speed and efficiency of spirit energy condensation!】

【And two basic composite spirit-gathering formations could form an intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation…】

【Following this pattern, the highest level could even produce a Heavenly Evolution Composite Formation!】

【A Heavenly Evolution Composite Formation could even elevate the overall spirit energy density of an entire minor world!】

【The path of formations further encompassed over a dozen functions including offense, defense, cultivation, control, reconnaissance, recording, and movement.】

【If one perfected the path of formations to the pinnacle, one could still become a supreme powerhouse of the world…】

【However, the difficulty of deploying formations at each higher level increased exponentially.】

【After completing your study of basic formations, you began attempting deeper research into spirit-gathering formations…】

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

“Indeed, the path of immortal cultivation is vast and boundless…”

“The path of formations alone could probably occupy countless cultivators for their entire lives…”

“But I possess a heaven-defying function like the simulator. My time is hundreds, tens of thousands of times that of an ordinary cultivator!”

“This means that if I cultivate these great Daos to their endpoints, I can absolutely become the most supreme powerhouse…”

A fierce, unshakable confidence shone in Su Xing’s eyes.

Among the world’s powerhouses, there might be those who had cultivated one great Dao or even several great Daos to their ultimate end.

But with Su Xing’s abilities, what difficulty was there in bringing all three thousand great Daos to their endpoints?

“The spirit-gathering formation really is worth researching further… after all, this thing directly affects the advancement of my Qi Refining cultivation!”

Su Xing thought this to himself, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.

【Year 15: You devoted yourself wholeheartedly to researching the spirit-gathering formation.】

【During your research, you discovered that the spirit-gathering formations you had previously deployed merely consisted of multiple separate formations absorbing spirit energy from a wider area, without actually improving the efficiency of spirit energy condensation.】

【While this type of spirit-gathering formation was somewhat stronger than a basic spirit-gathering formation, it still fell short of a composite spirit-gathering formation.】

【So you applied your formation knowledge, cross-referencing with the Shennong Spirit Cultivation Technique, and proceeded to improve the spirit-gathering formation.】

【Just like that, a year quickly passed.】

【Year 16: You successfully comprehended the basic composite spirit-gathering formation, and the speed of spirit liquid condensation increased dramatically.】

【You were extremely meticulous about this, but still not satisfied. You began working on research into the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation.】

【Year 17: The difficulty of researching the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation was somewhat greater than you had anticipated, but your foundational understanding of spirit-gathering formation principles was quite solid, so your comprehension deepened day by day.】

【Thus, amid your day-after-day research into the spirit-gathering formation, two years quickly passed.】

【Year 19: Through your tireless research efforts, you finally mastered the deployment of the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation.】

【Under the effect of the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation, the spirit energy density of the entire grotto-heaven blessed land had more than doubled compared to before!】

【Moreover, through formations, you deliberately channeled spirit energy to converge, and within the spirit-gathering formation, you deployed a Water-Gathering Formation.】

【This way, the Water-Gathering Formation could automatically accumulate the spirit liquid produced in the grotto-heaven each day, saving you the time of daily spirit liquid collection!】

【Under the enhancement of the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation, the grotto-heaven’s weekly spirit liquid production reached nearly three thousand drops.】

【In one year’s time, you collected no fewer than 150,000 drops of low-grade spirit liquid!】

Seeing this, Su Xing felt deeply gratified.

150,000 drops of spirit liquid in one year—that was a full three times the previous rate!

“150,000 drops of low-grade spirit liquid per year. Accumulating over the span of one simulation would be more than enough for my upcoming needs…”

Su Xing nodded with satisfaction.

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【Year 20: You knew that this simulation’s primary objectives had been completed, but you still did not waste your time.】

【Having realized the powerful benefits that the path of formations could provide you, you continued to spend time each day researching formations.】

【Your speed in deploying formations grew faster and faster, your steps became increasingly practiced, and the number of formations you learned grew ever larger.】

【Year 21: In addition to comprehending formations, you began spending time searching for potential exotic metal ore dungeon instances.】

【Although you knew the chances of finding one were slim, the benefits of a successful discovery would be immense.】

【Year 22: Each day you delved into formation research and searched for Exotic Metal dungeon instances.】

【Year 23: You received intelligence and traveled to a special “Forbidden-level” dungeon instance outside the borders of Great Xia.】

【According to the intelligence, within this dungeon instance dwelled a powerful dragon that had reached the Legendary stage!】

【And based on your common knowledge, Western dragons as a species seemed to have a great fascination with metals and gemstones.】

【Perhaps within this dungeon instance, you could find the exotic metal you sought.】

【You smoothly entered the dungeon instance and encountered this red dragon that rivaled the Legendary stage.】

【However, the situation you encountered seemed quite different from the intelligence you had received about the dungeon.】

【Because you possessed Level 10 Beast Tongue, you were even able to communicate with this red dragon.】

【You easily defeated the dragon, and from its mouth you learned that this place was merely the dragon’s lair.】

【Beyond the dragon’s lair, this was actually a complete world known as the Beast Taming World!】

Seeing this, Su Xing immediately raised an eyebrow.

One had to understand that dungeon instances also came in many types.

For example, the Red Lotus Demon Cavern dungeon that Su Xing had previously visited could at most be considered a half-plane—its interior area was limited, and it was not a complete world.

But the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon possessed a complete history, numerous native inhabitants, and its own power system—it could truly be considered a minor thousand world.

Similarly, Luo Shuying’s homeland, the Spirit Race world, was also a minor thousand world.

And all of Earth itself, from the perspective of natives of other worlds, was likewise a minor thousand world.

Put simply, a “minor thousand world” was a dungeon instance that possessed a complete worldview.

And the biggest difference between this type of dungeon instance and ordinary ones was…

Extremely powerful strength!

Take the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon, for example. Although currently only Heavenly King-stage powerhouses presided over it,

it had once been a world that had given birth to Void Return, Body Integration… and even immortals!

“The Beast Taming World… an undiscovered minor thousand world?”

Rich interest rose on Su Xing’s face.

Every minor thousand world was an enormous treasure to Su Xing!

“Perhaps I should first go explore this world called the Beast Taming World…”