Chapter 205 – Earth Sword at Major Mastery, Battle Against the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor Again! (5k)

Upon hearing this, Su Xing prepared to refuse outright.

Luo Shuying seemed to see through Su Xing’s intentions, and hurriedly said:

“Senior, I truly wish to follow you!”

“These years I’ve spent in the Advent Cult, I’ve hardly been able to eat or sleep in peace… And to earn the trust of those people, I’ve done many disgraceful things…”

“Only by following you and fighting against the foreign races together can I wash away the sins I’ve committed…”

At this point, Luo Shuying’s mood seemed to turn somewhat melancholy.

Su Xing sighed after hearing this.

How could he not understand Luo Shuying’s feelings?

She had joined the Advent Cult for the sake of the Spirit Clan’s world in the first place.

But once inside the Advent Cult, she had little control over her own fate. Even though she had been constantly looking for opportunities, her results had been minimal.

Yet for Su Xing as things stood now, what mattered most was stability and steadiness… It was best if things developed in the direction he could anticipate.

If Luo Shuying defected from the Advent Cult to follow Su Xing, events might unfold in ways he couldn’t predict.

When that time came, the drawbacks would certainly outweigh the benefits for Su Xing.

But seeing how earnestly Luo Shuying was pleading before him, Su Xing couldn’t bring himself to refuse directly.

After some deliberation, Su Xing persuaded her:

“Xiao Ying, for our great cause as things stand now, you staying in the Advent Cult is actually the best choice!”

“If you can go deep undercover within the Advent Cult, the role you play could be no less important than mine!”

Hearing Su Xing’s words, Luo Shuying was somewhat surprised.

So Su Xing explained:

“Joining the Advent Cult and earning their trust is no easy feat…”

“You’ve been a member for decades now… You’ve already earned sufficient trust. If we wanted to plant another spy inside, it would be far from easy!”

“Besides, with you inside the Advent Cult providing me with essential intelligence, that would be far more valuable than you defecting!”

Su Xing’s earnest persuasion, bolstered by his Self-Help Guru talent, made Luo Shuying’s eyes grow brighter and brighter as she listened.

In Su Xing’s telling, Luo Shuying was a warrior who had gone undercover for decades to fight the foreign races, heedless of her own safety — someone truly worthy of admiration!

She had played an irreplaceable role in the great cause of resisting the foreign races!

Su Xing’s description even made Luo Shuying feel somewhat abashed.

For a moment, a doubt rose in Luo Shuying’s heart: Could it be that over all these years, I really did play such an enormous role?

Seeing how thoroughly Luo Shuying had taken the bait, Su Xing continued with encouragement:

“With that settled, let me assign you your next mission…”

“I’ve heard that there’s a Protector Dragon within the Advent Cult. Although he only holds the position of Protector, his strength is unfathomable — his status is even above that of the three faction leaders!”

“I need you to investigate Protector Dragon’s background, and also find out whether the Advent Cult has anyone even more powerful than the faction leaders.”

After a pause, Su Xing added:

“Of course, the premise for all of this is that your own safety comes first!”

“The investigation is merely something to do on the side. If you can find something out, all the better… If not, it doesn’t matter.”

After hearing Su Xing’s words, Luo Shuying nodded and committed every word to memory.

Su Xing’s move here was truly done on a whim.

With Luo Shuying’s decades of tenure in the Advent Cult, she had always presented the image of unwavering loyalty and wouldn’t be easily suspected.

If she could uncover some information about Protector Dragon and the deeper layers of the Advent Cult, that would naturally be ideal.

Finally, Su Xing didn’t forget to dangle a carrot for Luo Shuying.

“Xiao Ying, work hard. One year at the shortest, two or three at the longest… By then you’ll be able to end your undercover life and join the main force fighting against the foreign races!”

“When that time comes, I’ll personally welcome you back!”

Hearing Su Xing’s words, Luo Shuying’s heart surged with excitement.

Su Xing then bid farewell to Luo Shuying. The two didn’t linger, only agreeing on the time and place for their next meeting.

After leaving the mountain, Su Xing concealed his tracks.

Then, with practiced ease, Su Xing used sword flight and circled nearly half of Great Xia.

On top of that, he alternated between water, land, and air travel, making his trail vague and untraceable.

Only after this enormous detour did Su Xing finally return to Capital City and enter the spirit field grotto-heaven.

“Mm, not bad. With genuine Condensing Wood, I can refine two batches of Mind-Condensing Pills…”

Su Xing looked at the Condensing Wood before him and nodded slightly, then took out a small knife and scraped off some powder from the Condensing Wood.

Afterward, Su Xing spent half a day refining several batches of Mind-Condensing Pills.

These were naturally prepared for Luo Shuying’s future breakthrough to Legendary.

After finishing the Mind-Condensing Pills, Su Xing continued refining Fasting Pills.

A week passed quickly…

In just one week, Su Xing had refined six thousand Fasting Pills.

Refining Fasting Pills was similar to refining Beauty-Preserving Pills.

In two months’ time, Su Xing could refine approximately fifty thousand Fasting Pills, which would be enough to auction off that second-order exotic metal mining zone dungeon from Xia’s military.

On November 11th, Jin Congxue was busy with affairs and wasn’t at the villa.

So Su Xing disguised his appearance and suppressed his aura, went to the villa to collect the new week’s goods, then returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven.

The new week’s goods provided Su Xing with close to one hundred million energy, bringing his total to approximately 1.55 billion points.

“It’s time to start a new round of simulation…”

Su Xing murmured:

“This simulation, I’ll continue deepening my comprehension of the Earth Sword, and raise my Body Tempering cultivation as much as possible!”

With that thought, Su Xing silently intoned.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation costs 6,100 energy points. Remaining energy: 1,551,330,000 points. Remaining simulations: 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?】

Without hesitation, Su Xing said:

“Draw a gold-quality talent!”

【Ding! Congratulations, you have drawn the purple talent Humble-Brag Syndrome. Your probability of drawing a gold-quality talent next time is now 20%…】

【Humble-Brag Syndrome】: Purple talent. You are able to show off in an extremely understated manner, making others green with envy. However, aside from making you feel a bit more smug inside, this serves no practical purpose…

Seeing the newly drawn talent, Su Xing rolled his eyes helplessly.

“As expected, you can’t draw a gold talent every time!”

“Oh well, consider it building up the pity counter!”

Su Xing thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out any special use for Humble-Brag Syndrome.

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

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

【After refining pills for an entire week, you feel somewhat fatigued, so you leave the spirit field grotto-heaven and decide to take a stroll around campus.】

【Due to your outstanding appearance, you are quickly discovered by talent scouts at the school. Some reporters begin interviewing you, wanting to develop you into a big star.】

【Facing these reporters, you say that you’re just ordinary and don’t think there’s anything special about your looks.】

【Your interview video is quickly uploaded online. You are hailed as the ultimate handsome man who is handsome without knowing it.】

【Upon learning of this, you feel secretly pleased.】

【However, being handsome hasn’t brought much convenience to your life — rather, it has only added many unnecessary troubles.】

【So for the next two months, you continue refining Fasting Pills.】

【You hand over all fifty-thousand-plus Fasting Pills you’ve refined to Jin Congxue, and successfully obtain the contract rights to a second-order exotic metal mining zone from Xia’s military.】

【Afterward, you stay in Capital City for another month. Once you’ve confirmed that nothing unexpected has occurred, you go find Luo Shuying.】

【With Luo Shuying’s introduction, you successfully join the Advent Cult.】

【You quickly gain a large following of devoted cult member fans, and you help Luo Shuying break through to Legendary.】

【You immerse yourself in pill refining within the Advent Cult while continuing to study swordsmanship.】

【Thus, two years slowly pass…】

【In the third year, seeing that the time is ripe, you take Luo Shuying and defect from the Advent Cult.】

【Tens of thousands of cultists rushed to the Capital City upon hearing the news, but you sweet-talked them into joining Demon-Sealing Pass to fight against the foreign races.】

【Over the following period, you continued refining pills and cultivating your swordsmanship.】

【In the fourth year, you handed over more than two hundred thousand pills to Great Xia’s military, resulting in the emergence of many new powerhouses within their ranks.】

【With pill refinement no longer consuming your time, you devoted yourself even more deeply to cultivating your swordsmanship.】

【With the boost from your Innate Sword Physique, your comprehension of the Earth Sword improved rapidly.】

【In the fifth year, your comprehension of the Earth Sword approached the Mastery-level.】

【You encountered a minor bottleneck before breaking through to Mastery-level, and decided to join Demon-Sealing Pass to seek the opportunity needed for your Earth Sword to break through to Major Mastery.】

【You fought valiantly at Demon-Sealing Pass. Ordinary Legendary-stage demonic beasts couldn’t withstand even a single exchange with you, and in just one year, you slew over ten Legendary demonic beasts.】

【You refined the blood and flesh essence of Legendary demonic beasts into Rebirth Pills. Each day, aside from comprehending swordsmanship, you also improved your Body Tempering cultivation.】

【In the sixth year, you slew over ten Legendary demonic beasts, along with countless Demon Kings and Demon Emperors.】

【The entire demonic beast army beneath Demon-Sealing Pass’s walls was so terrified by you alone that their courage shattered. Your reputation alone could stop demon children from crying at night.】

【At the same time, through day after day of slaughter, your ability to merge the power of heaven and earth with the Sword Dao grew increasingly refined.】

【In the seventh year, due to your relentless hunting, the number of Legendary demonic beasts at Demon-Sealing Pass had dwindled considerably.】

【Meanwhile, your comprehension of the power of heaven and earth had reached a peak in the short term.】

【You pondered ceaselessly the relationship between the power of heaven and earth and the sword in your hand.】

【You realized that the power of heaven and earth you had been tapping into was not the true power of rules or the great Dao… or rather, what you had grasped was merely scratching the surface.】

【But even if it was only scratching the surface, this was far beyond what someone at your current realm could comprehend.】

【You understood that to cultivate the sword of heaven and earth, beyond mastering the sword itself, one also needed a certain level of comprehension of the Dao.】

【Fortunately, you possessed the Heavenly Thunder Physique, and within your body lay a faint trace of the thunder Dao’s origin.】

【You devoted a year to painstaking research. Your talent for the Sword Dao was astonishing, and you finally grasped a sliver of the great Dao of thunder, creating a sword technique imbued with the power of heaven and earth.】

【You named this technique: Speed!】

【The Sword of Speed! Born from the ultimate velocity of lightning and thunder…】

【Among all sword cultivators beneath heaven, only speed is unbreakable!】

【Your comprehension of the sword of heaven and earth successfully entered Major Mastery!】

【In the eighth year, you slew enemies at Demon-Sealing Pass. Ordinary Legendary demonic beasts couldn’t even see the speed of your sword. By the time you swung your blade, the beast was already decapitated.】

【Ultimate speed, combined with the ultimate destructive power of the vital energy coiled around your sword — your comprehension of the sword reached an entirely new height!】

【That same year, with the help of Rebirth Pills, your Body Tempering cultivation reached the Void-Breaking Realm, Sixth Layer!】

Su Xing’s gaze sharpened slightly as he murmured:

“Borrowing the power of heaven and earth to comprehend one’s own swordsmanship…”

Su Xing fell into thought.

When his Earth Sword had just entered the beginner and Minor Mastery stages, Su Xing’s comprehension of the Earth Sword had still been limited to merely borrowing the power of heaven and earth.

The power of heaven and earth varied in strength from place to place. In areas where it was strong, Su Xing naturally had the advantage, and his swordsmanship would be more formidable.

But in areas where the power of heaven and earth was weaker, his swordsmanship also couldn’t be pushed to its full potential.

Put plainly, it depended heavily on his environment.

But now, if he could derive his own sword technique from the power of heaven and earth, that would truly mean carving out his own path of swordsmanship…

“Ultimate speed… My comprehension of the Sword of Speed should only be at the beginner level, yet it already possesses such power.”

“I’m afraid… the key to advancing the Earth Sword into Perfection lies within this Sword of Speed!!”

Su Xing narrowed his eyes slightly. After all, with the Innate Sword Physique talent, his sensitivity to the Sword Dao far surpassed that of ordinary people.

From the text before him alone, Su Xing had already formed several conjectures.

“Next, I’ll try to cultivate the Sword of Speed to its ultimate form!”

“Ultimate speed, where the enemy simply cannot react… the sound hasn’t arrived, but the sword already has!”

After a brief pause, Su Xing continued:

“And there’s my Body Tempering cultivation too. In this simulation, I have no shortage of Rebirth Pills, and with twenty years remaining, reaching the Void-Breaking Realm, Eighth Layer shouldn’t be difficult…”

Su Xing already had a plan for what came next. His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【In the ninth year, no demonic beast at Demon-Sealing Pass could withstand a single exchange with you.】

【Even Peak Legendary demonic beasts couldn’t see the sword in your hand. You needed only a single strike to decapitate them.】

【And so you prepared to venture into the Beast Taming World to continue honing your swordsmanship.】

【You found that red dragon’s lair and entered the Beast Taming World.】

【You successfully made your way to the Slaughter Battlefield in the Beast Taming World.】

【You began slaughtering in all directions across the Slaughter Battlefield…】

【In your first year on the Slaughter Battlefield, you slew no fewer than fifty Legendary demonic beasts.】

【You thoroughly established your fearsome reputation on the Slaughter Battlefield.】

【Many demon clans began plotting to surround and hunt you down.】

【But having learned from your previous simulation’s experience, you were far more cautious this time. Without possessing absolute strength, you had no intention of taking risks, choosing instead to steadily improve your power step by step.】

【You remained active on the battlefield, often needing only a single sword strike to decapitate a Legendary demonic beast.】

【You refined the blood and flesh essence of these Legendary demonic beasts into Rebirth Pills, improving your Body Tempering cultivation with each passing day.】

【And so, amidst day after day of slaughter, three years passed in the blink of an eye.】

【In the twelfth year, over the past several years, the number of Legendary demonic beasts that had died by your hand was no fewer than one hundred and fifty.】

【You had refined over ten thousand Rebirth Pills in total — far more than you could ever consume yourself.】

【So you brought most of the Rebirth Pills back to Earth and gifted them to Great Xia’s military.】

【These Rebirth Pills could greatly enhance the strength of Martial Emperor-stage powerhouses, and with consistent consumption, could potentially produce several more Legendary-stage powerhouses within ten years.】

【And so, another three years passed.】

【In the fifteenth year, your cultivation grew ever more refined. One day, you felt a stirring within, and your vital energy surged to new heights.】

【You successfully advanced to the late stage of the Void-Breaking Realm, becoming a Void-Breaking Realm, Seventh Layer cultivator!】

【Upon reaching the late stage of the Void-Breaking Realm, your power skyrocketed yet another level. Legendary demonic beasts were even less of a match for you than before.】

【Not a single Legendary demonic beast on the Slaughter Battlefield could force you to swing your sword a second time.】

【But at the same time, through your continuous cultivation of the Earth Sword, you gradually embraced the identity of a sword cultivator and came to understand the creed and essence of the sword cultivator’s path… take life and death lightly, and fight anyone who stands against you!】

【Whether it was the human sword or the earth sword, both required constant accumulation of real combat experience to improve one’s swordsmanship.】

【After all, the ultimate goal of both the human sword and the earth sword… was to slay the enemy!】

【In the sixteenth year, having slain hundreds of Legendary demonic beasts over the years, you had accumulated more than enough Legendary-grade Rebirth Pills.】

【But this constant slaughter of weaklings had caused the improvement to your strength and swordsmanship to slow.】

【And so you turned your sights toward the Emperor-level demons!】

【First and foremost among them — the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor!】

【But you knew that fighting a Demon Emperor would be a matter of life and death. You had to carefully seek an opportunity and formulate a plan.】

【In the seventeenth year, you finally found your chance.】

【The Silver-Haired Demon Emperor had recently fought the Emperor-level beast tamer of the Beast Taming World. Though neither had died, both sides sustained serious injuries.】

【You prepared to seize the opportunity while the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor was wounded, using him as a whetstone to hone your swordsmanship.】

【One day, you deliberately pushed deep into the demon army’s territory, finally drawing out that Silver-Haired Demon Emperor.】

【The Silver-Haired Demon Emperor was instantly enraged when he saw how bold you were.】

【He was already furious about failing to kill the Emperor-level beast tamer in their recent battle. And now, in his eyes, a mere Legendary like you dared act so arrogantly — you had crossed his bottom line.】

【And so, just as you had predicted, the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor, despite his serious injuries, decided to teach you a lesson.】

【A great battle erupted.】

【The Silver-Haired Demon Emperor’s figure appeared before you like a specter, his razor-sharp claws extending straight for your throat.】

【However, the very instant the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor reached out — you moved!】

【You struck after him but arrived first. With the power of Speed imbued upon your Blackice sword, borrowing the power of heaven and earth along with the vital energy coiled around the blade…】

【You unleashed the most powerful sword strike you had ever delivered!】

【The Blackice sword struck the Silver-Haired Demon Emperor’s wrist with perfect precision. He hadn’t even seen the motion of your strike.】

【By the time he realized what had happened, you had already severed two of his fingers. His ring finger and little finger fell to the ground as crimson blood dripped from the stumps.】

【The Silver-Haired Demon Emperor recoiled dozens of steps in searing pain, staring blankly at the two fingers he had lost.】

【When he looked at you again, his eyes were filled with nothing but fury and malice…】