Chapter 283 – Veteran Driver Su Xing, Running Out of Fuel? [Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter]

Chapter 283 – Veteran Driver Su Xing, Running Out of Fuel? [Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter]

The Spirit Realm—one of many world instances near Earth.

Though Su Xing had never been there, he’d had no small amount of dealings with it…

Because Luo Shuying hailed from the Spirit Realm!

“Wait… Luo Shuying’s surname is Luo!”

“One of the three great surname families of the Luotian Sect… Could Luo Shuying be a descendant left behind after the Luo family migrated to the Spirit Realm?”

A peculiar expression crossed Su Xing’s face. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Luo Shuying, and indeed the entire Spirit Clan’s abilities, were extraordinarily unique!

Their power derived from the spirit… and their physical bodies were considerably stronger than ordinary transcendents!

This seemed somewhat similar to an extremely specialized branch among immortal cultivators—spirit cultivators!

So-called spirit cultivators did not practice spell techniques or spiritual energy… they cultivated only the realm of divine sense!

Using spiritual force to move the physical body, they obtained transcendent power!

“So that’s precisely why… Luo Shuying and the Spirit Clan absorb the Mind-Condensing Pill so effectively?”

Su Xing narrowed his eyes, growing ever more certain that Luo Shuying might be connected to the descendants of the Luotian Sect.

And the Spirit Realm… was very likely the former Beast Spirit World!

“It seems… in my next simulation, I’ll need to personally investigate the Spirit Realm!”

Su Xing murmured, his gaze returning to the simulation panel.

【After leaving the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, you visited various shops in White Emperor City and purchased a batch of Primordial Martial Pills.】

【After spending seven million low-grade spirit stones, you obtained one hundred thousand top-quality Primordial Martial Pills, with the remaining one hundred thousand… arranged to be picked up in ten years.】

【After completing your purchases, you headed to White Emperor City. Upon demonstrating your Human Immortal Realm cultivation, you became a second-class Elder of White Emperor City.】

【After spending a modest amount of spirit stones, you obtained a superior blessed land as your dwelling.】

【After securing your dwelling, you carefully set up the Xuanyuan Breath-Concealing Formation, then laid down multiple Maze Formations and prohibitions before feeling safe enough to begin cultivating…】

【You produced tens of millions of drops of low-grade spirit liquid and began cultivating…】

【After reaching the Immortal realm, cultivation became slow.】

【Spirit liquid entering the body first had to be converted into immortal qi, then circulated through cultivation techniques… to raise one’s cultivation.】

【If an immortal’s magical power was like a well, then each intake of spirit liquid was like water droplets falling from the walls… continuously dripping into the well until it was filled to the brim, at which point one’s cultivation realm would break through…】

【Thus, ten years passed in the blink of an eye…】

【In those ten years, you spent tens of millions of drops of low-grade spirit liquid on cultivation, yet your magical power had not even reached one-fifth of the first layer of the Human Immortal Realm…】

【This cultivation speed left you deeply dissatisfied…】

In the Real World, Su Xing frowned slightly when he saw this.

“Ten years… even with spirit liquid to aid cultivation, progress through the first layer is only one-fifth?”

Su Xing finally understood why progress at the immortal level was so agonizingly slow, with each breakthrough taking hundreds of years.

“My spirit root is a mutated Heavenly Spirit Root… but at the Human Immortal Realm, it’s already considered inferior…”

“Fortunately, with the seventh-tier micro spirit-gathering formation’s assistance, combined with the Heavenly Thunder Physique, the effect even surpasses an ordinary Super Spirit Root… But even so, breaking through a single sub-realm at the Human Immortal Realm takes fifty years or more!”

“And the further you go, the slower it gets!”

Su Xing let out a sigh. The drawbacks of insufficient aptitude were now laid bare.

“If an ordinary Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator were lucky enough to become an immortal, breaking through a single sub-realm might take a hundred and fifty years!”

“And that’s with sufficient spirit liquid and spirit stones to assist… Otherwise, it could take three to five hundred years without a single breakthrough!”

After a pause, Su Xing followed this line of thinking further.

“An ordinary immortal-stage cultivator might already be three to five thousand years old upon breaking through to the Immortal realm… Even with good health preservation and without life-extending elixirs, they’d only live another five thousand years or so…”

“Those who are fierce and combative are more prone to sustaining hidden injuries… They might not even live to five thousand…”

“This means that a Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator at the Human Immortal Realm might exhaust their entire lifespan on cultivation and still not achieve a breakthrough!”

Su Xing sighed softly.

There was good reason cultivators fought endlessly among themselves.

Resources were finite… If one remained perpetually aloof from worldly strife, the ultimate outcome would simply be a lifespan exhausted, body returning to dust…

“Still, this cultivation speed is just too slow!”

“Improving spirit roots depends entirely on luck… and my fortune talent doesn’t work on the simulator…”

“As things stand, I need to master the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art as soon as possible!”

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

【After ten years of cultivation, you felt your progress was too slow and simply ended your seclusion, heading to the shop to collect the one hundred thousand top-quality Primordial Martial Pills from your earlier arrangement.】

【Afterward, you began seeking information about spatial artifacts.】

【The Verdant Wood World was extremely far from the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm. Even with sufficient cultivation, you would need escape-type treasures to traverse between worlds…】

【But such spatial treasures were exceedingly rare. Despite extensive inquiries throughout White Emperor City’s market districts, you found no such treasure.】

【After your search proved fruitless, you temporarily gave up and returned to your dwelling to continue closed-door cultivation.】

【The slow progress in cultivation led you to prioritize comprehending the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art!】

Seeing this, Su Xing silently recited:

“Activate immersive simulation… duration 30 days!”

【Ding, you have successfully activated immersive simulation… remaining origin energy: 24,039 points…】

As the simulation notification faded, Su Xing appeared inside his dwelling.

“I need to hurry and cultivate the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art… Otherwise my future cultivation speed will be a serious problem!”

Su Xing murmured.

The first layer of the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art allowed Su Xing to cultivate for just 2 hours per day, saving ninety percent of his time for cultivating other supernatural arts and spell techniques—an immensely helpful advantage.

The second layer, in addition to saving ninety percent of time, tripled his cultivation speed!

The third layer increased cultivation speed to seven times the original!

With such astonishing cultivation speed bonuses, it would be foolish for Su Xing not to prioritize this…

With that thought, Su Xing swallowed a Spirit Awakening Pill, activated the Great Wisdom state enhancement, and began cultivating the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.

…

Thirty days passed in a flash. The immersive simulation ended, and Su Xing returned to reality.

In the spirit field grotto-heaven, Su Xing slowly opened his eyes and sighed:

“The Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art… truly worthy of being the Luotian Sect’s supreme secret technique…”

“The cultivation difficulty is far too high!”

Su Xing shook his head slightly. One month of immersive simulation, combined with the Spirit Awakening Pill and Great Wisdom enhancement, was equivalent to ten years of arduous cultivation—yet he still hadn’t even begun to grasp the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.

He hadn’t even learned the first layer…

“At this rate, just learning the first layer will take roughly over a hundred years…”

Su Xing calculated briefly and murmured.

“But cultivating the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art… is absolutely worth it, and the further you go, the greater the returns!”

After some thought, Su Xing decided to set aside future simulation runs specifically for cultivating the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.

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

【You spent some time cultivating the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art, astonished by the difficulty of this technique.】

【Thus, your Qi Refinement cultivation temporarily hit a bottleneck, and you decided to focus on Body Tempering cultivation…】

【In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed…】

【In the thirtieth year, you received the follow-up intelligence reward promised by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion.】

【But you still had no leads on acquiring a spatial artifact.】

【Left with no choice, you decided to visit the Azure Cloud Sect to see if there were any suitable artifacts for you…】

【You boarded an airship and traveled to Lesser Azure Cloud City.】

【It happened to be the Azure Cloud Sect’s enrollment period. After enrollment concluded, you contacted True Immortal Danfire…】

【True Immortal Danfire informed you that in three years, you could accompany him to the Azure Cloud Realm.】

【In the blink of an eye, three years passed…】

【You boarded a flying vessel and, accompanying True Immortal Danfire, arrived at the Azure Cloud Sect…】

In the Real World, Su Xing nodded slightly at this.

“This simulation’s objectives are to bring out Body Tempering talents, gather intelligence… and get my hands on two hundred thousand pills…”

“Therefore, the simulation’s duration isn’t particularly important…”

Su Xing had already exhausted his current stock of Primordial Martial Pills. The two hundred thousand pills in this simulation were critically important—they would determine Su Xing’s energy income for a long time to come, and naturally couldn’t be delayed.

As for cultivation advancement, supernatural art and technique training, treasure acquisition, and so on… all of that could be postponed.

Origin energy was the foundation of everything!

“This simulation’s objectives are basically complete… but I might as well use this artifact to try traveling to other worlds!”

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

【After arriving at the Azure Cloud Sect, you quickly attracted the attention of the second-generation direct disciples.】

【Having joined latest among them yet possessing remarkable talent, you soon received numerous welcoming gifts…】

【But to your slight disappointment, you did not come across any spatial treasures.】

【You settled into the Azure Cloud Sect, and another ten years passed in the blink of an eye…】

【In the forty-third year, during these ten years, you and Senior Sister Ziling got along splendidly, frequently discussing the Dao of spirit cultivation, and you taught her how to grow Spirit-Gathering Flowers.】

【At the same time, you learned from Fairy Ziling that spatial treasures capable of traversing worlds were extremely rare, most being at the supreme post-celestial treasure level.】

【Even the few top-grade immortal treasures that could traverse worlds would suffer damage and couldn’t be used long-term…】

【You felt somewhat helpless upon hearing this, but still hoped to find the whereabouts of a spatial treasure.】

【You discovered that even within the Azure Cloud Sect, there were no completed spatial immortal treasures for sale.】

【The only option was to gather materials, spend contribution points, and commission the sect’s artifact-refining Elders to forge one.】

【After obtaining this intelligence, you began collecting spatial materials and contacting sect Elders.】

【Thus, several more years passed…】

【In the forty-seventh year, over these years, you continuously sold Spirit-Gathering Flowers and accumulated nearly ten million sect contribution points.】

【The majority of these contribution points were spent exchanging for spatial artifact-refining materials.】

【These included bone materials from spatial-attribute demonic beasts, spatial-attribute ores, Void Stones, and more…】

【In the fiftieth year, you spent three million contribution points and successfully commissioned a Mystic Immortal realm artifact-refining Elder to forge a spatial immortal treasure for you.】

【This Mystic Immortal realm artifact-refining Elder possessed first-rate forging skills. As a Grandmaster of artifact refining, he had a track record of crafting several top-grade immortal treasures.】

【You therefore paid a premium to have him design a spatial flying vessel for you, one that could ideally traverse worlds multiple times and undertake long-distance voyages…】

【After agreeing to your commission, this Mystic Immortal realm Elder began forging the flying vessel day and night…】

【In the blink of an eye, a year passed…】

【One day, iridescent clouds suddenly appeared above the Azure Cloud Sect’s Artifact Refining Peak—the hallmark of a top-grade immortal treasure being born!】

【Soon, you received a divine sense transmission from the artifact-refining Elder: the immortal treasure had been completed…】

【Upon receiving the news, you rushed to the Artifact Refining Peak, where you indeed saw a flying vessel resting within the forging chamber—three zhang (9.99 m) long, one zhang (3.33 m) wide, its entire body a deep, profound black…】

【This flying vessel could freely change its size. In its normal state, it was as small as a single leaf, easily carried on one’s person.】

【When needed, it could even transform into a massive flying vessel over a hundred zhang (333 m) wide, capable of accommodating a thousand passengers within…】

【However, the larger the vessel, the more spirit stones and spiritual energy it consumed, and the more fragile it became, easier to destroy.】

【This was a genuine top-grade immortal treasure flying vessel, capable of traversing lesser chiliocosms!】

【You were utterly delighted with this leaf-like flying vessel…】

【However, the artifact-refining Elder wore an expression of regret.】

【He explained that this forging session had lacked a critical material—Void Spirit Stone!】

【If this stone could be found, given his breakthrough in technique during this forging, he might even be able to craft a half-step supreme post-celestial treasure-grade flying vessel!】

【The current flying vessel could only make short-range traversals to neighboring minor worlds… but a half-step supreme post-celestial treasure could travel long distances through over a dozen worlds!】

【After seeing the artifact-refining Elder’s regretful expression, you silently committed all of this to memory…】

In the Real World, Su Xing sighed when he saw this.

“What a shame… From a top-grade immortal treasure to a half-step supreme post-celestial treasure—that’s a qualitative leap!”

Su Xing shook his head slightly.

Above spirit-grade artifacts were immortal-grade artifacts, also known as immortal treasures.

These were powerful treasures that only immortals were qualified to wield.

Low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade immortal artifacts were typically possessed by cultivators ranging from the three mortal-to-immortal tiers through the True Immortal realm.

Supreme post-celestial treasures, however, were artifacts that only Mystic Immortals, Golden Immortals… or even Supreme Unity Golden Immortals could possess!

The gap between them was imaginable.

At the same cultivation level, wielding a top-grade immortal treasure against a mid-grade one was practically a crushing advantage…

To say nothing of the gap between a supreme post-celestial treasure and a top-grade immortal artifact.

“Void Spirit Stone, hm… Worth noting. If I can find this stone in my next simulation, I might be able to forge a half-step supreme post-celestial treasure!”

This simulation was mainly a trial run for Su Xing. If he could successfully forge a spatial artifact in one go, all the better.

If it didn’t meet his standards, he could make more thorough preparations in the next simulation…

“This simulation’s objectives are essentially complete… but I might as well use this artifact to see if I can travel to other worlds!”

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

【After forging the top-grade immortal treasure flying vessel, you couldn’t wait to test it out.】

【And by this time, Qingyunzi’s seclusion was drawing to a close.】

【So you asked Fairy Ziling to send you to the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.】

【In the fifty-third year, you arrived at the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.】

【After Fairy Ziling departed, you chose not to remain in this realm.】

【You wanted to try piloting the flying vessel to other worlds…】

【After several rounds of deliberation, you decided to head for the Black Water Realm, which was very close to the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm…】

【This realm was reputed to be utterly desolate—ninety-nine percent of the realm’s interior consisted of ocean water, and sea monsters above the Immortal realm lurked in its deep seas…】

【You disguised your appearance and concealed your aura, then made a trip to the Celestial Secrets Pavilion to purchase the Black Water Realm’s coordinates and related intelligence.】

【You then visited the market districts and purchased several treasures for surviving underwater, such as a water-repelling pearl…】

【After completing all these preparations, you headed to a spatial node in the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.】

【In terms of general direction, the Black Water Realm lay to the southwest of the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.】

【Using spatial power, you keenly locked onto the Black Water Realm’s spatial coordinates… then activated the flying vessel, entered a spatial wormhole, and departed the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm…】

【This was your first time piloting the flying vessel, and your first attempt at independently traversing worlds.】

【Even though you had made thorough preparations beforehand, you were still thrown into a panic…】

【Piloting a top-grade immortal artifact flying vessel required enormous amounts of immortal power, and with your Human Immortal Realm cultivation, you couldn’t sustain such massive consumption.】

【After just a few spatial jumps, the majority of your spiritual energy was depleted…】

【Fortunately, you possessed millions of drops of high-grade spirit liquid…】

【Sparing no cost, you frantically channeled immortal power into the flying vessel while simultaneously absorbing spirit liquid, operating like a merciless immortal power conversion machine…】

【But you had ultimately overestimated your own strength…】

【On the fifteenth day of the flying vessel’s spatial jumps, you felt a wave of mental and physical exhaustion. Your immortal power fell into disarray, and you could no longer pilot the vessel…】

【And at this moment, you were adrift in the void. If you left the flying vessel, you would die without question.】

【Fortunately, the flying vessel had built-in defensive formations. You used the last of your immortal power to sustain the defensive array, but were unable to control the vessel’s flight…】

【And so, you became lost in the void.】

【The flying vessel drifted through space like a rootless duckweed, floating toward an unknown world…】

Su Xing’s vision went dark at this, and he ranted frantically:

“Damn it, this is just like a driver running out of gas! Even a veteran behind the wheel can’t do anything about that…”

“Sigh, I can only hope I randomly land in a relatively safe world…”

(Monthly ticket bonus chapter—please vote with your monthly tickets before they expire at month’s end~)