Chapter 288 – Another Divine Physique! Toying with Qingyunzi? [8k]
by spirapira【With that, Qingyunzi didn’t wait for your reaction and reached out to soul search you…】
【Your consciousness gradually dissipated…】
【You died!】
【Ding, this simulation has ended!】
After the simulation ended, Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly.
“One Qi Transforms into Three Purities… this seems to be Qingyunzi’s signature supernatural art?”
“But what does that have to do with the Clear Heart Art?”
Su Xing fell into deep thought, stringing together the clues he’d gathered over time.
The black-robed, white-robed, and azure-robed Qingyunzi…
The evil corpse, the self corpse, the good corpse… sever the Three Corpses to become a saint?
The side effects of Reverse Severing of the Three Corpses…
Fairy Ziling’s Mystic Yin Sacred Body…
The Luotian Sect’s Clear Heart Art — could it neutralize the side effects of One Qi Transforms into Three Purities!?
A flash of insight struck Su Xing’s mind, and everything connected together…
“So what Qingyunzi seeks is the Clear Heart Art passed down by the Luotian Sect!?”
“The Clear Heart Art can alleviate — even eliminate — the side effects of One Qi Transforms into Three Purities and Reverse Severing of the Three Corpses!”
“This is a pivotal opportunity related to Qingyunzi’s Dao path and his ascension to sainthood!”
Su Xing drew a deep breath. At last, he finally understood!
What Qingyunzi sought had never been a body-tempering method for achieving sainthood, nor top-tier cultivation techniques like the Luotian Immortal Transformation Art or the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.
As a Grand Luo Golden Immortal — a mighty cultivator who had severed his corpses to become a half-saint — he had surely already forged his own path. Such techniques were useless to him!
What he needed was the Luotian Sect’s “Clear Heart Art” to remedy the deficiencies in his own cultivation…
“But does the Clear Heart Art really work for Qingyunzi?”
“If I find the Clear Heart Art and offer it to him… could I win Qingyunzi’s favor and extend my simulation even longer?”
Su Xing pondered thoughtfully.
Regardless, he had to give it a try…
“Very well! Next simulation, I’ll make a trip to the Luotian Sect and acquire the Clear Heart Art…”
Su Xing figured that with his identity, obtaining a copy of the Clear Heart Art shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze to this simulation’s rewards.
For now, he should focus on selecting his simulation gains first!
【Late Bloomer】: Purple talent, priced at 1 origin energy.
【Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art Comprehension (Second Layer)】: Supreme secret technique of the Luotian Sect. Currently comprehended to the second layer. Can absorb the qi of the 24 hours and the twenty-four solar terms, enjoying triple the cultivation speed bonus of ordinary cultivation while saving a great deal of time. Priced at 20,000 origin energy.
【Human Immortal Realm, Second Layer】: A Human Immortal realm cultivator who has reached late-stage Human Immortal Realm second layer. Priced at 10,000 origin energy.
【Earth Immortal Realm Flesh Essence, 100 Jin (50 kg)】: Priced at 10,000 origin energy.
【Low-Grade Spirit Stones x10 Million】: Priced at 10,000 origin energy.
Su Xing looked at this simulation’s rewards and chose without hesitation, murmuring inwardly:
“I choose the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art comprehension, and the Late Bloomer talent!”
As his words fell, the simulator’s notification chimed in his ears.
【You have successfully brought out the purple talent Late Bloomer, spending 1 origin energy. Remaining origin energy: 39,154 points…】
【You have successfully brought out the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art Second Layer (Comprehension), spending 30,000 origin energy. Remaining origin energy: 9,154 points…】
As the notification faded, two streams of mysterious energy surged into Su Xing’s body.
The purple talent sank into the center of Su Xing’s brow and vanished from sight.
Its talent effects would not manifest for the time being.
Then, a wealth of insights regarding the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art welled up in Su Xing’s mind.
The qi of the 24 hours and the twenty-four solar terms — their transformations were unpredictable, as if gathering the essence of sun and moon, the transience of fleeting existence.
Su Xing gently closed his eyes, and in that instant, his mental state seemed to undergo a metamorphosis.
“Drifting through heaven and earth, a single grain of millet in a vast ocean… Among all the myriad changes of the world, only time is eternal, and the cycle of reincarnation never ceases…”
Su Xing slowly opened his eyes, murmuring softly.
After receiving the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art comprehension, Su Xing seemed to see a vision.
Atop a mountain peak wreathed in immortal mist, Su Xing sat cross-legged, drawing the qi of all things into his body, meditating in stillness for ten thousand years before ascending to the heavens in broad daylight…
During that time, the sun and moon rotated, bitter cold and scorching heat alternated, spring departed and autumn arrived… yet he remained unshakeable as a mountain!
After a long while, Su Xing drew a deep breath and said in a low voice:
“The Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art… so it truly is connected to the Great Dao of time and reincarnation?”
A strange gleam flashed in Su Xing’s eyes. This secret technique still held many secrets waiting for him to uncover.
Su Xing seemed to grasp some fleeting thoughts, yet they drifted away from him…
…
A moment later, Su Xing slowly rose to his feet and murmured:
“Perhaps the time hasn’t come yet… I should focus on what’s in front of me first!”
Glancing at the time, Su Xing disguised himself and concealed his aura, then went to trade with Lu Yuanwu.
With the new week’s 20,000 origin energy in hand, Su Xing rode his sword toward the Immortal Martial World instance.
This week, Su Xing upgraded his thirty mining puppets.
The efficiency of harvesting exotic metal ore was directly boosted by over fifty percent!
As a result, the origin energy contained in the exotic metal ore that could be mined each week approached 25,000 points!
“At this rate, in less than three months, the exotic metal ore in the Immortal Martial World will be completely mined out…”
“When that time comes, I’ll need to find a new energy source…”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly. Exotic metal had already become one of his primary energy sources, and he naturally didn’t want to give it up easily.
Fortunately, there were still many unexplored instance worlds near Earth. With his Geological Expert talent, Su Xing could still search for new mining instance worlds.
On August 19, 2025, Su Xing returned to Earth and headed to the Villa to meet with Jin Congxue.
“Here’s last week’s shipment — the refined exotic metal…”
Jin Congxue handed over a storage ring.
Then she produced another one and said:
“This one contains ten million Abyss Stones from the spirit rice trade…”
Su Xing’s eyes lit up at this, and he hurriedly took both storage rings.
With a thought, the simulator’s notification chimed in his ears.
【Detected large quantity of origin energy-containing material. Value: 16,432 origin energy points. Absorb?】
【Detected large quantity of origin energy-containing material. Value: 100,000 origin energy points. Absorb?】
“Yes!”
Su Xing murmured inwardly.
The two consecutive notifications left Su Xing grinning from ear to ear.
“Adding in the origin energy I already had… I now have a total of 145,866 origin energy points!”
“That’s equivalent to over 140 billion simulation energy!”
Su Xing did a quick mental calculation and couldn’t help but feel excited.
After reveling in his excitement for a while, Su Xing looked up only to meet Jin Congxue’s reproachful gaze.
“Ahem, Xue-jie! I love you!”
“You really are my lucky star!”
Unable to help himself, Su Xing embraced Jin Congxue and planted a kiss on her cheek.
This once again made Jin Congxue blush fiercely.
After the two lingered together in the room for quite some time… Su Xing finally returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven.
“Nearly 150,000 origin energy! That should be enough for now…”
“So next up, my qi refinement cultivation… and acquiring a spatial artifact — it’s time to get started on those!”
Su Xing murmured, looking at the simulation panel whose cooldown had finished.
“Begin simulation!”
【Simulation #100 initiated. Current remaining origin energy: 145,866 points… Remaining simulation attempts: Unlimited.】
【Simulation begins!】
【Drawing a gold legendary talent costs 1 origin energy. Draw?】
Su Xing thought for a moment. He didn’t currently have any purple talents he could put to use, so he murmured inwardly:
“Draw!”
【Ding, congratulations! You have obtained the gold talent Water Spirit Divine Physique. Probability of drawing a gold talent in the next simulation: 60%…】
【Water Spirit Divine Physique】: Gold talent. One of the Hundred Great Divine Physiques. Accelerates comprehension of the Water Dao and the absorption speed of water-attribute spiritual energy.
“Hm? Another divine physique!”
Su Xing’s eyes lit up, but after carefully reading the Water Spirit Divine Physique’s description, he furrowed his brow slightly.
“What a pity… I don’t have a water spirit root, nor have I comprehended the Water Dao… can this Water Spirit Divine Physique even take effect?”
Su Xing had a bad feeling about this.
His gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【In the spirit field grotto-heaven, you became aware that you were in a simulation.】
【You felt certain changes occurring in your body and couldn’t wait to try cultivating…】
【But no matter how you cultivated, you couldn’t sense water-attribute spiritual energy, and your cultivation speed was no different from before…】
【Unwilling to give up, you attempted to comprehend the Water Dao, but lacking the relevant medium, without a water-attribute spiritual root or water-attribute supreme treasure, you had no idea where to begin…】
【After trying for several days, you gave up.】
【You accumulated the Great Wisdom talent boost and prepared to enter the Luotian Instance…】
In the Real World, Su Xing sighed unsurprisingly upon seeing this.
“As expected… without a water spirit root, I can’t benefit from the Water Spirit Divine Physique!”
Su Xing was somewhat exasperated. Those who naturally possessed the Water Spirit Divine Physique certainly had water spirit roots.
But unfortunately, Su Xing’s was a talent forcibly grafted on after the fact. Without a water spirit root, he couldn’t bring out this divine physique’s advantages…
“Ah well, never mind! It’s just one divine physique… I already have the Fire Blaze Divine Physique, so I’m not exactly lacking!”
What Su Xing was more curious about now was whether the Clear Heart Art was truly within the Luotian Sect.
With that thought, Su Xing murmured inwardly:
“Use immersive simulation, duration: 1 day!”
【Ding…】
His vision shifted, and Su Xing appeared inside the Luotian Instance.
The familiar mission sequence sounded in his ears.
“Xiaochuan, go to the rear mountain and invite your Senior Brother Shennong over…”
Su Xing nodded slightly upon hearing this, but instead of acting immediately, he asked:
“Master, does our Luotian Sect have the Clear Heart Art? Your disciple would like to cultivate it…”
Hearing Su Xing’s words, Luo Qingniu was somewhat surprised but still nodded:
“Yes, we do. Go look for it on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion. The Clear Heart Art is the most basic mind-clearing technique — even outer disciples can cultivate it…”
Hearing Luo Qingniu’s words, Su Xing was somewhat surprised.
The most ordinary technique in the Luotian Sect?
Was this really the Clear Heart Art that Qingyunzi was searching for?
But regardless, now that he had a lead, Su Xing had to investigate.
First, he went through the familiar mission sequence.
He went to the rear mountain to invite Shennong Youtian for a meeting, then visited the Luotian Assembly venue for a tour.
It wasn’t until he was “forcibly ejected from the mission” at the venue that Su Xing headed to the Scripture Pavilion.
Su Xing first went to the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion and found the Clear Heart Art technique in an inconspicuous corner.
With the boost of his Great Wisdom state, Su Xing began cultivating.
Soon the immersive simulation ended, and Su Xing returned to reality.
“Strange… this Clear Heart Art doesn’t seem to have anything special about it. It appears to be nothing more than the most basic mind-purifying technique?”
“Its effects aren’t even as good as an Illumination Pill… Can this thing really help Qingyunzi?”
Su Xing was skeptical. Given the Clear Heart Art’s cultivation difficulty, he had already cultivated it to Perfection in a single day.
Yet even so, Su Xing hadn’t found anything the least bit special about it…
Techniques like the Clear Heart Art — any random cultivation sect would have eighty or a hundred versions of something similar.
No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t resemble a supreme secret technique.
“Well, since Qingyunzi specifically requested it, I should try offering it to him regardless…”
Su Xing murmured, turning his gaze to the simulation panel.
【You left the Luotian Instance and formally began cultivating.】
【With the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art’s boost, your cultivation speed was extraordinary. Each day, you only needed to cultivate for 2 hours to achieve the equivalent of a full day’s cultivation.】
【You made a trip to the Spirit Clan’s ancestral grounds and withdrew ten million drops of high-grade spirit liquid.】
【Thus, each day you spent 2 hours cultivating, consuming a hundred drops of high-grade spirit liquid, and your cultivation advanced rapidly.】
【Whenever solar term days like Spring Dew or Awakening of Insects arrived, your cultivation speed would increase thirtyfold. A single day’s cultivation would consume three thousand drops of high-grade spirit liquid and equal a full month of bitter training…】
【Cultivation knows no passage of years. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed.】
【In the tenth year, your cultivation reached late-stage first layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【Because your magical power was exceptionally dense, the resources required for your cultivation breakthroughs were several times that of cultivators at the same realm.】
【Over ten years, you consumed one million drops of high-grade spirit liquid, equivalent to three hundred years of bitter cultivation for an ordinary Human Immortal realm cultivator!】
【Thus, another ten years passed.】
【In the twentieth year, your cultivation reached Peak of the first layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【You began attempting to break through to the second layer of the Human Immortal Realm…】
【Because you were thoroughly prepared with a solid foundation, after two years of closed-door cultivation, you successfully broke through.】
【In the twenty-second year, you made a trip to the Beast Taming World and slaughtered foreign-race enemies.】
【Afterward, you returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven to continue cultivating.】
【Time flies like a white colt passing a gap. Six years passed in the blink of an eye…】
【In the twenty-eighth year, the Demon Saint descended.】
【You employed a small stratagem and bought five years of time.】
【In the thirty-third year, the Demon Saint retreated.】
【That same year, your cultivation advanced to mid-stage second layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【With the boost of high-grade spirit liquid and the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art, your cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds…】
【In the forty-third year, your cultivation advanced to late-stage second layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【A Lesser Divine Power foreign-race deity descended upon Demon-Sealing Pass. You unleashed a single Heaven Sword sword intent strike that soared to the heavens, slaying it…】
【After slaying this foreign-race deity, you decided to leave Earth and head for the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm.】
【You bid farewell to family and friends, and ventured alone across the Slaughter Battlefield…】
【After passing through the spatial rift, you arrived at the Azure Cloud Realm!】
Su Xing looked at the text before him and nodded slightly.
“Not bad. Forty-three years to cultivate to the mid-stage of the second layer of the Human Immortal Realm… That’s equivalent to over a thousand years of bitter cultivation for a Human Immortal Realm cultivator with Super Spirit Root aptitude…”
“Without the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art, I probably wouldn’t have even reached the late-stage of the first layer of the Human Immortal Realm by now…”
Su Xing had truly tasted the benefits of the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.
With this secret technique, Su Xing could maintain an extremely fast cultivation speed throughout the Human Immortal Realm, and even the Earthly Immortal realm.
“It’s just a pity that the third layer of the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art is far too difficult… I can’t learn it anytime soon!”
“Unless I trigger an epiphany state again, it won’t be worth bringing out the third layer comprehension…”
Su Xing murmured.
【Arriving in the familiar northern reaches of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, you headed toward White Emperor City.】
【You first visited the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, selling relevant intelligence and earning a considerable sum of spirit stones.】
【Afterward, you delved into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, carved out a cave dwelling near the Void Secret Realm, laid down a Xuanyuan Breath-Concealing Formation, and began cultivating.】
【After becoming an immortal, the difficulty of advancing your cultivation was more than ten times greater than before.】
【And upon reaching the late-stage of the second layer of the Human Immortal Realm, the amount of spirit liquid you needed for cultivation increased even further.】
【Each day you cultivated for 2 hours, expending one hundred and thirty drops of high-grade spirit liquid… On solar term days, the required high-grade spirit liquid exceeded four thousand drops.】
【Five years passed quickly.】
【In your fiftieth year, your cultivation climbed to the Peak of the second layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【You entered seclusion, seeking a breakthrough…】
【Two years passed in this manner.】
【In your fifty-second year, you expended two hundred thousand drops of high-grade spirit liquid, but ultimately failed to break through.】
【Helplessly, the inadequacy of your spiritual root quality had become an obstacle to your cultivation progress.】
【But you were not disheartened. You simply accumulated experience, consolidated your foundation, and prepared for the next breakthrough attempt.】
【Three years passed in this manner.】
【In your fifty-fifth year, your cultivation successfully broke through, reaching the third layer of the Human Immortal Realm!】
【At the same time, you discovered that the amount of spirit liquid needed for cultivation had increased to over one hundred and fifty drops per shichen.】
【On solar term days, you could expend six thousand drops of spirit liquid in a single day, equivalent to a month of bitter cultivation…】
【Fortunately, your cultivation resources were abundant. The tens of millions of drops of high-grade spirit liquid from the Luotian legacy trove were sufficient to sustain your cultivation for a very long time…】
In the Real World, Su Xing nodded slightly at this and did some quick calculations.
“At the first layer of the Human Immortal Realm, annual cultivation costs about one hundred thousand drops of high-grade spirit liquid… That’s equivalent to roughly thirty years of cultivation for an ordinary Human Immortal Realm cultivator?”
“At the second layer, it’s one hundred and fifty thousand drops per year. At the third layer, two hundred thousand drops…”
“By that calculation, ten million drops of high-grade spirit liquid would only last about fifty years of cultivation at the third layer, equivalent to over a thousand years for an ordinary cultivator…”
Su Xing couldn’t help but sigh. Rapidly advancing one’s cultivation was truly a game only “whales” could afford to play.
Cultivators with wealth could progress far, far faster than ordinary cultivators!
“But fortunately, if I add up all the spirit liquid and spirit stones I have on hand… and occasionally purchase some more spirit liquid, it should be enough for about a hundred years of cultivation…”
Su Xing nodded slightly.
Looking at it this way, each simulation could raise him by roughly three to four minor realms — just enough to break through the bottleneck from early-stage to mid-stage. That wasn’t slow at all!
His gaze returned to the simulation panel.
【With the support of abundant spirit liquid, your cultivation speed was astonishing.】
【In your sixty-seventh year, your cultivation rose to the mid-stage of the third layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【That same year, fluctuations emanated from the Void Secret Realm, and you rushed toward the secret realm at the first opportunity.】
【Simultaneously, within a radius of a million li (500,000 km), numerous Earthly Immortal realm great cultivators sensed the fluctuations of the secret realm’s emergence and hurried over…】
【Having learned from your previous experience, you were the first to arrive inside the secret realm, successfully navigated the Void Labyrinth, and found the corpse of the Void Strange Beast along with four Void Spirit Stones.】
【You swiftly stored the Void Strange Beast’s corpse and the Void Spirit Stones in your storage ring, preparing to leave the secret realm…】
【But the moment you exited the secret realm, you spotted over a dozen powerful auras rushing toward your location.】
【The weakest among them was a late-stage Human Immortal Realm cultivator, and there were even five whose cultivation fluctuations indicated late-stage Earthly Immortal realm.】
【You frowned slightly. Just as you were about to leave, you heard a voice: “That kid just came out of the secret realm — don’t let him get away!”】
【You looked closely. The speaker was a black-robed cultivator at the late-stage Earthly Immortal realm — the very same person who had formed a grudge with you in a previous simulation.】
【You frowned slightly. Soon, several late-stage Earthly Immortal realm cultivators had vaguely surrounded you, spouting things like “treasures of heaven and earth belong to whoever finds them.”】
【Against a single late-stage Earthly Immortal realm cultivator, you would naturally have nothing to fear.】
【But against five late-stage Earthly Immortal realm cultivators, you alone could not possibly contend.】
【Moreover, the Void Strange Beast’s corpse was not your objective in this simulation.】
【So you gritted your teeth, tossed the Void Strange Beast’s corpse out… and prepared to flee.】
【But unexpectedly, the black-robed cultivator fixated on you, pursuing you relentlessly. He knew you might still have Void Spirit Stones on you, and he figured a Human Immortal Realm cultivator like you was easy prey.】
【He alone chased you for a thousand li (500 km). You endured patiently, feigning weakness to lure him in.】
【At the critical moment, you unleashed No Martial Virtue, combined with sixteen hundred strands of sword aura… A rainbow of swords pierced the heavens, grievously wounding him in a single strike!】
【Just as you were about to finish him off, the black-robed cultivator proved to be a first-rate escape artist. He transformed into a streak of black light and fled at speed comparable to a Heavenly Immortal…】
【You attempted to give chase for a while, but couldn’t hold a candle to his speed and had to give up…】
【Fortunately, the four Void Spirit Stones were secured. Content with your gains, you returned to your cave dwelling to continue cultivating.】
Su Xing rolled his eyes at this, muttering:
“Great, another dirty player!”
“A master at fanning flames and sowing discord… bullying people with numbers, and the moment he knows he can’t win, he bolts…”
Su Xing felt somewhat helpless. The vast majority of cultivators in the cultivation world were exactly like this.
Earthly Immortal realm cultivators might seem like unreachable existences in the eyes of lower-ranked cultivators.
But when their lives were on the line, they ran faster than anyone…
“Tsk tsk, escape speed comparable to the Heavenly Immortal realm, huh… What a shame. If my Sword Dao were a bit stronger, maybe my Sword-Controlling Technique could reach that kind of speed too?”
Su Xing rubbed his chin and turned his gaze back to the simulation panel.
【In between cultivation sessions, you made a trip to White Emperor City and sold the intelligence about the ambush on the Heavenly Immortal realm great demon general.】
【Afterward, you returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven and continued cultivating…】
【Thirteen more years passed.】
【In your eightieth year, you successfully emerged from seclusion, your cultivation reaching the late-stage of the third layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【Three years prior, the Late Bloomer talent enhancement had already activated, doubling your cultivation speed once more!】
【At this point, you still had several million drops of high-grade spirit liquid on hand, and tens of millions of drops of low-grade spirit liquid…】
【To prevent the Advent Cult from finding you prematurely, you headed straight to Celestial Demon City to enlist.】
【As before, using your identity as an eleventh-rank formation Grandmaster, you became a Myriarch.】
【Each day, aside from completing formation deployment tasks, you had ample time for cultivation…】
【Seven more years passed.】
【In your eighty-seventh year, your cultivation reached the Peak of the third layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【You attempted to break through the threshold from early-stage to mid-stage of the Human Immortal Realm…】
【Unsurprisingly, you failed…】
【After failing, you summarized your experience, accumulated deeper foundations, and silently awaited the next breakthrough attempt.】
【In your ninety-fifth year, you launched another assault on the fourth layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【This time, you succeeded!】
【Congratulations on becoming a mid-stage Human Immortal Realm cultivator!】
In the Real World, Su Xing breathed a sigh of relief at this, though he also felt a slight headache.
“Spiritual root aptitude! At the end of the day, it all comes down to aptitude… If only I could draw a gold-tier spiritual root!”
Su Xing had come to realize that divine physiques and the like didn’t offer much help in breaking through cultivation bottlenecks.
At least, five-element type divine physiques didn’t…
Only sufficient spiritual root aptitude could make the path of cultivation truly smooth…
“But reaching the fourth layer of the Human Immortal Realm by the ninety-fifth year… the remaining time should be enough to push to the late-stage of the fourth layer, right?”
Su Xing felt a stirring of anticipation as he turned his gaze to the simulation panel.
【After breaking through to the mid-stage of the Human Immortal Realm, you felt that the mana within your body was over twice as robust as it had been at the first layer!】
【The stream of immortal power within your body had grown to a full three zhang (9.99 m) wide — comparable to the mana density of an ordinary late-stage or even Peak Human Immortal Realm cultivator!】
【Though your cultivation had broken through, you remained neither arrogant nor restless, cultivating with a calm mind.】
【You knew that beyond the city walls, many traps awaited you, and many foreign races and human traitors sought to assassinate you.】
【So you simply stayed safely within the city. Whenever missions required leaving the city, you made excuses and feigned illness, only cultivating and deploying formations within the walls.】
【Because of this, you were even demoted from Myriarch to Chiliarch…】
【But you had no regrets, because staying alive was what truly mattered!】
【Fifteen more years of cultivation passed…】
【In your one hundred and tenth year, your cultivation reached the mid-stage of the fourth layer of the Human Immortal Realm.】
【As your cultivation grew higher, you felt that cultivation was becoming ever more difficult.】
【You estimated that in about ten more years, Qingyunzi would track down your whereabouts, so you seized the time and cultivated even more diligently…】
【One day, you consumed a Spirit Awakening Pill, activated the Great Wisdom state enhancement, and prepared to comprehend the Protective Sword Aura…】
In the Real World, Su Xing’s heart stirred at this, and he silently intoned:
“Activate immersive simulation…”
【Ding…】
In the next instant, the scene before Su Xing’s eyes shifted, and he appeared inside Celestial Demon City.
“Protective Sword Aura — I’ve currently mastered sixteen hundred strands, but the killing power is still limited… It’s not enough to slay a late-stage Earthly Immortal realm cultivator!”
“If I can advance further and reach two thousand strands of Protective Sword Aura, perhaps I’ll truly have the ability to kill late-stage Earthly Immortal realm cultivators?”
Su Xing murmured, then began cultivating his Protective Sword Aura.
The moment he started, Su Xing’s eyes lit up.
The effects of the Spirit Awakening Pill, the Great Wisdom state, and Late Bloomer could actually stack!
This meant that one month of Su Xing’s cultivation was equivalent to twenty years of bitter training!
And so, one month passed quickly…
The immersive simulation ended, and Su Xing returned to reality, a look of satisfaction on his face.
“Not bad! The equivalent of twenty years of bitter cultivation — my Protective Sword Aura count has grown further… reaching seventeen hundred and fifty strands!”
“At this rate, just two or three more sessions and the Protective Sword Aura count could reach two thousand!”
Su Xing was reasonably satisfied with this.
But he also vaguely sensed that the upper limit of the Protective Sword Aura was approaching.
To comprehend more than two thousand strands of Protective Sword Aura, he would likely need to fully comprehend the origin of the sword and grasp the embryonic form of the Great Dao of the Sword!
His gaze returned to the simulation panel.
【In your one hundred and twentieth year, you finally cultivated to the late-stage of the fourth layer of the Human Immortal Realm!】
【In a mere hundred years, you had advanced nearly four minor realms… crossing one major bottleneck, equivalent to over three thousand years of bitter cultivation for an ordinary Human Immortal Realm cultivator!】
【You were quite satisfied with this, and so you waited quietly within the city, wanting to see whether what Qingyunzi sought was truly this unremarkable Clear Heart Art…】
【One day, your Blessed by Fortune talent triggered a frantic warning.】
【A day later, Qingyunzi found you…】
【The Celestial Demon General’s external avatar intervened, but was threatened by Qingyunzi using Celestial Demon City’s authority, and could only abandon you…】
【You were captured by Qingyunzi, who intended to perform a soul search on you.】
【You hastily said you were willing to offer up the Clear Heart Art…】
【So you began reciting the full text of the Clear Heart Art in front of Qingyunzi.】
【But you had barely gotten halfway through when Qingyunzi interrupted you…】
【Qingyunzi said only one thing — that you dared to make a fool of him — then performed a soul search on you…】
【You died!】
【Ding, this simulation has ended!】
After the simulation ended, Su Xing frowned slightly.
“Making a fool of him? How could that be…”
“Could it be that the Clear Heart Art Qingyunzi is looking for isn’t this version?”
Su Xing was absolutely certain that his Clear Heart Art had been obtained directly from the Luotian Sect — the genuine article.
“Could it be… that because my strength and realm aren’t high enough, I didn’t obtain the true Clear Heart Art?”
Su Xing was baffled.
“Or perhaps what Qingyunzi is actually looking for isn’t the Clear Heart Art at all, but some other secret technique?”
After a long while, Su Xing let out a sigh.
“Sigh, it seems there’s no way to figure this out for now… What exactly is Qingyunzi looking for?”
Su Xing had no way of knowing.
“It seems I’ll have to fall back on the old approach… avoid Qingyunzi as much as possible!”
“Traveling to a more distant minor thousand world… that’s the optimal solution!”
With this in mind, Su Xing turned his gaze to the rewards for this simulation.
【Water Spirit Divine Physique】: Gold talent, priced at 10 origin energy.
【Human Immortal Realm, Fourth Layer】: Human Immortal Realm cultivator, reached the late-stage of the fourth layer, priced at 30,000 origin energy.
【Void Spirit Stones x4】: Mysterious ore born in the void, possessing the wondrous ability to stabilize space. Can be used for magical treasure refinement. Priced at 20,000 origin energy.
“In that case, I should first obtain the Void Spirit Stones… then craft a spatial treasure. Only then can I travel to minor thousand worlds!”
With this in mind, Su Xing silently intoned:
“I choose the Human Immortal Realm, Fourth Layer cultivation… and the four Void Spirit Stones!”
【You have successfully brought out the Human Immortal Realm, Fourth Layer cultivation, spending 30,000 origin energy. Remaining origin energy: 115,832 points…】
【You have successfully brought out four Void Spirit Stones, spending 20,000 origin energy. Remaining origin energy: 95,832 points…】
As the simulation notification faded, a mysterious energy surged into Su Xing’s body.
Su Xing’s aura skyrocketed in an instant.
Second layer of the Human Immortal Realm… third layer… fourth layer!
Even after crossing into the Immortal realm, Su Xing’s cultivation speed had not slowed in the slightest.
This was the importance of accumulated foundation unleashed all at once!
He rose from the early-stage of the Human Immortal Realm all the way to the mid-stage.
Then took another great stride at the fourth layer, reaching the late-stage of the fourth layer of the Human Immortal Realm!
Su Xing gently closed his eyes, sensing the three-zhang (9.99 m)-wide trickle of immortal power within his body, which had already begun to take on the faint form of a small river.
“Excellent… With this massive increase in mana, the power of my Qi Refinement type supernatural arts and techniques will improve even further!”
Su Xing estimated that with his current Five Elements Immortal Burst at full power, it might rival even eighteen hundred strands of Protective Sword Aura!
At the same time, four fist-sized stones appeared before Su Xing. They resembled blocks of ice, yet contained mysterious starlight-like specks within them.
Void Spirit Stones!
“Wonderful… With these Void Spirit Stones, I can refine a near supreme post-celestial treasure grade spatial vessel!”
“In simulations, I’ll be able to travel to more distant worlds… and in reality, could I even travel directly to the Three Thousand Worlds?”
Su Xing’s heart stirred with anticipation.