Chapter 437 – New Simulation Changes, the Gap with Earth Ranking’s Number One!

As Su Xing’s words fell, the Chime sounded in his ears.

【Simulation #159 initiated. Current remaining origin energy: 52,067,689 points… Remaining simulations: 4.】

【Simulation begins!】

【Drawing a talent costs 1 origin energy point. Draw?】

“Yes!”

【Ding! You have drawn the gold talent Star Body. Probability of drawing a gold talent next time: 80%. Probability of drawing a red talent: 20%…】

【Star Body】: Gold talent. One of the Hundred Great Divine Physiques. This talent resonates with the stars, strengthening the bearer’s power. All supernatural arts, talents, and techniques related to the stars receive a bonus.

“Hmm, Star Body!”

Seeing the new talent appear before him, a peculiar expression crossed Su Xing’s face.

This Star Body was far from useless to him.

The Great Shaman Body Forging Art contained the Dao of the stars within it.

And Su Xing’s Dao of Destiny and Karma had originated from the Celestial Star Observation Method, which also bore an inexplicable connection to the stars.

“Could it be… that I really am the Lord of the Stars?”

Su Xing quipped to himself, recalling the reverence that old man Xingnu had shown him back in the Star Realm. It all felt like quite the coincidence.

“Though even if I’m not the Lord of the Stars… once I possess this divine physique, I might as well be…”

Su Xing murmured.

This was a talent he intended to bring out of the simulation.

Nowadays, Su Xing could bring out four or five rewards per simulation—it was merely a matter of spending a few extra origin energy points. A trivial effort.

What concerned Su Xing most right now was the direction of his development within the simulation going forward!

“My plans in reality have already been set. Barring any surprises, I’ll simply follow that trajectory.”

“But within the simulation, the direction for improving my strength…”

Su Xing fell deep into thought.

Currently, his power came from three main sources.

First, the advancement of his cultivation realm. Dual cultivation of both Qi Refinement and Body Tempering formed the root and foundation of all Su Xing’s strength.

Because of this, Su Xing focused on realm advancement in every simulation.

Second, Dao comprehension level.

Ever since Su Xing had stepped into the True Immortal stage, he had increasingly felt the importance of Dao comprehension!

If cultivation realm was the foundation, then Dao comprehension was what infinitely amplified one’s actual combat power!

When cultivators of the same realm clashed, Dao comprehension almost single-handedly determined the outcome!

For example, if two Peak Golden Immortal cultivators fought, one with Dao comprehension at the fifth realm—”Entering the Inner Hall”—and the other at the True Realm of the Dao…

The result would be an absolute crushing victory!

Those who could comprehend the True Realm of the Dao at Peak Golden Immortal could consistently hold a top-ten position on the Prodigy List, with advancement to Supreme Unity within easy reach.

Meanwhile, a Peak Golden Immortal who hadn’t reached the True Realm of the Dao would lag far behind—ranking only around twentieth or thirtieth on the Prodigy List.

For Su Xing, Dao comprehension was the key to fighting above his realm!

Beyond cultivation and Dao comprehension—the two primary sources of power—Su Xing’s combat ability was also influenced by several other important factors.

For instance, his proficiency with supernatural arts and techniques.

Supernatural arts and techniques were the best means of bringing one’s Dao comprehension to bear in battle.

Take the techniques Su Xing favored most—the Five Elements Immortal Burst and his Sword Dao supernatural art—and even the Spirit Realm’s enhancement of supernatural arts.

Then there were his numerous talents, which provided enormous boosts to Su Xing’s combat power!

With over thirty gold-tier or higher talents in his possession, Su Xing was essentially a stat monster!

As Su Xing continued analyzing his weaknesses and sources of strength, something suddenly occurred to him.

“There’s one more crucial factor—magical treasures!”

“The Blackice sword has ultimately fallen behind the times… When facing top-tier experts of comparable strength, a mid-grade supreme post-celestial treasure just doesn’t cut it anymore!”

Su Xing had no shortage of magical treasures.

He even possessed the Luotian Mirror, a primordial chaos treasure.

But the Luotian Mirror wasn’t suited for offensive combat. The weapon that best complemented Su Xing’s fighting style and maximized his power remained the Blackice sword.

“It seems I need to find a way to upgrade the Blackice sword’s grade…”

Su Xing murmured.

Ever since Su Xing had obtained the Blackice sword, it had served as his primary combat treasure.

It had accompanied him through countless years across who knew how many simulations.

If he were to suddenly switch to a different weapon, Su Xing would genuinely feel reluctant.

Not just out of sentiment, but also because using a new weapon would take a long time before Su Xing could achieve that level of seamless unity with it.

Besides, as Su Xing’s natal artifact, the Blackice sword still had enormous room for improvement.

“It seems reforging the Blackice sword needs to be moved up the schedule!”

Su Xing murmured.

After analyzing his strengths and weaknesses, Su Xing had a rough plan for how to improve his power in upcoming simulations.

“My Body Tempering cultivation isn’t far from Major Mastery of the sixth layer of the Great Shaman Body Forging Art… That remains the primary focus going forward!”

“As for Dao comprehension…”

Su Xing said thoughtfully:

“If my Sword Dao also reaches the sixth realm… then I should be able to make a bid for the number one spot on the Earth Ranking!”

“It’s about time I tested Senior Sister Ziling’s strength…”

Su Xing gently closed his eyes, running through his calculations. Once satisfied he hadn’t overlooked anything, he turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【Ding! Please select a target for the Plus One talent enhancement…】

“I choose to enhance the Late Bloomer talent!”

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

【You inform Celestial Secrets Pavilion of the intelligence regarding Red Moon on Earth, and urge them to proceed with caution.】

【Upon hearing this news, Celestial Secrets Pavilion responds swiftly—after all, intelligence provided by a Golden Immortal carries enormous credibility.】

【Even so, it still takes Celestial Secrets Pavilion a year and a half to barely manage to assemble two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals to investigate on Earth.】

【After bringing the two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals to Earth, you depart and secretly observe from the void near the planet…】

【You are somewhat curious—after your foray into the Endless Abyss and subsequent encounter with Red Moon, what changes might have occurred?】

【Roughly a month later, you sense terrifying fluctuations of battle emanating from Earth.】

【The two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals engage Red Moon in battle. Alongside Red Moon is a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal of a foreign race with sinister, aberrant aura—it is Blood Three of the Advent Cult!】

【From your distant position in the void, you quickly sense a gaze lock onto you… Red Moon has discovered you!】

【Clearly, Red Moon has detected a familiar aura on you and recognized who you are.】

【You monitor the great battle on Earth, yet hesitation stirs in your heart.】

【Two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals, plus your own cultivation that borders infinitely close to Supreme Unity Golden Immortal—perhaps this is an unprecedented opportunity to critically wound Red Moon and slay Blood Three!】

【But at the same time, your Blessed by Fortune talent screams warnings in your mind… as though the moment you set foot on Earth and join the battle, you will have no chance of survival whatsoever.】

【Ultimately, you decide to return to the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm as quickly as possible and await the outcome of the battle.】

【In the blink of an eye, another year passes…】

【Simulation Year 4. You receive an unexpected piece of intelligence from Celestial Secrets Pavilion.】

【The entire planet Earth has vanished!】

【And along with Earth, the two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals have also disappeared!】

【Upon hearing this intelligence, your expression shifts, because you know…】

【The future has changed once again!】

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

“Two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals, sacrificed… and even Earth was destroyed along with them!”

Su Xing drew a deep breath. This was no small change.

Ever since Su Xing had informed Celestial Secrets Pavilion of the detailed intelligence on Red Moon’s situation and strength on Earth, those two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals had escaped gravely wounded on multiple occasions but had never been killed.

Yet this time, both Supreme Unity Golden Immortals had been slain outright.

“Does this mean… Red Moon’s power has grown even further?”

“Or perhaps… this is Red Moon’s true strength!?”

Su Xing pondered carefully.

Red Moon had been one of the mightiest beings from millions of years ago, capable of contending with a Peak Great Firmament Golden Immortal—it must have reached the pinnacle of the chief god realm.

Even in a state of only partial resurrection, combining forces with Blood Three to slay two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals didn’t seem impossible…

“But the problem is, Red Moon didn’t kill the two Supreme Unity Golden Immortals before… Yet this time, it unleashed power beyond what it had previously shown!”

“Doing so must have come at some cost!”

“Perhaps… Red Moon sensed some kind of threat?!”

Su Xing was more inclined to believe that his own actions—sweeping through the depths of the Abyss—had alerted Red Moon to the fact that its existence had been exposed.

That was why Red Moon had grown so desperate to increase its strength!

“Hah… I really did overlook this, didn’t I?”

Su Xing sighed. Perhaps in previous simulations, Red Moon had already shown signs of this trend.

But the pressure Su Xing had been applying at the time hadn’t been nearly as great!

And this time, Su Xing had not only come face to face with Red Moon, but had even escaped from right under its nose with ease.

It was likely precisely because of this that Red Moon had accelerated its resurrection plan.

“And Earth… in four years, it’s going to disappear!”

What Su Xing noticed was that the simulation’s wording was “disappear”!

Not that Earth would be destroyed, or that all of Earth’s human race would perish.

The existence Su Xing could think of that would make Earth disappear…

That entity—the sky-blotting, sun-eclipsing Amalgamated Beast that had been there since Su Xing’s very first simulation!

“As I suspected… that Amalgamated Beast has moved ahead of schedule!”

Su Xing murmured.

Once, that terrifying Amalgamated Beast that blotted out the sky and eclipsed the sun had been an inescapable nightmare in Su Xing’s heart.

But now, Su Xing’s strength was no longer inferior to that Amalgamated Beast!

In fact, during the last simulation, Su Xing had also obtained intelligence on that Amalgamated Beast’s identity.

One of the ten Emperor Clans of the alien races—the Talong Clan, codenamed “Gluttony” among the Seven Deadly Sins!

However, the Talong that Su Xing had seen was not a living Talong.

That Talong had died millions of years ago.

After its death, it had been modified by Red Moon into something akin to a “puppet”!

Its internal space was like a void, vast enough to devour entire worlds.

“The corpse of the Talong!”

“That’s the body of a former chief god… yet it has become one of the most terrifying threats in the alien races’ invasion of various worlds…”

Su Xing murmured.

When the alien races invaded a world and squeezed out its very last drop of value, they would dispatch the so-called “Talong” to devour the world and absorb the purest “world origin”!

“World origin” was the term used by the alien races.

In the human cultivation world, this world origin was also known as—the Heavenly Dao!

The three thousand great Daos all originated from this.

The Thunder Tribulation Su Xing had once experienced was also the handiwork of the Heavenly Dao!

“In any case, the future has changed… this is definitely bad news!”

“If I don’t take action within four years, Earth will face utter annihilation?”

Su Xing took a deep breath. The time left for him… seemed even shorter now!

“However, gaining the strength to defeat Red Moon within four years doesn’t seem entirely impossible!”

After a pause, Su Xing continued:

“But distant water can’t quench a nearby fire… let me first think about the matters at hand!”

“Next, I should go to the Azure Cloud Realm and test Senior Sister Ziling’s strength…”

Su Xing’s gaze turned to the simulation panel. He was curious about how large the gap between himself and first place on the Earth Ranking still was.

【After receiving the intelligence about Earth’s destruction, your heart felt neither joy nor sorrow—only a deepening hatred toward Red Moon and the alien races.】

【After about a month, you left the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm and headed for the Azure Cloud Sect.】

【Within the Azure Cloud Sect, you successfully reached a deal with Qingyunzi.】

【Afterward, you did not leave the Azure Cloud Sect, but instead stayed to cultivate in peace.】

【Before long, as a second-generation direct-lineage junior disciple, you met many of your fellow senior brothers and sisters.】

【Among them was… Fairy Ziling!】

【Fairy Ziling had originally been the youngest junior sister among the Azure Cloud Sect’s second generation, showered with boundless affection and favor.】

【Now, she had finally found a junior disciple even younger than herself, and so she was quite attentive in looking after you.】

【Year twenty. Having spent over a decade in the Azure Cloud Sect, you and Fairy Ziling had developed a strong rapport.】

【Fairy Ziling would occasionally offer guidance on your cultivation questions, while you in turn taught Fairy Ziling the art of spirit cultivation.】

【Finally, when you judged the timing to be right, you proposed a sparring invitation to Fairy Ziling.】

【Fairy Ziling gave a slight nod, signaling her agreement.】

【Sparring was meant to end at a touch… over the next ten years, you sparred with Fairy Ziling over a hundred times, gaining a general understanding of her strength.】

【To put it simply… you were no match for Fairy Ziling whatsoever!】

【Whether in Great Dao comprehension or depth of magical power, you fell far short of Fairy Ziling… and what gave you the greatest headache were Fairy Ziling’s three innate treasures, whose formidable power utterly overwhelmed the Blackice sword.】

【During your exchanges, you even suspected that Fairy Ziling possessed the strength to kill an early-stage Supreme Unity Golden Immortal…】

In the Real World, Su Xing frowned slightly upon seeing this and murmured:

“Fairy Ziling… first place on the Earth Ranking, and her strength has actually reached such a level?”

“In mere sparring, I was completely outmatched?”

Su Xing found it somewhat hard to believe. He had originally thought that even if there was a gap between himself and Fairy Ziling, it should only be a limited one—he never expected the gap to be this enormous.

“So, first place on the Earth Ranking… really is equivalent to the Supreme Unity Golden Immortal level!”

Su Xing frowned slightly. The combat power Fairy Ziling had displayed was even more astonishing than Tang Yiyi’s had been.

“Come to think of it… when Fairy Ziling fought Blood Three back then, although she was at a disadvantage… she didn’t die.”

“And Blood Three may not have just recently broken through to Supreme Unity Golden Immortal…”

Based on Su Xing’s calculations, Blood Three’s strength should be at the early stage of Supreme Unity Golden Immortal.

And likely not just the first layer—perhaps the second or third layer.

“Hah… as expected, there’s still quite a gap between me and Senior Sister Ziling!”

Su Xing suddenly recalled a saying.

Ranking second in the school means your ability is only second-best.

But ranking first in the school is because first is the highest it goes…

The Prodigy List rankings followed the same principle!

“Tsk tsk… with Fairy Ziling’s strength, the moment she breaks through to Supreme Unity Golden Immortal, she could probably immediately step onto the Prodigy List’s Heaven Ranking, right?”

“Now that I know Senior Sister Ziling’s strength, the next step is to raise my cultivation as quickly as possible!”

Su Xing’s gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【Year thirty. You left the Azure Cloud Sect, leaving behind a jade slip recording your insights on spirit cultivation as a gift to Fairy Ziling.】

【Over the next ten years, you collected the scattered inheritances of the Luotian Sect throughout the Azure Origin Domain.】

【Before leaving the Azure Origin Domain, you could feel that the situation there had become extremely dire.】

【The alien races had consecutively conquered multiple lesser chiliocosms, their invasion far more terrifying than in any previous simulation.】

【You did not remain in the Azure Origin Domain, but instead headed for the Heavenly Secrets Domain.】

【Year fifty. You arrived at the White Cloud Realm.】

【Over the next two hundred-plus years, you simultaneously cultivated the Celestial Primordial Tree while diligently practicing the Zhengyi Breath Absorption Art.】

【Year three hundred. The Celestial Primordial Tree matured… and the Celestial Secrets Pavilion’s Celestial Vessel also arrived at the White Cloud Realm.】

【Year three hundred twenty. Your performance in the Celestial Vessel defense battle was remarkable…】

【After arriving at the Celestial Secrets Realm, you underwent several more decades of arduous cultivation.】

【Year four hundred. The first batch of Celestial Primordial Fruits matured, and you began advancing your Body Tempering cultivation.】

【Year five hundred. The Primordial Energy Tree within your body grew to two zhang (6.66 m) and four chi (1.33 m).】

【Year six hundred… your Qi Refinement cultivation successfully broke through to Peak Golden Immortal, Fourth Layer!】

【You began preparing for your breakthrough into Golden Immortal, Fifth Layer…】

【Year seven hundred…】

【Year eight hundred! At last, the great war between the alien races and the Heavenly Secrets Domain erupted.】

【After centuries of arduous cultivation, your realm had further advanced.】

【Your Qi Refinement cultivation had finally broken through to Golden Immortal, Fifth Layer!】

【Your Spirit Realm range had also expanded to twenty-five thousand li (12,500 km).】

【And the Primordial Energy Tree had reached two zhang (6.66 m) and seven chi (2.33 m).】

【You were confident that even against an enemy who had just entered the Supreme Unity Golden Immortal realm, you could preserve your life.】

【Year eight hundred ten. This epoch-defining war concluded, and your astonishing performance in this battle earned you third place on the Earth Ranking.】

【At the same time, you gained one opportunity to use the Mirror of The Void.】

【Because of your performance in this war, White Emperor also took a great liking to you and offered to guide you in the Sword Dao.】

In the Real World, Su Xing nodded with satisfaction upon seeing this:

“This is exactly the moment I’ve been waiting for!”

“With White Emperor’s guidance, my progress toward the sixth realm of Sword Dao should be much faster!”

There might be more than one Sword Immortal in the world who had comprehended the seventh realm of Sword Dao, but the only one to have reached the very end of the seventh realm was likely White Emperor alone.

“Activating immersive simulation, duration… one hundred years!”

【Ding. You have successfully activated immersive… remaining origin energy: 52,031,189 points…】

As the simulation’s Chime faded, Su Xing’s consciousness entered the simulated world.

…

Within the Celestial Secrets Realm, a carefree, unrestrained man in white appeared before Su Xing.

White Emperor spoke:

“The deeper one cultivates the Sword Dao, the more one must forge their own path!”

“What I can teach you is not my Sword Dao… only some experience.”

“As the saying goes: those who learn from me shall live, but those who imitate me shall die! Do you understand?”

Hearing White Emperor’s words, Su Xing’s expression turned solemn as he replied:

“I understand, senior!”

White Emperor: “Good. Then let us formally begin!”