The Baili Family Faces Disaster, Entering the Frozen Fantasy Dungeon! (Double Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 196 – The Baili Family Faces Disaster, Entering the Frozen Fantasy Dungeon! (Double monthly tickets~)

Su Xing felt somewhat shaken inside.

He vaguely sensed that those peerless powerhouses capable of physically shattering the void might truly exist!

“Physically shattering the void… that still seems rather far off for me…”

Su Xing murmured softly.

“At the very least, I can’t do it at the Void Shattering realm… Perhaps after achieving an immortal body, I could reach the level of shattering the void?”

Su Xing speculated briefly.

Anyone would become intoxicated by a sudden surge of power and explosive growth in strength, and Su Xing was no exception.

This kind of shift in mentality was definitely not a good thing.

For situations like this, Su Xing had his own method of handling things!

His expression turned serious as he muttered:

“I’m nothing but a weakling right now! What good is this bit of strength!?”

“Old Dog Zong… er, I guess I already took him out…”

“Old Dog Long, Perfected One Myriad Wood… and that Slaughter Apostle… that Amalgamated Beast! Which one of them isn’t stronger than you?”

“Su Xing, get a grip!”

“You need to have a clear understanding of yourself!”

“You’re just a little chick! ‘All beneath the sage are but ants’… you’ve heard that saying, right?”

“Lay low! Steady, steady!”

After a full half hour of self-brainwashing and self-deprecation, Su Xing’s mentality finally returned to being cautious and humble.

“Mm, my strength is still very weak… so I need to keep farming steadily!”

Su Xing thought to himself, then prepared to begin his daily pill refinement routine.

But when he looked up, he noticed a large chest had appeared in the clearing ahead.

“This is… spirit liquid!?”

Su Xing suddenly remembered—damn, he still had a massive stash of spirit liquid!

He hurriedly opened the chest and, sure enough, hundreds of small bottles were arranged in neat rows.

Su Xing placed these jade bottles together with his previous stockpile.

All together, it totaled over five million drops of spirit liquid!

“Hiss… five million drops of spirit liquid, plus the 3.8 million drops I can still collect during future simulations… that’s nearly nine million drops total!”

“With such a staggering quantity, wouldn’t that be enough for me to break through to Void Return Great Perfection!?”

Su Xing felt a surge of anticipation.

Though Su Xing’s strength was growing ever more formidable, he still maintained an ordinary mindset.

He had already grown accustomed to his daily routine of refining pills and cultivating the spirit field.

Compared to the bustling, lively cities of the outside world, life in the spirit field grotto-heaven was leisurely and carefree—a charm all its own.

A week quickly passed.

The spiritual energy within the spirit field grotto-heaven had grown increasingly dense over the course of this week.

Su Xing had also spent considerable time setting up the intermediate composite spirit-gathering formation.

Under the effect of the spirit-gathering formation, the dense spiritual energy within the grotto-heaven rapidly condensed from gas into liquid, which was then collected by the Water-Gathering Formation, ultimately helping Su Xing accumulate spirit liquid automatically.

The spirit field grotto-heaven had not yet fully advanced to a mid-grade grotto-heaven, and the spirit-gathering formation was not yet fully deployed.

Even so, the spirit liquid output had doubled compared to one or two weeks ago, providing two thousand drops in a single week!

On October 21st, Su Xing disguised his appearance and concealed his aura, then brought his newly refined pills to the villa to find Jin Congxue.

Jin Congxue was already waiting inside the villa as usual.

Today, Jin Congxue wore a light-colored dress with a little bear pattern printed on the hem, giving her quite a youthful, girlish look.

“Sis Xue, you’re looking great lately~”

Su Xing sat down across from Jin Congxue with practiced ease, and the two chatted casually while eating.

Jin Congxue nodded with a proud expression:

“The Tarot Society’s development over the past month or two has completely gotten on track… Although we’ve only just barely stepped into the tier of top-level trading companies, we’ve at least crossed that threshold…”

“Our resources and goods will keep growing from here on out! But… next month, the Tarot Society is planning to recruit a batch of new employees and expand our production scale!”

Jin Congxue laid out her future vision for the Tarot Society in detail for Su Xing.

Su Xing simply nodded along—he really didn’t know much about this kind of thing.

But summarizing Jin Congxue’s words, he got the general idea.

The Tarot Society was going to expand its workforce, which meant they could acquire more equipment and exotic metal, which ultimately meant Su Xing could get his hands on more energy!

Thinking of this, Su Xing’s mood instantly brightened considerably.

After finishing with business matters, Jin Congxue handed the new week’s goods to Su Xing.

Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly said with a smile:

“Oh right… I heard the Baili Trading Company recently seems to have obtained some incredible treasure…”

“Apparently they found it among dungeon props… You wouldn’t happen to have known all along that dungeon props contained treasures, which is why you were collecting them so aggressively before, would you?”

Jin Congxue winked playfully at Su Xing.

Su Xing was momentarily stunned, then immediately realized something. He asked calmly:

“Oh? They actually found a treasure? What a shame… When did this happen?”

Jin Congxue blinked and said:

“About a day or two ago? Not sure why the news spread so fast…”

After hearing this, Su Xing nodded without giving anything away. The two chatted a while longer before Su Xing returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven.

Inside the spirit field grotto-heaven, Su Xing furrowed his brows slightly and murmured:

“The Baili family… could something have happened?”

Su Xing recalled that after their last transaction, Old Master Baili had gifted him a large batch of dungeon props.

Unable to refuse the gesture (and the energy it represented), Su Xing had reluctantly agreed and offered an offhand promise in return.

He had proposed that if the Baili family ever ran into trouble, they should spread the news that they had obtained an extraordinary treasure from among the dungeon props.

But he hadn’t expected the Baili family to actually run into trouble in less than two months.

“Should I… find some time to pay the Baili family a visit?”

Su Xing stroked his chin and muttered.

He had no real relationship with the Baili family—it was purely a business connection.

Su Xing happened to be short on energy lately. If he helped the Baili family this time, the compensation would surely be substantial.

Glancing at the time, the simulator’s cooldown was nearly finished. Su Xing nodded:

“No rush—I’ll wait until this simulation is done and boost my strength first before heading over…”

Converting the new week’s goods into simulation energy, Su Xing’s total reached approximately 230 million.

On the afternoon of October 21st, New Era 2024, Su Xing punctually initiated his fifty-eighth simulation.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation consumes 5,800 energy points. Remaining energy: 231,330,000. Remaining simulation attempts: unlimited.】

【Simulation begins!】

【Drawing a purple talent costs 100,000 energy. Drawing a gold legendary talent costs 1,000,000 energy. Draw?】

“Draw gold talent!” Su Xing didn’t hesitate.

【Ding! Congratulations, you have drawn the purple talent Ready for Round Two. Your probability of drawing a gold-quality talent next time is 45%…】

【Ready for Round Two】: Purple talent. When your stamina is completely depleted, you can rally yourself for a second wind, recovering fifty percent of your stamina in an extremely short time. (Darling, I might be a little tired lately…)

As expected, it was still a purple talent. However, Su Xing’s probability of drawing a gold-quality talent had already approached fifty percent.

Surely the chances of drawing one would only keep increasing from here.

“Ready for Round Two… this talent seems rather interesting!”

Su Xing rubbed his chin and began analyzing the newly drawn talent.

“So basically… after your stamina runs out, you can recover half of it in a short time?”

After careful analysis, Su Xing shook his head slightly.

At his current stage, his combat capability wasn’t composed solely of stamina—it relied more on spiritual energy, vital energy, and so on…

Moreover, the Ready for Round Two talent was best suited for scenarios where both sides were evenly matched.

In such a situation, when both parties had exhausted their stamina, Su Xing’s extra half-tank would naturally grant him an easy victory.

But the enemies Su Xing encountered in his simulations—Perfected One Myriad Wood, Protector Dragon, the Slaughter Apostle—these were all far stronger than him.

Even if Su Xing recovered half his stamina, it would be no different from getting a second beating on the spot…

To put it bluntly:

Against weak enemies, Su Xing had no need for this talent. And in situations where this talent would actually activate, Su Xing still couldn’t beat the enemy.

“For now it seems a bit underwhelming… but this talent might prove useful later on…”

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

【In the spirit field grotto-heaven, you realized you were in a simulation.】

【After disguising your appearance and concealing your aura, you headed to Guang Province.】

【Late that night, you arrived at the Baili estate.】

【Your divine sense swept over the Baili estate, and you discovered that there were only two Martial Emperor-level powerhouses inside. Moreover, the Baili patriarch was unexpectedly absent from the estate.】

【Puzzled, you made your way to Baili Qi’s room.】

【The moment Baili Qi saw you, he burst into tears.】

【He begged you to save his father, and handed you several storage rings stuffed full of dungeon items.】

【You did not accept the dungeon items, and instead asked him what exactly had happened.】

【Baili Qi hurriedly recounted the whole sequence of events.】

【As it turned out, after Baili Tu’s lifespan had been extended, he wanted to advance further—from a Heavenly King-stage Class User to a Martial Emperor-stage one.】

【To that end, Baili Tu had expended considerable effort to find a relatively easy Martial Emperor-stage dungeon, hoping to complete the promotion quest and become a Martial Emperor-stage powerhouse.】

【Furthermore, as a precaution against the unexpected, Baili Tu had also brought along Uncle Fu, who was himself a Martial Emperor-stage powerhouse.】

【He had thought it was a surefire plan, but the Baili patriarch had entered the dungeon nearly three days ago and still hadn’t come out.】

【With no other options, Baili Qi could only reach out to you.】

Su Xing furrowed his brows slightly at this.

For a Heavenly King-stage powerhouse wanting to advance to Martial Emperor-stage, aside from needing to max out their experience level, the most critical requirement was completing the promotion dungeon.

Leveling up wasn’t particularly difficult. An ordinary Heavenly King-stage Class User who diligently ground dungeon experience for eight or ten years would eventually get there.

And for someone of Baili Tu’s status and position, if higher-level Class Users helped him power-level, he could probably reach Heavenly King Peak in just a year or two.

But the hard part was the promotion dungeon!

Promotion dungeons varied enormously in difficulty. Completing an easy one would indeed allow advancement to Martial Emperor-stage, but it would be the weakest kind—with no hope of ever reaching Legendary afterward.

But the appeal was precisely that such dungeons had low difficulty!

“With all the treasures and equipment on the Baili patriarch… plus a Martial Emperor-stage Class User as his protector, there really shouldn’t have been any accidents, right?”

Su Xing murmured with furrowed brows, curiosity stirring in his heart.

His gaze turned back to the simulation panel.

【You decided to investigate what exactly had befallen the Baili patriarch.】

【You obtained the coordinates of the promotion dungeon from Baili Qi and arrived outside the dungeon.】

【From Baili Qi, you learned that this dungeon was called Frozen Wonderland.】

【The dungeon appeared to be a temporary one, and it looked like it would close in just a few days.】

【You entered the dungeon. The moment you stepped inside, you felt a chill in the air.】

【You frowned slightly and pressed onward. The deeper you ventured into the dungeon, the lower the surrounding temperature dropped, until it had plummeted to over a hundred degrees below zero.】

【Howling blizzards and gale-force winds surrounded you, obscuring the vast majority of your vision.】

【As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but ice and snow. In such brutal conditions, even a Heavenly King-stage powerhouse would struggle to survive.】

【Fortunately, your divine sense had an extraordinarily vast range. You released it, perceiving every detail within a radius of thirty thousand zhang with crystal clarity.】

【You sensed a familiar aura several dozen kilometers away.】

【You quickly tracked down the source of that aura—it turned out to be Martial Emperor Uncle Fu.】

【Uncle Fu was overjoyed upon seeing you, and explained what had happened since they entered the dungeon.】

【Promotion dungeons only allowed the Class User themselves to participate alone; Uncle Fu had accompanied the Baili family head merely to stand guard outside.】

【Before coming to this dungeon, they had investigated and confirmed that the Frozen Wonderland dungeon wasn’t particularly difficult.】

【But unexpectedly, Baili Tu had already been missing in the blizzard for two full days. Left with no choice, Uncle Fu had ventured deep into the dungeon to search, but had yet to find him.】

【Uncle Fu was visibly in poor condition, primarily due to overwhelming grief and worry.】

【You pointed Uncle Fu toward the exit and told him to leave the search for Baili Tu to you.】

【You raised your Protective Hardened Qi, sealing out the bitter cold and raging snow.】

【You searched the dungeon for several hours, your divine sense blanketing nearly every inch of it, yet still could not find Baili Tu.】

【What alarmed you was that in the coldest parts of this dungeon, the temperature reached over two hundred degrees below zero… If it dropped a few dozen more degrees to absolute zero, not even a Legendary powerhouse could survive…】

【After your search proved fruitless, a thought struck you—perhaps Baili Tu wasn’t on the snowfield, but beneath it?】

【You directed your divine sense downward, probing through the thick layers of accumulated snow beneath your feet.】

【After another hour passed, your divine sense indeed detected a familiar aura in an icy underground cavern a thousand zhang below the surface.】

【It was unmistakably Baili Tu’s aura… but besides him, there also seemed to be several unfamiliar auras at Peak Heavenly King level, and among them, one that had reached Martial Emperor level…】

【You descended into the icy underground cavern and beheld several boss-class snow bears, each ten meters tall and utterly berserk.】

【The snow bears appeared to be special bosses unique to this dungeon—thick-skinned, resilient, and formidably powerful…】

【And there in the cavern, you saw Baili Tu, frozen solid into an ice sculpture, apparently having lost consciousness.】

【The frenzied snow bears launched an attack against you…】

【You slaughtered every last one of them within just a few rounds.】

【You channeled spiritual energy to thaw Baili Tu’s frozen form, but he remained unconscious…】

【You surveyed the icy cavern and were surprised to discover that within the snow bears’ den, there was a considerable quantity of metal as clear and transparent as ice.】

【Based on your assessment, this appeared to be a type of high-grade exotic metal of the third or fourth tier.】

【You glanced at Baili Tu beside you—he was merely unconscious, with no threat to his life.】

【And so you brandished the sword in your hand and began mining the exotic metal.】

【In just a few hours, you had extracted every last piece of exotic metal from the cavern—roughly five hundred cubic meters in total.】

【After finishing the mining, you grabbed the still-unconscious Baili Tu and left the dungeon…】

【That same day, you delivered Baili Tu back to the Baili estate.】

【Under the treatment of numerous medicinal items and healing tools, Baili Tu finally came to.】

【The entire Baili household was deeply grateful to you. Baili Qi presented you with the storage rings filled with dungeon items from before.】

【This time you did not refuse. After scanning them with your divine sense and confirming nothing had been tampered with, you placed them into the spirit field grotto-heaven.】

【After waking, Baili Tu learned that you had saved him and expressed his profound gratitude.】

【You knew that of his gratitude, perhaps three parts were genuine, while the rest was more about wanting to stay in your good graces.】

【But you did not reject these overtures, because Baili Tu declared that as repayment for saving his life, their Baili Trading Company would provide you with a batch of dungeon items every three months going forward.】

【You did not refuse, merely stating that you would come to collect them when you had the time.】

【You left no contact information and departed the Baili estate alone.】

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

“Tsk tsk, the Baili estate ran into some serious trouble… But for me, this is absolutely fantastic news!”

“By going to rescue Baili Tu, I not only get a huge haul of dungeon items, but also discover an exotic metal deposit?”

Su Xing never could have imagined that after searching for so long without finding an exotic metal deposit, it would fall right into his lap this time with no effort at all.

Though it was only five hundred cubic meters, after refining it and adding in the dungeon items… it should amount to roughly two billion energy, give or take?

At this thought, Su Xing couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

“More importantly, the Baili Trading Company can now be fully put to use for me—becoming my tool for collecting dungeon items and converting them into energy!”

Su Xing nodded slightly, deeply satisfied.

The reason he hadn’t gone to extremes with them from the start was largely because the Baili Trading Company might prove highly useful to him in the future.

After all, a golden chicken might be worth a fortune, but it could never compare to a chicken that could lay golden eggs!

“However, the relationship between me and the Baili Trading Company is nothing more than a mutually beneficial business arrangement… It doesn’t count as friendship, and I still need to maintain the utmost vigilance!”

Su Xing murmured to himself.

He understood perfectly well that what the Baili Trading Company valued was his overwhelmingly powerful strength.

And what Su Xing valued was the Baili Trading Company’s resources and financial power.

Mutual benefit, a win-win—there was nothing wrong with that.

With these thoughts in mind, Su Xing turned his gaze back to the simulation panel.

【After leaving the Baili estate, you took a long, circuitous route, disguising your appearance and concealing your aura multiple times before returning to Capital Academy.】

【Over the course of half a month, you finished setting up the spirit-gathering formation, and the spirit field grotto-heaven was fully elevated to a mid-grade grotto-heaven.】

【Among Old Dog Zong’s spirit herbs, you found several dozen stalks of Dragon Spirit Grass. You selected a few and refined them into Dragon Spirit Pills.】

【Dragon Spirit Pills were greatly beneficial to Grandmaster-stage Class Users. You gave several bottles to Jin Congxue, hoping to bolster her strength further.】

【Afterward, you contacted Yu Yan, gave him a batch of Dragon Spirit Pills as well, and instructed him not to let outsiders learn of it.】

【With all of that taken care of, you went to meet Luo Shuying as previously arranged.】