75: Chapter 75: The price has gone up again.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Cai Rujin walked in. Seeing Su Jiuchuan, she said with a suspicious look, "You... you've had another Breakthrough?"

Clearly, the aura from Su Jiuchuan's Breakthrough had startled her. Cai Rujin had waited for the aura in the room to stabilize before entering. Upon seeing Su Jiuchuan's state, with a powerful aura already comparable to her father's, she immediately realized that Su Jiuchuan had become a Xiantian Martial Artist, and couldn't help but feel another wave of envy.

Back in Tianmu City, she could still tell that Su Jiuchuan was only a Half-Step Innate. Normally, even with a Cultivation Technique, the liquefaction of True Qi within the body is a slow process that takes years of grinding; it should have been impossible to achieve in less than two or three years. Yet, Su Jiuchuan had managed to complete it in just a few months. Could he really be the Reincarnation of a great expert?

Su Jiuchuan did not know she was letting her imagination run wild; he was still immersed in his Life Simulator. With the Spirit Tide approaching and monsters seemingly beginning to riot, he had to make plans early.

"Brother Su, you wouldn't really be the Reincarnation of some great expert, would you? I heard that ten thousand years ago, Medicinal Pill usage was prevalent and could rapidly boost one's strength. If you have recovered memories from your past life, why don't you find me some Medicinal Pill so I can quickly enter the Xiantian Realm?" Cai Rujin said jokingly.

"Hmm?" Su Jiuchuan suddenly felt this made sense. Since Spiritual Qi is recovering, Spiritual Plant will surely appear in large quantities, so learning Alchemy as soon as possible is the right thing to do. He sent Cai Rujin away.

Master He had once told him that to learn Alchemy, one must improve their Mental Energy, so he was instructed to at least master the first level of the Taiqing One Thought Method.

[Do you wish to use the Life Simulator? Each use consumes 100,000 points.]

No way. Su Jiuchuan's eyes widened; the price had directly increased tenfold this time. A single simulation cost 100,000 taels of silver. There were currently 300,008 points in the System, meaning he could only simulate three times at most. He had to make money as soon as possible.

[At eighteen, you become a Xiantian Realm Qi Condensation Martial Artist.]

[You devote yourself to Cultivate the Taiqing One Thought Method. One month later, the Spirit Tide erupts, and you follow Master He to create talismans.]

[Three years later, because of your outstanding talisman-making skills, you are sent to Phoenix City to assist in the defense. You master the first level of the Taiqing One Thought Method.]

[Three months later, monsters breach Phoenix City, and you die in the chaos of battle at the age of twenty-one.]

Seeing this, Su Jiuchuan felt a bit depressed. So this is what a true chaotic world is like; it's difficult to even find a place to Cultivate in peace.

[Simulation ended. You may choose to retain one of the following items.]

[1. Your martial arts Realm at twenty-one.]

[2. Your martial arts experience at twenty-one.]

[3. Your life wisdom at twenty-one.]

Su Jiuchuan was in a dilemma at this moment. Theoretically, since the Taiqing One Thought Method had advanced, he should choose that, but the years of experience in making talismans were also very precious.

Currently in the Academy, the Talisman Department allows students to learn talismans under five strokes for free, but talismans with five strokes or more require a certain amount of Mysterious Iron as tuition. Not to mention the experience gained from years of hard practice in making talismans.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and chose option two. After all, the craft he could use to make money right now was talisman making.

In an instant, memories of countless times of painstakingly honing his talisman-making skills flooded his mind.

In this simulated life, he was able to create up to six-stroke talismans, though that was after mastering the first level of the Taiqing One Thought Method. Now that his Realm hadn't reached that point, he figured making Five-Stroke Talismans should be no problem.

Su Jiuchuan stood up. He still had two simulation opportunities left, but he wasn't in a hurry to use them. He planned to go to the Academy first and look for some tasks.

He had to earn some money now. At the cost of 100,000 taels of silver per use of the simulator, he wouldn't feel at ease without saving up over a million taels of silver.

...

Inside the Great Wei Imperial Palace, Yuan Huoli of the Imperial Observatory rushed into the Hall of Mental Cultivation in a panic to report to the reigning Jing Emperor, Qian Yuanyue: "Your Majesty, the golden statue of Founder Emperor Qian Xinghe in the Imperial Ancestral Temple has cracked. I fear this is an ominous sign!"

The Great Wei Founder Emperor refers to the founding emperor of Great Wei, Qian Xinghe, the one with the highest cultivation in the world at present. He had been quietly Cultivating in a secret location in the capital. During the Spirit Tide fifty years ago, Qian Xinghe suddenly had an epiphany and went out to seek an opportunity for a Breakthrough.

As a result, there was no news of him ever again. Seeing this, many forces instigated King Yu to rebel, but the imperial court took no major action. These forces behind the scenes guessed that this pillar of Great Wei had likely met with an accident.

The Great Wei Jing Emperor was not panicked; after all, Great Wei itself possessed considerable strength, and with the unparalleled cultivation of the Founding Emperor, they only needed to wait for the Founding Emperor to return to sweep away the rebels.

Who would have known that even the golden statue of the Founding Emperor would crack today? It was feared that something had truly gone wrong. Recalling the message left by the Founding Emperor before he departed—that the Yao Race was about to return—he paced for a while, then suddenly said to the eunuch Wu Bangchu beside him: "Issue an imperial decree: all troops across the land are to garrison in towns with populations of over 100,000, and abandon remote areas."

Wu Bangchu looked up abruptly, looking at the forty-something-year-old emperor in disbelief. This decree clearly meant completely abandoning the populations of those small towns and only trying to hold onto the large cities.

"If the Founding Emperor's message is true, it is hard to say how many of these large cities can be preserved." The Jing Emperor showed obvious exhaustion; the pressure on his heart during this period was immense.

Wu Bangchu dared not respond, only lowering his head and saying: "As you command!"

...

Yunlin Secret Realm.

Master Cai Jing, Mei Gaojie, and Chen Han were attacking the stone gate of a cave in the valley.

Suddenly, Chen Han made a gesture to stop and said: "Do you sense that something is wrong?"

Hearing this, Master Cai Jing and the other two hurriedly gathered their Qi to sense their surroundings. Suddenly, their expressions changed drastically as they sensed a tremendous pressure coming from deep within the valley, and it was getting closer. Even if they wanted to hide, it was already too late, so they could only lie down in the bushes beside the cave, hoping to hide for a moment.

A moment later, two huge figures came rushing from deep within the valley. Vaguely, they could see a giant ape and a black bear running together. As they passed by, Master Cai Jing and the others could clearly feel a Divine Thought sweep over them; it paused slightly on them before quickly moving away.

Master Cai Jing could vaguely hear the conversation between the two monsters on the wind.

"The Holy Ancestor has awakened; we cannot stay. We will deal with these little bugs later!"

"Indeed, this is a major event for our Monster Realm..."

...

After quite a while, that pressure finally disappeared.

Master Cai Jing and the other two looked at each other. Chen Han remained silent for a long while before saying with fear: "This... is this a Yao?"

"It seems something big is about to happen. We must break the Restriction here as soon as possible, obtain the Cultivation Technique, and leave here immediately. I have a rather bad premonition."

"I also have the feeling that a great disaster is imminent," Master Cai Jing said with lingering fear.

With a pained expression, Mei Gaojie took an awl from her bosom. Upon closer inspection, one could see complex runes engraved on it, and counting carefully, there were ten strokes.

Seeing this, Master Cai Jing and Chen Han silently stepped back. Mei Gaojie gritted her teeth and activated the runes. A flash of white light passed, and the stone gate in front of them was blasted directly into a pile of rubble.