29: Bath Cream

[Thirty-second year: You have gradually started to like this kind of life.]

[Normally, you only need to go out and make a half-hearted effort to receive a handsome salary back in Pingan City, which makes you feel very comfortable.]

[At the same time, doubt arises in your heart. Why didn't an organization like this appear in the last simulation like the Falling Cloud Sect and Kelei Academy?]

[Thirty-third year: The Great Yu Dynasty demands that the Taiping Sect cease its actions and immediately send people to support the front line.]

[Naturally, the Taiping Sect refuses, and a major war between the two sides is on the verge of breaking out.]

[But who could have imagined that the Sect Leader of the Taiping Sect, who was rumored to have already undergone a Lightning Tribulation, is actually just a young girl, and her cultivation is only at the Golden Core stage!]

[The unfathomable Taiping Sect Leader of all these years was merely a disguise she maintained using a treasure called the floating cloud immortal mirror!]

[You are deeply shocked.]

[You immediately rush out the door.]

[However, the Great Yu army is already at the city gates, swearing to drag you Taiping Sect disciples to the front line as cannon fodder.]

[You fall into despair.]

[Fortunately, there is always a way out. Just as the Great Yu army forces its way into Pingan City, an earth-shattering explosion resounds outside the city gates.]

[You do not know what happened.]

[But you can see that the Great Yu army has suffered heavy casualties; those who were previously high-spirited are now almost all corpses.]

[Seizing the opportunity, you immediately escape through the back gate of Pingan City.]

[Along the way, you come across an unconscious woman. Seemingly unable to bear seeing her suffer, you untie her Storage Pouch to lighten her load.]

[Just as you untie the Storage Pouch, a hand grabs your arm: 'The Storage Pouch is yours... take me with you!']

[You ignore her and fling her aside.]

[But to your surprise, the woman's grip is exceptionally tight, making it difficult for you to break free.]

[After some consideration, you finally decide to take her along with you.]

[A few months later.]

[By this time, a long period has passed since the fall of Pingan City, and you have bypassed the Great Yu Dynasty to reach the Great Abyss Dynasty.]

[You find a secluded valley. Beside you, a young girl is incessantly chattering away with questions.]

[You are somewhat annoyed, but unfortunately, this person possesses an extremely powerful spiritual body. Even though you are already at the fourth tier of Body Refining, you cannot harm her in the slightest.]

[With no other choice, you can only continue your cultivation.]

[Although there is no Spiritual Vein here, fortunately, you amassed quite a few resources during your time in Pingan City, which is enough for you to Cultivate for a while.]

[You begin to Cultivate the Wild God Body Refining Art.]

[As you circulate the Cultivation Technique, your stature grows tall, and a majestic power of blood and qi is unleashed.]

[The young girl begs you to teach her this Body Refining Cultivation Technique.]

[You refuse on the spot.]

[But she does not give up. Instead, she perseveres, asking you for insights on Body Refining every day.]

[Thirty-seventh year: The Howling Moon Wolf breaks through to the third tier. Although its Breakthrough does not trigger your own Breakthrough, you feel a long-awaited boost in your cultivation.]

[You are one step closer to the Golden Core stage.]

[At the same time, you wonder: if you raise the Howling Moon Wolf to the fourth tier, could the feedback from its cultivation directly bring you to the Golden Core stage?]

[With this question in mind, you begin to vigorously nurture the Howling Moon Wolf.]

[However, although it is said to be capable of breaking through to the fourth tier, various conditions must be met.]

[The first condition is to become the alpha wolf of a Howling Moon Wolf pack.]

[You instantly feel a headache coming on.]

[In this day and age, aside from the major mountain ranges occupied by Yao Beasts, where else could you find a pack of Howling Moon Wolves?]

[To your surprise, when the young girl beside you sees you vigorously nurturing the Howling Moon Wolf, she immediately mentions that there is a pack of such Howling Moon Wolves not far from her hometown.]

[Hearing this, you frown slightly.]

[You are not blinded by the Howling Moon Wolf's path to advancement. Instead, a sense of vigilance arises in your heart.]

[After all, how could there be so many coincidences in this world? Just as I want to nurture a Howling Moon Wolf, your hometown happens to have a pack of them?]

[What, do you live in the Luopo Mountain Range or something?]

[But thoughts are just thoughts.]

[To enable the Howling Moon Wolf's Breakthrough, you still ask the young girl where her home is.]

“My hometown...”

“It seems to be a place outside Pingan City. Unlike here, it is not as vast as the world you live in.”

“Probably... only about half the size of an Imperial Dynasty?”

[A world? Not as vast?]

[Doubt arises in your heart.]

[But immediately, a possibility comes to mind.]

[The young girl's hometown is very likely inside a Small World!]

[However, to construct a Small World, it would require at least a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator to act personally. Could the Cultivator who constructed that Small World be the true Taiping Sect Leader?]

[With doubts in your heart, you question the young girl once more.]

[But who could have guessed that the young girl's subsequent answer would make your jaw drop.]

[As it turns out, the young girl is named Mu Lingshuang, and she comes from a Small World called the Ancient Wood Realm.]

[It is rich in Spiritual Qi and abundant in resources.]

[However, the people of the Ancient Wood Realm seem to suffer from a curse that prevents them from cultivating, leaving them as Mortals for their entire lives.]

[Since Mortals cannot travel between worlds, these people are completely unable to leave that Small World.]

[As for Mu Lingshuang, she is the first person in tens of thousands of years in the Ancient Wood Realm who is capable of cultivating.]

[Of course, strictly speaking, Mu Lingshuang cannot Cultivate either.]

[The reason she possesses a Golden Core stage cultivation is entirely due to an extremely powerful spiritual body known as the Myriad Wood Revival Physique.]

[This kind of spiritual body is born at the Golden Core stage, can Cultivate automatically, and possesses powerful self-healing and damage-resistant abilities. It is a top-tier spiritual body.]

[After her birth, she was also entrusted with high hopes by her clansmen in the Ancient Wood Realm. Carrying the Ancient Wood Realm's Legacy treasure, the floating cloud immortal mirror, she came to the great world to find a Cultivation Technique that would allow the clansmen of the Ancient Wood Realm to Cultivate.]

[But who could have imagined that just after she left the Ancient Wood Realm, the Great Yu Dynasty would become the front line of the war.]

[Countless Cultivators were displaced, which aroused Mu Ningshuang's compassion.]

[Thus, an organization called the Taiping Sect was established.]

[Relying on the floating cloud immortal mirror to disguise herself as a powerful Cultivator, she quickly gathered a group of practitioners.]

[And because she frequently distributed cultivation resources brought out from the Ancient Wood Realm, more and more Cultivators came to seek refuge with her.]

[But the fake remains fake. Although the floating cloud immortal mirror could alter a person's aura, her prolonged refusal to personally take action had long since aroused the suspicions of the Great Yu Dynasty.]

[Therefore, the Great Yu Dynasty dispatched hundreds of thousands of elite troops to wipe out the Taiping Sect, forcing Mu Lingshuang to detonate the floating cloud immortal mirror to secure a sliver of hope for survival.]