While Others are Leveling Up, I Alone Will Cultivate Until Mahayana Before Making My Move

However, in the real world, there were still less than three years until the closure of the Luo Tian Meeting Instance, meaning Su Xing had ample time to explore it.

As for exploring the apocalypse replica, Su Xing was indeed interested, but there were risks involved.

Given Su Xing's cautious (to a fault) nature, he naturally preferred to wait until his strength improved before venturing out.

"Perhaps, it would be safer to explore after I have reached the Nascent Soul Stage Great Perfection or the pinnacle of the Origin Martial Realm? After all, the resources currently available within the Descending Sect are sufficient for me to enhance my strength..."

With this thought, Su Xing continued the simulation.

[In the sixteenth year, you stayed indoors day after day, cultivating the Li Fire Technique, making rapid progress in its practice.]

[In the seventeenth year, you took your mastery of the Li Fire Technique to the next level, filling you with gratification as you sensed that the small success level of the Li Fire Technique was not far away.]

[In the eighteenth year, you progressed further, commanding the Li Fire Technique with ease, and even items of pure gold would melt into liquid under its scorching might. Yet you knew that the Li Fire Technique had much to improve before it could incinerate everything in the mortal world.]

[In the nineteenth year, the power of the Li Fire Technique reached a level that even startled you; a palm-sized gold brick would melt instantly upon contact with the Li Fire, and even tungsten, a metal known for its extremely high melting point, would melt within seconds upon exposure to the technique.]

[In your twentieth year, you placed a piece of first-order foreign metal under the Li Fire to scorch, and within mere tens of seconds, the first-order foreign metal was melted into juice.]

[You understood that by then, your mastery over the Li Fire Technique had finally reached the small success realm.]

[In the twenty-first year, the end of the world had not yet come, and the great beasts had still not descended, but the situation at Demon-Subduing Pass had grown increasingly dire.]

[Over the years, facing the endless onslaught of Demonic Beasts, tens of thousands of Grandmaster Level professionals at the Demon-Subduing Pass had died, and a great many of Heavenly King Level powerhouses had also fallen. You realized that the Human Race would not be able to hold out much longer.]

[You decided to make the most of the last of the time and make an attempt.]

[In the twenty-second year, you started crafting Soul Condensing Pills, and because you had achieved small success in mastering the Li Fire Technique, making mid-grade elixirs was no longer as difficult as before.]

[It took you a year to craft hundreds of batches of Soul Condensing Pills. Among them, nearly a hundred were successful pills, with only a few dozen being of inferior quality. You understood that you had finally grasped the basics of crafting the Soul Condensing Pills.]

[After consuming a few normal quality Soul Condensing Pills, your Divine Sense surged by ten feet within a matter of days. You marveled at the potency of the Soul Condensing Pills, the only pity being that the effect of such pills would gradually diminish after frequent use, and one's Divine Sense could not grow indefinitely.]

[In the twenty-third year, several immensely powerful foreign beasts banded together and launched an attack on Demon-Subduing Pass, causing devastating losses overnight. Hundreds of thousands of your kin were killed, and Demon-Subduing Pass fell within a single day, with only a few Martial Emperor Level survivors escaping from certain death.]

[With the fall of the Demon-Subduing Pass, you realized the annihilation of the Human Race was just a matter of days away. Therefore, you prepared to begin consuming the Origin Martial Pill, attempting to ascend to the Origin Martial Realm.]

[You had already reached the peak of the Organ Refining Realm twenty years ago, but you have been busy with alchemy and improving your Li Fire Technique over the years and somewhat neglected the enhancement of your physical strength, uncertain if you could successfully ascend to the Origin Martial Realm, feeling less than confident in your heart.]

[You took out a slightly weaker Origin Martial Pill and after hesitating for a moment, you consumed it.]

[Once the Origin Martial Pill entered your stomach, it created a warm current within your body, constantly releasing energy, nourishing your flesh. You felt your body becoming increasingly stronger, as if about to break through a certain limit, which brought you a surprise joy in your heart.]

[Just as you thought you were finally going to break through to the Origin Martial Realm, the warm current inside you suddenly became unstable, and the energy expanded violently. The immense energy was too much for your flesh to endure, and a familiar premonition rose in your heart.]

[Your body began to heat up to an unbearable degree, turning red as blood started flowing from your seven orifices. Accompanied by a loud noise, your body burst into a mass of blood and flesh in mid-air.]

[Ding, you have died!]

[Your talent 'Die Hard' activated, and your eyeballs stared blankly at the blood and flesh scattered on the ground.]

[Ding, this simulation has ended!]

Su Xing, seeing all this, felt terrible and furiously complained:

"Damn it, again? Is there no end to this... As an alchemist, I'm freaking killed by the elixirs that I made myself?"]

["Is this 'first in letters, three years without success; then in martial arts, failed during the drill and got kicked out; finally in medicine, achieved a bit, concocted a good recipe, took it, and ended up dead' all over again?"]

Su Xing's forehead was lined with black marks as he had originally been somewhat confident in breaking through to the Origin Martial Realm, especially since this time he was bolstered by the dual talents of Innate Divine Strength and Big Stomach King, his physical strength surely far stronger than an average Body Cultivation cultivator. So why did he still explode from within and die?

["So, is the gap in physical strength between the Origin Martial Realm and the Organ Refining Realm really that big? Origin Martial Pills are meant to boost the cultivation level of cultivators in the Origin Martial Realm, so is it too much for someone in the Organ Refining Realm to handle?"]

After pondering for a while, Su Xing muttered to himself:

["Now, with the spiritual energy in the blessed lands insufficient, it's unlikely that I could break through to the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Stage or even the Divinity Transformation Stage in a short time... To keep getting stronger, enhancing divine sense and Body Refinement cultivation level is the only choice."]

["Just because I died from taking an Origin Martial Pill this time, doesn't mean I will die every time... After all, I spent too much time on the Li Fire Technique in this simulation. Given the Big Stomach King talent, perhaps I could enhance my physical strength even further in the next simulation?"]

Lost in thought, Su Xing knew that the combat abilities of Body Refinement Cultivation were indeed three times stronger than those of Qi Refinement.]

["The time of the world apocalypse extended by another three years in this simulation, which is quite a nice surprise. With this, each simulation gives me over twenty years to cultivate, effectively doubling my efficiency..."]

["The reason for being able to push back the arrival of the giant beasts by three years, other than the increased strength of the human race, might also have something to do with eradicating the Descending Sect. After all, the Descending Sect is like the claws of the Foreign Race. By eradicating it, we indirectly weaken the Foreign Race's influence on the real world."]

Su Xing summarized this simulation in hopes of doing better in the next ones.]

["Lastly, exploring the Cultivation-related instances also needs to be scheduled. Maybe after I break through to the Origin Martial Realm, I can give it a try."]

After triple-checking that he hadn't missed anything, Su Xing turned his attention to the awards for this simulation.

[Gluttonous King]: Blue talent, priced at 100,000 energy points.

[Great Perfection of the Organ Refining Realm]: Body Refinement Cultivation Level, 100,000 energy points.

[Twenty-Three Years of Alchemy Experience]: Alchemy insights, including the lesser Origin Martial Pill (Minor Achievement), priced at 500,000 energy.

[Divine Sense Eighty Zhang (Five Senses Realm)]: In this realm, Divine Sense is like the five senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and touch, capable of perceiving every rustle of wind and blade of grass within eighty zhang, priced at 300,000 simulation energy.

[Li Fire Technique (Minor Achievement)]: A Divine Skill created by powerful beings after observing the mythical creature Vermilion Bird, it can be gentle or fierce. With its ability to boil oceans and its usefulness in Alchemy, it is a rare and coveted Divine Skill in the Cultivation World. Insights at the Minor Achievement level, priced at 1,000,000 energy points.

Seeing the rewards, Su Xing fell into thought.

"There's no doubt that I must choose the Gluttonous King talent, after all, it essentially means increasing the limit of my physical body's potential, truly a rare talent."

"As for the alchemy experience and the Li Fire Technique at Minor Achievement level..."

Without much hesitation, Su Xing silently resolved:

"I choose the Gluttonous King talent and Li Fire Technique at Minor Achievement level!"

Ultimately, it was a matter of cost. It had taken Su Xing nearly twenty years to barely reach the Minor Achievement with the Li Fire Technique. If he didn't choose it this time, time would be wasted next simulation on this again, so it was better to choose it directly.

Moreover, with the Li Fire Technique at Minor Achievement, Su Xing would find learning new elixirs much easier.

A prompt from the simulator sounded in Su Xing's ear.

[Your talent slots are full. You can spend 10,000 simulation energy to expand one additional talent slot, or replace a specific talent by spending 100,000 energy!]

What the hell, expanding a talent slot costs just 10,000 energy, but specific replacement requires 100,000? Isn't this an obvious choice?

Su Xing rolled his eyes and murmured:

"I choose to expand an additional talent slot!"

[Congratulations on obtaining an additional talent slot, spending 10,000 points of energy, leaving 1,491,888 points of simulation energy.]

[You have chosen to take the Blue talent Gluttonous King, spending 100,000 points of energy, leaving 1,391,888 points of energy.]

[You have chosen to take the Li Fire Technique (Minor Achievement), spending 1,000,000 points of energy, leaving 391,888 points of energy.]

As the prompt sounded in Su Xing's ears, two strands of profound energy entered Su Xing's body.

First, Su Xing felt many memories of cultivating the Li Fire Technique surfacing in his mind, those were scenes from the past twenty years in the simulation, where he diligently cultivated the Li Fire Technique day after day.

After digesting the memories, Su Xing felt some mysterious changes occurring in his Li Fire Technique.

With a thought, a palm-sized flame appeared in Su Xing's hand. Compared to the previous pale red Li Fire, the Minor Achievement level Li Fire Technique seemed much more profound and vivid, with an intense heat emanating from the fire.

Su Xing took out a piece of blue-quality equipment from his storage ring. Such equipment was sturdy, and not easily destroyed even by those of the Gold Level professions.

With a thought, the Li Fire touched the blue equipment, and in just a few seconds, the blue-quality chest plate melted into liquid.

"Hiss, the power of this Li Fire is even greater than I imagined..."

An excited Su Xing thought if he were to use the Li Fire as an offensive method, even those at Master Level would likely be instantly killed, and even cultivators at Grandmaster Level couldn't withstand it with their flesh bodies.

"Tsk tsk, finally, I have some decent offensive techniques!"

Su Xing felt excitement. Although the Li Fire Technique wasn't quite a Divine Skill yet, it certainly counted as a powerful attacking method. If measured against a cultivator's skills, it would surely be at least an S-Level skill, right?

With the Li Fire Technique in hand, Su Xing, who was just entering the Nascent Soul Stage, could be considered invincible among those at the Grandmaster Level. If his Body Refinement Cultivation Level were to rise to the Origin Martial Realm as well, then even ordinary cultivators at the Heavenly King Level might not be his match, despite the great gap between Grandmaster and Heavenly King Levels.

"This blue equipment shouldn't be wasted; it's all energy!"

Su Xing muttered to himself. Adhering to the principle of never wasting and being thrifty, he absorbed the melted blue equipment into energy, adding four hundred points of simulation energy.

Su Xing, looking at the Li Fire in his palm, tried to touch the flame with his other hand. His fingertips felt a gentle warmth, with no pain at all.

"Tsk tsk, such a miraculous flame. Despite its immense power, it does no harm to its master."

Su Xing sighed, playing with the Li Fire like a kid with a new toy, and reluctantly put it away after a while.

"However, this Li Fire at Minor Achievement really does consume a lot of spiritual energy. In just half an hour, I've used up one-tenth of my spiritual energy... and that's without unleashing the full power of the Li Fire Technique. If I were to release it at full strength, the spiritual energy consumption would probably be unsustainable!"

Su Xing reflected thoughtfully. If it were an ordinary spell, he might be able to use it all day without exhausting his spiritual power, but the Li Fire Technique had an extraordinary origin and tremendous power, so naturally, it consumed more energy.

"But it's worth it. With the Li Fire Technique, not only can I defend myself, in the simulation, I can also concoct higher-level elixirs."

Only then did Su Xing realize he was hungry, his stomach protesting continuously.

"Tsk tsk, this Gluttonous King really is a talent for a foodie! If it weren't for the few acres of land I have at home, I really couldn't afford to eat!"