Cherish Life, Stay Away From Xuan Zi, A Top Student of the Holy Spirit Cult.

After absorbing his first thousand-year spirit ring, Su Chen did not rest, immediately initiating hunting mode.

Soon, with the help of Epitaph, he locked onto a tricky target.

A Dark Demon Tiger with a cultivation of approximately six thousand years!

The Dark Demon Tiger is a top-tier predator in the world of spirit beasts, possessing the devouring attribute.

Don't let its mere six-thousand-year cultivation fool you; if a real fight broke out, ordinary ten-thousand-year spirit beasts would be pinned to the ground and thrashed by it.

"Let's use you to test my blade."

Su Chen began to itch for a fight, his right hand gripping the air as a cross-shaped longsword radiating the deathly aura of the netherworld manifested out of thin air.

First Martial Soul—Pluto Sword!

Beneath his feet, a dazzling purple spirit ring rose up.

"Innate Domain—Underworld Rebirth!"

Su Chen let out a low shout, and the surrounding light instantly dimmed as a sinister wind howled.

Crack! Crack!

The earth split open, and twelve skeleton soldiers clad in bone armor and wielding bone blades crawled out.

Within the domain, their strength was perfectly synchronized with Su Chen!

This was a one-sided brawl with no suspense.

Although the Dark Demon Tiger was fierce, under the siege of twelve skeleton soldiers who felt no pain and knew no fatigue, combined with the predictive movements from Epitaph, the Dark Demon Tiger couldn't even touch the hem of Su Chen's clothes.

In the end, this jungle overlord collapsed in despair, tearfully dropping a deep purple spirit ring.

One hour later.

After the absorption was complete, your spirit power soared to level 25.

Looking at the two purple spirit rings beneath his feet, Su Chen frowned, feeling dissatisfied.

"Still too weak."

The Pluto Sword craved blood, and you craved power.

Consequently, Su Chen made a decision.

He headed toward the depths of the Sunset Forest, intending to cosplay as the Ghost Demon Venerable and treat the spirit beasts in the Sunset Forest as an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Although the Sunset Forest had been slaughtered by Tang San ten thousand years ago, ten thousand years had passed, and the number of spirit beasts in the Sunset Forest had only grown, not shrunk. Furthermore, Su Chen knew of an excellent spirit beast respawn point!

The spirit beasts there were not only high in age but also not particularly strong, perfectly fitting his plan.

Time flew by, and the slaughter never ceased.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

This past year, Su Chen had truly eaten his fill!

Counting it up, Su Chen was exactly eight years old this year. When he walked out of the forest, his spirit power had already reached an astonishing level 33 Spirit Elder!

What was even more terrifying was his spirit ring configuration.

Black! Black! Black!

Three uniform ten-thousand-year spirit rings radiated a suffocating pressure!

This configuration, which defied common sense, was all thanks to the Holy Spirit Cult.

In his first simulation, Su Chen had obtained a secret technique from Ye Xishui to increase the age of spirit rings.

Combined with the Pluto Sword's characteristic of devouring life to nourish its wielder, Su Chen had relied on a path of slaughter to "feed" his original purple spirit rings until they all became ten-thousand-year rings!

At 8 years old, three rings, all ten-thousand-year.

"Tsk tsk tsk, if those old antiques at Shrek saw my current spirit ring configuration, I bet they'd blow a fuse on the spot, right?"

Su Chen looked at his spirit ring configuration and couldn't help but smile.

"Given Shrek's 'those who are not of our race must have a different heart' mentality, I'm afraid they'd immediately slap a 'Evil Spirit Master' label on me and then, under the banner of 'acting on behalf of heaven,' nip me in the bud."

Of course, Su Chen had never thought about joining Shrek.

From the moment he awakened the Pluto Sword, you were destined to stand on the opposite side of Shrek.

The Pluto Sword is the supreme divine artifact that governs death and slaughter!

In the eyes of Shrek, which prides itself on "justice and light," this extreme darkness attribute is original sin, a filth that must be purified.

Those with different paths cannot make plans together.

Moreover, you hold deep psychological trauma regarding Shrek, especially that "Chicken Leg Douluo," Xuan Zi.

Recalling the painful experience from his first simulation, Su Chen still felt a toothache.

That old guy who only knew how to gnaw on chicken legs and was guaranteed to drop the ball at critical moments!

If he led the team, the group would be wiped out; if he was the guardian, he would go missing!

If the Pluto Sword hadn't erupted to protect its master at the last moment, you would have been screwed over by Xuan Zi until not even your ashes remained.

"Cherish your life, stay away from Xuan Zi."

Su Chen couldn't help but complain.

"Following Du Busi might be a bit crazy, but at least he truly protects his own and gets things done reliably.

Following Xuan Zi? Heh, that's gambling with your life!"

Leaving the Sunset Forest, Su Chen returned to the bustling Tiantou City.

The first order of business: make money.

After all, literature is for the poor and martial arts for the rich; cultivation requires resources.

Su Chen handled the spoils he had hunted in the Sunset Forest over the past year with practiced ease, then casually tossed a thousand-year spirit bone into the auction house.

In an era where spirit bones were scarce, this "chicken rib" instantly caused a sensation, earning Su Chen an astronomical sum of startup capital.

Afterward, Su Chen booked a presidential suite at the most luxurious hotel in Tiantou City to settle in temporarily.

He was waiting.

Calculating the dates, the Body Sect would hold a wide recruitment drive for spirit masters with Body Martial Souls every so often.

When that time came, Su Chen could head over right on cue.

Of course, more often than not, the Body Sect would personally seek out spirit masters with Body Martial Souls.

After all, the number of people who awakened Body Martial Souls was limited, and "wild" Body Martial Soul masters were even rarer than a one-in-a-hundred occurrence.

Although he was already the Young Sect Master in the simulator, he still had to go through the motions in reality.

With his current talent as a twin martial soul (Body + King Crimson) user, joining the Body Sect? That would be as easy as pie.

The next day, early morning.

The sun was bright, and Su Chen went out for a walk as usual, taking the opportunity to observe the local customs of Tiantou City.

However, as he passed through a quiet, ancient alley, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

Not far ahead, a gentle and moving figure was walking slowly.

A white dress as pure as snow, with a temperament like an orchid.

The eldest senior sister of the Shrek inner court, the future Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion—Zhang Lexuan?!

Su Chen instinctively concealed his aura.

He saw that Zhang Lexuan had not noticed him; she walked straight into the depths of the alley and finally stopped in front of an ancient locust tree.

She stood there quietly, looking at the tree, her beautiful eyes filled with a trace of confusion and sorrow, remaining silent for a long time.

Su Chen's heart stirred.

That tree... in one of the cycles within the simulator, it seemed to be the place where he (as her younger brother) was buried?

At this moment, Zhang Lexuan's heart was already churning with turbulent waves.

More than a year ago, a strange memory had inexplicably appeared in her mind.

In that memory world, she had a younger brother whom she had relied on since childhood.

That younger brother was sensible and gifted, but in order to protect her, he had ultimately died tragically at the hands of a spirit beast.

At first, she thought it was just a hallucination caused by over-cultivation or the work of a heart demon.

Until three months ago...

The scene from the memory had actually bled into reality!

When she was hunting for her eighth spirit ring, a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast had appeared in the outer area without warning, and Elder Xuan, who should have been protecting her, happened to be absent because he was "gluttonous"!

This scene was exactly the same as the plot where she encountered danger in that memory!

Fortunately, because of the warning from that memory, she had kept her guard up and secretly asked Elder Song to follow her, which was how she escaped unscathed.

"If that memory is real..."

Zhang Lexuan stroked the rough tree trunk, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"Then, my brother... where is he?"