Virtual Universe

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed quietly. For a practitioner, time is always this swift and serene.

If one is content with the status quo within human territory and does not covet higher realms, even a Universe Level powerhouse can enjoy a lifespan of up to 100,000 years, enough to live out a life in peace and stability.

The history of human civilization is a mere three thousand years; a span of 100,000 years is enough to hold countless epic and moving lives, yet in the eyes of a practitioner, it is but a "fleeting" existence.

Over these past six months, Tang Ping and Luo Xiaoyu have both seen significant improvements in their strength through mutual encouragement and competition. Tang Ping's personal attribute panel has been updated once more:

Realm: Planetary Level 5 (200/1000)

Will: Planetary Level 6 (600/1000)

Lifespan: 22/5000

Laws: Wind Domain (7777/10000), Thunder Domain (7777/10000)

Secret Technique: Wind-Thunder Secret Canon (1788/10000000)

Not only has his realm broken through to Planetary Level 5, but both his Wind and Thunder domains are on the verge of advancing to the second level, bringing him one step closer to "Domain Mastery."

What he finds even more unforgettable is that he celebrated his 22nd birthday a few days ago. On that day, Luo Xiaoyu uncharacteristically shed her usual competitive and cold demeanor, becoming exceptionally accommodating.

There was no intense "sparring," only the warmth of being alone together. She let Tang Ping take the lead, allowing him to fully experience what it felt like to be a "real man." She was compliant and gentle, making his heart tremble.

But after his birthday, it was as if Luo Xiaoyu had pressed a "seclusion shortcut key," locking herself back in the Training Room. No matter how much Tang Ping knocked or teased, she refused to come out.

Once, she even had a maid pass on a message telling Tang Ping to "go find your own fun and stop bothering her while she pushes for the mid-stage of Star Rank." These words left Tang Ping completely deflated.

He had originally thought his birthday would ease their "cultivation competition," but he hadn't expected it to make her even more driven, leaving him feeling like the "extra person."

After training alone for another half-month, Tang Ping finally couldn't take it anymore.

Today, he sat listlessly on a meditation cushion in the Virtual Universe, gazing at the empty training room before him, and for the first time, he understood the mindset of those "slacker descendants" of the Luo Family.

Even though the family could provide ample cultivation resources, they simply refused to endure hardship and only wanted to enjoy life.

It turns out that the nature of most living beings is, after all, lazy. Lying on a soft sofa drinking spirit-plant tea is far more comfortable than having one's body broken by mechs in a training room.

Tang Ping smiled self-deprecatingly. Perhaps his greatest strength was his decent talent, which allowed him to clearly feel the progress of every cultivation session, and that was what had sustained him until now.

But on second thought, if those who don't work hard can enjoy life so easily, why shouldn't he, who gives his all to cultivation, be allowed to relax?

Having realized this, Tang Ping no longer hesitated.

Ever since he connected to the Virtual Universe, his range of activity had been limited to either the training room or scenes related to cultivation. For a full year and a half, he had never truly stepped into the "outside world" of the Virtual Universe.

Today, he was going to properly explore this legendary "second reality."

With a thought, the scene shifted instantly.

The next second, Tang Ping was standing on an antique-style street. Beneath his feet were large, neatly cut slabs of green rock, with tiny moss growing in the gaps, emitting a faint, damp scent.

On both sides of the street were low stone houses with roofs covered in dark gray tiles. The window lattices were carved with intricate interstellar patterns, possessing both a primitive sense of weight and a touch of technological refinement.

The street was bustling with an endless stream of pedestrians, though their appearances were bizarre: there were Rock Race members three meters tall with cyan-purple skin, Winged Race members with slender figures and transparent wings on their backs, and Snake Race members covered in fine scales with vertical pupils...

Strangely, regardless of their race, most wore simple gray clothing, and on everyone's shoulder sat a palm-sized "sprite"—some looked like kittens, others like small birds, and some were just floating points of light.

Tang Ping looked down at his own shoulder, where a fist-sized yellow kitten sat, its fur soft and its eyes a pale blue.

This was his intelligent assistant, which he had named "Xiao Ai." Because he hadn't been willing to spend money on upgrades, Xiao Ai only had basic voice interaction functions, and even its appearance could only be kept in the default kitten form. Compared to the glowing, talking "sprites" of others, it looked exceptionally plain.

He then remembered that all members of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire who connected to the Virtual Universe network would default to appearing on "Black Dragon Mountain Island."

Although it was called an "island," the Black Dragon Mountain star region governed over eight thousand star systems, and countless humans and aliens from various planets connected here through terminals, making the area of this virtual island vaster than any planet in the real universe.

Walking along the street, Tang Ping's eyes widened more and more. This was truly a "paradise of desire": in the shops along the street, there were "virtual game pods" that allowed people to experience different lives, with signs at the entrances looping trailers for scenarios like "Tribulation Transcendence in the Cultivation World" or "Starcraft."

There were also "food streets" wafting with tempting aromas—spirit-plant grilled meat, interstellar seafood, and genetic medicinal meals were all available; just looking at the pictures made one drool.

There were even "boutique shops" filled with gorgeous clothing, pet eggs, and mount models. The golden wings and unicorn beast models in the display windows drew passersby to stop frequently.

He also saw "dueling platforms" at the street corners, where two practitioners were fighting intensely, with the cheers of the audience rising and falling; in the nearby "trading market," some were peddling cultivation techniques and rare ores, while others were auctioning "virtual identity cards," which were said to grant special permissions in specific scenarios.

There were even rumors that some people treated virtual games as their real lives, getting married, having children, and building factions within them, playing for hundreds or even thousands of years.

But soon, Tang Ping discovered a "cruel" fact: almost everything here required money.

Even just the "data traffic fee" to maintain his virtual avatar was barely covered by the settlement from the faction that provided his Luo Family-customized helmet, but the prices of other things left him dumbfounded.

A "sacred outfit" with wings and a halo was priced at several hundred million Black Dragon Coins, and it only had a one-hundred-year validity period, limited to use only on Black Dragon Mountain Island.

An "intelligent pet" that could speak multiple languages and assist in cultivation required a down payment of ten million Black Dragon Coins, with monthly fees thereafter; even the "virtual candied haws" sold by street vendors cost 10 Silver Blue Coins per skewer.

Even more absurdly, he saw in an "effects shop" that one could actually purchase special effects like "mental pressure" or "Law of Heaven and Earth."

As long as one spent money, even a Planetary Level could release the pressure effects of a Star Rank, or transform into a hundred-meter-tall giant. But these effects not only had realm restrictions, they were also shockingly expensive, and they were "pay-per-use"—a single Universe Level "Law of Heaven and Earth" cost 50 million Black Dragon Coins.

"Good grief, this Virtual Universe Company really knows how to make money!" Tang Ping couldn't help but exclaim. Just thinking about the scale of users in the Black Dragon Mountain star region, multiplied by everyone's consumption, he could imagine how terrifying the wealth of the Virtual Universe Company was.

It was no wonder that during the Genius Tournament, the prize money given to those geniuses was often the net worth of an ordinary Immortal powerhouse; it turned out they simply weren't lacking that bit of money.

To them, ordinary money was probably just a number.

Envy aside, Tang Ping touched his account balance and felt a bit helpless. Although he was now considered to have a small amount of assets, in this Virtual Universe, he was at most "just enough to get by."

However, looking at the bustling scene on the street, his mood gradually improved. Even if he couldn't afford expensive effects and clothing, strolling through this novel world was much more interesting than cultivating alone in the training room.

He decided that from now on, he would come out for four hours every three days, just to relax.