After finding a safe and effective way to train his will in the Ice Cold Deep Cave, Tang Ping finally let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
In the past, he'd always relied on extreme methods to strengthen his will, recklessly driving his secret techniques until his body was pushed past its limits. They seemed to work quickly, but concealed serious dangers.
He'd gotten used to doing this in the virtual world, where he could afford to be reckless because he could revive. But if he did it instinctively in the real world when faced with danger, his body might collapse outright, leaving him no chance to regret it.
Besides, as his physical strength improved and the power of his fused domains grew, relying on secret techniques to fight beyond his limits was no longer realistic.
Secret techniques were meant for fighting others, not hurting himself. He couldn't keep doing something as stupid as "inflicting a thousand casualties on the enemy at the cost of eight hundred of his own."
The Wind-Thunder Secret Canon did contain a few forbidden techniques for desperate situations, and he'd taken the time to practice them in case of emergencies. But most of them caused irreversible damage, so he couldn't use them lightly unless he had no other choice.
Now that he had the Ice Cold Deep Cave, a "natural furnace for tempering the will," his cultivation had finally entered a healthy rhythm. He no longer needed to risk his life just to make progress.
With his worries behind him, Tang Ping immediately got down to business: spending money to improve his strength!
The one billion Black Dragon Coins had arrived. Without even blinking, he logged into the Rare Treasure Shop in the Virtual Universe and placed an order for half of the "One-Year Crash Course to Planetary Level Peak, Package B."
He was already a Level Five Planetary Rank Spirit Reader, and this package was perfectly suited to his current level. It saved him the trouble of picking out resources and putting together a cultivation plan himself.
Next, he ordered a "Ten-Year Package C: From Star Rank Beginner to Peak" for Luo Xiaoyu. This package focused more on building a solid foundation and progressing step by step, making it a perfect fit for Luo Xiaoyu's steady cultivation style.
The two packages cost five hundred million Black Dragon Coins in total. Tang Ping cheerfully paid a deposit of one hundred million and chose "cash on delivery" for the rest, arranging for deliveries every three months.
After all, many resources in these high-level cultivation packages were liquid medicines packed with pure energy or active ores. They were highly perishable. Having them all delivered at once would make them difficult to store and risk wasting energy as it dissipated. Delivery in batches was the safest option.
After spending five hundred million, he had five hundred million left.
Tang Ping stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. Then he opened the Universe Financial Platform and boldly put all the remaining money into stocks in Galaxy Liquor and Galaxy Tea.
The moment he placed the orders, the Smart Assistant on his Personal Terminal popped up a warning: [You are investing a large amount of money at once. We recommend investing rationally, diversifying your portfolio, and preparing a risk-hedging plan...]
Tang Ping glanced at the warning and couldn't help sneering.
Rational investing? Hedging risks? He only knew how to go all in!
Win, and he'd get a pretty model. Lose, and he'd be working on a construction site!
Once he'd finished allocating his wealth, Tang Ping took out his Personal Terminal and quickly drew up a detailed cultivation schedule. As long as nothing unexpected happened, he'd stick to it:
For the first three days: Alternate every half day between Planetary Rank Spirit Reader attack techniques and flight techniques, mastering the basic skills until they came naturally;
Every three days: Use the resources from the "Planetary Level Peak Package B" to steadily improve his level. That was a restriction of the package; anyone below S-class had to wait three days between uses, and there was no way to speed it up;
After one week: First, find Luo Xiaoyu to "discuss" practical spear techniques in depth and share cultivation insights. Then enter the Ice Cold Deep Cave to temper his will, starting with one day and gradually increasing the duration, while venturing deeper into the cave;
Daily practice: Continue refining his attack techniques between cultivation sessions, balancing real combat with hard training;
Monthly tasks: Submit a mining report for the BX10081 Star System to his family, and a mining report for Lost City to the guild president.
These reports weren't just for show.
The family and the guild only came to collect the ore once a year, and their backend systems could automatically track production. But proactively submitting a report meant something entirely different.
It let them see that even in a remote, godforsaken place like Lost City, one of their family members or guild members was quietly working hard—how much he'd done, how much pressure he'd borne, and what he'd accomplished.
Tang Ping knew this principle well. In his previous life, he'd become a technical supervisor at a young age because of it. Wherever you worked, just keeping your head down and doing the job wasn't enough. You had to make sure the "boss" knew how much you'd done.
Besides, with AI assistance, writing a report only took a few minutes.
Once he'd finished drawing up the schedule, Tang Ping began his unrelenting training.
Every now and then, after spending a week in seclusion, he'd go to see Luo Xiaoyu. His wife would sometimes be a little unhappy because she'd been engrossed in her cultivation.
At times like that, Tang Ping would activate his Wind Domain and Thunder Domain together, showing off his progress during their sparring. He'd let his strength speak for itself and show her what "might that awed the world" and "a genius's rate of growth" meant. Then, with a few sweet words and some action to back them up, he'd cheer his wife right up, until she was laughing so hard she was crying.
Hmph, that was what it meant to be a man!
The stronger you are, the sweeter your voice sounds! — Master of Music Beethoven
Time flew by, and before he knew it, half a year had passed.
During those six months, Tang Ping followed his schedule to the letter. The resources in the "Planetary Level Peak Package B" worked like a growth accelerator, making his strength soar at a visible pace.
When he opened his personal status panel again, the numbers had changed dramatically:
[Level: Planetary Rank Level Nine (999/1000) → Peak!] [Will: Star Rank Level Two (300/1000)] [Lifespan: 23/5000] [Laws: Wind Domain, Second Layer (1000/10000), Thunder Domain, Second Layer (1000/10000)] [Secret Technique: Wind-Thunder Secret Canon (2100/10000000)]
Planetary Rank Level Nine Peak! He'd even successfully reached the legendary Second-Level Domain!
His basic domain amplification had now reached 40%. In battle, the wind fueled the thunder, and the thunder amplified the wind. The power was more than double what it had been with a First-Level Domain.
The only slight drawback was that the resources had boosted his strength so quickly that his progress in refining his domains hadn't kept up with his advancement in level. He was a little unsteady.
But Tang Ping didn't care in the slightest. He just grinned. A man had to be fast! He'd push his level up first; there'd be plenty of time to refine his domains later.
When he reached Star Rank, he'd have the advantage against Planetary Rank opponents!
Looking at the numbers on the panel, Tang Ping stretched and felt the surging energy within him. His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Planetary Level Peak was only the beginning. Next, he'd make a push for Star Rank!
At this point, Tang Ping had put aside his earlier impatience and become extremely cautious.
To the top geniuses of the universe, Star Rank might have been a minor level they could reach in the blink of an eye. But in the real world, it was already disaster-class strength, capable of deciding the fate of an entire region.
The records from Earth's Great Cataclysm stated that when a Star Rank Alien Race descended, that one being nearly wiped out all the humans in the surrounding region. If top experts hadn't risked their lives to stop it, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Such strength was already a genuine form of "hard currency," even in the vast universe.
You could walk into any interstellar conglomerate or Universe Country and land a job as a security squad captain or planetary security chief. The pay and benefits would be excellent, and you could easily achieve a comfortable life—not to mention build up more wealth than ordinary people could earn in several lifetimes.
But high rewards usually came with high barriers to entry.
Under normal circumstances, among the billions or even hundreds of billions of people across several habitable planets, a Star Rank expert might not appear for centuries.
Tang Ping didn't dare gamble his future on "luck." To make sure his breakthrough went smoothly, he opened the Rare Treasure Pavilion in the Virtual Universe, ready to "spend his way through" the challenge with the safest method available.
His finger scrolled through the breakthrough resources section of the Rare Treasure Pavilion. Everything, from "Star Rank Breakthrough Guiding Fluid" to "Starry Sky Body-Tempering Ore," came with a hefty price tag. As Tang Ping considered how to combine the resources most cost-effectively, a financial notification suddenly appeared on his Personal Terminal, making his eyes light up:
[The annual dividends for the shares you hold in Galaxy Liquor (0.03% stake) and Galaxy Tea (0.02% stake) have been paid. The dividend rate is 10%, and a total of 55.2 million Black Dragon Coins has been transferred to your anonymous account.]
Tang Ping was stunned, then couldn't help laughing out loud.
Damn rich people. They couldn't spend it all, no matter how hard they tried.
Good thing he was one of them now.
Nice!
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