Wu Sheng felt utterly frustrated. He'd gone all in with the 100 Cosmic Crystals from the basic reward, only to unlock a notification feature.
And the very first thing it notified him of was that his balance was too low.
He needed another trillion Cosmic Crystals to activate the Time-Space Shop early. That was the equivalent of one Hunyuan Unit in Human Territory!
Who did it think he was, Luo Feng?
Even Luo Feng hadn't gotten that many Cosmic Crystals all at once when he first reached Star Grade! Even his dead, bargain-bin teacher, Hu Yanbo, had only given him access to his bank account in installments.
The first bank account had held just 10 billion Ganwu Coins, and he couldn't withdraw them until he reached Star Grade.
And now it wanted him to get one Hunyuan Unit's worth of Cosmic Crystals for it to Devour? And all just to activate it?
He could have spat blood!
Wu Sheng felt like he'd have been better off without the Time-Space Shop. Then he could at least have ignored it and spared himself the aggravation.
But now... sigh. Where to even begin?
"What a rip-off. I paid just to make myself miserable!"
Wu Sheng, who stood less than a meter and a half tall, simply lay down on the floor, hands behind his head and legs crossed, staring at the trial room's ceiling as he sank into thought.
The Primordial Universe Will probably wouldn't lie. The Time-Space Shop must contain plenty of useful secret arts and treasures, perhaps even Innate Secret Arts and Supreme Treasures.
By that reasoning, spending one Hunyuan Unit's worth of Cosmic Crystals to activate the Time-Space Shop wouldn't be a loss. It might even be a fantastic deal.
The problem was, the earlier he activated the Time-Space Shop, the better the discount... What a dilemma.
With how weak he was right now, where was he supposed to find that many Cosmic Crystals?
If he waited until he became a Realm Lord, the shop might open automatically, but it wouldn't do him much good by then.
By the time he became a Realm Lord, his body's height, Life Gene, and Inner World would all be set in stone. Unless he found another heaven-defying secret art like the Nine Calamities Secret Codex, one that defied the laws governing the universe, he'd be stuck as an ordinary Special Lifeform for the rest of his life.
But Wu Sheng wasn't sure he could find one. Besides, he already had an advantage right in front of him. Why go searching farther afield?
"Cosmic Crystals. I need a mountain of Cosmic Crystals. All I can do now is hope to get a huge haul in the Trial Ground and use it to activate the Time-Space Shop."
Red light flashed in Wu Sheng's eyes. In the end, he decided to take a chance and see whether the Trial Ground held any extra rewards.
If he remembered correctly, before he'd entered the trial room, quite a few people had been discussing their trial arena. It had something to do with a huge wager.
Clearly, something unexpected had happened in the Blood Trial he was in.
Under normal circumstances, each of the 100 survivors in a Blood Trial would get only 10,000 Cosmic Crystals.
But now, who could say?
"Those Prison Clan higher-ups probably know that the million of us in the trial won't just pair off and fight each other until exactly 100 people are left, then stop. This is a real fight in the real world, not the Virtual Universe. Everyone only gets one life. To save their own skin, some might resort to other, less savory methods."
At that thought, Wu Sheng smiled smugly, then sat back up and began studying the secret arts he'd just obtained.
He had three secret arts related to the soul: Soul Thorn, Ninefold Heavenly Splendor, and Mind Confusion.
There was Shadow Kill, the control technique for the Primal Force weapon Green Shadow, and Dragon Force, the control technique for the Telekinetic Weapon Wind Dragon.
Of the five secret arts, Wu Sheng valued Mind Confusion, a soul illusion technique, the most.
That was because his Innate Secret Art, Soul Devour, let him absorb others' pure soul power to strengthen his will.
As for his willpower, he was already at Planetary Level Peak. That would greatly amplify the effects of Mind Confusion.
But whenever Wu Sheng thought of the side effects of using Soul Devour, he couldn't help shaking his head with a wry smile.
"Sigh. For now, I should focus on getting stronger. Besides studying the secret arts, I still have Wood Bud Crystals and Wind Chime Fruits to use. The Wind Chime Fruit especially will help my Inner World a great deal. In that regard, it's every bit as good as Cosmic Crystals."
As he thought this, Wu Sheng took a palm-sized wooden box from his Space Ring. When he opened it, he saw a green fruit shaped like a little bell inside.
The fruit was only about the size of a lychee. From time to time, streaks of blue-gold secret markings lit up across its surface, making it look mysterious.
A slight shake produced a faint rustling sound, and there was a strange magic to it. Anyone who heard it felt as if they'd been enchanted, growing drowsy.
"Tsk, tsk. It really does contain a dense concentration of wind energy. It's a bit too specialized, not as well-rounded as Cosmic Crystals, but it's enough for someone like me, who cultivates the Wind Source Law."
Wu Sheng gazed at the tiny green fruit and sighed in admiration.
That was what had given him the confidence to go all in with those 100 Cosmic Crystals. Cosmic Crystals were incredibly potent and suitable for all lifeforms, but he also had Wind Chime Fruits and Wood Bud Crystals as backups.
Used together, the two might still be less effective than Cosmic Crystals, but their quantity could make up for some of the difference.
Besides, since he needed to activate the Time-Space Shop, there was no rush for him to break through to Star Grade. These treasures would suffice for now.
Wu Sheng gently blew on the green fruit. A streak of green light flowed out and enveloped it.
The moment the fruit touched the green light, it melted like snow under a blazing fire, becoming a mass of blue-gold energy.
Wu Sheng then sucked in sharply. The green light carried the blue-gold energy back into his mouth, and he tried to direct his Primal Force to refine it.
This was a sealed, hazy-green space only fifty kilometers in diameter. Inside it, a massive, deep-green tornado five kilometers tall drifted back and forth.
It seemed to be the master of this space. The pale-green energy in its path was either pulled effortlessly into it or fled far away.
Above the tornado, at the eye of the storm, were five tiny, blood-red planets. One was slightly larger and sat at the very center. The other four revolved slowly around it.
This was Wu Sheng's Inner World. The enormous tornado was his Primal Force core, while the five blood-red planets were where his soul resided.
Whoosh!
A streak of blue-gold energy suddenly appeared above the giant tornado. It passed through the five tiny planets, plunged straight into the enormous eye of the storm, and vanished.
It was as if a Wind Dragon had swallowed it whole, without causing the slightest ripple.
The giant tornado continued to drift aimlessly through the Inner World. Only at its eye did flecks of blue-gold light occasionally flicker.