Golden Finger, the Choice Between Ice and Fire

Ten thousand trillion Cosmic Crystals—Wu Sheng never imagined that after scrimping and saving all this time, in the Time-Space Shop it would only count as 1 Contribution Point, barely enough to unlock a standard-level Time-Space Shop.

To open a VIP-level shop, he would need ten thousand trillion Contribution Points (roughly the price of an ordinary Heavy Treasure). And if he broke through each major realm, that cost would multiply tenfold.

In other words, the further he went, the harder it would be to unlock the VIP Time-Space Shop!

If he never opened the VIP Time-Space Shop, he could only buy from the standard shop.

And when he thought about how the value corresponding to his purchases was already locked in, the higher the shop level, the more cost-effective the deals would be!

No wonder the Primordial Universe Will had advised him back then to choose the first agreement.

With that, he could not only start as an overpowered Special Lifeform but also possess a Supreme Treasure, and the Time-Space Shop would give him a fifty percent discount.

Sigh, if only he had known!

But as Wu Sheng continued reading, his mood swung wildly.

The entire Time-Space Shop was generally divided into two major categories: secret techniques (esoteric arts) and treasures.

Secret techniques were further split into three main types: Source Law secret techniques, amplification-type secret techniques, and innate secret techniques.

Among treasures, there was everything from Life Fruits needed by Realm Lords, Spirit Fruits and Spirit Crystals containing fragments of Source Laws, materials for Undying to condense divine bodies, materials for forging weapons, all the way up to Heavy Treasures and Supreme Treasures—the works.

However, in the standard shop, the highest-level secret techniques were at the level of the Universe Master's strongest secret techniques, and the highest Supreme Treasures were ordinary Supreme Treasures (including weapon sets and soul-type items).

In the VIP shop, the highest-level secret techniques were top-tier tenth-level secret techniques, with a few esoteric arts, mostly one or two volumes, and the highest treasures were ordinary True God-level treasures.

In the super shop, there were various esoteric arts, and even Supreme Treasures were either mechanical-flow or extremely special—at the very least, starting at the True God level.

That meant, with Wu Sheng's current purchase discount, if the super VIP Time-Space Shop were unlocked, he could directly exchange for a powerful mechanical-flow treasure for free.

But...

"Damn, damn it all." Wu Sheng exclaimed loudly, but then his face twisted with bitterness.

The more he looked, the more he felt that the first agreement was the best—like being treated as a biological son.

The second agreement was so-so, like an adopted son's treatment.

The third agreement was practically the neighbor's kid, utterly neglected by the Primordial Universe, not even having the authority to open the Time-Space Shop.

"Hmm, no. There's a bug!"

Suddenly, Wu Sheng said joyfully, "If I exchange an ordinary Supreme Treasure from the standard shop—say, a soul-type ordinary Supreme Treasure—and sell it to someone else, wouldn't I get a ton of Cosmic Crystals?"

But as he thought it over, Wu Sheng shook his head again.

The idea was nice, but in reality, it was asking for death!

Such an important Supreme Treasure—even a Universe Overlord might not have one. If he dared to take it out, even dying would be a luxury.

Wu Sheng casually clicked on the description of an ordinary Supreme Treasure.

Purple Nether Pearl, ordinary soul-type Supreme Treasure, excels in soul defense and comes with a certain Soul Illusion amplification, suitable for Universe Overlords and weaker beings.

"Sigh, I can't bear to part with it!"

Looking at the four words "Confirm Exchange" before him, Wu Sheng sighed and shook his head.

If it were really as he imagined—exchanging one ordinary Supreme Treasure to solve the problem of unlocking the VIP shop and the super VIP shop—he could grit his teeth and click confirm.

But the risk was too great, and according to the purchase discount terms, his purchase count was quite limited.

Besides, the further he went, the harder exchanges became. It seemed that if he managed to survive to the end, he'd be lucky to exchange even ten times.

If he wasted one exchange opportunity on an ordinary Supreme Treasure, he might regret it even more later.

"Hmm, secret techniques and esoteric arts can only be used by oneself. Under the influence of the Supreme Rule, they cannot be passed on to others. Treasures exchanged from the Time-Space Shop, starting from the eighth exchange, are restricted from being placed back into the Time-Space Shop as exchange items!"

When Wu Sheng saw that line of golden small print, he immediately smiled.

So the Time-Space Shop had some anti-theft measures!

That made sense—this was a benefit given to reincarnators like him, but it wouldn't let him recklessly milk the Time-Space Shop dry.

"Secret techniques! That reminds me—I don't lack other secret techniques for now, and those require effort to learn, even needing corresponding Source Law insights. But innate secret techniques can be obtained directly, with no need for Source Law comprehension."

"If I can find an innate secret technique that suits me, even using one exchange opportunity, it would be worth it."

Wu Sheng's eyes lit up again.

His purchase count and purchasing power were right in front of him. Exchanging treasures from the standard shop was too much of a loss, but exchanging innate secret techniques was quite good.

"Innate secret technique 'Second Avatar', usable at the Realm Lord stage, can nurture an avatar through the Inner World. Upon becoming a True God, the avatar disappears!"

"Innate secret technique 'Clone Technique', no usage restrictions, but upon becoming a True God, the Clone Technique disappears! During use, up to 72 clones can be summoned simultaneously, but beware of avoiding Soul Attacks. Each clone has limited divine power; the maximum stored divine power per clone is sixty percent of the original body. A clone's dissipation generally has little effect on the original, unless the clone's divine power is completely annihilated. But if the original dies, all clones perish along with it."

"Innate secret technique 'Domain', an escape-type innate secret technique, allows brief integration into space within a range of ten thousand kilometers. If internal energy is insufficient, it cannot be activated!"

"Innate secret technique 'Teleport', an escape-type innate secret technique. Teleport is one of the three major branches of the Space Source Law, so at this stage, the 'Teleport' distance equals that of a normal King-level Undying, at 1 light-year, and carries spatial fluctuations. If energy is insufficient, it cannot be activated!"

"Innate secret technique 'Time Stop'..."

Wu Sheng looked at these innate secret techniques—some familiar, some unfamiliar—all of them life-saving, escape-type techniques.

"There are even evolutionary-type innate secret techniques, tsk tsk!"

Wu Sheng's eyes were truly opened—the records here were astonishingly complete. Even if he couldn't possess them, just taking a look was worthwhile.

"The innate secret technique 'Soul Devour' was originally one of the innate secret techniques of the Soul-Devouring Beast. In its initial stage, it only possessed Soul Attack capabilities and the effect of devouring a small amount of soul power to strengthen itself."

"The second stage is the innate secret technique 'Soul Devour' of the Soul-Devouring Demon Tank. Although the Soul Attack ability disappears, it can convert that pure soul power into dream experiences, indirectly enhancing willpower."

"The third stage belongs to the heaven-defying Special Lifeform 'Devourer' and its innate secret technique 'Soul Devour.' While enhancing willpower within dreams, it can also analyze the law insights within those dreams, and even the Life Gene level (Note: the minimum Life Gene level for analysis targets is Divine Power of Immortality)."

"Holy crap, that's powerful—way too powerful!"

Wu Sheng couldn't stop marveling. For the first time, he felt just how awesome his Soul-Devouring Demon Tank identity was—born with an innate, evolvable secret technique that had already evolved once.

Leaving aside other innate secret techniques, this single second-stage evolved 'Soul Devour,' in terms of raising Life Gene levels, was probably enough to rival the Nether Sea's innate secret technique 'Creation.'

Of course, the two were still vastly different; their only similarity lay in improving Life Gene levels.

As for why the minimum was Divine Power of Immortality, that was actually easy to understand.

At the Immortal stage, the soul (life imprint) would completely merge with the body. Only by devouring and analyzing this kind of soul power could one achieve the effect of analyzing Life Gene levels.

The soul power of Realm Lords and below could at most be used to enhance willpower and analyze law insights.