Self-hypnosis

[Year eight: You broke through to the Foundation Establishment late stage and began traveling to prepare for Core Formation.]

[Year nine: While you were traveling, your sea of consciousness suddenly throbbed violently.

You suddenly remembered that disaster was about to strike the Setting Sun Sect.

Thinking of all the care your master had shown you over the years, you could not bear to let him perish for no reason.

You raced back to Mountain Gate and told Liu Chenyu that you had accidentally discovered that the Ancestor of the Yin Corpse Sect was about to revive, and that the sect might face a terrible calamity.

Liu Chenyu stared hard at you for a long while, then asked how you had learned this news.

Although you had prepared an explanation, under Liu Chenyu's relentless questioning, you ultimately failed to make your story hold together.

Liu Chenyu let out a long sigh and confined you to Flying Stream Peak, forbidding you from taking so much as a step outside.]

[Year ten: Just as you closed your eyes and waited for death, someone suddenly opened the door to the Confinement Room.

After staring at you for a moment, Liu Chenyu suddenly let out a long sigh and told you to leave.

Your heart trembled, and you asked your master to leave with you.

But Liu Chenyu only told you to hurry away.

After agonizing for a long time, you finally bowed deeply to your master and left the Setting Sun Sect.

Barely half a day after you left, the Setting Sun Sect's Mountain Gate was breached.

Seeing the devastation at Mountain Gate, you felt as though your soul had left your body.

As you stood there in a daze, an old man shrouded in sinister yin energy suddenly appeared beside you.

He said, "To think there's still a fish that slipped through the net here," and cut off your head.]

[You died!]

That death was a little unfair...

Xu Changxing had not expected to die this way in this simulation.

He silently resolved never to rashly tell anyone the results of the system's simulations unless he was certain of what he was doing.

Especially anything involving the Yin Corpse Sect-he must not breathe a word of it to anyone.

After all, he had grown up in the Yin Corpse Sect's territory. Rashly speaking of major events involving them could easily arouse other people's suspicions.

However, this simulation also made Xu Changxing realize that his master truly treated him well.

Despite not being certain whether he was a spy for the Yin Corpse Sect, Liu Chenyu had actually let Xu Changxing go ahead of time.

If Xu Changxing had hardened his heart and swiftly fled far away then, he might have lived another few decades in the simulation.

Before his thoughts could wander any further, the system's voice rang out again.

[Simulation complete]

[Evaluation: You sought to defy heaven and change your fate, but lacked the strength to match your ambition. In the end, you were ground to pieces in fate's whirlpool.]

[Based on the simulation results, you may choose one of the following rewards]

[1. View footage of your simulated life from a first-person perspective]

[2. Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivation]

[3. Seven cloud patterns]

Xu Changxing's eyes lit up slightly as he looked at the three options.

As expected, he could inherit the cloud patterns he had condensed in the simulation.

His cultivation level, however, had still been reduced.

He did not know whether it would always work this way, or only when he broke through a major realm.

Still, that was no great problem. Compared with all the various bottlenecks, cultivation levels were actually the easiest thing to obtain.

Without much hesitation, Xu Changxing chose the third option.

As he made his choice, his dantian began changing again.

Patterns resembling rosy clouds condensed within his dantian.

Once all seven cloud patterns had condensed, his dantian had more than doubled in size, while the true essence within it had become several times more condensed.

He snapped his fingers lightly, and three strands of gang qi condensed in his palm.

Each strand was something he had previously needed all his strength to condense.

Now he could condense three at once and still have strength to spare.

Xu Changxing's chest rose and fell slightly as he said, "To think seven cloud patterns could boost my cultivation this much.

"I wonder what changes will happen once I've condensed Nine Cloud Patterns."

The changes these seven cloud patterns brought were even greater than those he had experienced when advancing from the seventh Qi Refining level to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement.

Such an obvious improvement set him imagining what nine cloud patterns might do.

But after thinking for a moment, he furrowed his brow slightly.

He could clearly feel that seven cloud patterns were already his current limit.

The previous simulation had confirmed this as well.

In that simulation, he had tried several times without success before having no choice but to break through to the next realm.

But he had yet to try in reality, so naturally, he was unwilling to enter Foundation Establishment with only seven cloud patterns.

Rather than immediately starting another simulation, however, he began considering viable paths to improvement.

The first thing that came to mind was Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

In the previous simulation, he had already felt a bottleneck after condensing his sixth cloud pattern.

Only with the help of a piece of thunderstruck wood had he managed to condense the seventh.

If he could find Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of better quality, perhaps he could condense an eighth.

But this path was quite difficult. Thunderstruck wood containing Muling spiritual energy was already of extremely high quality. Finding Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of an even higher grade would inevitably be harder still.

Aside from using Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to forcibly condense cloud patterns, he actually had another path available.

That was to continue raising the grade of his spiritual root.

If his wood spiritual root could reach the second or even first grade, continuing to condense cloud patterns would become much easier.

The problem was that the Spring Renewal Art could only raise his wood spiritual root to the fifth grade. His third-grade wood spiritual root had come from a fortuitous encounter.

To improve his spiritual root further, he needed not a cultivation method, but Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of an even higher grade.

And that brought him back to the same problem: Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were difficult to find.

Still, this path was not necessarily without direction.

He had enjoyed a fortuitous encounter in the Secret Realm before. Perhaps he could do so again if he returned.

The only problem was that he might not be willing to take that risk in the simulation.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Changxing suddenly closed his eyes and began muttering to himself.

My spiritual root... my spiritual root... my spiritual root...

Even if it kills me, I have to get another piece of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that can improve my spiritual root in this lifetime!

Xu Changxing silently hypnotized himself for quite a while before depositing spirit stones into the system and starting a simulation.

[Day one: You woke from your self-hypnosis.

"Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that can improve spiritual roots aren't so easy to obtain."

With a self-mocking remark, you began trying to condense cloud patterns.]

Xu Changxing: "..."

Although he had not placed much hope in his attempt, having the very first line pop up and slap him in the face was going too far.

Still, he did not lose heart.

Because he truly was desperate for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that could improve his spiritual root now.

Even without the hypnosis, he felt that he would search for such treasures.

As for whether he went to those ruins, that did not really matter.

As long as he could raise the grade of his wood spiritual root during the simulation, he could inherit the result.

Filled with eager anticipation, Xu Changxing continued waiting for the text that followed.