Dead?
How had he died just like that?
He had only just broken through to Foundation Establishment—how could he already be dead?
Suddenly, Su Ming seemed to realize something.
The Foundation Establishment Pill?
Was it that pill?
That was the only possibility he could think of.
Everything had been perfectly fine before. It was only after he consumed the Foundation Establishment Pill and broke through that he lost consciousness.
Immediately afterward, he died.
Even more suspicious was the elder's instruction that they must consume the Foundation Establishment Pill there and attempt the breakthrough on the spot.
If the problem was truly the pill, then other disciples who did not win the sect competition would also purchase Foundation Establishment Pills from the sect and break through at home.
Yet he was the only one who died after breaking through there. So another possibility was that the elder had set a trap in that place to harm them.
For the moment, he could not determine whether it was the former or the latter.
[Ding! Simulation ended. Please choose one of the following rewards.]
[Purple Talent: Innate Spiritual Body]
[This Simulation's Cultivation: Tenth Layer of Qi Refining]
[All Insights from This Simulation]
[One Foundation Establishment Pill!]
"I choose cultivation!"
Su Ming did not hesitate. He chose the cultivation.
Although the Innate Spiritual Body was excellent, it required a long timeline to fully display its effects. In comparison, cultivation provided immediate results.
In an instant, spiritual energy poured into his body. His cultivation surged to the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and his entire skeleton emitted a series of crackling sounds.
Su Ming twisted his neck and felt a wave of comfort spreading through his body.
Two hours ago he had still been a mere ant at the first layer of Qi Refining.
Now he was already a cultivation prodigy at the tenth layer of Qi Refining.
A fifteen-year-old at the tenth layer of Qi Refining—within the entire Qingyun Sect, such a figure was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
Sitting cross-legged in his cave dwelling, he stabilized his cultivation. An hour later, he opened his eyes.
"Start the simulation!"
[Simulation begins!]
[Drawing a random talent!]
[Congratulations. You have obtained the Blue Talent: Innate Comprehension Root.]
[Innate Comprehension Root: Your comprehension greatly increases, allowing you to understand cultivation techniques far more quickly.]
[Year 1: Having lost the Innate Spiritual Body, your cultivation speed drops drastically. Your cultivation barely progresses.]
[Fortunately, you possess the Innate Comprehension Root. Throughout this year, you devoted yourself to learning various spells.]
[This year, when Wang Hao came to demand spirit stones from you, you decisively struck and killed him.]
[As a cultivator at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, almost no outer disciple could rival you.]
[You were not afraid of Wang Hao's brother seeking revenge.]
[At the end of the first year, your Fire Control Technique reached Great Mastery.]
[Year 2: Your Water Control Technique reached Great Mastery.]
[This year, the mysterious man who claimed to be Wang Hao's brother arrived at your cave dwelling.]
[At the tenth layer of Qi Refining, you sensed that his cultivation was only at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.]
[Just as he prepared to attack, you decisively struck first and killed him.]
["I thought he would be stronger. He is only at the ninth layer of Qi Refining!"]
[You looked at Wang Hao's brother's corpse with a disdainful expression.]
[Year 3: Your Sword Flight Technique reached Great Mastery.]
[This year, the sect competition began once again. Now an outer disciple, you chose not to participate.]
[You knew there was no meaning in participating. If you ranked well, you would end up dead.]
[If you failed to rank, you would not obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill. Therefore, the competition was meaningless.]
[Year 5: You had cultivated almost every spell among the outer disciples to Great Mastery.]
[After finishing your spell training, you took the spirit stones you had accumulated over five years and exchanged them within the sect for a Foundation Establishment Pill.]
[After obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill, you returned to your cave dwelling but did not immediately consume it.]
[You knew that if you took the pill right now, the result would only be failure.]
[Without the Innate Spiritual Body, your foundation was unstable. Attempting a reckless breakthrough would certainly fail.]
[Year 6: In order to earn more spirit stones, you accepted a sect mission. The mission was to travel to the Qin Kingdom of Qingzhou to eliminate demonic sect disciples.]
[Ten Qi Refining disciples from the outer sect registered for the mission and followed inner sect senior brother at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection to the Qin Kingdom.]
[After arriving in the Qin Kingdom, under the leadership of the Foundation Establishment senior brother, you successfully located the hideout of the demonic sect disciples.]
[When you saw that there were only two people in the demonic sect hideout, you breathed a sigh of relief.]
[The senior brother instructed the ten of you to surround and attack the injured Foundation Establishment cultivator, while he personally dealt with the black-clothed woman whose face was covered with a veil.]
[After receiving the order, the ten of you began attacking the injured Foundation Establishment cultivator.]
[Although he was gravely wounded, he was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator. No matter how many of you there were, you were still only at the Qi Refining stage.]
[In the end, after five outer disciples died, you successfully pierced his heart with a single strike using the Sword Flight Technique.]
[Before dying, the demonic sect Foundation Establishment cultivator looked at you and the remaining outer disciples with a regretful gaze and left one final sentence before his life faded.]
["If you have not awakened your power, attempting Foundation Establishment will lead to deathonly Foundation Establishment"]
[While you were still pondering his words, inner sect senior brother at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection nearby shouted an order.]
["Quick! Come help me kill her!"]
[You turned toward the voice and saw that the senior brother at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection was covered in wounds. Not a single part of his body was uninjured.]
[You could not believe it. A senior brother at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection was completely unable to fight back against a demonic sect disciple who was also only at the Foundation Establishment realm.]
[Just as the rest of you rushed toward the demonic woman, she completely ignored your attacks.]
[Her speed was astonishing. She passed directly through your group and charged straight toward the inner sect senior brother.]
[After a single strike, the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection inner sect senior brother was utterly dead.]
[Seeing this scene, all of you were horrified. None of you expected that even the senior brother at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection would not be her opponent.]
[At that moment, you decisively chose to flee without the slightest hesitation.]
[You knew that the few of you could not possibly defeat her.]
[After seeing you run away, the other outer disciples were briefly stunned. Then they all scattered and fled in different directions.]
[To your surprise, the demonic sect woman seemed to ignore you completely. After killing the inner sect senior brother, she did not pursue any of you.]
[You glanced back once and happened to meet her gaze.]
[Once again, you saw pity and regret in her eyes.]
[You could not understand why.]
[She had already killed their strongest cultivator, the one at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection. Why would she spare a group of Qi Refining cultivators like you?]
[Moreover, the demonic cultivators looked at you with strangely unusual expressions.]
[At that moment, you once again recalled the final words spoken by the demonic sect disciple you had killed.]
["If you have not awakened your power, attempting Foundation Establishment will lead to death.!"]
"Do not reach Foundation Establishment?"
Su Ming frowned as he looked at the words spoken by the demonic sect disciple in the simulator.
In his previous simulation, he had indeed died after reaching Foundation Establishment. However, he had strongly suspected that the outer sect elder had tampered with the Foundation Establishment Pill.
But now it seemed that the truth was far more complicated than he had imagined.
Soon, he shifted his gaze back to the simulator.
...