Chapter 549: Spirit Tide Exchange Center (Beta Version)

According to the instructions, Zhou Kongming infused a thread of magic power into the Spirit Source Seed.

Without sound or motion, the entire Spirit Source Seed unfolded like a flower bud, slowly blooming from its outer edge.

The magic power flowed gradually inward, following the fine golden threads entwined along the surface of the Spirit Source Seed.

Hum~!

A dazzling seven-colored ripple expanded outward from the Spirit Source Seed, spreading until it reached several meters—then the brilliant seven-colored halo vanished entirely into the air.

At the same time, a subtle transformation was quietly taking shape deep within the world.

Less than a minute later, the Spirit Source Seed in Zhou Kongming's hand had fully bloomed into a flower with eighty-one petals, each covered in golden threads.

Between the eighty-one petals floated a pure white, hazy light orb, its surface rippling with concentric rings of seven-colored aura.

Light particles, like fine sand, rose from the Spirit Source Flower, converging into wisps of white flowing sand—exceedingly clear and ethereal—yet disappearing once they reached a certain height.

Meanwhile, the Spirit Source Flower that had bloomed from the Spirit Source Seed in Zhou Kongming's hand gradually became insubstantial.

In the end, only a faint outline remained.

With a slight motion of his hand, the remaining outline rose upward and vanished.

Having completed this, Zhou Kongming closed his eyes and began to deeply perceive the changes in this world.

His powerful Void-Return-level perception pierced through the world's surface, gazing at the Law-Net hidden at the world's deepest core, swallowing and exhaling boundless chaos.

Threads of sand-like light particles drifted and wove into the Law-Net, which encompassed all concepts of the world, forging the concept of "Spirit Qi."

Originally, this world had no "Spirit Qi."

Although the initial Peiyuan Pill Zhou Kongming had tested had been absorbed by the world, the minuscule amount of Spirit Qi it provided was insufficient to replenish the world's Law-Net and allow it to parse the concept of "Spirit Qi."

At most, it had merely left a seed.

Perhaps it would take a thousand years, even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years before the Spirit Tide revived?

Zhou Kongming slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the sky.

According to Basic Spirit Energy Science, the life forms living in a world devoid of Spirit Qi could never reach the "Transcendent" level.

Only Spirit Qi!

Could grant all things the possibility of surpassing their limits.

As for how to define "Ordinary," opinions had initially been divided…

After all, ants are inherently vastly different from tigers, and mayflies from eagles.

Moreover, even if an ant were to briefly touch Transcendence, it would still be far inferior to a tiger.

But now, the Xuan Realm had long since reached a conclusion on the definition of "Ordinary"—

All living beings born of Heaven and Earth, who had not surpassed their innate biological limits, were collectively termed "Ordinary."

With a thought, Zhou Kongming withdrew his gaze, lowering his eyes:

"The seed of Transcendence has been sown—now see how far you can go…"

He had chosen Qixing as the burial site for the Spirit Source Seed.

Thus, when the Spirit Tide revived, Qixing would be the first affected; only after its Spirit Qi concentration reached a certain level would it gradually radiate outward to surrounding star regions…

Thinking this, Zhou Kongming opened his personal interface.

First, he removed the previously installed "Shijing" auxiliary module and replaced it with the basic "Spirit Tide Slowdown" auxiliary module.

That way, even if unforeseen events occurred after the Spirit Tide revived, he could adjust it at any moment.

The next instant, his figure vanished entirely.

He had not left Qixing—he was observing everything about Qixing in another manner.

…

…

In the blink of an eye, another half-month passed.

The Spirit Qi concentration on Qixing continued to rise.

Meanwhile, Hengze generated tailored educational plans for each of the 117,837 newly born Qixing inhabitants based on their individual growth conditions.

Thus, under the dual effects of rapid-growth technology and virtual reality technology,

in just half a month, nearly one-third of the population had developed self-awareness and gained some understanding of the concept of "cultivation."

Of course, this came with side effects.

Originally, these newly born Qixing inhabitants, whose bones had been purified by the Spirit Absorption Method, all possessed excellent physiques—so long as they didn't recklessly endanger themselves, living to the genetic lifespan limit was effortless.

But now, due to the rapid-growth technology, their lifespans had been directly shortened by one-third…

The cost was not insignificant.

But the current situation left no room for hesitation.

The Spirit Tide revival was imminent, and Qixing, as the starting planet of the revival, would inevitably produce far greater quantities and higher-quality Spirit Objects than any other star region.

All creatures vie for freedom under the frosty sky.

In the future, they would face the greed of all civilizations across the universe.

To hold power beyond one's virtue is to invite suffering.

Struggles between races, between civilizations, leave no room for mercy.

Beyond Qixing,

Zhou Kongming sat in empty space, golden light flickering in his eyes, gazing at Qixing before him, resembling a sapphire-blue gem.

His gaze pierced through layers of barriers, landing within an underground testing facility.

In just over ten days, the vast majority of the newly born Qixing inhabitants, having just left their growth pods, could already walk independently.

A tiny fraction could even speak, though their speech was still somewhat unclear…

"Children of the World…"

Zhou Kongming looked at the tiny figure among the newborns, unusually calm.

Through the Grand Void's Golden Eyes of Revelation, the world's favor manifested visibly, swirling around him.

The World Child chosen by the World's Will had finally appeared among the newborns of Qixing.

After all, with the Bone Refinement of the Soul-Intake Method, the newborns of Qixing indeed held advantages over other unprepared civilizations.

On his personal interface, a line of text had just appeared—

【Attention! The World Child has appeared (Reincarnated·Genius·Miracle Artifact)!】

That's right!

This was indeed a triple-composite World Child: Reincarnated, Dragon Ascendant, and with a Divine Tool. But since the "Miracle Artifact" component of the era of Spiritual Tide Revival was still forming, the last two characters—"Miracle Artifact"—appeared slightly blurred.

"The investment really is substantial."

Creating such a triple-composite World Child isn't easy.

It seems that besides the influence of the previous "Shijing" auxiliary module, which had come to trouble him, the World's Will itself also wished to quickly complete the portion of the Law Net concerning "Spiritual Qi."

"Not necessarily a bad thing."

He stopped paying attention and turned to another line of text that had appeared on his personal interface.

【Total World Spiritual Qi has reached threshold. Task One can be settled. Reward: 1 Ascension Point.】

After such a long delay, the simplest Task One was finally completed. He wondered what use these Ascension Points might have…

"Confirm settlement."

【Task One settled. Ascension Point acquired: 1】

【Current Ascension Points: 1】

【Ascension Point Exchange Function unlocked. Please check manually.】

Zhou Kongming's heart trembled, and his entire being perked up.

There really was something here!

These Ascension Points were so hard to earn—surely they could buy plenty of good things?

Calming his emotions, he gently tapped the new option at the very bottom of his personal interface.

As the interface switched, a list of densely packed exchange items appeared before him.

From top to bottom, prices increased gradually.

【Grand Xuan Immortal Net Ascension Point Exchange Center (Beta Version)】

【Qixing·Civilization's Flame, 1 unit, Value: 0.1 Ascension Point】

【Yangyuan·Origin Talent Explanation, Value: 0.1 Ascension Point】

【Fulun·Origin Talent Explanation, Value…】

Holy shit!

Just the first few exchange items made Zhou Kongming's eyes widen in shock.

The original Civilization's Flame of Qixing, and the absurd Origin Talent principles of Yangyuan—both could be exchanged for only 0.1 Ascension Point?

Was the purchasing power of these Ascension Points this high?!

He even wanted to immediately spend 0.1 Ascension Point to obtain a unit of Civilization's Flame.

After all, he could sell it at a high price to Old Gao.

As the most outstanding alchemist among the Return-to-Void cultivators of Jishigu, he was the richest among them…

Wait.

Zhou Kongming suddenly remembered how his use of the "Shijing" module had lowered the reward cap for Tasks Two and Three by 5%.

Now that he thought about it, that was 10 Ascension Points!

He could have bought so many good things with that.

Do you know how hard it is for sword cultivators to make money?!

If I don't work harder, I'll end up living off Xiao Ling's handouts!

For a moment, he felt sharp pain in his chest.

It took him a long while to recover.

It's fine, it's fine!

After all, without paying this cost, I couldn't have completed the task—that would've been the real loss.

After comforting himself like this, he finally felt somewhat better.

He continued scrolling through the exchange list on his personal interface and discovered that this exchange center nearly covered every unique aspect of all civilizations in Task World One, with prices only in fractions of a point.

The Immortal Net truly possessed boundless power!

As he marveled inwardly,

one exchange item caused him to fall silent.

【Auxiliary Module: No Side Effects, One-Time Usage Permission, Value: 0.5 Ascension Points】

Zhou Kongming: "..."

He stared blankly for a long while, then raised a hand to rub his nose before silently continuing to scroll down.

It's fine.

Didn't Saint Emperor Yuan say, "A thousand gold pieces scattered will return," and "When the old man lost his horse, who knew it wasn't a blessing?"

Just 10 Ascension Points…

My own choice—I must swallow the bitterness!

He continued scrolling down.

This time, he spotted several interesting exchange items.

{Juvenile World Will (Jin Dan), Value: 1 Ascension Point}

As the name suggests, by destroying the original World Will and implanting this juvenile form, it will, after being nurtured by the world, give birth to a brand-new World Will.

The one seen here now can be used only in worlds of Jin Dan-level energy.

Go lower!

After many other exchange items.

{Juvenile World Will (Nascent Soul), Value: 10 Ascension Points}

……

{Juvenile World Will (Soul Transformation), Value: 100 Ascension Points}

……

{Juvenile World Will (Return to Emptiness), Value: 1000 Ascension Points}

……

{Seed of Hun Tian Yi (Union with Dao), Exchange Permission Currently Unavailable}

Hm?

Different? (End of Chapter)