My blind date failed, so I had to ascend the throne and become emperor.

Chapter 201 Genius of the Era of Suppression

zizi~
The wooden artifact showed obvious signs of erosion when it came into contact with the scalding molten lava. If it weren't for the crimson ice and blue flames enveloping it, this level of artifact would have been eroded into ashes long ago.

On the rocks within a 20-meter radius.

The cultivators, including Blood Hand Ancestor, Fairy Fei Huan, Venerable Qing Yin, and Holy Son Tian Yang, who were looking at the large expanse of rocks in the distance, all felt a sense of relief. If it weren't for Zhou Ping, they would probably be corpses by now.

"Fellow Daoists, we hope you can lend us a hand. We will certainly reward you!"

As the rocks drew closer.

All four cultivators shouted frantically.

Tianyang Saint Son looked at Zhou Ping. Although he was in charge of the wooden oars, Zhou Ping was actually the core here. Even the other three Void Returners would probably have to listen to Zhou Ping's opinion.

But Zhou Ping didn't directly offer his suggestion. Instead, he asked, "Seniors, should we save them or not?"

He certainly wanted to save it, not out of kindness, but purely to obtain more top-grade spirit stones and various magical artifact materials. This would allow him to gain national fortune points and enable the little cauldron to quickly recover its strength.

Judging from the current cultivation technique "Source of Fire" alone, it is estimated that it will require trillions to upgrade to the highest level in the future, so the more top-grade spirit stones you have, the better.

The Blood Hand Ancestor glanced at the twenty-meter radius, which was about six or seven zhang. He didn't want to get involved, since the more people there were, the more crowded the place would be. However, it wasn't appropriate to express his opinion at this moment, so he looked at the two women.

Fairy Fei Huan smiled and said, "Young friend Cang Lan, we are able to float safely on this lava mainly because of you, so you can save us if you want."

Master Qingyin nodded in agreement.

See this.

Zhou Ping thought for a moment and said, "Then let's rescue them. We don't know what we'll encounter later, so one more person means one more force."

Tianyang Saint Son hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist Canglan is right, there is strength in numbers."

Zhou Ping smiled. "As for the reward, how about we split it equally among the five of us?"

In any case, the ability to float and swim is due to the combined efforts of the five people.

Blood Hand Ancestor immediately shook his head, "I don't want any reward. At my level, unless it's a rare natural treasure or precious medicine, nothing else is useful."

Fairy Fei Huan and Venerable Qing Yin both nodded. They were both powerful beings in the Void Returning stage, capable of occupying an entire star system at will. They possessed countless magical treasures, materials, ores, pills, talismans, spirit stones, and so on.

Although Tianyang Shengzi is slightly weaker, he is still quite wealthy.

So all the rewards fell on Zhou Ping.

Soon.

As the rock approached the large slab of rocks, the four Void Returning cultivators who had been struggling to hold on were rescued. In fact, those who had managed to persist until now were basically at the Void Returning level. The weaker ones at the Nascent Soul level would definitely turn into corpses unless they had a great opportunity or a powerful magic weapon.

That foul-smelling toxin is extremely potent; it can corrode everything.

"Thank you for saving me, fellow Daoists."

"We are extremely grateful."

They climbed onto the rocks.

The four Void Returning cultivators hurriedly expressed their gratitude, while secretly observing them. Seeing the blue flames covering their bodies, which could easily resist the corrosive effects of poison, they inquired and learned that it was the divine flame of Zhou Ping, a Nascent Soul cultivator. They were all shocked.

After a while.

These four paid another sum of materials and spirit stones, and their bodies were now covered in crimson ice and blue flames.

For Zhou Ping...

Splitting off a few strands of crimson ice and blue flames to sustain the flames doesn't consume much energy.

"Four fellow Daoists."

"Let's be clear from the start: this rock is only six or seven zhang in diameter. We're all in the same boat now. If anything goes wrong, the boat will sink and everyone will die. So it's best not to have any wicked thoughts here!"

"Blood Hand Ancestor said coldly."

Naturally, he was the one to play the role of the villain.

The four newly arrived Void Returners hurriedly agreed. They had expended a lot of energy on the rocks earlier, and now they had no time to think about anything but resting and recovering their mana.

"Also, we should take turns using the magic power to propel the wooden oars. Young friend Canglan has contributed the most, and he cut the rock himself, so he doesn't need any. Once you recover your magic power, you'll have to take turns."

"is that OK?"

"no!"

Then nine monks appeared on the rock.

Two more days passed in this way.

The four newcomers regained their magical powers and began taking turns urging the oars to move the boat.

Simultaneously.

Everyone also exchanged ideas.

Like Zhou Ping and the others, they encountered the fragrance of molten lava as soon as they entered the path to immortality.

"What bad luck!"

"I originally thought the scent of lava would disappear in a few days, but it has lasted for so long, and the lava area nearby is so large that you can't see the end of it!"

"That's right. The most important thing is that it's difficult to project one's divine sense. The toxins and the heat emanating from the surface of the lava can even corrode one's divine sense. If I had known that the path to immortality was this difficult, I wouldn't have come!"

The four Void Returning cultivators complained.

As Zhou Ping listened, he opened the virtual window display for the nation's destiny.

The reward given to these four newcomers included 5 top-grade spirit stones, equivalent to 30 trillion national fortune points.

In other words.

His national fortune has now accumulated to around 50 trillion.

This was unimaginable before.

In the beginning, he devoted himself to several key aspects of the nation's destiny.

"As expected, it's still easier to earn top-grade spirit stones from Void Returning Realm experts!"

He secretly thought.

There are almost no mines of top-grade spirit stones on Huangling Star. Only those at the Nascent Soul stage have accumulated them. If he had stayed on Huangling Star, it would have been impossible for him to obtain such a huge amount of national fortune points all at once. But he has only been on the path to immortality for a short time and has already accumulated so many.

"It's a pity that the cultivation techniques can't be improved anymore, and there are no corresponding methods to further improve skills such as pills and talismans..."

Although we have a lot of national fortune points, the most important thing is to convert them into our own strength, but we can't improve that right now.

"Cultivation techniques, skills, and even innate spiritual roots can all be improved using national fortune points. Besides these, what else can be improved?!"

As Zhou Ping pondered, his gaze remained fixed on the virtual frame.

The main interface displays the national treasury revenue, population, concubines, and various buildings in the imperial city, while the secondary interface displays spiritual roots, cultivation methods, skills, etc. The last time this appeared was after I ascended the throne, indicating that this virtual frame of national fortune can be constantly changed.

However, he has never been able to uncover anything more.

I studied it for a while.

We still have no clue what to do; we've already improved almost everything that could be improved.

Close the virtual box.

He began to devote himself to spiritual practice.

The main focus is on cultivating his mind and spirit. After all, his cultivation has long since reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage; what he lacks is the opportunity to break through to the Primordial Spirit stage. According to Xiao Ding, it would be best to find a rare and precious material related to soul power, which would maximize his chances of reaching the Ultimate Primordial Spirit stage. Because his previous Ultimate Golden Core and Ultimate Nascent Soul stages laid a solid foundation, if he were to break through directly, this accumulation would make him a strong figure in the Primordial Spirit stage, but not the Ultimate Primordial Spirit stage.

In this regard.

Zhou Ping wasn't in a hurry. He figured he could break through anytime within the Path to Immortality. He planned to find a quiet place and then attempt to break through.

Time passed little by little.

Two months later.

The small boat, which had a range of twenty meters from the rocks, was still floating on the lava. The original nine people had increased to thirty, making the boat very crowded. The cultivators they encountered along the way were still trying to squeeze in.

no way.

Zhou Ping's idea was to save as many people as possible, since saving each cultivator would bring at least ten thousand top-grade spirit stones, which is equivalent to six trillion national fortune points.

Yes.

Nowadays, to board the ship, you need at least 1 top-grade spirit stones; without them, there's no point in even discussing it.

"Sigh, I wonder when we'll finally reach the lava shore!"

A cultivator who had returned to the Void sighed.

These mighty Void Returning experts were now crammed together like sardines on this twenty-meter-narrow rock, a truly torturous situation. However, each time they saw the skeletons on the other rocks, these Void Returning experts felt fortunate.

“This path to immortality is likely to be different from the past. I have heard of the fragrance of molten lava, but this kind of poison usually lasts for several days and has a limited range. However, it is so vast here, which is obviously abnormal!”

"That's right, and the time for the path to immortality has been brought forward too much, catching many powerful individuals unprepared..."

"I think the changes are a good thing. It's very likely that the path to immortality is about to open, and this time someone might actually become an immortal!"

The thirty cultivators chatted amongst themselves. It was incredibly boring on this narrow rocky boat. Since they were all at the Void Returning stage, cultivation was meaningless for them, so they could only chat idly. The Heavenly Sun Saint was quite talkative and quickly became familiar with the other cultivators.

Zhou Ping was much more taciturn, mainly because he knew too little. Xiao Ding did know some things, but his memory was incomplete. However, in recent days, he had learned a lot about cultivation civilization.

The universe is incredibly vast, but it is mainly divided into twelve star regions, also known as the twelve civilization seas, each containing many star fields.

Therefore, the opening of the path to immortality has brought in too many cultivators, and even those who are mainly at the Nascent Soul Realm or above have exceeded one billion!

this day.

The rock-crawling boat bumped into another boat, but unlike Zhou Ping's boat, the other boat was a real boat, not a rock.

"It's the Holy Son of Tianxuan! I didn't expect him to come in too!"

"The Holy Son of Tianxuan? You mean that peerless genius who's said to be able to overshadow an entire era?"

"To dominate an entire era? That's incredibly arrogant."

"He has the right to be arrogant. It is said that when he was in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, he killed a near-immortal level expert!"

"What?! Impossible! A Nascent Soul cultivator killing a near-immortal?! Are you kidding me?!"

"That near-immortal was severely injured and can only exert two or three tenths of his strength. Moreover, this Tianxuan Saint Son possesses a near-immortal-level magic weapon!"

Even so, it's impossible!

Everyone found it hard to believe.

The same goes for Zhou Ping; killing a near-immortal in the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm is simply a fantasy.

Xiao Ding then said, "To dare to call yourself a genius who overshadows an era, you must have some real skills. Zhou Ping, although you are very outstanding, the universe is too vast, and perhaps a few truly exceptional geniuses will emerge!"

Communication room.

The small boat floating on the lava also saw Zhou Ping and his group. Immediately, fifty or sixty cultivators emerged from the boat, making it even more crowded than Zhou Ping's group. Except for a few who could still occupy a space, the rest were crammed together like a human pyramid.

This left Zhou Ping and the others looking at each other in bewilderment. They thought they already had enough, but this little boat was even more ruthless.

"That's not right. If it can swim on molten lava, this ship-shaped magic weapon, even if it's not at the near-immortal level, is at least at the pseudo-near-immortal level. Could it be that it can't even control the most basic size?"

"It must be due to some kind of restriction, or the larger it is, the stronger the magma erosion it encounters!"

Amidst speculation.

There was a sound coming from the other side.

"May I ask, fellow Daoist, how did you cut this rock?"

An old man beside the Holy Son of Tianxuan asked.

The monks on the rock all looked at Zhou Ping.

The fifty-odd cultivators immediately realized that the rock had been cut by Zhou Ping, a Nascent Soul cultivator.

"I used a rather special kind of flame, which happens to be able to suppress molten lava!"

Zhou Ping said.

The old man looked at the blue flames, "Extreme Ice Blue Flame?"

"Correct."

"You're quite lucky to have even managed to obtain flames from such a rare and precious treasure list. Could you perhaps share some with us?"

Zhou Ping looked at the small boats crowded together and hesitated. "I can't spare too many for them, after all, there are still so many cultivators to maintain on the rocks."

The Blood Hand Ancestor said, "Heavenly Xuan Holy Son, I've heard that you are an unparalleled genius who has overshadowed an era, and the Heavenly Xuan Holy Sect is the strongest sect in the Heavenly Xuan Star Region. You should at least bring out something good."

Tianxuan Saint Son glanced at Blood Hand Ancestor indifferently. Blood Hand Ancestor immediately felt a kind of pressure. He didn't say anything, seemingly too lazy to waste words with ordinary cultivators. The old man beside him laughed and said, "Don't worry, if you can separate a few strands, I will take out some good things."

Then, looking at Zhou Ping, he said, "You should be close to the Nascent Soul Realm. I have a precious medicine here, the Soul Infant Fruit. How about exchanging it for ten strands of Extreme Ice Blue Flame?"

"Promise him!"

"The Soul Infant Fruit is the most suitable rare and precious material for you to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm now."

Zhou Ping nodded and immediately made the deal with the other party.

Maintaining the split-off crimson ice and blue flames is quite difficult, but the opponent seems to have a way to prolong it.

Transaction completed.

The other boat then left.

The dozens of cultivators watched as the small boat withdrew.

The thirty cultivators, including Tianyang Saint, looked relieved.

"If we really squeeze through this rock, we could probably squeeze in another dozen or so people!"

There is a saying about returning to emptiness.

Zhou Ping shook his head. "Thirty is enough. If we see any other rocks, we'll just take a longer route."

The others who had returned to the Void breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. They had been worried that this Nascent Soul cultivator was too kind and would allow more cultivators to come to the rock.

The rock-crawler continued its journey.

Many cultivators gathered here to exchange ideas.

"That Holy Son Tianxuan is really arrogant. Holy Son Tianyang is much easier to talk to, isn't he, Fellow Daoist Tianyang!"

Tianyang Saint Son laughed and said, "I dare not compare myself to Tianxuan Saint Son. He is an unparalleled genius. As for arrogance, how could I dare to have it in front of you seniors?"

As Zhou Ping listened, he thought to himself, "They are both Holy Sons, but the difference is indeed huge. I am also a Holy Son of the Taiyan Sect, but I am still somewhat inferior to the Holy Son of Tianyang. As for the Holy Son of Tianxuan, the difference is like heaven and earth."

(End of this chapter)