My dream connects to three thousand years later.

Chapter 152 Supernatural Skill Tree (First Update)
Inside the office of the Special Operations Brigade Captain at the Third District Police Bureau.

Although he had already seen Huo Qiming off, Li Kang was still somewhat absent-minded.

Chu Zhu looked around the office, and soon his gaze fell on a sword hanging on the wall. He raised an eyebrow slightly. "This sword... why does it look so familiar?"

"A sword?" Ning Linglong followed Chu Zhu's gaze and suddenly realized, "You mean 4-24! This time, the captain came here not only to reward you, but the captain was also rewarded."

"You can use a level four forbidden artifact?" Chu Zhu was shocked. This seemed different from the information he had previously gathered. "And you just keep this forbidden artifact in your office?"

“Weren’t you in the base before? Normally you leave it there… As for someone of my level using a level four forbidden artifact… generally speaking, I can’t!” Li Kang snapped out of his reverie and glanced at Chu Zhu. “However, the Fallen Soul Sword is an exception…”

Li Kang walked up to the Soul Sword and gently stroked the forbidden weapon as if it were his lover, his eyes filled with deep affection. "This sword, although a forbidden weapon, is the closest to a spiritual weapon! Its creator is far too powerful."

"The so-called forbidden artifacts are objects whose use will have consequences! However, different forbidden artifacts have different consequences... Some not only have serious consequences, but also cause strong pollution! But some only have serious consequences, with almost no pollution... Originally, it was used by Captain Qi for a long time, but now..."

Chu Zhu subconsciously thought of the infant ghost, which was probably the former. And judging from Li Kang's current state of speech, this soul sword should be the latter.

Wait a minute! Is it because it has less pollution that it doesn't have to be returned to the warehouse after use, unlike baby ghosts, and can be used by a certain person for a long time?

A brief pause.

“But,” Chu Zhu said with a subtle expression, “if I remember correctly, its owner wasn’t… Old Li, looking at you like this! I suspect that Qi Heng might have treated the Soul Sword the same way in the past!”

He recalled Li Kang's actions, which resembled those of a new wife, and sighed, "This world is just a giant minotaur!"

"?"

At this moment, Li Kang, who was wiping his sword sheath with his sleeve, paused. After a brief silence, he stiffly turned his head and stared intently at Chu Zhu, his entire face visibly turning red.

Taking several deep breaths, Li Kang kept telling himself, "Why are you arguing with A-Zhu? Isn't that the kind of person he is?" It took him a while to control his emotions.
Li Kang sadly realized that he seemed to be developing into a ninja. No wonder his wife said his temper had been getting better lately... The more he thought about it, the sadder he became!

“Of course, you’re right! With my current cultivation level, I might not be able to control it perfectly.” Li Kang said, forcibly breaking free from his sad memories. “Actually, although it’s said to have less pollution, it’s only relative.”

"If I were to actually use it, perhaps... I could only use it two or three times! I'm still no match for Captain Qi. My strength is still too weak! If a cultivator in the third realm were to use it... perhaps aside from that unspeakable side effect, the pollution would be practically nonexistent."

"Captain, didn't you say before that you were going to start preparing to break through to the third realm?" Ning Linglong interjected.

“I’m ready, I’m ready! But…” Li Kang hesitated for a long time before finally saying, “I’m still waiting for that thing…”

Ning Linglong nodded thoughtfully.

"I'm very curious!" Chu Zhu suddenly asked, "Suppose I consume a large amount of radiated water now, will my physique increase?"

"Why do you ask so many questions!" Li Kang pinched the bridge of his nose and said thoughtfully, "It shouldn't be like that. If it's the adaptation period, the irradiated water won't work! On the contrary, if you swallow a lot of it during this stage, the pollution will accumulate."

Chu Zhu: "..."

Alright, he finally knew where all the embezzled radiation had gone. He also understood why his muscles had swelled up, but his strength hadn't increased afterward... It was just contaminated, not that he'd become stronger!

"Is the same true for the radiated stone?" Chu Zhu looked at Ning Linglong this time.

"This is alright!" Ning Linglong twirled a strand of her hair with her fingertip. "As long as you're not afraid of pollution, you can absorb the radiated stone every day."

Chu Zhu's eyes lit up instantly, because he could use the bug-exploiting method to farm unlimited amounts of Radon Stone resources for cultivation.

Just as he was pondering whether he should go to the nuclear facility to restock, he heard Ning Linglong casually add another sentence.

"However, this absorption can only increase the amount of blessing power within the body."

Noticing the confusion in Chu Zhu's eyes, Ning Linglong organized her thoughts, "Do you think that cultivating immortality is like cultivating internal energy in martial arts novels? You just need to keep accumulating it to break through one realm after another and become stronger?"

"Isn't it?"

"Of course not!" Ning Linglong said firmly, "A cultivator's breakthrough depends on three factors!"

"Inherent foundation, extraordinary abilities, destiny!"

"Needless to say, one's foundation relies on the Radiated Stones for replenishment during cultivation... If your body's energy is depleted, like overdrawing your supernatural powers, you can use Radiated Stones to replenish it... Although this replenishment is subject to contamination, and replenishing too many in a short period of time may... Under normal circumstances, it's still best to rely on your own body to recover slowly! This is the best approach. And it is through this cycle of depletion and replenishment, constantly repeating, that one's foundation becomes truly robust!"

"Yes, this foundation is equivalent to internal energy in martial arts novels! This cycle is similar to practicing martial arts techniques in martial arts novels..."

Chu Zhu's eyes lit up with understanding. This must be the key reason why the energy in his body had increased by 50% before.
But why didn't he grow any more on the fifth try? Surely he couldn't have already reached the peak of the first realm... No, that can't be, right?

Chu Zhu started sweating. If this continued, the upper limit of the first realm would be stretched to an unimaginable extent...

"As for supernatural powers, well... we'll just develop them! But, for each realm... there needs to be a key core of a supernatural power!"

"……core?"

“I have a friend!” After a slight hesitation, Ning Linglong first put on a layer of armor.

"..." Chu Zhu barely managed to keep her expression straight. Is your friend... "She, cough cough, the supernatural power she possesses is the most rudimentary water control! And the keyword for her first realm is whirlpool! The keyword for her second realm is tsunami! Whirlpool is a control technique, and tsunami is an attack technique!" Ning Linglong explained patiently.

Chu Zhu's gaze sharpened. He noticed Li Kang's subtle expression, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Clearly, Li Kang believed this supernatural power belonged to Ning Linglong…

Moreover, based on what Chu Zhu had seen in his home—the scene of Ning Linglong facing the assassin—it was confirmed that Ning Linglong indeed possessed the power of the vortex water flow.

But at this moment, Chu Zhu became certain that Ning Linglong's supernatural power was not simply water control—the water control supernatural power was just a disguise she used to promote herself!
"Moreover, in the previous reset lines, Ning Linglong's expression was somewhat strange when she heard the term 'divine power'!" Chu Zhu muttered to himself as he unraveled the mystery.

"So, there are two possibilities... Either her supernatural power is also a noun supernatural power! Or it's the supernatural power of someone close to her... such as her master... But considering that supernatural powers might be kept secret even from close friends and family, the more likely possibility is Ning Linglong!"

The odds... are over 50%! Chu Zhu made his definitive statement.

At this moment, Ning Linglong was still unaware that her underwear was about to be exposed. She continued to talk eloquently.

"The core of each realm of supernatural power is very important! You must continuously develop along this core... Moreover, choosing the core at the very beginning is also very troublesome!"

"If the core is not chosen well, the future will be very difficult... and we also need to consider whether the core of each level is inclined towards offense or defense! We should try to match them as much as possible."

"Most importantly, the core must be compatible with the supernatural power... For example, whirlpools and tsunamis are both related to water! So they can be used as core words..."

"Anyway, it's very important! And very troublesome... You have to handle this kind of thing yourself! Otherwise, you can only follow the methods of those who came before you..."

"I understand, it means using your own brain! Focusing on supernatural powers as much as possible, setting different paths at each level, accumulating different skills, and finally building a reasonable skill tree!" Chu Zhu nodded seriously, summarizing Ning Linglong's words.

"?" Ning Linglong was silent for a moment. Actually, there were some things Chu Zhu said that she didn't understand, but she felt that Chu Zhu should have understood what she meant.
Chu Zhu was thinking at this moment. If nothing unexpected happened, the core word of his first realm should be "rewriting".

"Copying is actually quite powerful! This is pretty good." Chu Zhu felt peaceful. Copying can reset one's own and others' states, making it arguably the strongest healing method.

At the same time, it can also conceal its aura and make itself appear as a mortal—it can even fool the monitoring devices of the Golden Dawn in the past, and perhaps it can also fool Nuwa.
If even Nuwa could deceive him, perhaps the only people in this world who could crack his code are... those cultivators who have met him, who specialize in using such decryption techniques, and whose cultivation level surpasses his.

In other words, copying is also an extremely powerful technique for concealing one's presence... and there may even be many other uses?

Consider this perspective...

"The second realm, perhaps! Then I'll need to consider... an offensive supernatural power keyword." Chu Zhu's thoughts raced. Even if it wasn't a specialization in attack, it at least needed to give him the ability to fight. He couldn't possibly reach the second realm of cultivation in the future and still rely on body-refining techniques to fight with his bare hands, could he? Like Gandalf, right? All his spells were for support! He'd just grab his staff and go for it...

If the enemy sees this future, they'll laugh themselves to death!
"And what about the final destiny?" Chu Zhu asked.

"I don't know!" Ning Linglong said matter-of-factly.

"?"

Seeing Chu Zhu's incredulous gaze, Ning Linglong spread her hands, "It's really not that I deliberately hid it! Fate, fate, as the name suggests, means leaving it to fate."

“Actually, it’s just what I said. Once the digestion and accumulation period is over, you’ll feel it yourself, and you’ll be able to break through!” Li Kang added from the side.

Chu Zhu choked for a moment. So, both cultivators and body refiners actually have this problem?
"Isn't there a detailed and accurate route?" Chu Zhu finally couldn't contain himself. "If that's the case, what if someone gets stuck at the first realm and can't advance in time!"

“That’s his fate,” Li Kang said expressionlessly.

“Of course,” Ning Linglong said cautiously, “I heard my master say that there are indeed some medicines that can help you forcibly find your destiny! Of course, this only works if you have been stuck at a certain realm for a long time before you can forcibly find it... It doesn’t mean that you can simply rely on taking medicine to keep improving in a short period of time!”

"Yes, and refining pills requires the top-tier alchemists from the Abundant Agriculture and Medicine Sect!"

Chu Zhu paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you know what ingredients are used in their pills?"

"I don't know!" Li Kang chimed in. He scratched his head, somewhat puzzled. "They've kept it very well hidden... but Fengrao is incredibly difficult to find! You know, even in Jinghai City, there's no such sect's headquarters. Or rather, you might find some followers at a roadside clinic... they've broken up into smaller groups!"

"Fortunately, it seems that our Great Qian government has a cooperative relationship with the Abundant lineage! So, establishing enough merit is not out of the question..."

Speaking of this, a hint of joy appeared on Li Kang's face. "However, it's also thanks to your good fortune that I've accumulated enough merit points to exchange for a Grade 3 pill! It wasn't easy. It took me five years, a full five years, with your help, to accumulate enough... What I said I was waiting for before was actually this Grade 3 Abundance Pill!"

"I've already exchanged the pills, but I don't know when they'll arrive... Ah Zhu, don't look like that! Pills have to be refined fresh... right?"

“…Oh!” Chu Zhu nodded expressionlessly. So familiar…too familiar!

He has now even guessed what the raw materials of the elixir are—or rather, judging from the way it's being concealed, it's exactly the same as the radiant water and radiant stone.

"Probably just a bunch of auxiliary herbs, paired with a cultivator at the third realm. If you're lucky, it'll be an inhuman superhuman creature; if you're unlucky... a life-giving elixir... humph!"

Chu Zhu glanced at Li Kang's beaming face, but ultimately couldn't bring herself to speak and discourage him. She could only sigh inwardly; in the world of extraordinary beings, it seemed that those with extraordinary abilities were the true form of currency.

Cultivation resources are needed for derivatives, alchemy is needed for alchemy, weapon crafting is needed for... who knows what other strange and wonderful uses they might have in the future!

"No wonder they have to refine it on the spot! No wonder it's uncertain when the pills will be delivered after the purchase... As it stands, Uncle Li has probably exchanged his merit points, and the authorities have received the news that they still need to find a third-realm extraordinary creature! I just don't know whether they'll capture one now, or retrieve a third-realm cultivator from a prison or nuclear facility, and then directly find a pill refiner to refine it... But all I can say is, no wonder it's so ridiculously expensive!"

"No, I should say it takes five years to collect them all. Even with my help, it shouldn't be considered expensive!" Chu Zhu belatedly realized that if it were really expensive, it would be comparable to real-world housing prices. He clicked his tongue in amazement. "I should actually say it's really cheap... The official welfare of the Great Qian Dynasty is truly generous!"

(End of this chapter)