Chapter 69: The Mysterious Shadow Protector, Traitor Exposed?
Su Xing hesitated for a moment when he saw this. Why would the Shadow Protector suddenly seek him out? This didn’t seem to have happened in the previous simulations, did it?
“Is it because I did something to change the trajectory of the future?”
Su Xing was completely baffled and continued to simulate.
[Meanwhile, the Shadow Protector directly disclosed some of your information, she explicitly mentioned that you have a certain relationship with the Tarot Society, because a batch of Wound Healing Pills emerged from the Tarot Society one or two years ago.]
[But she also stated that she is not interested in your true identity—she just wants you to help her refine a batch of Essence-Nourishing Pills and to keep it a secret.]
[You asked the Shadow Protector how many Essence-Nourishing Pills she needed, and she said she required five thousand.]
[You were surprised—the quantity of five thousand Essence-Nourishing Pills was no small number. There must be some big secret behind the Shadow Protector for her to need so many Essence-Nourishing Pills.]
[For the sake of caution, you claimed that you could only refine so many Essence-Nourishing Pills per month and had no more time for additional alchemy.]
[The Shadow Protector saw through your childish lie and implied that your compensation would not be small; she would provide you with double the herbal materials every month and asked you to refine an additional batch of Essence-Nourishing Pills for her.]
[You became even more certain that there were secrets behind the Shadow Protector, so you took the opportunity to make a demand—in addition to the previous materials, you also wanted her to supply you with a batch of Yellow Immortal Essence every month.]
[The Shadow Protector agreed to your request and then left.]
[In the third year, you took one week out of every month to refine elixirs. Beyond producing the required quantity of Essence-Nourishing Pills, you began to refine Organ Refining Pills and started to stockpile them for the future.]
[Apart from alchemy, you diligently worked on enhancing your Cultivation Level every day, and you managed to re-cultivate back to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Stage.]
[In the fourth year, you continued your efforts in inscribing the seventh elixir pattern, and although you completed the five thousand Essence-Nourishing Pills as requested by the Shadow Protector, she did not stop there. Instead, she requested that you provide her with ten thousand Essence-Nourishing Pills over the next few years.]
[You accepted the Shadow Protector’s request because the more she asked for, the more herbal materials you would receive, allowing you to accumulate more elixirs.]
[In the fifth year, you successfully inscribed the seventh elixir pattern, while your Cultivation Level dropped to the ninth level of the Golden Core Stage.]
[In the sixth year, you re-trained to reach the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Stage once again.]
[In the seventh year, you began inscribing the eighth elixir pattern, but you also discovered that from the seventh pattern onwards, the difficulty of inscription had significantly increased. Fortunately, with the talent of a True Spiritual Root, this level of difficulty was not an obstacle for you.]
[In the eighth year, you continued inscribing the elixir patterns while also completing the additional task given by the Shadow Protector: refining ten thousand Essence-Nourishing Pills.]
[You had thought the Shadow Protector would have you continue refining the next batch of pills, but discovered she did not make such a request. She seemed preoccupied, more silent and reserved than before, as if a burden had been lifted from her.]
[You boldly inquired why the Shadow Protector needed those pills. The Shadow Protector looked at you deeply and warned you not to meddle in affairs that didn’t concern you. These matters were not for you to know, or she would make you disappear from this world.]
Su Xing frowned deeply upon seeing this.
“Indeed, the Shadow Protector’s behavior in this simulation is entirely different from before… but why has this change occurred?”
After thinking carefully, Su Xing realized that the biggest change he made in this simulation was expanding the influence of the Tarot Society by tenfold compared to before!
And to expand the Tarot Society’s influence, he refined and sold a large number of elixirs, including Wound Healing Pills!
It was precisely because of this that the Shadow Protector vaguely guessed her connection with the Tarot Society, of course, the Shadow Protector probably didn’t know her true identity as Su Xing.
“Wait… Maybe she already guessed?”
Su Xing suddenly realized that he had joined the Descending Sect with Wang Qingxuan, and coupled with his certain contact with the Tarot Society, others might not know his identity, but the Shadow Protector might have already figured it all out.
Su Xing frowned slightly and murmured to himself:
“Luckily, it was only in the simulation that my identity was guessed—it’s not a big deal… But did the Shadow Protector do all this because she knew my identity?”
But after knowing his identity, why would she make a different choice from the previous simulations?
Su Xing followed this train of thought.
“Perhaps, it is because she did not fully trust me before, and when she knew my identity, she lost some kind of concern?”
Su Xing shook his head slightly, ready to slowly uncover the secrets of the Shadow Protector in subsequent simulations.
[In the ninth year, you successfully engraved the eighth elixir pattern, while your cultivation level fell to the ninth level of the Golden Core Stage.]
[In the tenth year, you diligently cultivated for one year, and your cultivation level returned to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Stage.]
[In the eleventh year, you began carving the last elixir pattern. The difficulty of the ninth elixir pattern was beyond your imagination, but you had plenty of time to complete the carving of this pattern.]
[In the twelfth year, you still failed to engrave the ninth elixir pattern. According to your estimate, it would take at least two to three more years to complete.]
[During these years, the Shadow Protector did not ask you to concoct any additional elixirs; she seemed to have become withdrawn, merging with the Shadow Beast more and more obsessively, to the point where you even noticed that her right hand had completely turned into the black of the Shadow Beast.]
[In the same year, in order to extend the time of the simulation, you used some means to find Lu Yuanwu.]
[You gave him all thirty thousand Organ Refining Pills you had accumulated over the years and instructed him to announce that they were made by internal alchemists of the Great Xia Military.]
[You silently prayed that the Human Race would survive longer in this simulation, so you would have more time to simulate.]
[At the same time, you also prepared enough Essence-Nourishing Pills and Wound Healing Pills, ready to make a getaway at any moment. After all, you had exposed quite a few things in front of the Shadow Protector during the simulation, and she might have already guessed that you were the one concocting the Organ Refining Pills. If she reported this to the Descending Sect, your betrayal would be impossible to hide.]
[Fortunately, nothing happened this year.]
[In the thirteenth year, you were still engrossed in carving the ninth elixir pattern, which required a lot of mental effort. If it weren’t for the many Wound Healing Pills you had consumed earlier, which made your mental power considerably higher than that of cultivators at the same level, you probably would have found it extremely difficult to carve.]
[Luckily, you had made more than half progress with the carving, and if nothing unexpected occurred, you would be able to complete the engraving of the ninth elixir pattern during this simulation.]
[As you were immersed in engraving the elixir patterns, one day, the upper echelons of the Descending Sect found your dwelling.]
[A considerable number of high-ranking members of the Descending Sect came this time around, with as many as four protectors and more than ten Elders, including Shadow Protector and Protector Zong.]
[Protector Zong had a ferocious smile on his face as he took out an Organ Refining Pill from his Storage Magical Artifact, declaring that you had concocted it, and that you were the traitor who had betrayed the Descending Sect!]