He sold a Top Grade Nourishing Yuan Pill to that junior sister.

Su Qing’s life returned to normal.

He was hard at work Quenching his God Demon Golden Core.

Inside his body, the God Demon Golden Core was continuously being scorched from within by the flames of his True Essence.

The whole thing looked as if the Golden Core was on fire.

’I should synthesize some better Magic.’

’The Earth Vein Resonance Technique is good, but I already have God Demon Transformation.’

’Mutated is actually an option, and Immortal Transformation... I might as well go for Standardization.’

Mutated cost 100 Talent points.

Immortal Transformation, 300 points.

Standardization, 500 points.

’I have to put some points into Mutated.’

Su Qing thought for a moment. It would take a very long time for his Quenching Pill Technique to achieve a breakthrough.

36,000 Pill Patterns.

Su Qing felt it would take ages to finish the Quenching process.

Even at a rate of one pattern per day, it would still take over a hundred years.

Su Qing figured he might as well go and try out Mutated.

Or perhaps he could max out both Mutated and Standardization directly.

A month later.

Su Qing went to the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect Master Island in the Celestial Sea Realm by himself.

He arrived at the shore of the Master Island.

And started fishing.

While he was at it,

he began to synthesize.

...

...

Although he could use his own Spiritual Qi for synthesis,

it was all his own resources, and it would pain him to lose any in a failed synthesis.

It was better to consume the boundless sea instead.

Besides, Su Qing’s synthesis was so slow that he didn’t have to worry about the water level dropping at all.

...

...

「Six months passed.」

Synthesis Lv318 (15,762/31,900)

[Synthesis Success Rate +100%, Mutated, Evolution, Divinization, Demonization, Immortal Transformation +1%, Spiritualization +1%, Standardization +1%, Dimensionalization +1%] [Selectable Talent +119]

Su Qing continued to synthesize while waiting for fish to bite.

BOOM!

A violent tremor accompanied by a terrifying shockwave swept over.

Su Qing was caught in the blast.

The center of the Master Island had been bombed again.

The gale that reached Su Qing whipped his cloak about relentlessly.

In the next moment, the cloak was torn to shreds.

Su Qing felt a bit unlucky.

"Ha! I didn’t expect it to be you, Demon Emperor, causing trouble! Now that you’re here, don’t even think about running!"

"Celestial Flame, heh. To think I’d run into you here. I’ll be sure to skin you alive today! You dare kill so many Demon Kings of my Demon Court? You’ve got some nerve."

Celestial Flame Master stood in mid-air, his Nascent Soul aura pressing down from above.

He was speaking to a bird that resembled a Phoenix, its body covered in feathers made of flames.

"Enough nonsense. Great Sun True Flame!" Without another word from Celestial Flame Master, the entire sky was instantly dyed a fiery red.

The terrifying Great Sun True Flame baked the sky above the Master Island. Down below, the weaker Cultivators who couldn’t evade in time were already done for.

Seeing this, Su Qing activated his Escape Technique and fled.

Nascent Soul masters were fighting.

’What’s a mere Golden Core like me supposed to do? It’s none of my business. Even though I’m from the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect, there’s no benefit in it for me. Why should I help?’

Su Qing’s Escape Technique was fast.

He fled quickly through the water.

Even underwater, he could feel wave after wave of tremors.

This level of Magical Power was simply too formidable.

’It’s not that I don’t want to help, but I’ve truly never fought a Nascent Soul before.’

Golden Core Limit [God Demon Quenching Pill Technique +3: 78 Pill Patterns]

In truth, Su Qing had no desire to get involved in the conflict.

Especially a conflict between Nascent Soul Masters.

’What in the world is going on?’ Su Qing didn’t understand. ’Have I been too much of a shut-in? Have I not kept up with what’s happening in the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect?’

The battle didn’t last long.

Unfortunately, Su Qing was already far away from the Master Island.

’I’ll go back and take a look later.’

Su Qing continued to fish on a small reef, endlessly synthesizing seawater while he was at it.

「Three months later.」

Synthesis Lv392 (15,762/39,300)

[Synthesis Success Rate +100%, Mutated, Evolution, Divinization, Demonization, Immortal Transformation +1%, Spiritualization +1%, Standardization +1%, Dimensionalization +1%] [Selectable Talent +267]

’I’ve put points into Mutated. As for these Selectable Talents, there are no basic ones to choose, and I don’t want the ones that cost two points.’

’Standardization.’

Su Qing felt he had to unlock Standardization.

’The basic ones are already so powerful, so Standardization must be powerful too.’

He could tell just from the Blade of Wholeness.

As long as the blade made contact, it was guaranteed to break through defenses.

’Still more than two hundred to go.’

Su Qing felt a headache coming on.

To get those two hundred-plus points, he would have to synthesize for a long time to reach 100% in Standardization.

Without much thought, Su Qing spent his points to raise Standardization by 53%.

—

Synthesis Lv392 (15,762/39,300)

[Synthesis Success Rate +100%, Mutated, Evolution, Divinization, Demonization, Immortal Transformation +1%, Spiritualization +1%, Standardization +54%, Dimensionalization +1%] [Selectable Talent +2]

—

Standardization was now more than halfway there.

’It seems I can synthesize Standardized things now.’

’What should I use?’

Su Qing glanced at the seawater at his feet.

He then got to work, deactivating all his other triggerable Talents.

"Synthesize."

[Synthesis Successful: One large drop of seawater]

’I don’t believe this.’

[Synthesis Successful: First Layer Seawater Drop (Twice as heavy as a large drop of seawater)]

Su Qing was stunned. Two attempts, and neither one triggered it.

[Synthesis Successful: Standardization Triggered]

[Super Salty Seawater Drop: One drop is saltier than ten. A living being that consumes it will have an extremely salty mouth for 5 minutes.]

’Damn it, this is useless.’

He continued.

Su Qing refused to believe it; he was determined to get something useful.

’Might as well try a Water Spirit Stone.’

[Synthesis Successful: Standardization Triggered]

[Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone: Can produce an amount of Water Spiritual Qi equal to its own capacity within ten seconds. This effect can only be triggered when the Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone is completely empty of Spiritual Qi.]

’This is great.’

Su Qing looked at this Water Attribute Spirit Stone.

’Interesting, very interesting.’

Looking at this Water Attribute Spirit Stone, Su Qing felt it was quite good.

He tried synthesizing it using Evolution.

...

He synthesized it four times.

[Unknown Spirit Stone: Contains a massive amount of Water Attribute Spiritual Energy. Can produce an amount of Water Spiritual Qi equal to a Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone’s capacity within ten seconds. This effect can only be triggered when the Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone is completely empty of Spiritual Qi.]

’Would I get the same result if I used an Ordinary Spirit Stone?’

But this was pretty good, too.

Su Qing mulled it over for a moment.

He turned that Spirit Stone into:

[Unknown Spirit Stone: Contains enough solidified Water Attribute Spiritual Energy to fill an entire Great World. Can produce an amount of Water Spiritual Qi equal to a Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone’s capacity within ten seconds. This effect can only be triggered when the Super Water Attribute Spirit Stone is completely empty of Spiritual Qi.]

"Use." Su Qing casually placed this Unknown Spirit Stone into his Acupoint World.

The Great World in his Dantian had been destroyed.

Only the Dantian itself remained.

Su Qing regretted not taking the Great World out of his Dantian when he broke through.

Or he could have synthesized the Great World itself. But now it was gone, shattered during his breakthrough without a single trace, not even a fragment left behind.

’Standardization, Standardization.’

’I’ll continue synthesizing later.’

Su Qing now used the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stone he just made to fuel his Synthesizer.

At the same time, he decided to head back to the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect’s Master Island to have a look.

When he returned, the Master Island was completely transformed. It was brand new, almost entirely rebuilt in the architectural style of the Zhengxuan Sect, and even better decorated.

He wondered if this counted as "no destruction, no construction."

Notably, when Su Qing entered the Master Island,

an Array appeared.

It flickered faintly on the island the very moment his foot touched down.

"Have things gotten so strict now?" Su Qing didn’t know the purpose of this Array.

He wasn’t omniscient, after all.

’I’ll go back and check things out first.’

Su Qing stepped into the Teleportation Array and instantly returned to the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect.

The Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect was the same as ever.

Or rather, when a major event occurred, most Cultivators were powerless to resist, so for them, the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect just carried on as usual.

The Marketplace was the same, too, though it seemed the price of Elixirs had risen quite a bit.

Normally, two Nourishing Yuan Pills cost 5 Spirit Stones, but now they were 8 Spirit Stones for two.

That was equivalent to 4 Spirit Stones for a single Nourishing Yuan Pill.

’So damn expensive.’

...