Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 849
Do all three factors apply?

Li Zheng nodded thoughtfully: "However, we still need some experiments as a reference. I know you are in dire need of spirit stones, so I'll give you a few. Give me your answer after you've tried them."

Yan Bujin must have a lot of cultivation techniques and secret arts in his mind. He was previously coerced and lured by Li Zheng to hand over one of them, but he was unable to cultivate it for some unknown reason.

In order to find out why his cultivation progress did not match the description in the classic texts, he had to make the only experienced cultivator his control group. If Yan Bujin could successfully cultivate the previous techniques, the consumption would also increase.

Only then can you explain that your situation is reasonable and everything is normal.

Under the undisguised fervor in his eyes, Li Zheng tossed him ten exquisite little spirit stones, then turned and left.

Holding the spirit stone in his hands, feeling the pure energy within it, Yan Bujin's hands trembled, and tears welled up in his eyes: "Finally... finally I can cultivate again!"

Exploring new cultivation methods is ultimately not his path; Yan Bujin still yearns to return to the cultivation system, which is his true home turf.

Leaving aside all his affairs at the Institute of Basic Research, he couldn't wait to rush into an empty laboratory, sit cross-legged, and begin circulating his inner energy in his hand, holding the spirit stone he had just acquired.

Based on his previous knowledge, Yan Bujin quickly sensed the familiar energy inside the spirit stone.

A suction force appeared in his palm, like a traveler dying of thirst in the desert, eagerly and fiercely seizing the abundant spiritual energy contained within the spirit stone.

Because of the absence of the lower dantian, Yan Bujin had been researching methods to replace the lower dantian, which came in handy at this time, and he almost instantly regained his cultivation level in the cultivation system.

"Qi Refining Level 1!"

"breakthrough!"

"Qi Refining Level Two!"

"breakthrough!"

"breakthrough!"

"breakthrough!!"

Having had extensive cultivation experience, after returning to the cultivation system, Yan Bujin continuously devoured all the spirit stones, breaking through his cultivation realm one after another. By the time he came to his senses, he had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, and was just one step away from reaching the Qi Refining Perfection.

"They're all used up?"

Yan Bujin looked down at the empty shell of the dried spirit stone in front of him, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes: "The spirit stone given by the master is of good quality. In the past, it was enough to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, but now it can only be used up to the ninth level of Qi Refining?"

He suddenly stood up: "Although the consumption is vastly different from what the Lord described, the Lord's problem at least matches one of my guesses. I'll go and report this first."

Not long after Li Zheng returned to his residence, Liu Qishao suddenly came to his door.

"Old Li, there's something I might need your help with."

Liu Qishao cut to the chase, saying, "Several members of Nine Heavens went to the Sin Domain before, and so many days have passed without any news from them. I'm worried they've run into trouble. You're more familiar with the environment of the Sin Domain than we are, and you're also stronger. Could you...?"

“Members?” Li Zheng shook his head. It seemed that Liu Qishao didn’t remember the leader of the Nine Heavens either, and actually thought that only a few members of the Nine Heavens went to the Sin Domain: “I have been to several Sin Domains, that’s true, but the rules in each Sin Domain are different, and I dare not run around. Moreover, we don’t even know which Sin Domain the people of the Nine Heavens went to. Blindly searching is no different from looking for a needle in a haystack. Let’s respect their fate and let them go.”

He warned the first group of Blue Star players when they entered the outer city that the Sin Domain was extremely dangerous, and that they should not venture out unless they had sufficient strength and confidence to protect themselves.

The leader of the Nine Heavens refused to believe in evil and insisted on leading his men to commit suicide. Moreover, he seemed to be very afraid of being found, leaving no trace and sending no information back.

They clearly have ulterior motives and secrets.

"This……"

Liu Qishao opened his mouth, then hesitated. "What's wrong?" Li Zheng asked, "Just say it. Do you have some secret you're hiding from me?"

"It's not exactly a secret," Liu Qishao said with a slightly embarrassed look, "but it could be considered a military secret."

"Military secrets?" Li Zheng was not interested: "If they won't help us fight the future catastrophe, then there's no need to tell me. I don't want to know."

He just wants to find an effective way to completely resolve the impending emotional storm.

"There's some connection, I suppose."

Liu Qishao said seriously, "Actually, the higher-ups had records about the matrix in ancient times, but the matrix in the records is not quite the same as the matrix we experienced."

"For example?"

Li Zheng became interested and asked Liu Qi to continue.

“For example, the Matrix wasn’t originally called the Matrix, but had another name. But that name was erased, so no one in our time knows it,” Liu Qishao said slowly. “Moreover, when the Matrix descended upon Earth, it appeared in the form of a game, but the games back then were different from those now. The main focus wasn’t fighting and killing, but rather a battle of wits.”

"A battle of wits?"

“Yes,” Liu Qishao said. “However, according to the records, the Matrix only descended for a little over a month. Then all the recruited players were released and lost almost all their memories of the Matrix. The records we have are based on fragmented information that surfaced in the dreams of some people who had participated in the Matrix game.”

"Oh?"

Li Zheng's heart skipped a beat: "You wouldn't be suggesting that Jiutian might possess some information that even you don't know, and therefore secretly went to the Sin Domain to do some unknown things, would you?"

"Hmm." Liu Qishao said seriously, "I do have such suspicions, but Jiutian is, after all, one of our people. I don't think they would do anything to harm all of humanity. But we must know the secrets they are hiding, otherwise they could also become a hidden danger."

"I understand."

Li Zheng pondered for a moment and said, "In that case, I will go to the Seven Great Sin Domains as soon as possible to find those people from the Nine Heavens."

The Nine Heavens may be hiding some secret, which may be helpful in dealing with the future catastrophe. It would be incredibly stupid if the leader of the Nine Heavens died in the Sin Domain and the secret was not passed down.

Li Zheng decided that once he found the other party, he would beat him up first, regardless of anything else.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Liu Qishao nodded and left.

He had barely left when Yan Bujin arrived.

As soon as he entered, he couldn't wait to report all his findings to Li Zheng: "From this, we can see that the anomaly our master encountered during cultivation is the same as we speculated. It is caused by the combination of three factors and is a normal phenomenon. There is no need to worry too much."

The unanswerable questions were not important to Li Zheng; all he wanted was peace of mind.

After all, aside from the discrepancy between the training results and the actual results, his training did not cause any substantial damage to his body; on the contrary, his overall strength actually improved slightly.

He casually took out ten spirit stones and tossed them to Yan Bujin: "You did a good job. Keep up the good work in the future. As long as you make contributions, you will definitely be rewarded."

"Thank you, Lord!"

After bowing and expressing his gratitude, Yan Bujin hurriedly returned home, holding the spirit stone.

His current body doesn't belong to him. He'll be content with just reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining. Once he has a new body, he'll invest more spirit stones and officially embark on the path of cultivation again.

(End of this chapter)