Chapter 485 You Call This Fishing? (7000)

To simultaneously hold over a dozen competitive events nationwide is actually far beyond the capabilities of the newly established Zhuzhao Group.

Even with covert official support, it's still the case, not to mention being controlled by just two people.

However, Su Zhou and Shao Qiming never thought that they could manage the entire plan with just the two of them.

In reality, they are merely facilitators, playing a guiding role.

For example, the Zheng Nation Security Bureau, under Su Zhou's suggestion, cooperated with the Zhuzhao Group and increased its support for the "Walking into Cultivation" program.

The three parties worked together to plan a large-scale competitive test, with the main focus on dealing with various 'abnormal creatures and events.'

For example, going to ancient desert villages to capture juvenile sand dragons that harass local residents; going to the mysterious bamboo forests of Chuan Province to mingle with wild Iron-Eating Beast groups.

Or, coordinating with sea beasts in the East Sea to ensure the safety of surrounding航线 (hángxiàn) [shipping routes]; killing dangerous magical creatures lurking in the city sewers that frequently hunt pet cats and dogs.

This series of diverse and challenging competitive tests combines practicality and entertainment, involving the participants' practical abilities and interpersonal skills. What it tests is the most valuable comprehensive ability.

Those who rank high in this competitive program are undoubtedly the special talents needed by the Security Bureau and can be absorbed into the Security Bureau's reserve list.

As long as these people pass the political review, they can be completely regarded as star agents and displayed openly as a brand—and for most ordinary people, this is completely a shortcut to success.

Moreover, this series of competitive plans are all under the control of the Security Bureau. Other minor matters are planned by the Walking into Cultivation program group. Su Zhou and Shao Qiming don't need to worry about the specific actions at all, they only need to occasionally record the feedback big data.

There's no need to do everything yourself. Su Zhou is very clear about his positioning.

That is a spark, a reason.

He only needs to light a spark in a world that is extremely dry and already filled with fuel, and provide a reason, then the world, which has been waiting bitterly, will move on its own.

Just like a few days ago, Su Zhou held a joint meeting with several chefs' associations in the Pan-Southeast Asian region and finalized the agenda for the 'Asian Cuisine Competition.'

Throughout the entire meeting, Su Zhou only said one sentence. The specific agenda and procedures were all proposed by the chefs' associations themselves, who wanted to expand their influence. They seemed to have been prepared for a long time, but were still hesitant to apply because there was no news from above.

With Su Zhou as a guarantee, led by him, the strongest human, there wouldn't be any unfair problems. On this point, the chefs' association trusted Su Zhou's reputation.

After all, Su Zhou had been a judge on many food programs before, and he enjoyed a high reputation in the industry... It's true that he can't cook, but it's also true that Su Zhou knows how to eat.

Moreover, Su Zhou tastes food very finely. He is one of the very few first-class gourmet powerhouses who can taste all the details of any chef's cooking.

Therefore, the national preliminary rounds of the [Asian Cuisine Competition] are in full swing. Whether it is the Zheng Nation's 'National Cuisine Competition' or Yingzhou's 'Imperial Kitchen Demon Competition', they have already begun accepting registrations and conducting preliminary selections.

This is also the first batch of large-scale cross-border competitions, in which there are countless powerhouses who can make料理 (liàolǐ) [cuisine] shine.

Su Zhou also plans to personally go to the finals of the cooking competition as a judge after finishing this recent busy period.

Such a thing cannot be missed!

However, just as Su Zhou was continuing to check the progress of many competitive events,

Suddenly, his personal agent terminal received an emergency communication.

It was a communication from Yan Sheng.

"Strange, what does he want from me?"

Muttering, Su Zhou still chose to connect—he was already used to Yan Sheng's almost ubiquitous communication, especially since Yan Sheng was also responsible for the online promotion of various emergency competitions recently. Maybe there was a problem in this regard?

Harboring such doubts, he then heard Yan Sheng's rare, astonished voice.

[Su Zhou, those secret methods that are obviously problematic, you actually used the real ones?!]

Yan Sheng's tone was filled with obvious shock, and his questioning made Su Zhou a little dazed: "Wait, what do you mean by 'the real ones'?"

[Those secret methods that are used as rewards for the competitive events!]

Yan Sheng emphasized again. He asked incredulously: [You actually gave them all out for real?]

"Oh, you mean that."

Hearing this, Su Zhou immediately understood why Yan Sheng was so surprised. He laughed and gave Shao Qiming, who was paying attention to this matter, a 'no big deal' gesture. Then, he easily replied: "It can't be considered too real. They are all fabricated by myself according to my personal understanding of the original classics."

"Besides, there should always be bait for fishing, right? Otherwise, slightly smarter fish won't be hooked."

[You call this fishing?!]

Hearing this, Yan Sheng's tone suddenly became extremely surprised.

He, as the auditor, had reviewed each of the cultivation methods that Su Zhou uploaded to the information database to serve as the basis for the major competitive competitions.

Without a doubt, although there were some omissions later, each one was a genuine immortal-god-level cultivation method. Even if it was indeed not comprehensive enough, it was definitely much stronger than ordinary cultivation methods.

In general, if you cultivate the cultivation methods given by Su Zhou, there is no problem in cultivating all the way to the Transcendent stage. Whether you can command Human Immortals depends on talent, and whether you can become a Overlord Earth Immortal depends on luck and compatibility...

But this is completely enough!

A cultivation method that has the potential to become a Overlord Earth Immortal, in ancient times, that was enough to ascend to immortality!

Although it can't compare to the supreme divine power inheritance that directly points to the Heavenly Immortal Great Dao, even the supreme divine power inheritance cannot guarantee that everyone can cultivate into an immortal god.

And among the people, a cultivation method that is enough to cultivate to the Transcendent rank is enough to be the family inheritance of a Transcendent family!

——Su Zhou calls his secret methods bait?

This is a nuclear bomb! This is using a nuclear bomb to fish!

Whether you want to take the bait or not, with a nuclear bomb, even whales will float up!

Yan Sheng was actually not very optimistic about Su Zhou's plan.

There are many more efficient ways for officials to find out various unstable factors all over the world.

Just by increasing the investment in the Zheng Nation's spiritual energy network and detecting the source of every spell release, it is easy to find many suspicious and dangerous abnormal individuals.

But in this way, not to mention the large investment, it will also cause tension in public opinion without any change to the current social structure. Therefore, the higher-ups of Zheng Nation simply acted according to Su Zhou's suggestion. At least the competition thing can indeed arouse national enthusiasm.

As for using immortal-god-level cultivation methods as rewards, Yan Sheng felt that this was not a problem.

The Zheng Nation official presiding over the competitive events and giving out immortal-god-level cultivation methods is not a big deal. After all, the goal of the Thirty-Six Saints Committee is for all the people of Zheng Nation to cultivate immortal-god cultivation methods in the future. Competitive competitions are just a step to accelerate this plan.

It's just that in this process, it is necessary to gradually guide and avoid large-scale chaos, leading to a group of villains taking powerful cultivation methods and causing harm to the people.

Even so, the immortal-god orthodox methods that Zheng Nation will take out to popularize will naturally be neutral and peaceful, without any bias and without the need to go to extremes.

But what Su Zhou took out was not like this.

Many of them were obviously secret methods that went the 'demonic path'... This was a big problem.

At first, Yan Sheng thought that Su Zhou was just using a little bit of fragments to fish. Naturally, those who were suspicious would be caught, and if someone with a clean background really won, then he would let the other party choose an immortal-god cultivation method suitable for them. There was no need to really spread these dangerous secret methods...

But now it seems that Su Zhou's plan is not the same.

"I understand what you mean, don't worry, although these secret methods look dangerous and vicious, they are actually just illusions."

Su Zhou naturally understood Yan Sheng's worries very well.

He had already thought about these problems when compiling these cultivation methods, so he explained with a smile: "The core of these cultivation methods is extremely orthodox. You will understand as long as you start cultivating."

"How to say it? It's like a news headline, 'Shocking, a family of twenty in a certain southern city was brutally murdered by chemical weapons.' It looks shocking and attracts attention, but when you click on it, it's actually an insecticide advertisement, and what died were all cockroaches."

"Normal people naturally won't care. Only the fish that are really here for chemical weapons will be caught."

[Is that so...]

Hearing this, even though he still had worries in his heart, Yan Sheng still chose to believe Su Zhou.

He sighed: [If it's really as you said, then that's fine. Indeed, if you want to screen out unstable elements while enlivening the atmosphere of civilian cultivators, you should use this kind of secret method. Your choice may not be wrong.]

After solving this problem, Yan Sheng's tone returned to his usual emotionless calm like an AI. He said lightly: [Next, Su Zhou, there is another important thing.]

[The American Federation has accepted your diplomatic request. The two chairmen and all the directors of the NW Foundation have also agreed to hold talks with us. The departure time is June 7th. Remember, Zheng Nation is a land of etiquette. We should conduct exchanges with a peaceful and friendly attitude.]

"Is that so?"

Hearing this and getting another definite result, Su Zhou immediately smiled.

He said easily: "Don't worry, I will communicate with them well."

[I hope so.]

Although he said so, Yan Sheng's tone obviously did not hold out hope.

Ending this topic, Su Zhou and Yan Sheng exchanged various news promotion matters related to various competitive events for a while.

Then, he closed the agent terminal and stood up.

"What's wrong, are you leaving?"

Shao Qiming, who was working on the side, raised his head, somewhat puzzled: "Are you starting to prepare for the American Federation now? Isn't that too early?"

"No, what's there to prepare for that kind of thing? I'm just going to declare the truth. They have no choice but to believe it."

Su Zhou stretched out his hand and opened his personal space. He took out a white crystal bottle engraved with runes and threw it to Shao Qiming: "I've been busy with these things recently, and I haven't visited my parents. Now that the work is coming to an end, it's time to go home."

"By the way, this is a special product I brought back from the Reincarnation World. Try it and see how it tastes? Remember to use your soul to capture it. Spiritual power can't catch it."

"You even remembered to bring back special products. Not bad. Thank you."

Casually taking the crystal bottle thrown by Su Zhou, Shao Qiming carefully looked at it. He saw that the bottle contained a dense cloud of black dust, and there were flashes of silvery starlight in the dust from time to time, which was quite dazzling.

The appearance is very good, and it is indeed suitable as a local specialty.

Using his soul to restrain it and opening the lid, Shao Qiming curiously approached and smelled it.

Then, his expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly closed the lid and looked up at Su Zhou in astonishment: "What is this thing?!"

After speaking, he no longer had the energy to continue asking. Shao Qiming gritted his teeth and stopped speaking—and in the next moment, a layer of golden, sun-like flames ignited all over his body, filling the entire office with spiritual light.

"What's wrong?!"

Su Zhou, who was about to leave, was shocked. He saw at a glance that Shao Qiming's spiritual power was suddenly running faster, and his Shenmu (shénmù) [Sacred Tree] cultivation was starting to stir.

However, although it looked scary, Shao Qiming was not in danger at the moment, so Su Zhou did not rashly help, so as not to interfere with the other party's self-coordination.

"...It's nothing. It's just that this thing is too nourishing."

After a while, Shao Qiming slowly opened his mouth and let the flames dissipate.

At this time, the youth collapsed on his seat, staring at the bottle in his hand with a look of lingering fear, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He raised his hand and endured the pain to pull out the sprouts that had already started to sprout on his fingers one by one, his voice trembling slightly: "You absolutely can't imagine it. I almost took root on the spot..."

After doing this, Shao Qiming turned his head to look at Su Zhou, his voice confused: "A-Zhou, what exactly is this thing? My Shenmu bloodline feels like it's encountering open fire with gasoline when it encounters this thing. It directly starts to run out of control!"

"...It's World Dust. I did know that this thing is very useful for Shenmu, but is the effect so great?"

Shao Qiming's violent reaction obviously exceeded Su Zhou's knowledge. He couldn't understand it and could only ask his soul space in confusion: "Yala, what's going on? Although the reaction of the Wisdom Tree was big, it wasn't like this, right?"

"Moreover, fundamentally, World Dust is not a real spiritual material. How can it be so effective for Shenmu?"

Hearing this, the 'External Database·Snake Spirit' shook its head: "You've got one thing wrong... Shenmu needs World Dust not because it can strengthen the Shenmu's body, but because it can complete the Shenmu's soul."

"The Shenmu lineage lacks spiritual cultivation the most—Su Zhou, do you still remember the Banyan Undying Tree?"

"Of course I remember." Su Zhou nodded slightly. That was the first time he encountered a super life beyond common sense, and the Banyan Undying Tree was also the source of all the disasters he experienced in the first other world. The memory is naturally very deep.

In this regard, Yala nodded slightly: "The Banyan Undying Tree is a standard Shenmu. Its body can easily grow to the stage of a Overlord, even a Overlord, easily eroding an entire continent."

"But even with such power, the Shenmu's spirit is still chaotic, like a newborn baby. It takes hundreds or thousands of years of precipitation to condense basic wisdom and divine consciousness."

"Indeed." Recalling what he had seen at the beginning, Su Zhou couldn't help but nod. Hearing this, he vaguely understood—if the Banyan Undying Tree hadn't relied on the sacrifices of tens of millions of亡魂 (wánghún) [wandering souls] by the An Dynasty Demon Emperor, it would have taken thousands of years to develop the wisdom to communicate normally with people.

And ordinary Shenmu without this kind of opportunity...

So Yala answered with a chuckle, confirming the youth's guess: "Do you understand now? The inheritance of the Shenmu lineage is that their physical bodies are unimaginably powerful, but their spiritual cultivation is far inferior to their peers. What they lack is the divine object like World Dust that can nourish the soul."

"If the Wisdom Tree hadn't been growing with you all the time, and its soul's sublimation progress was much faster than ordinary Shenmu, it would have had to sleep for at least a few hundred years to digest so much World Dust."

"A few hundred years is fine. It's really only a tree that can sleep so casually." Sighing, but Su Zhou was still a little confused about this: "However, since World Dust is so powerful, why does it only taste like chocolate powder when I eat it? At most, it just replenishes a little soul power."

Hearing such shameless words, the Snake Spirit said angrily: "You are a powerhouse of the Heavenly Soul profession, the path of sex, and you have the supernatural power of the True Spirit Immortality. Your soul's self-healing speed is faster than ordinary cultivators taking holy medicine for healing. The fact that World Dust can even make you feel something is far beyond all divine materials."

"And races like demons, whose souls are shattered, and whose whole race is in a state of soul and mental decline and collective manic depression, especially need this thing. This can easily give them reason and cross the bottleneck of advancing to a Great Demon."

"Speaking of which, the Tianchi Dragon King on your Earth side, although seemingly destined to die, if you had a large amount of World Dust at the beginning, you could have saved most of it. Although his strength would inevitably be greatly reduced, he would definitely be able to live."

"Is that so? That's really a pity... It seems that next time I'll take some to the Shenmu world and trade with the Banyan Undying Tree. Maybe I can get a lot of benefits."

Knowing this, Su Zhou suddenly understood a lot in his heart.

He turned his head to look at Shao Qiming, who was still frowning and closing his eyes to adjust his breathing, avoiding his spiritual power from really going out of control and taking root and sprouting. He suddenly had a rather absurd feeling of being a businessman in the plane: "In the Reincarnation World, the density of World Dust is simply unimaginable. Just collecting World Dust there and then selling it to other worlds would probably be a thousand times, or even ten thousand times the profit!"

"But, Yala, since World Dust is so effective, why didn't the immortals and gods on Earth prepare these life-saving items for themselves?"

Speaking softly to himself, Su Zhou's tone was quite regretful: "Elias is the God of Fire, a Overlord realm, and not even at the peak. He can enter and exit the world and use World Dust to maintain the existence of the world. And the Tianchi Dragon King is a peak Earth Immortal who is about to ascend to the immortal realm, only one step away from the Heavenly Immortal. It is impossible not to prepare a life-saving holy medicine for himself."

"The difficulty of mining is different in different worlds."

Yala patiently explained to Su Zhou, drawing two circles, one large and one small, with her tail as a demonstration: "Just like the world where your Earth is located, a boundless universe, its world barrier is so thick that it is basically impossible to break through violently. So even if the Heavenly Immortals and Heavenly Venerables in your civilization want to go to the void, they must go to places like the Kunlun Secret Realm to tear the barrier before they can collect World Dust. But the small, incomplete worlds like the Reincarnation World even have natural passages leading to the outer void. The difficulty is worlds apart."

"Moreover, World Dust comes from the destruction of the world. The area around the Reincarnation World is obviously a gathering place for the remnants of countless destroyed worlds, so there is a lot of World Dust. The surrounding ecosystems of ordinary large worlds are very good. Unless you personally destroy the world, where can you get World Dust to mine?"

"So, the more powerful the world, the more precious World Dust is?"

Yala's explanation is always so detailed that Su Zhou always gains a lot.

The youth thoughtfully nodded, and he couldn't help but think of the 'Primordial World' that he would go to in the future: "And the Primordial World, which is so powerful that it has not even experienced the extinction of spiritual energy, what would be the value of World Dust there?"

Everything is just imagination.

However, it added a lot of thoughts and plans to Su Zhou's heart.

If the preciousness of World Dust is really as Yala said, then in the future, his actions in the Primordial World may be much smoother.

Just like bringing spices to the medieval other world, bringing man-made gems to ancient times, the gap between different worlds and different eras will make the value of the same item vary greatly.

This is the advantage of those who can travel freely between different worlds.

"This small bottle doesn't look like much, but it's probably enough for me to use slowly for a few years..."

At the same time, Shao Qiming slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

As he exhaled, all the wooden patterns and芽孢 (yábāo) [buds] that had appeared on his body shrank back into his body, and the branches that had grown on his hair also fell off, instantly returning to his human form.

Although he had almost lost control just now, the spiritual light in Shao Qiming's eyes was very bright, making him look energetic. Raising his hand and staring at the white crystal bottle, he couldn't help but praise in a low voice: "This time, I really have to thank you, A-Zhou. With such a divine object, not to mention the peak of Transcendence, even advancing to the Overlord stage is a smooth path for me."

"There's no need to thank me for this."

Confirming that his friend was indeed fine, and even his spiritual cultivation had improved slightly because of this, Su Zhou smiled: "Be careful. You can't use too much at once, otherwise you might really have a bloodline runaway and take root and become a Shenmu."

"I know."

Smiling, Shao Qiming stood up and prepared to start working again. Just as he was saying goodbye to Su Zhou, who was preparing to leave, he reminded him.

"Since you're going to the American Federation, it's a good time to contact Krossel. The Holy Snake Spirit Litany Society is also one of the early important investors of Zhuzhao Group. If we want to conduct a worldwide competition, we do need many partners."

"And during the time you went to another world, he came to me every day, asking me indirectly where you were. It seems that he knew something."

"Is that so?"

Su Zhou didn't care about this. The reason why he went to the Reincarnation World in the first place was because he got the relevant information from Krossel. It's normal for the other party to have some guesses.

Nodding, pushing open the door, he smiled and said: "That's right, I also want to talk to him about the new goals of the Litany Society recently..."

"It's time for this ancient organization to be 'renovated'!"

After saying that, he walked out the door.

Shao Qiming smiled and watched this scene.

Then he turned his head and began to seriously continue reviewing the data and reviewing the progress of various competitive events.

He couldn't hear the angry quarrel that was happening in Su Zhou's soul space.

"What?! Destiny, Pioneer, and Lord of Silence are fine digging into my wall, but why are you, Su Zhou, also preparing to dig into my wall?!"

On the sleeping Wisdom Tree spirit, the Snake Spirit's tone was full of anger: "Even if I don't admit it, the Holy Snake Spirit Litany Society is an organization that worships me. I won't allow you to mess with the creed!"

In response, Su Zhou was justified: "What do you mean by digging into the wall? That's so unpleasant to hear. I'm just letting them renovate a little—and I have a wonderful reason that can completely achieve my goal without changing the original creed!"

"What reason?" Yala frowned, waiting for Su Zhou's answer.

The youth's tone was full of confidence: "Look, isn't the symbol of the Ouroboros the self-devouring, eternal, endless, balanced cycle?"

"That's right."

"But since it's a snake, it will shed its skin... Shedding its skin and regrowing, breaking free from the old body and obtaining a new and more powerful self—it is still the Holy Snake Spirit, the Ouroboros, but it has become more powerful. Isn't this also a renovation?!"

"You guy..."

Hearing this, Yala, who originally just wanted to find a reason to argue and feign anger, couldn't help but be stunned.

She carefully looked at Su Zhou, who also seemed to be joking, and then her attitude suddenly changed and she laughed: "Well said!"

"See, I said this wasn't a bad idea."

Su Zhou didn't sense this subtle change, and he also laughed, then left the Xiyue Hotel, turned into a stream of light, and flew towards Hong Prefecture.

The soul space gradually returned to silence.

However, after a long silence, a chuckle could be heard, and a murmuring whisper that only the red Snake Spirit herself could hear.

"Making new progress based on acknowledging what is correct..."

"My covenantor, you really chose a good path..."

Recovery period... Please forgive me.