I might have been playing a fake cultivation game.

Section 082 Making a Choice

The middle-aged man continued in a steady voice, "But Hell is not so easy to clear. The information our players have obtained through repeated sacrifices is that there are five Ghost Emperors, ten Yama Kings, and the highest ruler of the underworld, the Fengdu Emperor, who resides in the Fengdu Grand Hall. Their strength is unfathomable, and they are at least Golden Core cultivators."

"Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators pose little threat to them. Only prodigies like Mr. Zhou have the power to shake them when they reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

"To clear out hell, we need a prodigy like Mr. Zhou."

"Therefore, we hope that Mr. Zhou can stay in the Foundation Establishment stage for a longer period of time and contribute more to clearing out Hell."

"As expected, the purpose of this person's call was to keep me at the Foundation Establishment stage and continue conquering the Hell dungeon," Zhou Yunshen thought to himself.

He had anticipated this.

That's why he asked Chen Xin'an at that time whether a Foundation Establishment cultivator could defeat a Golden Core cultivator.

Zhou Yun took a deep breath and said, "I'm not some kind of prodigy. I'm just lucky; my character's cultivation aptitude is slightly higher."

In the office on the outskirts of Kyoto, the director was on his cell phone, speaking through the speakerphone. The voice coming from the receiver was Zhou Yunshen's.

The office was completely silent as everyone listened to Zhou Yunshen speak.

Zhou Yunshen's voice continued, "Conquering the Hell dungeon is a matter for everyone on Earth, and as a member of humanity, I have an unshirkable responsibility."

When Zhou Yunshen said those words, a smile appeared on the director's serious face, and smiles also appeared on the faces of the other staff members.

Zhou Yunshen's voice continued, "I'd like to make a request, I wonder if that's possible."

"Whatever your conditions, just name them," the director asked calmly.

Zhou Yunshen's voice paused for a moment before saying, "I need spiritual fruits and pills to quickly improve my cultivation level and reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, the director immediately replied, "That's no problem. We will not only provide you with the necessary resources for cultivation, but we can also design a plan to help you become stronger, maximizing your strength in the Foundation Establishment Realm."

Zhou Yunshen's voice said, "Okay, thank you very much."

The director smiled and said, "You're welcome. It's what we should do."

Zhou Yunshen's voice paused for a moment, then asked, "If I may ask, besides me, are there any other players who need to remain at the Foundation Establishment stage?"

The director hesitated for a moment before answering Zhou Yunshen's question: "According to the instructions from above, players of rank one and above need to stay at the Foundation Establishment stage for the time being, just like you, Mr. Zhou, and be responsible for conquering Hell."

Zhou Yunshen's voice asked, "What about players below the first rank?"

The director said, "Players who possess natal spiritual treasures or special bloodlines need to remain at the Foundation Establishment stage for the time being. Players who do not possess these can break through to a higher realm on their own if they have the ability."

Zhou Yunshen's voice said, "I understand, thank you for clearing up my doubts."

The director said, "You're welcome. Mr. Zhou, if you have any problems that need to be resolved in the future, please feel free to call me anytime."

Zhou Yunshen's voice said, "Okay, thank you."

……

After ending the call, Zhou Yunshen sat on the bed and let out a long sigh.

"It seems I won't be able to break through to the Golden Core Realm anytime soon." Zhou Yunshen shook his head helplessly.

Previously, he was still struggling with whether, when he reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, he should continue to improve his realm or temporarily stop and deeply participate in the operation of conquering the Hell dungeon.

Now that he has made his decision, there is no need for him to dwell on it anymore.

Zhou Yunshen took a bag of bread out of the plastic bag, tore open the packaging, and started eating.

He now has a huge amount of snacks in his rented apartment.

In this situation, if he gets hungry but doesn't want to go out to eat or is too lazy to order takeout, he can just grab these snacks and make do.

He ate his bread slowly while scrolling through his phone.

Before he could even finish the bread, a message popped up on his phone.

Zhou Yunshen opened the message and found that it was sent to him by Chen Xin'an.

Chen Xin'an: "Dude, did you get recruited?"

Zhou Yunshen was completely bewildered: "What? You were recruited by the government?"

Chen Xin'an: "The administrator just contacted me, asking if I had any spiritual fruits or pills for improving cultivation levels. They said the government wanted to buy some from me, and I agreed. Selling these to the government was a contribution to the country, but guess what? The delivery address the government gave us was your place! So, the government is buying things from me to give to you!"

Zhou Yunshen sighed, "The government's actions are certainly swift."

Chen Xin'an: "What do you mean by that?"

Now it was his turn to be completely confused.

Zhou Yunshen explained briefly: "Not long ago, someone from the government called me. It was probably a big shot in the government. He wanted me to stay in the Foundation Establishment stage for a while longer and not break through, to help the government conquer the Hell Dungeon. I agreed, thinking that the government was rich and might provide me with some cultivation resources. I never expected that the government would actually try to buy resources from you."

Chen Xin'an: '...'

Zhou Yunshen: 『???』

Chen Xin'an: "Your first-grade spiritual root is truly something else. Not only does a powerful figure personally call you, but you also receive free cultivation resources. It makes me so jealous! If I had known it would be like this, I should have put all my points into cultivation aptitude like you. That way, I would have had a first-grade spiritual root too."

To be honest, if Chen Xin'an had put all five points into his cultivation aptitude, he really would have been a first-grade spiritual root.

"Unfortunately, I'm not a first-grade spiritual root; I'm an earth-grade spiritual root, the earth element in the universe. Even if you were a first-grade spiritual root, I'd still be several grades higher than you," Zhou Yun Shen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He didn't explain, after all, the fact that he had a low-grade spiritual root needed to be kept secret.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Chen Xin'an, but rather that the fewer people who knew about this, the better.

Furthermore, if the fact that he possesses a low-grade spiritual root were revealed, it would likely be another blow to Chen Xin'an's psyche...

Just then, in the five-person group chat of Luchuan Prefecture established by Chen Xin'an, Xiang Jiang sent a message: "Brother Chen, the government just contacted me, saying they want to buy spiritual fruits and pills for cultivation from me. The price they offered is quite high. Do you think I should sell some to them?"