I Have a Cultivation Simulator

You stared at the Sword Lord's Manuscript ranked at the very top.

In your heart, you repeatedly weighed how much these insights and experiences would actually help you.

'As the highest peak in the Human Realm, the Sword Lord possessed battle prowess that was unprecedented across all ages. In the eyes of other sword cultivators, the manuscript he left behind is undoubtedly a holy relic, but I am not a sword cultivator...'

Your thoughts raced. Given your current situation, the Sword Lord's Manuscript carried too much uncertainty.

Since you walked a different path, its usefulness would not necessarily live up to your expectations.

Moreover, everyone understood experiences and insights differently. What suited you was best.

Something the Sword Lord considered incredibly simple might leave you utterly baffled, even after repeated meditation.

Having cultivated to the Late Nascent Soul Stage, your horizons were far broader than back when you were at the Core Formation Perfection Stage.

Back then, you might have believed this manuscript could play a pivotal role for a true lord in the Nascent Soul Stage, or even a Great Cultivator in the late stage.

But as your realm advanced and your vision broadened, you realized that such experiences and insights were only good for reference. Trying to completely copy them was courting death—let alone insights from a completely different path.

'Forget it, it's too risky.'

You shook your head, giving up on the top-ranked Sword Lord's Manuscript.

If you were a sword cultivator right now, or a Heavenly Monarch in the Deity Transformation Stage...

...you would highly likely choose the Sword Lord's Manuscript.

At the Deity Transformation level, the value of most treasures on the reward list would drop accordingly.

But you were a dharma cultivation true lord.

Currently, your most vital task was to break through to Deity Transformation and become a Heavenly Monarch.

Even the Sword Lord's insights would offer very limited help to a dharma cultivation true lord.

Breaking through to Deity Transformation relied on your own foundation. The experiences of other Heavenly Monarchs would not necessarily be useful.

You already had experience attempting this breakthrough, so you understood this deeply.

Rather than picking the Sword Lord's Manuscript, which might not help you, it was safer to choose a reward with guaranteed, concrete effects.

Your gaze swept over the other rewards.

Eventually, your eyes locked onto the various types of true spirit immortal beast blood.

If you could refine true spirit immortal beast blood into your Divine Ability Transformation, it would directly and significantly boost your combat prowess.

Over the thousand years of your fifth simulation, you had collected plenty of beast king blood essence, but never any pure true spirit immortal beast blood essence.

Pure true spirit immortal beast blood essence was completely different from the blood essence of a beast king with a True Spirit Bloodline.

A beast king with a True Spirit Bloodline only carried a faint trace of a true spirit immortal beast's bloodline.

Even if you refined every last drop of blood essence from such a creature, it would not form even a single drop of true spirit immortal beast blood essence.

Take the Blood Roc from the Myriad Beast Mountain Range, for example.

A faint trace of the true spirit immortal beast Heavenly Roc's bloodline flowed in its veins.

But its blood essence was solely Blood Roc blood essence—not Heavenly Roc blood essence.

To refine Heavenly Roc blood essence, you would probably have to slaughter dozens of Blood Rocs and melt down all their blood essence just to have a glimmer of hope.

Your only hesitation was whether the various types of true spirit immortal beast blood on the reward list actually counted as blood essence.

For your Divine Ability Transformation, only by refining blood essence could you fully mimic and replicate the abilities of the corresponding demonic beast.

You asked the Armored Guardian directly.

"Every type of true spirit immortal beast blood on the reward list meets the minimum threshold for blood essence..." the puppet Armored Guardian replied.

'That's good.'

Your mind set at ease, you looked at the selection of true spirit immortal beast blood.

True Dragon Blood, Blood of the Heavenly Phoenix, Kunpeng blood...

"I choose the True Dragon Blood," you said.

In this simulation, you planned to compete against the top factions of the Central Continent for the crucial resources and treasures within the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands.

Naturally, the higher your combat strength, the better.

As a top-tier true spirit immortal beast, once you refined the True Dragon's blood and obtained the True Dragon transformation...

...the boost to your strength would be guaranteed.

"Are you sure?" the Armored Guardian asked, looking at you.

"I am sure," you said with a nod.

You could wait to choose the Sword Lord's Manuscript in a future simulation.

Buzz—

The Armored Guardian extended his right hand, palm facing up.

An inexplicable spatial fluctuation surged.

Immediately after, a jade box appeared in his hand.

"True Dragon Blood!"

The Armored Guardian looked at you as the jade box slowly floated over.

Spirits soaring, you caught the jade box and slowly opened it.

A drop of blood essence the size of a fist hovered inside.

It was pale gold and lacked any condensed phenomena, yet a suffocating pressure stemming from the depths of its bloodline rushed into your mind.

'Is this the oppressive might of a top-tier true spirit immortal beast, a True Dragon?'

You were secretly shocked. You were a Great Cultivator in the Late Nascent Soul Stage, yet even you felt pressure just facing this drop of blood essence. If a complete True Dragon appeared before you, what kind of scene would that be?

You observed it for a moment before closing the box and storing it away.

Refining blood essence could not be done quickly. The higher the quality, the more time it consumed.

In your last simulation, you had refined nearly twenty types of beast king blood essence, giving you a wealth of experience in this regard.

"Trial taker, do you wish to proceed to the first stage of the trials?" the Armored Guardian asked right then.

"Let's proceed," you said calmly, joy blooming in your heart.

With the experience of several previous simulations, the Ghost Realm Trial Field was far more than just a beneficial aptitude test for you.

You could reap rewards from both the upcoming first and second trial stages.

After all, you had already completed these stages in past simulations.

It was equivalent to an open-book exam—one where you brought the standard answers with you.

"Trial taker, please prepare yourself..." the Armored Guardian said, gently waving his right hand.

Spatial fluctuations surged once again.

You only felt the world shift. By the time your spiritual senses recovered...

...you found yourself standing on a desolate Gobi wasteland.

You glanced around before looking straight ahead at a towering, ruined stone wall.

Silver talisman characters, resembling tadpoles, constantly intertwined, merged, and collided on its surface.

The scene before you was incredibly familiar; you had experienced it several times already.

"Master the secret art on the stone wall within one year, and you will receive another reward," the Armored Guardian said, looking at you.

"Alright."

You gave a slight nod.

You deliberately waited for a single breath...

...and then looked back at him. "I've mastered it."

The Armored Guardian fell silent.

Too lazy to explain, you proactively revealed the divine soul aura proving you had mastered the first tier of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art.

You had experienced all of this in the fifth simulation, so there was no need for further probing.

The Armored Guardian stared intently at the divine soul aura radiating from you and fell silent once more.

Red light continuously surged deep within his eyes. He was clearly verifying from every angle whether you had truly mastered the secret art on the wall.

Dozens of breaths later...

"Testing complete," the Armored Guardian finally said. "The trial taker has successfully mastered the first tier of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art..."

After another brief silence, he continued, "The trial taker's completion time for the first stage is one breath, ranking first since the inception of the Ghost Realm Trial Field..."

You listened closely to his words.

Compared to your last simulation, you had sped up your mastery time.

In the fifth simulation, you intentionally took ten breaths. This time, you only took one.

Of course, whether it was ten breaths or one, it was still the fastest completion speed since the Trial Field's inception.

You simply wanted to test if there was any difference between the two.

"By passing the first stage in a single breath, the trial taker is awarded one Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit," the Armored Guardian announced after a momentary pause.

'Still just one Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit?'

You were secretly disappointed. It seemed that taking one breath instead of ten did not heavily impact the final reward.

Either way, they were both the fastest speeds in the Trial Field's history.

Or perhaps the absolute highest reward for the first stage was simply a single Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit?

While you pondered this, the Armored Guardian retrieved the fruit.

Looking at the soul-path spirit fruit presented to you, you quickly adjusted your mindset.

A single Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit was already incredibly precious. Back in the Central Continent, top-tier Great Cultivators would likely have to snatch food from the jaws of peak factions like the Two Bodies and Three Dharmas just to obtain a treasure of this caliber.

Meanwhile, you only had to show off a secret art you had already mastered to get one for free, with zero risk. That was already a massive profit.

'The Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit can be consumed multiple times, though the effects of the second one will be weaker than the first...' you thought as you stored it away.

To maximize its utility, you could give it to your Second Nascent Soul.

Since your Second Nascent Soul had not eaten one yet, it would not suffer from diminishing returns.

"Trial taker, do you wish to rest for thirty years before undertaking the second stage of the dharma cultivation trials?" the Armored Guardian's voice rang out.

"Let's proceed."

You nodded slightly.

You already knew all the details of the second stage, so there was no need to ask further questions.

Buzz—

Spatial fluctuations surged once again.

In the blink of an eye, you were transported to another realm.

You stood at the peak of a high mountain. On a distant cliff face, silver tadpole-like talisman characters flowed in a similar manner.

However, compared to the ones on the Gobi wasteland's ruined wall, the characters here were far more complex and mutable.

The silver characters intertwined, forming brand-new characters in an instant, repeating the cycle endlessly.

"Trial taker, master the secret art on the cliff within ten years, and you will receive a precious reward," the Armored Guardian said slowly, his eyes fixed on you.

You looked at it for a moment before stating bluntly, "I've mastered it."

At the same time, you revealed the divine soul aura of the second tier of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art.

Red light furiously surged deep in the Armored Guardian's eyes as he carefully analyzed your divine soul aura.

If he weren't a puppet—and if he didn't know that this art existed solely within the Ghost Realm Trial Field and could not be taught to others even by those who had learned it...

...he probably would have suspected that you had learned it in advance.

"By passing the second stage in a single breath, the trial taker is awarded the Heart of Myriad Souls," the Armored Guardian announced after a moment of silence.

'The Heart of Myriad Souls?'

Delight surged in your heart. This treasure was also a supreme artifact for the top-tier dharma cultivation path. It stood on the same level as the Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit, only it was even rarer.

The Armored Guardian reached out, palm up, retrieving the Heart of Myriad Souls and pushing it over to you.

You took a look. It was a transparent, heart-shaped piece of jade containing divine soul energy as vast as an ocean.

"Trial taker, do you wish to rest for thirty years before participating in the third stage of the trials?" the Armored Guardian continued.

"Can I withdraw from the third stage midway?" you asked preemptively.

"If you determine that there is no hope of passing, you may voluntarily forfeit and withdraw," the Armored Guardian replied.

"Then let's begin."

You thought for a brief moment before nodding in agreement.

In your fifth simulation, you had asked the Armored Guardian about the contents of the third dharma cultivation stage.

The answer was that you had to compete against other third-stage trial takers of the same era.

To unlock this stage, two conditions had to be met: first, master the second-tier secret art within a century, and second, have a divine soul age of under one hundred and fifty years.

"The trial taker must understand that to pass the third stage, you must defeat the other trial takers..."

The Armored Guardian gave his customary warning before waving his hand once more.

The world shifted.

In a single breath, you arrived in yet another new realm.

This realm was filled with towering mountains. Atop every peak sat a figure in a lotus position—the other trial takers who had reached the third stage.

"In this stage, the trial taker must individually challenge and defeat the occupant of every mountain peak to take their place. After that, you must withstand a continuous gauntlet of challenges from other trial takers for an entire year to secure victory..."

"This stage will evaluate you based on your performance, the speed at which you defeat others, and the strength you display while facing the continuous challenges."

"This evaluation will determine your final reward."

As soon as the Armored Guardian finished speaking, you plummeted toward the lowest peak among the mountains.

Sitting upon this lowest peak was a rotund, bald giant of a man wearing a gray monk's robe.

'Another new trial taker?' the bald giant thought to himself as he looked up at your rapidly descending figure.

He came from Mituo Hall, a dominant faction in the Western Desert. He possessed Late Core Formation Stage cultivation and had awakened the Buddhist divine ability 'Vajra Body'. Among true persons in the Core Formation Stage, his strength could be described as terrifying.

'A newcomer probably isn't used to the sheer brutality of this stage yet...'

The bald giant slowly stood up, radiating the aura of the very limit of the Core Formation Stage. He intended to leave a profound impression on this new trial taker.

The third stage gathered the most monstrous freaks from all across the Human Realm. Even a heaven's proud child of Mituo Hall like him could not shine brightest here.

Whoosh—

The descending figure finally landed on the mountaintop.

The bald giant was just about to attack when he froze.

In his perception, the figure that had just landed was a young man in green robes.

A boundless, omnipresent aura washed over him, pressing down like a mountain millions of feet tall, making the bald giant tremble with suffocation.

'A true lord in the Nascent Soul Stage? No! A true lord in the Mid Nascent Soul Stage? No, no, no—that's a Great Cultivator in the Late Nascent Soul Stage!'

The bald giant felt his scalp go numb as cold sweat poured down his back, overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of the situation. 'A Great Cultivator in the Late Nascent Soul Stage is challenging me... a mere Core Formation cultivator?!'