Chapter 292: The Eighth Simulation

Illusory text wove and stretched rapidly.

New characters gathered, materializing one after another before Zhou Qing's eyes.

[In this simulation, with the help of the original stone of the Heavenly Cycle Book of Changes, you smoothly stepped into Rank 5 in the art of Divination.]

[Relying on your Rank 5 Divination skill, you safely evaded the divinations from the Demon Abyss Realm, allowing your plans to unfold smoothly—whether living to the very limit of your lifespan or possessing the Purgatory Demon Sovereign to experience everything he had.]

[However, after stepping into Rank 5, your Divination skill stagnated. You yearned for it to advance further, as that would bring you even greater initiative to secure more benefits from the Purgatory Demon Sovereign.]

Lines of illusory text shifted rapidly.

Finally, they converged into new characters.

Wisps of purple light seeped out.

"Purple? A purple talent?"

Zhou Qing raised an eyebrow, not the least bit surprised.

Although he had lived for nearly three thousand years in the seventh simulation, he had not made any major breakthroughs in his cultivation.

It was entirely within his expectations that the final settlement evaluation would not be high enough to meet the conditions for a golden talent.

The talent settlement for each simulation depended not only on how long he survived, but also on his achievements and performance within it.

This also kept him from simply hiding in some corner of the Human Realm during every simulation until his lifespan ran out just to farm talents.

In this simulation, if he had not made a breakthrough in his skills and made contact with the Purgatory Demon Sovereign to delay the destruction of the Human Realm, he probably would not even have gotten a purple talent at settlement.

Simply living for two or three thousand years without doing anything was far too easy for a Heavenly Monarch of the Deity Transformation Stage. How could that possibly yield a good talent at settlement?

"A purple talent? A purple talent is fine too."

Zhou Qing was not disappointed at all. Certain purple talents were not much weaker than golden ones.

Take Natural Enemy of Demonic Cultivators, for instance. When dealing with demonic cultivators, it was nearly on par with Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move.

Furthermore, Indomitable Will was quite good as well. When Zhou Qing broke through to the Nascent Soul Stage and the Deity Transformation Stage, that talent had provided considerable help, and it continued to aid him during both daily cultivation and life-and-death battles.

[You have obtained a purple talent.]

[Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune]

[Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune: You can foresee the good and bad fortune of any external object you touch, arriving at a conclusion on whether it is beneficial to you. This talent can only be used once a month.]

[The "external object" here requires contact for a period of time, during which it cannot be interrupted.]

[The foreseen good or bad fortune is based only on considerations from the past up to the present. If you make changes based on the foreseen result, the accuracy of the prediction cannot be guaranteed.]

The illusory text slowly came to a halt.

Zhou Qing stared at the description of the new talent, falling into deep thought.

First of all, this talent was definitely useful. It foresaw good and bad fortune, making it practically an infinitely upgraded version of the Divination skill.

Foreseeing fortune through the art of Divination was restricted by one's cultivation realm. For example, a Tier 2 diviner could never foresee the killing intent a Deity Transformation Stage Heavenly Monarch harbored toward him.

But the talent Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune? It was not bound by specific realm limits. That meant no matter what level the external object was, as long as it was detrimental to Zhou Qing, he could identify it through this talent.

That point alone was heaven-defying enough, coming close to the conceptual level of a golden talent.

The only drawback was its usage restriction: it could only be used once a month.

Of course, if it had no such restriction and could be used at any moment, Zhou Qing felt this talent would not be purple-grade, but firmly golden.

"One month? The years in a simulation are long, and thousands of years pass in the blink of an eye. A single month is nothing..."

On second thought, Zhou Qing found it acceptable.

Time inside the simulation barely counted as time anyway.

"Let's test the effect of this talent..."

Zhou Qing began to ponder. Because of the once-a-month limit, he certainly could not just pick a random external object.

"That's the one."

With a slight shift of his thoughts, Zhou Qing left the grotto-heaven fragment and stepped into the outside world.

Taking a single step forward, he vanished from the spot.

When he reappeared, he had already arrived near Wushan Market.

To be precise, he was standing outside the Mountain and Sea Secret Realm.

This secret realm, which had brought him immense help during his earliest simulations, had long since become of little use as his strength grew.

"The Mountain and Sea Secret Realm..."

Although the Mountain and Sea Secret Realm was not yet open at this moment, as a Deity Transformation Stage Heavenly Monarch, Zhou Qing merged into the depths of space and perceived it with absolute clarity.

With a rustling sound and a flick of his mind, Zhou Qing reached across the void and drew forth the jade slip recording the inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage from somewhere inside the secret realm.

The Mountain and Sea Lineage was the path Zhou Qing currently walked. Judging from his experiences in later simulations, while this inheritance path could not be considered the strongest, it was solid and conventional, without any major flaws.

In ancient times, the Mountain and Sea Lineage had produced a Deity Transformation Stage Heavenly Monarch.

Now that he had the new talent Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune, Zhou Qing naturally wanted to check right away whether the cultivation technique inheritance he practiced had any hidden problems or dangers.

The Mountain and Sea Lineage originated from the Upper Realm, which was why it contained chapters for the Deity Transformation and Void Return realms.

Precisely because of this, Zhou Qing had always harbored some wariness. Since it came from the Upper Realm, who knew if some backdoor had been left behind?

In the late ancient era, the Sword Scripture left behind by the Sword Lord could turn every later Sword Cultivator who practiced it into his sword slave.

If even the Sword Lord could accomplish such a thing, what about the even more unfathomable powerhouses of the Upper Realm?

However, Zhou Qing's aptitude was limited. Unable to pioneer a new path of cultivation on his own, he could only follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

Looking at the jade slip before him that recorded the inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage, Zhou Qing silently activated the talent Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune.

In an instant, information surfaced in his mind.

"The inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage recorded in this jade slip holds no hidden dangers for me. I can cultivate it with peace of mind."

Comprehending the information in his mind at once, Zhou Qing felt his mind ease.

"What a great talent..."

Zhou Qing was in high spirits. Granted, the inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage recorded in this jade slip only went up to the Early Nascent Soul Stage, while the subsequent parts for the Deity Transformation Stage and even the Void Return Stage were still with the Armored Guardian in the Ghost Realm Trial Field.

Even so, this at least proved that the Mountain and Sea cultivation technique from the Qi Refining Stage to the Early Nascent Soul Stage held nothing back from him.

'When I'm in the simulation, if I get the chance, I'll use this talent once more on the complete inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage...'

Zhou Qing thought to himself that if there really were a problem with the inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage, he could avoid it in advance.

Although it was very difficult to switch one's main cultivation technique after reaching the Deity Transformation Stage, difficult did not mean impossible; it was merely a question of how big a price he would have to pay.

'The "external objects" foreseen by this talent are strictly limited to items. As for specific living beings, certain events... or large-scale regions... those cannot be foreseen...' Zhou Qing thought.

By specific living beings, he meant individual cultivators.

For example, if Zhou Qing wanted to foresee whether Heavenly Monarch Qingcang brought him good or bad fortune, he would get nothing, because Heavenly Monarch Qingcang was not an object.

As for a certain event or a large-scale region... the former referred to the future, such as whether something happening down the line would be beneficial or harmful to him.

The latter referred to the spatial level—for example, when a certain secret realm opened, whether that secret realm posed any danger to him, and so on.

"That's plenty."

Zhou Qing did not dare ask for too much. If this talent could foresee things on the spatial and temporal levels as well, even a golden grade probably would not be enough to contain it; it would very likely be a multicolored talent above gold.

For a purple-grade talent to have such an effect, Zhou Qing was already quite satisfied.

Having confirmed the usefulness of his new talent, Zhou Qing sent the jade slip recording the inheritance of the Mountain and Sea Lineage back into the Mountain and Sea Secret Realm.

At the height Zhou Qing now stood, let alone a mere Shanhai Inheritance, even destroying the secret realm in front of him would not cause much of an impact.

In reality, however, unless there was a definite benefit, Zhou Qing still adhered to the principle of not interfering or meddling.

He returned once more to the grotto-heaven fragment.

With a flicker of Zhou Qing's thoughts, lines of illusory text appeared.

[Name: Zhou Qing]

[Race: Human]

[Dharma Cultivation Strength: Deity Transformation Early Stage]

[Body Cultivation Strength: Fifth Tier Early Stage]

[Skills: Fifth Tier Middle Grade Talisman Master, Fifth Tier Low Grade Alchemist, Fifth Tier Low Grade Array Master, Fifth Tier Low Grade Puppeteer, Fifth Tier Low Grade Diviner, Fourth Tier High Grade Poison Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Artificer, Fourth Tier High Grade Spirit Plant Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Beast Tamer...]

[Age: 18]

[Divine Abilities (Body Cultivation): Eruption, Qi and Blood, Transformation, Indestructible Golden Essence, Rebirth from a Drop of Blood]

[Talents: Pill Toxin Bane, Indomitable Will, Natural Enemy of Demonic Cultivators, Legend of a Generation, Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move, Dead But Not Stiff, Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune]

[Simulation Count: 0]

As he gazed at his detailed stats, a smile spread across Zhou Qing's face.

"Legend of a Generation..."

Zhou Qing's gaze fell on the talents column, settling on one particular golden talent.

Legend of a Generation.

This was also the very first golden talent Zhou Qing had obtained. It came with numerous restrictions: not only could it be used just once, he also had to wait until three simulations after obtaining it before he could activate it. Moreover, activating it would launch a brand-new simulation, forcing him to give up all the foundations accumulated over his previous simulations, and so on.

Yet without exception, this golden talent was utterly heaven-defying. The number one talent in the Human Realm? It was hard to define which talents were stronger or weaker, since different talents had different uses, so being described as the "number one" meant there was a chasm between it and other talents.

"Hmm? Legend of a Generation is no longer in a 'grayed-out' state?"

Stirred, Zhou Qing noticed the difference.

After the previous two simulations ended, whenever Zhou Qing looked at Legend of a Generation, it had appeared grayed out, meaning it could not be used.

Now, however, this talent had returned to the same state as his other talents.

"Right, once the simulation cooldown refreshes, I'll be able to use this golden talent."

As Zhou Qing stared at the illusory characters for "Legend of a Generation", more information regarding this golden talent suddenly flooded into his mind.

"So that's how it is..."

Realization dawned on Zhou Qing's face.

Once a new simulation was started with this talent, when the simulation ended, the Zhou Qing in reality would not directly inherit everything from the simulation. Instead, the simulated self would appear in reality in the form of an avatar and come under Zhou Qing's control.

Having gone through the inheritance process, the avatar and Zhou Qing would be the exact same person, with zero possibility of rebellion or developing an independent consciousness.

"That's actually pretty good."

Zhou Qing nodded to himself. Earlier, he had been wondering whether inheriting everything after using Legend of a Generation would overwrite his real self entirely.

For example, would his main cultivation inheritance be forcibly changed? And would his Rank 5 physical body be replaced as well?

Looking at it now, there was no need for such concerns. The version of himself simulated through Legend of a Generation would not overwrite his real self.

Instead, it would manifest as an avatar. In truth, whether avatar or main body, it made little difference—since it would never betray him or become independent, both were Zhou Qing.

Shifting his gaze away from the illusory text, Zhou Qing looked around, surveying the grotto-heaven fragment.

"No need to upgrade the spirit vein's tier this time..."

After thinking it over, Zhou Qing made up his mind.

After the past few simulations ended, Zhou Qing had always tried his best to raise the grade of his spirit vein, either by relocating or by extracting the origins of numerous spirit veins.

But now?

Currently, the spirit vein inside the grotto-heaven fragment had reached Fifth Tier Low Grade.

If he wanted to take it a step further into Fifth Tier Middle Grade, he would either have to move the ancestral vein of the Human Realm lying beneath the Heavenly Sword Sect over here, or drain numerous spirit veins across the entire Human Realm on a scale far exceeding what he had done at the end of the last simulation.

Either option would cause a massive commotion. Moving the ancestral vein over? That would definitely be noticed by the various Heavenly Monarchs of the Human Realm. And extracting a massive amount of spirit vein origins—aside from the risk of alerting the Heavenly Monarchs as well—would simply be too much of a waste of time.

Even with Zhou Qing's cultivation allowing him to continuously teleport through space, it was out of the question without spending several months.

Several months? Going by the cooldown time under a Fifth Tier Low Grade spirit vein environment, the next simulation would be ready long before then.

Besides, even if he forcibly raised the spirit vein inside the grotto-heaven fragment to Fifth Tier Middle Grade, going by past patterns, it would shorten the cooldown by little more than ten days at most.

Currently, the cooldown for his simulation count was one month and three days.

'Just thirty-three days...'

Zhou Qing thought to himself that he could easily afford to wait that long.

"Yan'er."

Taking a single step, Zhou Qing arrived beside Li Yan.

"Master."

Li Yan immediately threw herself into his arms, then showed off happily, "Master, how do you like the way I arranged everything?"

During this period, Li Yan had been busy decorating the cave abode.

"Not bad."

Zhou Qing gave a slight nod. In the seventh simulation, Li Yan had smoothly stepped into the Deity Transformation Stage, greatly increasing the boost she provided to his cultivation.

"Li Xiu..."

Zhou Qing glanced toward the Southern Sea.

That was where the other Primordial Yin Treasure Physique would appear.

At this point in time, however, Li Xiu had not yet been born.

After spending some tender moments with Li Yan and checking on the awakening progress of her Primordial Yin Treasure Physique, Zhou Qing returned to his cave abode once more.

Time flowed by.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

The talent Foreseeing Good and Bad Fortune refreshed.

Following the principle of using it early so the cooldown would start early, Zhou Qing performed a prediction on the grotto-heaven fragment he was currently in.

In reality, Zhou Qing was dirt poor; this grotto-heaven fragment was just about the only thing of value he owned.

"Now that this grotto-heaven fragment has been refined, it belongs to me completely and holds no hidden dangers."

As the prediction regarding the grotto-heaven fragment surfaced in his mind, Zhou Qing gave a slight nod.

Even without the prediction, Zhou Qing had been certain there was nothing wrong with this grotto-heaven fragment, since he had refined it long ago.

Still, running it through this talent once gave him extra peace of mind.

Time continued to slip by.

Three days passed in a flash.

Zhou Qing opened his eyes and looked at the illusory text at the bottom of his vision.

Under Zhou Qing's gaze, the "0" after the [Simulation Count] column slowly turned into a "1".