I Have a Cultivation Simulator

Gan Kingdom, the Zhou Estate.

Inside an antique room, Zhou Qing opened his eyes.

"Two months."

Zhou Qing sighed.

He was a transmigrator from Blue Star, having crossed over to this world two months ago.

He had become the youngest young master of the Zhou Estate.

The Zhou Family was a prominent clan in the Gan Kingdom, having produced three prime ministers. In this life, his father, Zhou Shizhong, served as the Commander of the Imperial Guard in the capital.

The Imperial Guard protected the royal palace, and the Commander led them all. One could easily imagine Zhou Shizhong's status in the Gan Emperor's eyes.

Now that the Gan Emperor was elderly, the First Prince—a man of exceptional civil and military prowess—was the kingdom's unspoken heir apparent. Having grown up alongside the First Prince, Zhou Shizhong was part of his core inner circle.

The Zhou Family would enjoy unparalleled prosperity for decades to come.

Born into such a family, he was the highly favored third young master.

Zhou Qing essentially had whatever he wanted.

"The time is up tonight."

Zhou Qing looked toward the bottom of his field of vision.

Lines of illusory text continuously shifted.

[Time until activation: 00:08:33:25]

This illusory text had been there ever since he crossed over into this world.

After some study, he had determined that the text represented a countdown.

At the very beginning, the countdown started at sixty days.

Now, only eight hours remained before it hit zero.

Zhou Qing was highly anticipating what would happen once the countdown ended.

Just as Zhou Qing was staring at the illusory countdown...

Knock, knock, knock—

A series of knocks came from the door.

Immediately after, a deep, heavy voice followed.

"Young Master, we got something. Something big."

Hearing this voice, the image of an honest, burly man naturally surfaced in Zhou Qing's mind.

Zhou Dachun.

Zhou Dachun originally did not share the Zhou surname. Endowed with innate divine strength, he had been adopted by the Zhou Estate as a child and granted the family name.

Later, when Zhou Qing was born, Dachun was assigned to protect him.

Dachun was not the sharpest, but he was fiercely loyal and deeply trusted by Zhou Shizhong.

"What did you get?"

Zhou Qing got up and opened the door to see Zhou Dachun standing outside.

"You had us keep an eye on Lin Peiqin. Just now, that Lin family young master gambled until his eyes turned red. He said he was bringing out a family heirloom to cover a debt of ten thousand taels of silver..."

Zhou Dachun grinned.

"Lin Peiqin? The Lin family?"

Zhou Qing immediately understood what had happened.

The Lin family was another clan in the Gan Kingdom, though they had fallen into decline over the past few decades.

Zhou Qing paid attention to them because he had heard that their ancestors once included an immortal!

That was right.

Immortals existed in this world.

The legendary immortal cultivators.

However, cultivators lived secluded from the mundane world and rarely showed their faces.

As a transmigrator, Zhou Qing was naturally fascinated by cultivators, which was why he had ordered Dachun to keep a close watch on the Lin family.

Lin Peiqin, the young master of the Lin family, was an ignorant wastrel completely addicted to gambling.

Thus, Zhou Qing had a gambling den under the Zhou Family's control specifically set a trap for him.

That led to the very scene Zhou Dachun had just described.

"Where is the heirloom?"

Zhou Qing immediately asked.

The gambling den Lin Peiqin frequented belonged to the Zhou Family. As the Zhou Family's third young master, Zhou Qing naturally had the final say there.

"Right here."

Zhou Dachun quickly pulled out a wooden box.

"The den's manager checked it. It's a book, and it's quite old."

Zhou Dachun handed the wooden box to Zhou Qing.

"A book?"

Zhou Qing took the box and opened it for a look.

There was indeed a book inside.

The pages were ancient and unadorned. The first page bore three words: Qi Guiding Art.

Zhou Qing vaguely sensed that this book was far from simple. It was not some mundane martial arts manual; it might actually be connected to the Lin family's immortal ancestor.

"Has anything else happened recently?"

Zhou Qing casually asked while studying the ancient manual.

Drawing on the experiences of his past life, Zhou Qing paid close attention to outside intelligence and had tasked Zhou Dachun with keeping an ear to the ground.

"What kind of things?"

Zhou Dachun thought for a moment before answering, "The northern barbarians have invaded multiple times recently. Yesterday in the royal court, the First Prince volunteered to personally head to the northern border and lead the army to drive them back."

Zhou Dachun's tone was full of excitement. "The First Prince is a master of both pen and sword. He repelled the barbarians time and time again a decade ago. With him personally heading north, victory is guaranteed!"

This matter had earned the First Prince massive prestige. Not only did he gain the support of numerous court officials, but the response from the common folk had been excellent as well.

"What?"

Zhou Qing froze, his brow furrowing. "The First Prince is personally heading to the northern border? Now of all times?"

The Gan Emperor was already in his sixties. Why would the First Prince, the heir apparent, choose to leave the capital right now?

Zhou Qing sensed that something was wrong.

In his previous life, he had been a history buff and had extensively studied the rise and fall of dynasties.

Many empires crumbled simply because the transition of power was not smooth.

The passing of the throne was of the utmost importance. With the Gan Emperor growing older by the day, who knew when he might drop dead? And the First Prince chose to march to war right now?

What if someone stole his throne while he was away on campaign?

If the Gan Emperor suddenly died while the First Prince was out of the palace, god only knew what chaos would unfold.

Zhou Qing's frown deepened. The Zhou Family was currently tied at the hip to the First Prince.

If the person who eventually sat on the throne was not the First Prince, the Zhou Family's final outcome would not be pretty.

"Young Master?"

Noticing the shift in Zhou Qing's expression, Zhou Dachun asked in confusion.

"It's nothing."

Zhou Qing shook his head.

He would remind his father, Zhou Shizhong, about this in a few days.

It was also possible that he was overthinking things. If the First Prince dared to march to war at a time like this, he had to be confident.

Moreover, while the Gan Emperor was elderly, he likely still had some time left before passing away.

Zhou Qing dismissed Dachun.

He resumed his study of the ancient manual.

Time ticked by.

Before long, evening fell.

Through this half-day of study, Zhou Qing determined that the ancient manual recorded a profound breathing technique.

By regulating one's breath, a person could draw upon the ethereal Qi of the world and gather it within their body.

This was known as Qi Refining.

Once a tangible strand of Qi coalesced within the body, a person would officially step into the Qi Refining Realm.

"The Qi Refining Realm?"

Zhou Qing felt a surge of anticipation.

This Qi Refining Realm was most likely the true starting point of immortal cultivation.

But according to the manual, drawing upon ethereal Qi requires a Spirit Root. Without that innate talent, a person wouldn't even be able to sense Qi, let alone draw it in.

Zhou Qing pondered.

This Spirit Root talent had to be exceedingly rare. Otherwise, the Lin family would not have gone so many years without producing a single cultivator.

I wonder if I have a Spirit Root...

Zhou Qing wondered silently.

It's time.

Zhou Qing reined in his scattered thoughts and closed the ancient manual.

He very much wanted to try the manual's method to sense the ethereal Qi.

But right now, there was a much more pressing matter at hand.

With that in mind, Zhou Qing immediately looked back down at the bottom of his field of vision.

The illusory countdown was rapidly shifting.

[Time until activation: 00:00:00:10]

The countdown formed by the illusory text had reached its final ten seconds.

In the blink of an eye, those ten seconds passed.

Under Zhou Qing's watchful gaze, the illusory countdown finally hit zero.

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