I Have a Cultivation Simulator

"An Upper-Grade Golden Core!"

In the Purple Bamboo Forest Cave Abode, you learned of the quality of Li Yan's golden core and gave a slight nod.

This result was exactly as you expected. With a yin-essence physique, she inherently possessed a high chance of forming a core.

Combined with the numerous Core Formation Spiritual Items you had prepared for her, failing to form a core would have been a highly improbable event.

An Upper-Grade Golden Core perfectly reflected her true potential.

As for a Flawless Golden Core? Even someone with a heaven spiritual root was not guaranteed to forge one of such high quality.

You were only able to form a Flawless Golden Core thanks to your accumulation across several simulations, the Golden Core Condensation Pill you obtained from the secluded realm trial grounds, and other advantages.

It was nearly impossible for an outsider to replicate.

"Hmm?"

You noticed several Core Formation auras slowly approaching, broadcasting their goodwill.

When a Foundation Establishment cultivator attempted to break through to Core Formation, the resulting celestial phenomenon was impossible to hide.

Naturally, the phenomenon from Li Yan's breakthrough had attracted the attention of other Masters.

Of course, compared to when you formed your own core, these Masters were noticeably more well-behaved.

After all, the Purple Bamboo Forest was your daoist ashram. Anyone forming a core here obviously had deep ties to you.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator was at their absolute weakest while attempting this breakthrough. Doing so in your cave dwelling meant handing over complete control of their life and death to you. Even blood relatives or a master and disciple rarely shared such trust.

"Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, I wonder who is attempting Core Formation here..." a Master transmitted their voice from afar, full of curiosity.

"It is a subordinate of my Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce!" you replied with a smile.

You had no intention of making Li Yan's identity public.

When it came to a legendary constitution like the yin-essence physique, your original plan was to minimize her contact with outside cultivators as much as possible.

Upon reaching the Core Formation Realm, the yin-essence physique completely concealed its aura, making it virtually undetectable to outsiders.

But you still did not want to risk any unexpected variables.

A Core Formation expert with a yin-essence physique—even if she had already lost her initial stream of yin-essence qi, drastically reducing her value—would still be enough to tempt a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

"So it is Fellow Daoist Qingyuan's subordinate."

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Qingyuan. Your chamber of commerce has gained another golden core Master."

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Qingyuan!"

The Masters hovering in the distance offered their congratulations one after another.

They had no suspicions. After all, if a cultivator was attempting Core Formation in your cave dwelling, what else could they be but a subordinate?

Now that your subordinate had successfully formed a core—a golden core, no less—it meant the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce was overseen by two golden core Masters. Its power had surged.

In reality, the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce was overseen not by two golden core Masters, but three... or more accurately, four.

True Person Blood Sea, far away on Xuanwang Island, counted as one. Furthermore, in the near future, Xiao Hei would step into the realm of a Tier 3 Great Demon, counting as another.

Without realizing it, you had already secured a pivotal status across the entire Taiyuan Region. As long as Taiyuan Palace did not act, only the top five sects could surpass you in their sheer number of golden core Masters.

The top five sects were the strongest Core Formation-level factions in the Taiyuan Region. Backed by thousands of years of legacy, their foundations were incredibly deep, and in most eras, they boasted late-stage great Masters overseeing them.

"Since Fellow Daoist Qingyuan's subordinate has achieved a golden core, we wonder when the Core Formation Ceremony will be held, so that we might come and offer our congratulations..." a Master suggested.

A Core Formation Ceremony was a banquet hosted by a Master who had successfully formed a golden core within the Taiyuan Region, widely inviting fellow daoists to celebrate.

There were two prerequisites for this.

First, it had to be a true golden core. False Core Masters had no right to host a Core Formation Ceremony.

Second, the breakthrough had to occur within the Taiyuan Region.

If it lacked this second restriction, wouldn't golden core Masters from several neighboring regions all flock to the Taiyuan Region to host their Core Formation Ceremonies?

And Li Yan clearly met both prerequisites.

"A Core Formation Ceremony?"

You originally had not planned on complicating matters.

But on second thought, if every other golden core Master hosted a Core Formation Ceremony and Li Yan did not, wouldn't that make her seem even more unusual?

Moreover, having hosted a Core Formation Ceremony yourself, you knew it was an excellent opportunity to rake in wealth.

"In a year's time," you provided a concrete timeframe.

When the time came, you could simply use the excuse that Li Yan needed to enter seclusion to consolidate her cultivation, allowing you to step forward and host the Core Formation Ceremony in her stead.

For Masters belonging to the same faction, this was a perfectly acceptable arrangement.

Half a month later, Li Yan stabilized her Core Formation cultivation.

You walked into the cave dwelling and looked at the newly ascended Li Yan.

At this moment, her appearance, aura, and figure had all ascended by more than a single tier. Her eyes were as bright as moonlight, her beauty truly exquisite. Every glance and smile exuded a sense of noble grace, aloof coldness, and breathtaking allure.

"Master..."

The moment she saw you walk in, Li Yan threw herself into your arms without a shred of a Master's pride.

She remained just as completely obedient and compliant to your every word as she had been during her Foundation Establishment days.

That very night, you thoroughly enjoyed the Core Formation-stage yin-essence physique.

Although Li Yan had only just stepped into the Core Formation stage and had not yet condensed her yin-essence qi, simply relying on standard dual cultivation methods brought you considerable benefits.

Even without extracting yin-essence qi, the effects of dual cultivating with a yin-essence physique far surpassed those with any other female Core Formation cultivator at the same level.

It's a pity that going too far with dual cultivation is just as bad as not doing enough. Otherwise, it could completely replace normal cultivation... you thought to yourself, glancing down at Li Yan resting against your chest.

The art of dual cultivation emphasized the harmony and union of yin and yang.

Only by engaging in it at spaced intervals could the benefits be maximized.

It was said that in the Jiuyou Domain, there was a faction called the Hehuan Sect that focused entirely on dual cultivation, engaging in prolonged sessions of plucking and nourishing.

The cultivators of the Hehuan Sect advanced their cultivation at a blistering pace, yet they were frequently trapped by bottlenecks, to the point where the sect even suffered a generational gap of late-stage great Masters.

Most demonic path cultivation methods were like this.

In your heart, you were quite reluctant to walk the demonic path.

Even if the speed of advancement was fast, the risks were incredibly high.

They constantly required devouring the masses. Unless one possessed immense karmic luck, it was very difficult to meet a good end, as they were prone to being besieged by experts of the same level.

The path you walked now was the safest and most secure. While your cultivation might not advance at the absolute fastest speed, it flowed endlessly and steadily, completely devoid of danger.

Year 51. You were 67 years old.

Li Yan's Core Formation Ceremony was held smoothly.

Citing Li Yan's need to stabilize her realm, you hosted the ceremony in her place.

This action did not spark any gossip. Instead, it only deepened the importance other Masters placed on the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce.

If the newly ascended golden core Master would even let you host her Core Formation Ceremony for her, just how profoundly deep must your relationship be?

Over the course of the entire ceremony, the total value of the various congratulatory gifts you received, when converted into spirit stones, actually exceeded the amount you took in during your own ceremony back then.

You did not feel surprised by this at all.

Li Yan's Core Formation Ceremony was different from yours.

You had been a pioneer, building from scratch and hosting your ceremony out of nowhere. As a result, some of the Core Formation-level factions had not necessarily taken you seriously.

But Li Yan? As the second golden core Master of the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce, most Core Formation factions would increase the weight of their gifts purely out of respect for you, even if they did not care about giving face to Li Yan.

In the farthest corner of the banquet, Zhou Hai was also in attendance. Despite only having a Qi Refining cultivation, his status as a key member cultivated by the chamber of commerce granted him the right to participate.

So that is the president!

Zhou Hai gazed from afar at the figure in the green robe sitting on the high platform's seat of honor, his expression filled with boundless reverence.

The longer he spent in the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce, the more astounded Zhou Hai became by the faction's deep foundations.

Listening to granduncle and joining the Qingyuan Chamber of Commerce was absolutely the best decision of my life... Zhou Hai thought to himself. As a key member nurtured by the chamber, he felt he actually had a decent chance of striving for the Foundation Establishment Realm in this lifetime.

Year 52. You were 68 years old.

Inside the cave dwelling, you looked at the humanoid puppet in front of you. Its aura was chaotic, rapidly dissipating.

"A failure?"

You sighed inwardly.

You had just been attempting to craft a Tier Three puppet.

Twenty years ago, your puppetry skills had advanced to Tier Two High-Grade, and now you had reached the absolute peak of that grade.

That was why you attempted to craft a Tier Three puppet.

Compared to advancing in other crafts, the path of puppetry relied much more heavily on the materials used for construction, making it relatively easier to break through.

Where did I go wrong?

You pondered silently, your thoughts drifting to the Guardian Deity of the secluded realm trial grounds.

That entity had also been a puppet, and its grade was at least Tier Four.

It's a shame I couldn't dismantle it to study.

You felt a tinge of regret. Breaking down high-grade puppets was immensely helpful for improving one's own puppetry skills.

You began to dismantle the failed puppet in front of you.

The path of puppetry had another distinct advantage: recyclability.

Even if the crafting of a Tier Three puppet failed, you would not lose your entire investment. The vast majority of the materials could be stripped away and reused.

Year 53. You were 69 years old.

With your puppetry hitting a bottleneck, you began to shift your energy back to the path of divination.

Your divination arts had long since reached the peak of Tier Two High-Grade. You were only a single step away from Tier Three.

The path of divination was a strictly late-game art. In the early stages, it was practically useless, and delving too deeply into it would only shave years off your lifespan.

The chances of a divination grandmaster dying young from a sudden backlash were incredibly high.

It was not as simple as just refusing to invest your lifespan to avoid losing it.

Sometimes, if you accidentally divined the fate of a great figure, the resulting backlash would sap your lifespan all the same.

For example, if you dared to divine a True Monarch right now, you would suffer a backlash from the unseen workings of heavenly secrets.

Of course, that was only true for other cultivators.

For you, studying the path of divination was a perfect fit.

After all, the lifespan drained by divination was only your lifespan within the simulation. It had zero impact on reality.

Once the simulation ended, your lifespan would be completely reset.

Furthermore, even within the simulation itself, your exceptionally high starting point meant you possessed a vastly long lifespan. Even if you lost a few decades, it was practically harmless.

Year 54. You were 70 years old.

For the past two years, apart from standard cultivation, you had poured the vast majority of your energy into the path of divination.

Tier Three divination arts... You fell into a state of profound comprehension. Your mind ascended infinitely, merging with the great web of heavenly secrets that shrouded all living beings in the world.

In a daze, you saw the fates of countless cultivators, yet when you looked closely, you realized you had seen nothing at all.

An unknown amount of time passed.

You opened your eyes once more.

"Tier Three divination!"

You beamed with radiant energy. After half a month of deep comprehension, your divination arts had finally advanced to Tier Three.

"Wait, my lifespan..."

Suddenly, your expression shifted slightly as you realized you had lost over a decade of lifespan.

Was it consumed during that state of deep comprehension?

Your expression darkened, your understanding of just how treacherous the path of divination could be refreshed once again.

It was not just actively burning your lifespan or accidentally divining a great figure that drained your life.

Sometimes, just trying to comprehend the dao would passively strip away your years without you even noticing.

Thank goodness... thank goodness my divination reached Tier Three... you thought to yourself, steadying your nerves.

As long as your divination arts successfully broke through to Tier Three, losing over a decade of lifespan was a price you could accept.

The real nightmare would be losing the lifespan while failing to improve your divination skills at all.

Drawing water with a bamboo basket—all in vain.

"Tier Three divination!"

A smile graced your face.

Across the entire Taiyuan Region, there were likely very few individuals who possessed divination arts at this level.

Just how much lifespan would a normal cultivator have to burn to comprehend Tier Three divination?

Year 55. You were 71 years old.

With your divination arts safely at Tier Three, you redirected your focus back to the path of puppetry.

Year 56. You were 72 years old.

Relying on your profound accumulation of experience, you finally crafted your first Tier Three puppet.

You stared at the Tier Three puppet standing before you, feeling the Core Formation-level spiritual pressure rolling off its body. Your mood was fantastic.

Up to this point, you had mastered a total of five Tier Three arts.

They were alchemy, talisman crafting, array formations, divination, and puppetry.

Among them, your alchemy had even reached Tier Three Mid-Grade.

Next, you tested the combat strength of this new Tier Three puppet.

It naturally could not match a standard golden core Master.

In terms of overall power, it was roughly on par with a False Core Master.

However, if you took direct control of it with your divine sense, its strength would slightly surpass that of a False Core Master.

Taking direct control meant splitting off a portion of your divine sense to personally pilot the Tier Three puppet.

This was a basic technique utilized by every puppet master.

With your current capabilities, as long as the puppet remained within a radius of ten thousand li, you could easily control it and share its five senses.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

You smiled. A Tier Three puppet was more than qualified to serve as one of your hidden trump cards.

Furthermore, possessing a Tier Three puppet would make your daily life much more convenient. If there was ever an errand to run, you could simply control the puppet to do it for you.

Tier Two puppets were easily seen through, but a Tier Three puppet? Unless it engaged in close-quarters combat with a golden core Master, standard Foundation Establishment cultivators would not be able to see past its disguise at all.

And across the entire Taiyuan Region, just how many golden core Masters were there anyway?

Year 57. You were 73 years old.

You did a quick calculation with your fingers. At this exact point in time, the real estate and shop prices in Wushan Market were at their absolute lowest.

Wushan Market...

You mused to yourself. During your third simulation, you had made your move at this exact juncture to carve up Wushan Market, ultimately walking away with a profit of 520,000 spirit stones.

Given your current net worth, you honestly did not care much for a sum of spirit stones this small.

But 520,000 spirit stones were still spirit stones.

One should never forget their roots.

Without hesitation, you used your divine sense to take control of your newly crafted Tier Three puppet and dispatched it to Wushan Market to reap the harvest.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!