I Have a Cultivation Simulator

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

An invisible spatial ripple surged, and a jade box appeared on the Guardian's palm.

"This is the Lotus Heart Seed."

The Armored Guardian gave it a gentle push, and the jade box drifted over to float in front of you.

You carefully examined the jade box. Compared to the one that had held the Gold Core Formation Pill in the previous simulation, the patterns on its surface were far more intricate and profound. It was designed to isolate the interior from the outside world and solidify the space within.

Simply put, any item placed inside would be trapped in a state of temporal suspension, capable of remaining perfectly preserved for millions of years.

You opened the box. A multicolored Lotus Heart Seed lay quietly within.

A Lotus Heart Seed could be planted in a cultivator's dantian, where it would grow into a nine-colored lotus.

Aside from allowing a cultivator to merge their mind with the seed to comprehend the 'lotus' state of mind, it continuously purified the physical body and soul. This made breaking through Nascent Soul Stage bottlenecks much easier.

For a Nascent Soul True Monarch, every step of progress was harder than ascending to the heavens.

True Monarch Zixu of the Taiyuan Region had condensed his Nascent Soul before the age of two hundred, yet even at eight hundred years old, he remained stuck in the early Nascent Soul stage.

Was it because True Monarch Zixu lacked talent? He possessed a heavenly spiritual root and a certain treasure body, and he had even condensed a Flawless Gold Core.

In these respects, his innate talent far exceeded yours.

If that was the reality for True Monarch Zixu, you did not think you were particularly special.

At least in this simulation, you had absolutely no confidence in breaking through to the Late Nascent Soul Stage. Even reaching the Mid Nascent Soul Stage would be a grueling challenge.

But with this Lotus Heart Seed, you finally gained a sliver of confidence about stepping into the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

Of course, this limitation only applied to the current simulation.

Looking ahead to future simulations, relying on the accumulation of repeated lifetimes, you would surpass any genius or monster.

You stared at the Lotus Heart Seed in the jade box and, without hesitation, drew it into your dantian.

Unlike the Gold Core Formation Pill, which had to be consumed at a highly specific moment, the Lotus Heart Seed could be planted in your dantian at any time.

Buzz—

Deep within your dantian, an ancient, perfectly round Golden Core slowly revolved.

With every rotation, it refined a wisp of Golden Core dharma power, slowly elevating your cultivation.

Right then, a multicolored seed fell into the dantian, taking root and sprouting.

You tried to merge your mind with it. In an instant, you seemed to witness a nine-colored lotus bloom, rapidly wither, and then bloom all over again—a cycle repeating for an untold number of years.

Is this the 'lotus' state of mind? To remain steadfast and unmoving despite the baptism of time?

Realization dawned on you. Even this preliminary taste of the 'lotus' state of mind provided immense benefits.

The Lotus Heart Seed doesn't directly help one survive the Heart Demon Tribulation. Instead, it elevates a cultivator's state of mind, increasing the chances of passing it...

You understood clearly now.

It was just like how a Flawless Gold Core increased the odds of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage—it improved your own foundation, making it easier to shatter the bottleneck.

Based on my current dharma power, it will take about a century for this seed to grow into a nine-colored lotus.

Once planted in the dantian, the Lotus Heart Seed began to slowly absorb your Golden Core dharma power.

The amount it absorbed was negligible; it posed no burden to you whatsoever.

"Challenger, will you proceed with the first stage trial for dharma cultivation?" the Armored Guardian asked.

"Yes."

Your mind stirred slightly, shifting focus away from the sprouting Lotus Heart Seed in your dantian.

Beyond the reward for the aptitude test, you still had one more reward to claim.

That was the first stage trial for dharma cultivation.

Drawing on your experience from the fourth simulation, you naturally knew that this first stage trial was graded on your cultivation speed with the first level of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art.

The faster you mastered it, the higher your evaluation would be, and naturally, the richer the reward.

As for the first level of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art... you had already mastered it in the previous simulation.

In that run, it had taken you nearly two hundred years to finally succeed.

But in this simulation?

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

Spatial ripples surged once more.

You felt the world shift around you. By the time your spiritual senses reoriented to your surroundings, you found yourself standing in a desolate, rocky desert.

You glanced around before locking your eyes on the towering, ruined stone wall up ahead.

Silver seal characters shaped like tadpoles constantly intertwined, merged, and clashed across the stone surface.

"Master the secret art on this stone wall within one year, and you will receive another reward," the Armored Guardian said slowly, watching you. There was an extra layer of meaning in his tone.

Your innate talent had given the Armored Guardian hope of seeing you clear all the trials, which explained his unusual behavior.

"Let me see..."

You looked up at the silver seal characters on the broken wall and put on a show of studying them for a moment.

"Challenger, are you ready?" the Armored Guardian pressed.

"Yes. I've already mastered it," you said directly with a slight nod.

The Armored Guardian fell completely silent.

Your answer had clearly exceeded the parameters of the many directives he was bound by, resulting in this silence.

"Challenger, do not jest..." the Armored Guardian said, his voice heavy. He had concluded that you were joking.

"Is that so?" You raised your hand. Wisps of divine soul aura intertwined, forming silver seal characters identical to those on the distant ruined wall, constantly weaving together, merging, and clashing...

The Armored Guardian stared intently at the divine soul aura dancing in your hand, falling silent once again.

Red light surged deep within his eyes. He was clearly running checks from all angles to verify if you had truly mastered the stone wall's secret art.

Several dozen breaths later, he finally spoke again: "Verification complete. The challenger has successfully mastered the first level of the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art..."

After another brief pause, he continued, "The challenger's completion time for the first stage trial is ten breaths—the fastest in the Near-Ancient Era..."

You stared at the Armored Guardian, a look of anticipation surfacing on your face.

You did not care about the ranking; you were mainly looking forward to the benefits that came with claiming first place.

According to the Armored Guardian, anyone who mastered the secret art within a year would receive a reward, and the faster the clear time, the more precious the reward.

This was the core principle of the Ghost Realm Trial Field: the more genius a cultivator was, the greater their harvest.

"For clearing the first stage trial in ten breaths, you are awarded the supreme treasure, the Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit."

The Armored Guardian skipped the reward selection process entirely and announced the prize directly.

"Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit?"

You stared blankly. You had never heard of such a treasure.

It hadn't even appeared on the reward list you'd browsed right after the aptitude test.

Buzz—

Spatial ripples surged again.

Another jade box materialized in the Armored Guardian's hand.

"The Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit forges the foundation of a supreme Nascent Soul. By the late Near-Ancient Era, it was already practically extinct..."

The Armored Guardian spoke slowly, unexpectedly taking the initiative to explain the origins and uses of the fruit.

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

Shock filled your expression.

During the Ancient Era, the Nascent Soul spirit bodies of top-tier dharma cultivation True Monarchs could suppress the heavens and the earth. They even dared to clash head-on against the indestructible golden bodies of top body cultivation True Monarchs.

In the Near-Ancient Era, such a feat was completely unimaginable.

In the Near-Ancient Era, a Nascent Soul True Monarch's spirit body possessed incredible fleeing speed for self-preservation, but it lacked any direct combat power capable of shaking the Nascent Soul level.

In fact, they were highly vulnerable to being countered and targeted.

True Monarch Zixu only dared to project his Nascent Soul spirit body because of that rare divine soul secret treasure.

He relied on an external item.

And external items, ultimately, were not his own strength.

That was exactly why he had suffered a massive loss at the hands of the True Spirit Bloodline beast king in the Myriad Beast Mountain Range.

The most crucial difference between the Nascent Soul True Monarchs of the two eras lay in soul-path spirit fruits like the Ancient Soul Fruit.

The Ancient Soul Fruit's purpose was to permanently and drastically stabilize a True Monarch's Nascent Soul spirit body, rendering it immune to the influence of external forces.

It was the Ancient Soul Fruit, paired with secret arts like the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art, that forged the glory of the top dharma cultivation True Monarchs in the Ancient Era.

Of course, even in the Ancient Era, most dharma cultivation True Monarchs used Four-Star or Five-Star Ancient Soul Fruits to forge the foundation for their Nascent Soul spirit bodies. Only those with exceptional conditions could even consider a Six-Star Ancient Soul Fruit.

A Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit? Even in the Ancient Era, which overflowed with resources, they were exceedingly rare. Only the direct descendants of a Heavenly Monarch could acquire one.

Not to mention the Near-Ancient Era, where it was hard to find even a handful of One-Star Ancient Soul Fruits.

You solemnly accepted the jade box and slowly opened it.

Inside lay a fruit radiating a rich divine soul aura.

Nine star-like points condensed faintly on its surface, as dazzling as the stars in the night sky.

Ranked by quality, Ancient Soul Fruits were graded from one to nine stars.

You stared at the Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit in the jade box, aware that if word of this soul-path spirit fruit ever leaked, Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivators would likely bash each other's heads in for it.

This was a treasure capable of drastically boosting the strength of a Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator.

In every future simulation, I can keep coming here to 'farm' a Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit... Consuming them over and over will provide a cumulative, massive upgrade to my Nascent Soul spirit body...

Joy swelled in your heart.

Your vision naturally wasn't limited to this single Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit, but rather the Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruits you could claim in every subsequent simulation.

Steadying your mind, you closed the jade box and stored it away.

Since the Nine-Star Ancient Soul Fruit was meant to forge a supreme Nascent Soul Dao foundation, it would naturally be most effective if consumed right when condensing a Nascent Soul.

That meant you just needed to consume it alongside your Nascent Soul condensation spiritual items when the time came to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage.

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

"Can I interrupt and leave the second stage trial at any time?" you asked.

Just because the first stage trial for dharma cultivation could be interrupted at will didn't mean the second stage trial operated the same way.

You had to clarify this beforehand.

Otherwise, it could disrupt your plans and schemes for this simulation.

"You may interrupt it and leave at any time," the Armored Guardian nodded.

"Then let's begin," you said immediately.

Buzz—

Spatial ripples surged once again.

In the blink of an eye, you arrived in a different world.

This was the summit of a towering mountain. On a distant cliff face, silver tadpole-like seal characters flowed and shifted.

Compared to the silver seal characters on the stone wall in the desolate desert, the silver seal characters on this cliff face were vastly more intricate and volatile.

The silver seal characters wove together, transforming into entirely new silver seal characters in an endless, looping cycle.

"Challenger, master the secret art on this cliff within ten years to receive a precious reward," the Armored Guardian said slowly, his eyes fixed on you.

"Ten years?"

You instantly understood. The difficulty of mastering the second stage's secret art was vastly higher than the first stage's.

Otherwise, the time limit wouldn't have differed by a factor of ten.

As expected of a second stage secret art...

You studied it briefly, sensing its sheer obscurity and complexity with a silent sigh.

It's still too difficult to comprehend...

You reached that conclusion after an earnest read-through.

Forget it. I'll just memorize it for now.

Abandoning any attempt to master the secret art on the spot, you planned to commit it to memory as quickly as possible.

Once back in the outside world, you would slowly grind away at mastering it with the perseverance of dripping water wearing through stone.

The second stage's secret art was so absurdly complex that merely memorizing it took you more than half a year.

And that was only because you were already at the Gold Core Perfected Stage with a powerful divine soul. If you were still in the Foundation Establishment Stage, a single glance at the cliff would likely have ruptured your sea of consciousness.

This secret art must have been created by the mighty cultivator who opened the Ghost Realm Trial Field. It simply doesn't exist in the outside world...

Zhou Qing thought to himself. In the Ancient Era, many secret arts designed to stabilize the divine soul existed; the Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art was not an isolated case.

Furthermore, any challenger who enters the Ghost Realm Trial Field is bound by a restriction the moment they begin cultivating their inherited secret art, preventing them from transmitting it to others... you mused quietly.

Dachun was unable to tell you a single word about the Ancient Sage Body Refinement Art he practiced.

The Divine Origin Void Crossing Great Art you cultivated was bound by a similar restriction, preventing you from transmitting it to others.

Of course, this restriction was strictly limited to the current simulation.

Once you entered the next simulation, or returned to reality, the restriction would vanish.

You had already confirmed this through personal testing.

At the end of every simulation, you inherited only pure cultivation bases, realms, skills, and techniques. You did not inherit any hidden dangers or restrictions.

"That should be enough."

You took one last look at the tadpole-like silver seal characters on the distant cliff, slowly stood up, and called out to the Guardian.

During this past half a year, the Guardian had long since returned to the white jade platform.

However, if you needed to find the Guardian for anything, a simple call was all it took.

Whoosh!

The Armored Guardian's figure materialized beside you.

"Challenger..." the Guardian said, looking at you.

"Take me out," you said directly.

"Very well," the Armored Guardian nodded.

Deep within the Nether Mountain, mist continuously swirled.

Your figure abruptly emerged.

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