I Have a Cultivation Simulator

On the journey back to Jiuli Valley.

True Monarch Beiheng asked with concern, "Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, are you all right?"

After realizing you lacked the absolute certainty to kill True Monarch Yinxiao completely, you immediately notified True Monarch Beiheng and gave him a brief summary of the situation.

This was why he had arrived so quickly.

"I am fine. I merely paid a price for using a forbidden secret art."

Your aura rapidly weakened and your face turned pale, making it look as though your essence, energy, and spirit had been completely hollowed out.

Suppressing a Tier 4 corpse puppet in such a short time was a feat nearly equivalent to the methods of a Mid Stage true lord.

Naturally, you could not afford to act as if the fight had cost you nothing.

Your path as a top-tier ancient dharma cultivation true lord was your hidden trump card; unless absolutely necessary, you would never expose it.

The only one who knew the truth was the Tier 4 corpse puppet. However, the window between your Nascent Soul leaving your body and you suppressing it had been so brief that the puppet likely hadn't even had time to notify True Monarch Yinxiao.

This much was evident from True Monarch Yinxiao's earlier reaction.

If that corpse dao Nascent Soul True Monarch had actually known your true method for suppressing his Tier 4 corpse puppet, he never would have dared speak to you in such a manner.

"For a fellow Daoist to possess such strength less than a century after stepping into the Nascent Soul Stage is already stunningly brilliant," True Monarch Beiheng said earnestly. In a one-on-one fight against True Monarch Yinxiao's Tier 4 corpse puppet, True Monarch Beiheng was also confident he could defeat it quickly.

But completely suppressing it... True Monarch Beiheng had little confidence in achieving that unless he was willing to pay a bitter price.

"It was merely luck. The main reason was that the Tier 4 corpse puppet had previously fought a unique demon and suffered heavy injuries..."

You immediately replied.

The Tier 4 corpse puppet knew about that demoness, which meant True Monarch Yinxiao likely knew as well. You had no intention of hiding it.

"Oh? To be capable of a short burst of power approaching the fourth tier... she must possess a highly noble bloodline in the Demon Abyss Realm."

True Monarch Beiheng looked visibly moved, but he didn't press for further details.

Whether it was the Tier 4 corpse puppet or that special demoness, since they had fallen into your hands, they were your spoils of war.

The strength of a Nascent Soul True Monarch was more than enough to secure such loot—not to mention that True Monarch Beiheng was on very good terms with you.

That was, unless you exposed that the demoness carried a soul-path treasure of at least the fourth tier.

Only then would it draw the greedy gazes of other true lords.

However, the aura of the soul-path treasure inside the demoness was extremely concealed. You only noticed the anomaly because the strength of your divine sense had reached the threshold of a Mid Stage true lord.

The divine sense of a Tier 4 corpse puppet was inherently weaker than that of a Nascent Soul True Monarch at the same level, making it very difficult for it to detect anything amiss.

At most, it only knew that the demoness was unusual.

Upon returning to Jiuli Valley, you entered your cave dwelling and publicly announced you would be in secluded cultivation for a period of time.

True Monarch Beiheng was not surprised. After casting a forbidden secret art, even a Nascent Soul True Monarch would suffer greatly in vitality and legitimately need time to recover.

For you to suppress True Monarch Yinxiao's Tier 4 corpse puppet so smoothly, the price you paid must have been steep.

Because of this, True Monarch Beiheng specifically sent over a Tier 4 spiritual fruit intended precisely to restore vitality damaged by casting forbidden secret arts.

Inside your Tier 4 cave dwelling.

This was completely contrary to what True Monarch Beiheng imagined.

You were joyfully taking inventory of your spoils of war.

During this trip to the Demon Cave, you had not only obtained a massive number of demonic creatures, but you had also acquired a Tier 4 corpse puppet and a special demon carrying a soul-path treasure.

It could truly be called a bountiful harvest.

"One hundred and thirty thousand Tier 1 demons... six hundred and eighty Tier 2 demons... one hundred and seventeen Tier 3 demons... among them, two of the Tier 3 demons are higher demons with powerful bloodlines..."

You looked delighted. Setting aside the Tier 1 and Tier 2 demons, a Tier 3 demon was on par with a Core Formation Stage true person.

One hundred and seventeen Tier 3 demons equaled one hundred and seventeen Core Formation Stage true persons.

Even in a super region like the Wujian Region, it was impossible to find that many Core Formation Stage true persons just waiting to be killed.

It wasn't that there weren't that many Core Formation Stage true persons around, but rather that anyone who cultivated to the Core Formation Stage mostly had various backgrounds, making it highly likely they were tied to the five great Nascent Soul-level factions.

Slaughtering so many Core Formation Stage true persons at once would immediately shake the entire Wujian Region and subsequently draw the combined wrath of the five great Nascent Soul-level factions.

In truth, Core Formation Stage true persons weren't cabbages on the side of the road, huddling together in one place for you to harvest.

Even if a Nascent Soul True Monarch secretly ambushed Core Formation Stage true persons, they could kill twenty or thirty at most before the numerous true persons in the Wujian Region realized what was happening.

It was even more probable that before the Nascent Soul True Monarch could even strike, Divination Grandmaster True Monarch Qingtian of Wujian Hall would sense it and intervene to stop them.

'Just these demonic creatures alone surpass the harvest that True Lord Seven Fiends once gained from devouring a city of several million cultivators...'

You thought to yourself. Although the raw numbers could not compare to the entire population of Biyue Immortal City, the quality of the demonic creatures you had suppressed was incredibly high; there were over a hundred Tier 3 monsters!

'These are the opportunities of a super region...'

You sighed emotionally. If you had stayed in the Taiyuan Domain or its neighboring regions, where could you possibly have obtained so many demonic creatures?

After finishing the inventory of the ordinary demonic creatures, you turned to one of your major harvests from this trip.

True Monarch Yinxiao's Tier 4 corpse puppet.

With a slight shift in thought, a tall and graceful figure appeared before you. 'Truly worthy of being a Tier 4 corpse puppet...'

You remarked inwardly. After taking dozens of strikes from your Sea Overturning Seal, this Tier 4 corpse puppet had been severely wounded at the time. Not only were its dharma robes torn to shreds, but its physical body had been riddled with injuries.

Yet, after only a short while, it had almost fully recovered. The scarred and battered skin had once again become crystal clear and delicate.

'Its recovery rate is incredibly high; it excels at wars of attrition...'

You evaluated in your mind. And this was only its passive recovery while the corpse puppet's sentience was suppressed.

If it recovered actively, it would be even faster.

After a brief observation, you began to test the possibility of refining this Tier 4 corpse puppet.

Refining a corpse puppet primarily meant refining the strand of sentience within its body—that was its core.

At this moment, that sentience had already been sealed away by your Nascent Soul power.

'It's difficult...'

You tested it for a moment before arriving at a conclusion.

This sentience was equivalent to the divine soul of a Nascent Soul True Monarch. Erasing it would be easy, but refining and enslaving it posed a vastly higher level of difficulty.

Unless the strength of your divine sense reached the Late Nascent Soul Stage, there was no possibility of refining and enslaving it.

'What if I just erase this sentience and use the corpse as a regular puppet?'

You began pondering other possibilities. Since you couldn't refine the sentience, you could split off a portion of your own divine sense to control it yourself.

You were a Third-Order High-Grade puppet master who grasped the Spirit Attachment Art, allowing you to attach your divine sense onto this Tier 4 corpse puppet.

Although the Tier 4 corpse puppet's outward appearance was that of a cold, glamorous female cultivator, you did not mind this minor sacrifice in image as long as it enhanced your combat power and gave you more methods to deal with enemies.

Besides, as long as you said nothing, who would know you were the one piloting this Tier 4 corpse puppet?

A Tier 4 corpse puppet possessed the combat power of an entry-level true lord. If you could completely master this puppet, your certainty of thoroughly exterminating True Monarch Yinxiao would definitely increase.

Of course, before taking control of this Tier 4 corpse puppet, you still needed to completely wipe out the mark True Monarch Yinxiao had left on its body.

After dealing with the Tier 4 corpse puppet for a moment, you looked toward the other body.

This was a demoness whose skin was covered in mysterious demonic patterns, with straight horns growing from her head.

She was the demon from whom you had sensed the hidden fluctuations of a soul-path aura.

You began to examine her carefully.

Placing a hand on the demoness's crown, you poured boundless magical power into her body.

Eventually, inside the demoness's dantian, you found a piece of jade etched with twelve patterns on its surface.

The dense soul-path fluctuations were emanating precisely from this jade.

"This is... Soul-Nourishing Jade? Twelve patterns... it's a Rank 4 High-Grade Soul-Nourishing Jade..."

You were inwardly shocked. Soul-Nourishing Jade was a marvel of the soul path. Prolonged contact could nourish the divine soul and heal injuries sustained on the Nascent Soul level.

One must know that to a Nascent Soul True Monarch—even to the true lords of the near-ancient era—the Nascent Soul spirit body was more important than anything else.

No matter how grievous the injuries to the physical body were, at worst, one could simply switch to a new body. But any damage to the Nascent Soul level, even a minor injury, was an unacceptable loss to a true lord.

In such situations, miraculous items like the Soul-Nourishing Jade that nourished the divine soul and Nascent Soul could play a tremendous role.

An ordinary Rank 4 Lower Grade Soul-Nourishing Jade was enough to provoke a scramble among a group of true lords. As for a Rank 4 High-Grade Soul-Nourishing Jade, even a late Nascent Soul Great Cultivator would likely be unable to resist taking action for it.

'What a supreme treasure...'

You were in an excellent mood. Among all the numerous treasures currently in your possession, probably only that Lotus Heart Seed could slightly eclipse this piece of Soul-Nourishing Jade.

'A soul-path treasure of this grade is absolutely sufficient to cultivate the Second Nascent Soul secret art...'

Your heart stirred slightly.

The path you walked was that of a top-tier ancient dharma cultivation true lord. Your Nascent Soul spirit body was stable to the absolute extreme and basically didn't need a Soul-Nourishing Jade for nourishment.

If a day ever came when your Nascent Soul spirit body was on the verge of collapse and beyond recovery, a Soul-Nourishing Jade wouldn't be able to save it anyway.

'Second Nascent Soul...'

Your spirit was invigorated. You had almost given up on this secret art, since you hadn't been able to secure the crucial soul-path treasure required for it.

But now that a Rank 4 High-Grade Soul-Nourishing Jade had been delivered right to your doorstep, this secret art naturally sprang to mind immediately.

"Hm?"

You took out the palm-sized Soul-Nourishing Jade, which radiated a thick soul-path aura, and your expression subtly shifted.

You suddenly discovered that deep within the Soul-Nourishing Jade, a wisp of a divine soul aura was slumbering.

"This is..."

Your face grew solemn as you closely inspected that trace of divine soul aura.

"This is absolutely the divine soul aura of a Tier 4 entity!"

You observed it for a moment before arriving at a conclusion.

That wisp of divine soul aura lay dormant within the Soul-Nourishing Jade. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would hardly have been able to sense it.

'The vast, alien mental energy this demoness wielded when she clashed with the Tier 4 corpse puppet most likely originated from this wisp of divine soul power...'

You pondered in your heart, your expression gravely serious.

You could tell that this wisp of divine soul power did not contain a specific consciousness; it was purely a strand of divine soul energy.

It had been sealed inside the Soul-Nourishing Jade for the sole purpose of isolating it from outside senses.

'Regardless of the method they use, once Tier 3 monsters enter the Human Realm, they have to face a heavenly tribulation to break through to Tier 4...'

Your thoughts spun. The principle was exactly the same as the heavenly tribulation faced by Core Formation cultivators stepping into the Nascent Soul Stage, or Third-Tier Great Monsters breaking through to become Tier 4 Monster Kings.

However, monsters hailed from the Demon Abyss Realm. Undergoing a heavenly tribulation in the Human Realm? Due to the realm's suppression and rejection, the difficulty would be hundreds of times greater than what a Core Formation cultivator of the same level would face. There was zero hope of surviving it.

This was also why the Wujian Region rarely cared when a stray monster occasionally slipped in.

The Human Realm was, in the end, a world belonging to human cultivators. When monsters invaded, they were inherently suppressed by the realm laws, leaving them unable to move a single step.

The only exception was the kind of massive, large-scale invasion seen at the end of the ancient era.

But what if the demon that sneaked in wasn't Tier 3, but Tier 4?

You stared at the divine soul power within the Soul-Nourishing Jade... The quality of this wisp of divine soul power clearly reached the fourth tier. Once it fused with the demoness, it would allow her divine soul power to rapidly ascend to the fourth tier.

In this way, she would naturally bypass the Tier 4 heavenly tribulation altogether.

'This demoness must have been a Tier 4 demon in the past. This wisp of divine soul power was likely left behind by her, and she simply used some method to wash away any trace of her Tier 4 existence...'

You deduced further.

'The Demon Abyss Realm...'

Your gaze grew profound. Judging from this demoness, it seemed the Demon Abyss Realm hadn't given up on the Human Realm yet.

You carefully extracted that wisp of divine soul power from within the Soul-Nourishing Jade and placed it into a specialized Tier 4 Sealing Jade Box.

This wisp of divine soul power did not contain any Tier 4 demon's consciousness; otherwise, there was no way it could have passed through a small-scale spatial channel between the two realms.

'I need to find an opportunity to notify Wujian Hall about this...'

You thought to yourself.

Next, you attempted Soul Searching on the demoness.

A Tier 4 corpse puppet was equivalent to a Nascent Soul True Monarch, so you couldn't forcibly extract its memories.

However, this demoness had only ever displayed the power of a Tier 3 demon.

Yet, the moment you tried to invade her divine soul with your own, you seemingly triggered some sort of restriction, and the demoness's divine soul was instantly obliterated.

"An anti-Soul Searching measure?"

You weren't surprised.

Many sects and factions, to prevent their own disciples from being captured by enemy forces and leaking secrets, would plant similar measures within the divine souls of their disciples. Once they were subjected to forced Soul Searching, their divine souls would automatically self-destruct.

Even though the Soul Searching wasn't successful, you were already highly satisfied.

The harvest from your trip to the Demon Cave had been immense; you feared it would take you the next few decades to slowly digest it all.

Putting everything else aside, just practicing the Second Nascent Soul secret art would require no small amount of time.

In addition, you still needed time to take control of the Tier 4 corpse puppet, familiarize yourself with its power, and so on.

Three years later, you were two hundred and twenty years old.

You had just ended your secluded cultivation when you received a message transmission from True Monarch Beiheng.

"Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, come to the guest reception hall once you exit seclusion."

Looking at the message left by fellow Daoist Beiheng, you immediately headed toward Jiuli Valley's guest reception hall.

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