I Have a Cultivation Simulator

'Qi Refining Late Stage...' Zhou Qing felt a surge of joy.

The moment he broke through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, he shattered a sort of iron law for cultivators with a Low-Grade Spirit Root.

The law that they could never reach the late stage.

Because their inherent talent was so poor, cultivators with a Low-Grade Spirit Root progressed at a glacial pace. Before their twilight years around the age of seventy, they usually stalled at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer or Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

And that was only if everything went smoothly.

Of course, this so-called law only applied to the vast majority of cases.

If a cultivator with a Low-Grade Spirit Root had powerful backing—say, an elder in the Foundation Establishment Realm who was willing to pour staggering amounts of resources into them...

...then they still had a glimmer of hope of reaching the Qi Refining Late Stage, or even the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm with a Low-Grade Spirit Root were exceedingly rare, but they weren't entirely nonexistent.

The price of pushing a junior with a Low-Grade Spirit Root all the way to the Foundation Establishment Realm was likely enough to raise three to five cultivators with a Mid-Grade Spirit Root to the same realm.

'Forty-six years old, Qi Refining Seventh Layer... If I hadn't switched to cultivating the Shanhai Art halfway through, I probably would have broken through two or three years earlier...'

Zhou Qing thought to himself.

His success was mainly due to selling a massive quantity of healing and life-saving pills. This had earned him enough spirit stones to buy abundant resources for his own cultivation.

An ordinary cultivator with a Low-Grade Spirit Root could never dream of such luxury.

As for switching to the Shanhai Art, Zhou Qing didn't regret it in the slightest.

Although it had cost him time, it also increased his chances of successfully breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Without the Shanhai Art, foolishly charging at the Foundation Establishment Realm would probably just result in him failing at the magical power threshold. Doing so would be entirely pointless.

As for the body-tempering technique he had cultivated in his simulations, it was called the Shanhai Body Tempering Art.

Whether it was the Shanhai Art or the Shanhai Body Tempering Art, both were likely inheritances from the bygone Shanhai Sect.

[After breaking through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, the first challenge you faced was the need for cultivation pills.]

[A cultivator at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer needed to consume high-grade pills to continue making progress.]

[However, you were currently only a Mid-Grade Alchemist, unable to refine high-grade pills.]

[You already had a solution in mind for this problem.]

[Naturally, it was to buy them from Alchemist Yun.]

[Alchemist Yun had become a High-Grade Alchemist many years ago, and the two of you were on excellent terms.]

[You sought out Alchemist Yun and explained your intentions.]

["You've reached the Qi Refining Late Stage?" Alchemist Yun's tone was gratified, genuinely happy for you.]

[For a Qi Refining Realm cultivator, the late stage was a massive hurdle.]

[Once crossed, one's status and position changed entirely.]

[Even if they could never attempt to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, they would still be hailed as a grand cultivator.]

["Which high-grade pill do you want?" Alchemist Yun asked.]

["Qi Nourishing Pills, I suppose."]

[You replied, "Fifty of them."]

["That many?"]

[Slightly taken aback, Alchemist Yun offered a word of warning. "Every pill carries a degree of pill toxicity. If you have any thoughts of attempting to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, it's best to consume fewer of them."]

["Understood."]

[You nodded.]

[Thanks to your Pill Toxin Nemesis talent, you could prevent the vast majority of pill toxicity from accumulating in your body. The toxicity had almost zero effect on you.]

[However, you naturally couldn't say this out loud.]

[You smoothly purchased the fifty Qi Nourishing Pills from Alchemist Yun.]

[In truth, you faintly sensed that you were already very close to becoming a High-Grade Alchemist yourself.]

[These fifty pills would be enough for a typical cultivator at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer to consume for several years, but for you, they would only last a few months.]

[They were merely for a temporary transition.]

[Half a month later, the biennial auction in Wushan Market was held as scheduled.]

[Whether it was Wushan Market, Tingyu Market, or any other market gathering place, they all hosted auctions at regular intervals to draw in crowds and elevate their market's standing in the surrounding region.]

[Over the past decade or so, you had hidden your identity to attend a few of these auctions.]

[However, you didn't plan on concealing your identity for this particular auction in Wushan Market.]

[As a grand cultivator at the Qi Refining Late Stage, a Mid-Grade Alchemist, and someone attending an auction on Wushan's home turf, you felt there was no need to hide.]

[Furthermore, the resources you intended to buy at this auction were merely some essential raw materials for alchemy, nothing that would draw unwanted attention.]

[The auction took place in a large hall located at the center of the market.]

[After verifying your identity, you smoothly entered the venue.]

["Alchemist Wang, you had the free time to attend this auction too?"]

[A voice rang out. It was You Rou, the Deputy Alliance Leader of the Alchemy Alliance.]

["Deputy Alliance Leader You." You greeted her in return.]

[You were quite familiar with Deputy Alliance Leader You. During the years when the Shanhai Secret Realm appeared, the two of you had collaborated.]

[You Rou invited you to a private box.]

[As a highly influential faction within Wushan Market, the Alchemy Alliance naturally had its own exclusive box at the auction.]

[The box was safe and completely private.]

[You gladly accepted.]

[The box was dozens of square meters in size. You and Deputy Alliance Leader You took your seats.]

[Deputy Alliance Leader You possessed a dignified figure and an elegant temperament.]

[You knew some information about her. She was also at the Qi Refining Late Stage and was a High-Grade Alchemist.]

["Alchemist Wang, I heard from Alchemist Yun that you've already broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer?" Deputy Alliance Leader You pursed her lips in a soft chuckle, her voice melodious and gentle.]

["Just good luck," you replied.]

["With your alchemy skills, Alchemist Wang, now that you've reached the Qi Refining Late Stage, you must not be far from becoming a High-Grade Alchemist, right?" You Rou looked at you with eyes as clear as water.]

[Although cultivation base and alchemy skills weren't strictly proportional, greater strength meant purer magical power and sharper divine sense control, which naturally provided a massive boost to one's alchemy.]

[You Rou had seen the pills you refined before. She knew your alchemy skills had reached the peak of the mid-grade level. Now that you had successfully broken through to the Qi Refining Late Stage, becoming a High-Grade Alchemist was only a matter of time.]

["On the path of alchemy, who can guarantee continuous progress?" you casually replied.]

["True."]

[You Rou didn't press the matter. She leaned back in her seat, her tall, voluptuous figure angling slightly to reveal a hint of languid grace.]

[Soon, the auction began.]

["Welcome to this auction, fellow Daoists. I am Ouyang De, and I will be your host for today."]

[A chubby old man walked out and stood on the central high platform, offering a slight bow with cupped hands to the crowd of cultivators.]

["Without further ado, let me state the rules for this auction. Public threats and private bid-rigging are strictly prohibited... Wushan Market reserves the right to expel anyone who disrupts the order of this event..."]

["Now, the auction officially begins."]

[After the chubby old man Ouyang De finished speaking, a maid with a graceful figure walked up, carrying a tray.]

[Resting on the tray was a black egg.]

["This is a Black Wind Eagle Egg. The Black Wind Eagles raised by our Wushan Market are far stronger than normal ones..."]

[At this point, a smile surfaced on Ouyang De's face. "Not to mention, decades ago, a Foundation Establishment Realm lord from Beast Taming Mountain bought a Black Wind Eagle Egg containing the bloodline of a Dark Magic Eagle right here at a Wushan Market auction..."]

["A Dark Magic Eagle?"]

[You were startled. That was a spirit beast with an earth-grade bloodline, equivalent to an Earth Spiritual Root talent. Reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm would be as easy as breathing for it.]

[A normal Black Wind Eagle, on the other hand, only possessed a mid-grade bloodline.]

["Hehe, this Ouyang De brings that up every single time he auctions a Black Wind Eagle Egg..."]

[You Rou chuckled softly from beside you.]

["May I ask, Deputy Alliance Leader You, at which auction did that egg with the Dark Magic Eagle bloodline appear?"]

[You thought for a moment before asking.]

["It should have been the auction twenty-eight years ago."]

[Not suspecting anything, You Rou answered with a bright smile.]

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