I Have a Cultivation Simulator

"It took no effort at all..."

Outside the simulation, Zhou Qing felt delighted.

His primary goal in scheming for the soul essence of True Person Blood Sea was to obtain the Core Formation section of the Shanhai Art.

As for the Master's massive memories, those were secondary.

After all, the Core Formation section concerned Zhou Qing's Dao; it was the guiding light for his future advancement.

So far, Zhou Qing had yet to see a cultivation method stronger than the Shanhai Art.

Aside from being somewhat difficult to cultivate, this ancient method of the Shanhai Lineage offered far too many benefits.

Unless he was left with absolutely no other choice, Zhou Qing was unwilling to abandon it for another method.

In Zhou Qing's estimation, even if he successfully captured True Person Blood Sea's soul essence, he had no guarantee of actually obtaining the subsequent Core Formation section of the Shanhai Art.

If a Foundation Establishment cultivator even dared to try, the Master's soul essence might seize the opportunity to severely damage their spiritual sense.

Without a soul-search, could he rely on True Person Blood Sea's soul essence to truthfully recite the Core Formation section? Even if the other party spoke it, Zhou Qing would never dare trust it so easily.

If the Master laid a massive trap in the text, Zhou Qing would likely have to waste a simulation attempt just to correct the mistake.

But now, obtaining the Shanhai Art and various other inheritances directly from the Shanhai Secret Realm finally gave Zhou Qing some peace of mind.

Reeling in his thoughts, Zhou Qing continued watching the shifting, illusory text.

[You looked at the jade stone in your hand, falling into deep thought.]

[The jade stone not only recorded the many inheritances of the Shanhai Sect, but also the entire sequence of events.]

[Back then, the Shanhai Sect Master fought a bloody battle with a Master at the Core Formation Middle Stage. He suffered heavy injuries, which allowed True Person Blood Sea to take advantage of the situation.]

[Even so, the Sect Master borrowed the power of the third-tier grand array left within the secret realm to forcefully obliterate True Person Blood Sea's physical body and golden core.]

[In the end, his injuries completely flared up. Lacking the time to personally extinguish True Person Blood Sea's soul essence, he could only seal it within the Shanhai Ring, intending to use the power of the secret realm's array and the passage of time to slowly grind it away.]

["So that's how it was..."]

[You sighed inwardly.]

[The Shanhai Sect Master knew his passing was imminent, and that most of his sect's disciples had already been slaughtered by True Person Blood Sea.]

[He had no choice but to leave behind his sect's various inheritances, hoping that future cultivators who entered the realm would obtain them. He refused to watch the Shanhai Sect's legacy be completely severed.]

["Something must have gone wrong in the middle, or perhaps True Person Blood Sea had a backup plan that shattered half the body of the divine statue sealing the Shanhai Ring..."]

[You could roughly deduce what happened afterward.]

["It's a pity there was no mention of that female cultivator..."]

[According to the intelligence you had gathered, the reason True Person Blood Sea and the Shanhai Sect Master—two martial brothers—turned against each other was because of a female cultivator.]

[The jade stone left behind by the Sect Master mentioned nothing about this.]

[Following that, the excavation of the Shanhai Secret Realm proceeded in an orderly manner.]

[Two months later, Foundation Establishment cultivators finally arrived.]

[The Foundation Establishment-level faction closest to the secret realm was Wushan Market.]

[However, Ouyang Shen, the master of Wushan Market, had suffered a massive drop in strength after failing to break through. Even though he had known about the secret realm early on, he didn't dare come personally, only sending some Qi Refining cultivators from the Ouyang family to explore.]

[The Foundation Establishment factions slightly further away all had some distance to cover to reach the secret realm, meaning their travel time was not short.]

[With the news traveling back and forth, along with various verifications, it took three months after the secret realm's opening for the first Foundation Establishment cultivator to finally arrive.]

["So it is Alchemist Wang. I've long heard your great name!"]

[The Foundation Establishment cultivator who arrived was a large man with a curly beard, possessing a cultivation base at the fourth level of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

[The fourth level belonged to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, holding strength significantly greater than the early stage.]

[However, the bearded man didn't dare underestimate you in the slightest. Not only were you a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but you were also a Tier Two Alchemist and a member of Biyue Immortal City's Alchemy Hall.]

["Fellow Daoist Gu," you greeted him in return.]

[The bearded man was named Gu Zhuo, the Foundation Establishment patriarch of the Gu family.]

[Gu Zhuo exchanged pleasantries with you for a while before bringing up the secret realm below.]

[After discussing it with Gu Zhuo, you both decided to let your respective subordinate Qi Refining cultivators enter and explore. As for the other rogue cultivators? They would still need to hand over fifty percent of their gains, which would be split evenly between you and Gu Zhuo, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators.]

[As time passed, more Foundation Establishment cultivators arrived one after another.]

[The arriving Foundation Establishment cultivators basically all tacitly accepted the rules set by you and Gu Zhuo, allowing their Qi Refining subordinates to enter the secret realm to explore.]

[As for the Foundation Establishment cultivators themselves, they only needed to sit outside and wait for the harvest.]

...

[Year 21. At thirty-seven years old, you secretly sent Ye Feng into the merchant guild stronghold in Wushan Market.]

[You deliberately erased Ye Feng's memories of the time before and after he entered the secret realm.]

[For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, altering or forging the memories of a lower-level cultivator might be very difficult.]

[But destroying and erasing a specific segment of memory, especially a recent one, was not hard to achieve.]

[Year 22. At thirty-eight years old, the exploration of the Shanhai Secret Realm had entered its mid-to-late stage.]

[According to the experience from your previous two simulations, the secret realm would essentially be hollowed out by the multitude of cultivators in its fourth year after appearing.]

[Year 23. At thirty-nine years old, you clearly noticed that the harvest from exploring the secret realm had significantly decreased.]

[During the three years since the secret realm emerged, your cultivation hadn't been greatly affected. It primarily relied on taking pills at a high frequency to advance.]

[Even while holding down the fort outside the secret realm, you could still constantly consume pills to cultivate.]

[Year 24. At forty years old, after confirming the secret realm was basically hollowed out, you returned to Biyue Immortal City, leaving You Rou to direct the merchant guild in handling the final wrap-up work.]

[Along the way, you took inventory of your gains over the past four years.]

[Setting aside the various inheritances of the Shanhai Sect for now, just the spirit herbs, spirit materials, magical artifacts, and other items harvested within the secret realm had a total value exceeding 150,000 spirit stones. If you added the fifty percent cut taken from the rogue cultivators, along with the income from selling pills and magical artifacts...]

[Over the four years since this secret realm appeared, the spirit stones you gathered approached 300,000.]

[Even the entire net worth of a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage wouldn't reach this number.]

[Although the Shanhai Secret Realm was the old lair managed by the Shanhai Sect, it had long been wantonly destroyed by True Person Blood Sea.]

[Combined with the passage of centuries, the severe loss of medicinal efficacy in many precious ancient herbs, and the fact that the Sect Master had taken the most precious items before his passing... the actual treasures and resources left in the secret realm were lower than those of a normal Core Formation-level faction.]

[In fact, the most valuable things in the Shanhai Secret Realm were the set of Shanhai inheritances you obtained, along with the Shanhai Ring.]

[Having struck it rich, you began paying attention to Core Formation Spiritual Items, making advance preparations for your future attempt to break through to the Core Formation Realm.]

[Year 25. At forty-one years old, aside from cultivating the Shanhai Art, you began practicing the various secret techniques from the Shanhai Sect's inheritance.]

[Year 26. At forty-two years old, your array formation skills stepped into the first-tier mid-grade.]

[You confirmed that your talent in the Dao of Arrays was truly mediocre.]

[Year 27. At forty-three years old, you faintly felt yourself approaching the Foundation Establishment Third Layer Peak.]

[Year 28. At forty-four years old, you had already cultivated to the Foundation Establishment Third Layer Peak.]

[Year 29. At forty-five years old, you still remained at the Foundation Establishment Third Layer Peak.]

[You hadn't felt any signs of a breakthrough.]

[You continued to cultivate.]

[Year 30. At forty-six years old, you were still unable to step into the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.]

[You realized that you had encountered a shackle on your path of cultivation. Going from the third to the fourth level was the transition from the early stage to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, and many Foundation Establishment cultivators would encounter an insurmountable bottleneck here.]

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