One Trait Draw Per Year Even Simulations Count

[Jin Hai came to see you again.]

[He sat high above the clouds, looking down at you with contempt.]

["Chen Yi, how does it feel to be a prisoner?"]

[A smirk curled at the corner of your mouth.]

["Great!"]

["Heh, still just running your mouth. You're not quite the same cocky figure you were back at the Ji family, are you?"]

["Old ghost Jin Hai, is the Deputy Director really this idle? Nothing better to do all day than personally checking up on me?"]

["How could you possibly comprehend this king's schemes?"]

[You had actually already figured out Jin Hai's plans through "Eavesdrop on Heartstrings."]

You keep me on display here every day to lure Ji Wuqing into rescuing me.

But how could Wuqing possibly break me out of an execution ground from under your nose all by herself?

She would definitely contact the experts within the Torch Society, even mobilizing the organization's true power. And that's when you'd sweep up a batch of the Torch Society's high-end forces in one fell swoop!"]

[Jin Hai nodded expressionlessly.]

["You do have some brains. But this is a transparent scheme. I believe Ji Wuqing will figure it out too, yet she will still come to save you.

Because you saved her before, and these people in the Torch Society value so-called loyalty and honor above all else. She won't stand by and watch you die.

Just wait. On the day of your execution, that will be the day these rebels all fall into the net!"]

[You let out a mocking laugh at Jin Hai.]

["You're underestimating Ji Wuqing's big-picture thinking. She's the kind of person who would sacrifice her own life for the safety of her family, let alone for an outsider like me."]

[Jin Hai pointed at you from afar. A cluster of interpersonal threads appeared, and he pulled out the one representing Ji Wuqing.]

[On your end, the relationship recorded on this thread read: Close Friend - Ji Wuqing.]

["To her, you might not be just an 'outsider' after all."]

[Hearing this, you raised your voice and shouted to the surroundings.]

["Ji Wuqing! Torch Society! Don't come save me! My death is not worth mourning! No wait... what I mean is, it doesn't matter if I die! I can't actually die!!"]

[You weren't lying about that.]

[Ever since obtaining "Simulation Clone," once you entered a simulation, you were practically immortal. As long as your true body remained alive, that was all that mattered.]

[Jin Hai watched you with amusement. He could have shut you up, but he didn't.]

["Fool, keep shouting. The more you worry about her, the more she'll feel she ought to come save you."]

[You stopped shouting.]

["Chen Yi, do you think I captured you merely to lure out more Torch Society rebels?"]

["Do tell."]

["Over the past few years, this king has thoroughly investigated your origins. Blazing Star, Fortune Star, and... the human world! Am I right?"]

[It wasn't surprising that an Immortal King could dig up your background, especially one who wielded a portion of cosmic-level authority.]

["I initially thought you were just another anomaly who ascended from the human race, just like 'them.' But later, I discovered that wasn't the case, because you don't understand divine marks."]

["'Them'? Who understand divine marks? Oh, you mean the Ancient Wasteland Survivors?"]

["What this king wants you to understand is that even if you hadn't gotten tangled up with Ji Wuqing and the Torch Society, you would still be walking the Death Path. In fact, you deserve to die even more than Ji Wuqing!"]

["So what you're saying is, aside from the Ancient Wasteland Survivors, any other ascender from the human world who steps into your line of sight is destined to be eliminated?"]

["Originally, with the Thunder Pool in place, none of you could have ascended. Who knew you'd exploit a loophole left by the Ancient Wasteland Survivors? Oh no, from what I know, you're not the only one who slipped through."]

["Who else have you found out about?"]

["Want to know? I'll come chat with you again another day."]

[Jin Hai left.]

[He deliberately revealed bits of information you'd find intriguing, afraid you might take your own life before the execution.]

[Though he had prepared numerous measures to prevent that scenario, he still feared that your human race had unique traits he couldn't comprehend.]

[Good. This suited you just fine. You could gather more intel.]

[You understood clearly from Jin Hai's words.]

[From the moment you stepped into the Real Realm, you had been walking step by step into a dangerous cage.]

[The moment you entered the line of sight of the Holy Dragon Society, the Peace Bureau, the Celestial River Guard, the Ares Immortal Nation, or any other dominant power, your background would eventually be exposed.]

[Once they discovered you were an ascended human, and not an Ancient Wasteland Survivor, they would eliminate you without question.]

[Unless you were willing to spend your entire life holed up on a third-class or second-tier star, places where high-tier alien races had weaker control. But even then, that only lowered the risk of being discovered.]

[But that was impossible.]

[You came to the Real Realm to increase your strength. If you didn't want to grow stronger, wouldn't it have been simpler to stay in the Void Realm?]

[So the reason you ended up in today's situation wasn't because you helped Ah Dou back then, nor because you rescued Ji Wuqing.]

[Your identity as a human ascender was itself a massive landmine, even more volatile than Ji Wuqing's position as a Torch Society Hall Master!]

[From the Celestial River Monthly Report, you saw that Li Wentian, the Great Demon, Shen Yang, and others had all fallen one after another.]

[Them, along with everyone who ascended from the human world in the following decades, would eventually expose your existence after being captured and killed.]

[They might not confess, but someone like Jin Hai with his Interpersonal Index law could directly see their connections to you.]

[As for why they treated you differently from the Ancient Wasteland Survivors.]

[Easy to guess.]

[The Ancient Wasteland Survivors must have surrendered unconditionally, becoming an extremely loyal dog.]

["So next time, I absolutely need to disguise my identity, never reveal my strength carelessly, and ensure thorough logistical support while keeping an escape route open."]

[The day of execution drew closer and closer.]

[Thinking about it, you'd fallen at the hands of an Immortal King this time. At least the death wasn't unjust.]

[When the execution day truly arrived, the guards at the entire execution ground were tripled, a full six thousand soldiers!]

[Compared to the five hundred thousand troops that besieged the Ji family, that seemed like far fewer, right?]

[Nothing to be done about that.]

[The execution ground was set up inside the city, at the Vegetable Market no less. There was simply no way to pack that many people in there.]

[Jin Hai's scheme might have been a transparent one, but placing the execution ground in the middle of nowhere would have been a bit too on the nose.]

[The numbers didn't matter much anyway. The ones Jin Hai had pulled in were all officers of the Peace Force, along with high-ranking figures from local factions. Their cultivation levels started at Core Formation at the very minimum!]

[Not to mention, these cultivators lived long lives and had no shortage of good treasures stashed away in their little private vaults.]

[On top of that, you had an Immortal King like Jin Hai holding down the fort.]

[So the combat power was definitely sufficient.]

["Don't come, don't any of you come, nobody come at all. Just let me die. Dying means a nice settlement payout anyway..."]

[You muttered to yourself.]

["Noon has arrived! Execute!"]

[As the command flag flew from the supervising official's hand, the guillotine came crashing down.]

["Good. Wuqing, if you want to accomplish great things, you have to be ruthless in certain matters. The big picture comes first. Ignoring me is the right call!"]

[Just as you felt the icy gleam of the guillotine blade, a flying sword arrived just in time.]

["CLANG!!"]

[The sword light was more dazzling than the noonday sun. Sword energy erupted outward, sweeping across the entire city!]

["Who? Wuqing? No, that's not her sword. And that sword technique doesn't look like hers either. It's more like..."]

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