Volume 1, Chapter 18 – Combat Simulation

Staring at the vast white expanse before her, just as Shi Lan was feeling puzzled, detailed information about this space surged into her mind.

Shi Lan closed her eyes and began to digest the information.

After a while, she slowly opened her eyes, relief filling her gaze. It was fortunate she hadn’t failed that side quest—otherwise the loss would have been immeasurable.

This virtual space was broadly divided into three functions: environment simulation, combat simulation, and character simulation.

Environment simulation, as the name implied, could recreate all kinds of external environments, including weather, terrain, and every object that existed within that environment.

Combat simulation contained many sub-functions and could generate a mirror image of Shi Lan herself.

Every cultivation art and martial technique Shi Lan knew, the mirror would also know. Their level of mastery could even be adjusted according to her wishes, from basic entry to great perfection, to feed her moves. It was an excellent way to accumulate combat experience.

Character simulation was a sub-function of combat simulation, and it was the one Shi Lan was most interested in. This function could simulate everyone Shi Lan had seen, with the degree of similarity determined by how much contact she’d had with them.

This similarity didn’t refer to appearance, but to strength.

Shi Lan opened the current list of people she could simulate, and at the very top was, unsurprisingly, Shi Feng—his simulation accuracy had already reached a full ten out of ten, a perfect copy.

Below him were the names of the guards who’d gone out with her earlier. Their simulation accuracy hovered around thirty to forty percent.

Shi Tianlu and Su Lanyue’s names came after those guards, and their simulation accuracy was similar, both under twenty percent.

After that was a large pile of names Shi Lan didn’t recognize—they were probably citizens of the city.

After a rough glance, Shi Lan tapped on Shi Feng’s name. She was still very curious about Shi Feng’s actual level of strength.

Reаԁ οո KatRеaⅾiոgCаfе

【Character simulation function activated. Target: Shi Feng. Current simulation accuracy: ten out of ten. Adjust?】

“Don’t adjust. Keep it at ten.”

【Enable environment simulation?】

“Enable. Shi Residence training ground.”

The space around her twisted, and in the blink of an eye, it had become the Shi family’s training ground.

The blazing sun hung overhead, a gentle breeze blew from all sides. If not for the expressionless Shi Feng standing not far in front of her, Shi Lan would have almost believed she was truly on the training ground.

【Character simulation complete. Environment simulation complete. Begin battle?】

Shi Lan licked her lips, took two slightly excited deep breaths, then said:

“Begin!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Shi Feng’s figure vanished from Shi Lan’s sight.

She blinked in confusion—then her vision suddenly darkened. In the span of a blink, Shi Feng’s figure was already standing right in front of her, less than an arm’s length away!

Before Shi Lan could even react, she felt a tremendous force slam into her chest.

“Crack—”

A string of crisp bone-cracking sounds rang in Shi Lan’s ears.

Rеad оո ΚаtReaԁіոɡСаfе

A sweetness rose at the back of her throat and she couldn’t help but spray out a mouthful of blood, her entire body thrown backward uncontrollably.

Before she even hit the ground, Shi Lan felt a large hand clamp down on her head and suddenly exert force!

“Snap…”

With a sharp sound, Shi Lan instantly lost consciousness.

…

“Hiss… ha…”

Shi Lan kept taking deep breaths, her body trembling slightly and uncontrollably. She had really died just now—and had been killed without the slightest power to resist.

Between life and death, there truly was great terror. The ancients had not lied.

That suffocating feeling was something Shi Lan absolutely did not want to experience a second time.

【Combat simulation ended. Host defeated. View battle replay?】

Hearing the system notification, Shi Lan gradually came back to herself.

After steadying her emotions a little, she nodded. “Battle replay.”

She hadn’t reacted at all earlier, so naturally she had no idea how “Shi Feng” had killed her.

A gigantic light screen slowly unfolded before Shi Lan. Two figures stood facing each other—it was a replay of the combat simulation from just now.

Rеαd οn KаtRеаԁіոgCαfe

“Begin!”

At the command from the Shi Lan in the image, “Shi Feng’s” figure suddenly vanished. The next time he appeared, he was already standing right in front of her.

“Shi Feng” wasted no time at all. He lifted his hand and slammed a palm onto Shi Lan’s chest. The dense force of the strike penetrated her body, shattering who knew how many ribs.

Shi Lan’s chest caved in instantly, the clothes on her back torn apart by the leaking force of the palm. She was nearly blasted straight through by that one strike.

As Shi Lan’s body flew back, “Shi Feng” followed close behind, grabbed her head, and without the slightest hesitation, twisted her neck.

Listening to the sharp crack coming from the light screen, Shi Lan felt her teeth ache a little. Shi Feng’s way of striking was truly vicious.

In the end, she still hadn’t figured out exactly what level Shi Feng’s strength was at, but it was obvious that her own strength right now was far too lacking.

Shi Lan sighed and exited the virtual space.

The most urgent matter now was to quickly raise her strength to the fourth stage of the Body Tempering Realm and complete the system’s quest.

【Two items in the system’s temporary storage are about to exceed their holding period. Please retrieve them in time, Host. Once they exceed the holding period, the system will reclaim them automatically.】

Shi Lan froze for a moment, then opened the system’s temporary storage. She took out the Body Tempering Pill, and after a brief hesitation, also retrieved the White Crane Skirt.

It was still a two-star item. Letting the system reclaim it just like that would be too wasteful. Even if she didn’t wear it herself, she could still give it away.

Shi Lan carefully folded the White Crane Skirt and stuffed it into the very bottom of her wardrobe, then placed the Body Tempering Pill into a small brocade box and put it away.

After tidying up, Shi Lan walked to her desk and picked up the blood ginseng that had already had a large bite taken out of it.

Reaԁ оո КatRеаԁіոɡCαfе

Roughly estimating the remaining amount, Shi Lan brought the blood ginseng back to her mouth and took another bite.

The familiar warmth surged up. Not daring to slack off, Shi Lan sat down on the spot and began circulating the Jade Tempering Art.

Once this wave of medicinal power was refined, Shi Lan again felt her physical strength increase by another step. She was getting closer and closer to the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

In the blink of an eye, it was noon. Zique came again with another serving of medicinal food, this time in much greater quantity than yesterday.

“Madam says the Eldest Young Master is to focus on training in martial arts at home for now and not go out causing trouble again.”

After Zique left, Shi Lan quickly polished off the medicinal meal and once again buried herself in cultivation.

By evening, more than half of that century-old blood ginseng was already in Shi Lan’s stomach.

Thanks to the Jade Tempering Art, not a single sign of over-supplementation appeared on her body. Her strength continued to grow steadily.

Gradually, it felt as if the muscles, bones, and flesh of her body had reached some sort of critical point, and the white stream of qi generated by the Jade Tempering Art began circulating faster and faster.

All of a sudden, as if she’d pierced through a thin layer of paper, Shi Lan felt an incomparable sense of ease throughout her body. She couldn’t help opening her eyes and stood up to practice the Vajra Divine Fist.

As she moved, her bones and joints let out a continuous series of crisp pops.

Bones and tendons rang in unison—she had achieved the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm!