Volume 1, Chapter 483 – Decision

While repairing the injuries within her body, Shi Lan’s mind had already sunk into the system’s virtual space, sorting through her own cultivation arts.

The system’s virtual space had three categories of functions: environment simulation, character simulation, and battle simulation.

It could simulate any environment, as well as any person she had come into contact with, even including a mirrored image of Shi Lan herself.

The degree of similarity in the simulation was closely tied to how deeply she had interacted with the target.

Looking at the vast white space around her, Shi Lan pulled up the system panel. Countless names were flashing across it.

Ranked by simulation fidelity and strength, the one at the very top was the Guiyun Sword Emperor. As her contact with him deepened, the Sword Emperor’s simulated strength had already reached one-tenth of the original.

Aside from the Sword Emperor, several foreign-domain Supremes stood at the forefront.

Shi Lan had come into contact with their remains, stripped away their essence blood, and experienced the Dao resonance left behind by the collapse of their Dao fruits. As a result, their simulations in the virtual space had all reached full fidelity.

Besides those names, there was now an additional option at the side.

[Time Flow Adjustment]

[Ratio: 1:20 (maximum at current cultivation)]

As her cultivation rose, Shi Lan had paid less and less attention to this function of the virtual space. The conflicts happening around her alone were already enough to keep her occupied. She truly had no spare energy to simulate battles.

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But now, the flow of time inside the virtual space could already be adjusted. That meant she could use whatever limited peaceful time she had to temper her martial skills as much as possible.

One year of time could be exchanged for the results of twenty years. That was already heaven-defying enough. Moreover, this place was unlike a small world, where one was constrained at every turn and could smash the world apart with the slightest carelessness. Here, there was enough room for Shi Lan to fully display her abilities.

In truth, compared with her cultivation, the progress of her martial skills was far from satisfactory.

Leaving aside the Heaven-Scorching Three Halberds, even the Heaven Extremity Seal alone, this Emperor Dao killing secret art, had been in her possession for quite some time, yet even now she had only stepped into the realm of minor accomplishment. Major accomplishment was still far away.

…

…

The Vast Land of Shenzhou, at the border of the Chengtian Domain.

On the edge of a sheer cliff, a black-clad youth sat alone at the summit. His features were utterly ordinary, his frame lean and bony. In his hand he held a chessboard, within which a starry sky was reflected. As the phantoms of the stars shifted, they seemed like chess pieces moving across the board.

“As expected… I still can’t find the constellations…”

After a long while, he put away the chessboard and let out a soft sigh. Gently pressing a hand to his chest, he felt an ancient jade covered in cracks lying quietly against his breast.

Ever since he had first entered this world and set foot in the Langya Grotto-Heaven, he had met with setback after setback. The starry dome above his head was filled with boundless star power, yet none of it could be used by him.

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The heaven and earth of the Origin Epoch were completely different from those of later ages. Even the starry sky overhead had already changed.

He had exhausted every effort, abandoned his body, and crossed endless ages of time to arrive here. He had thought the road before him would be smooth, yet he had never expected that the cultivation path of later generations would be entirely unusable in this era. Everything had to begin anew.

Tap… tap…

Somewhat drifting footsteps sounded behind him. The youth turned his head, and a trace of confusion flashed through his eyes.

“Who are you?”

A figure in plain robes slowly approached, his long hair fastened neatly beneath a crown. His bearing was refined and scholarly. He stopped not far away, as graceful as orchids and jade trees, a gentle smile hanging on his face.

“My name is Liu Yunzhen. There are a few matters on which I would like to seek your guidance.”

The smile on the man’s face faded slightly. He drew a deep breath and spoke solemnly:

“About the future.”

…

…

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The Shenwu Great World, northern region of the Great Meng Sacred Court.

Qinglan crushed the depleted essence stone in her hand and came to a stop above a desolate mountain range. Behind her were five hundred thousand members of the Lan clan, all travel-worn and dusty.

After receiving the essence stones, she had not lingered at the border. Relying on that pass token, in just a few short days she had crossed tens of millions of li and entered the northern region of the Great Meng Sacred Court.

Bringing so many living beings through the void was no small expenditure. With Qinglan’s early Dao Union Realm cultivation, the mana within her body was already somewhat hard-pressed. Moreover, in order to respond to any sudden change, she also had to preserve her peak battle strength, so most of her effort had been spent on the latter half of the journey.

Unlike the Tianyun Dynasty, the ruler of the Great Meng Sacred Court was not a giant in the longevity domain, yet the entire court worshipped a true god.

It was said that this true god had come from a great world. After that world fell, it simply began developing believers in the Shenwu Great World, and over time, the Great Meng Sacred Court came into being.

For Qinglan, the only good news was that this true god did not consume blood sacrifices, feeding only on incense and the power of faith, so the Lan clan would not be courting a fatal disaster.

Within several thousand li of this place, there were no powerful living beings. Though it was somewhat barren, for the Lan clan it was still suitable enough as a temporary place to settle.

After temporarily settling the Ancestral Blood Pool, Qinglan looked at the Lan clan before her as they began to recover and rebuild, and she sank into thought. She did not have much time. With Shi Lan’s talent, reaching the Emperor level was not a difficult matter. The only obstacle was the world-ending great tribulation.

Yet Qinglan had never felt that this world-ending great tribulation could hold Shi Lan back for long. Perhaps because of some inexplicable fear deep in her heart, Shi Lan’s figure had been stretched endlessly in her mind, as if she were capable of anything.

Having severed the influence of the immortal path, Shi Lan’s speed of progress along the martial path would only become more terrifying. Overcoming the tribulation was only a matter of time.

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Once she crossed that threshold, then according to Shi Lan’s line of thought, her first reaction would absolutely be to seek out a great world in order to ensure the pace of her growth in strength. The Shenwu Great World, where the Lan clan was located, would unquestionably be the first choice.

As an incarnation, Qinglan’s thinking was eight or nine parts the same as Shi Lan’s, so she could naturally infer the next step.

Unlike the fierce, rapid advance of the martial path, immortal cultivation emphasized a slow and steady flow. Over long years, one comprehended the Dao-heart, discerned the true self, brought Dao Union to perfection, and after consecutively passing through the three great tribulations of the ‘Life, Death, and Fate Tribulation,’ the ‘Yin-Yang Chaos Tribulation,’ and the ‘Heaven-Earth Infinite Tribulation,’ tempered an immortal body within tribulation fire. Only then could one reach the Mahayana Realm directly.

But right now, what she lacked most was time.

This war between the two dynasties had been provoked by the Great Meng Sacred Court. In the gaps between battles, countless believers had already infiltrated the Tianyun Dynasty and begun spreading the faith. Clearly, that true god was no longer content with the current situation.

Qinglan naturally had no intention of placing her faith in some unknown being, but that did not mean there was no chance to profit from it.

“Your Excellency, thirty-seven in the clan are about to take human form.”

Cangyue came before Qinglan, her expression carrying a trace of excitement. With dozens of demon kings about to take human form all at once, it was undoubtedly a powerful source of support for the entire Lan clan.

Moreover, beyond that, there were several hundred Heavenly Astral Realm demon beasts on the verge of taking human form. It was easy to foresee that the Lan clan’s strength would soon undergo another surge.

“Once they have transformed, transfer a hundred Demon Kings from the clan to accompany me to the border.”

Qinglan’s gaze sharpened slightly. Five hundred thousand members of the Lan clan could not possibly rely on absorbing the essence of the sun and moon alone to cultivate. If they wanted to gather a great quantity of resources in a short time, then the only thing before them now was the bounty offered by the Great Meng Sacred Court.