Chapter 271: Paradise

"What virtue or ability do I possess..."

Venerable Xuan's legs went weak. To him, Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were already beings he had to look up to.

A Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch? Was he even worthy of looking upon one?

Let alone in the Eastern Wilderness Domain, even across the vast Human Realm, Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarchs were legends. Venerable Xuan, at least, had never heard of a specific Heavenly Monarch still walking the world.

The only thing related to a Heavenly Monarch that Venerable Xuan had ever encountered was the grotto-heaven fragment right beside him.

Left behind by a Heavenly Monarch tens of thousands of years ago, the fragment had yielded no clues despite the millennia he had spent studying it. His only hope had been to cultivate or find a trustworthy human True Monarch to explore it with him.

Such was the profound nature of a mere grotto-heaven fragment.

Let alone a true Heavenly Monarch, the absolute peak of the Human Realm.

Cold sweat beaded on Venerable Xuan's skin. As a Tier-4 beast king, he had never even known what cold sweat was before today. Yet now, standing before a Heavenly Monarch, he wanted to drop to his knees and grovel. But he didn't dare. Rumor had it that some Heavenly Monarchs possessed eccentric tempers. If he actually knelt and kowtowed, he might just annoy this one and get slapped to death for the offense.

Zhou Qing naturally sensed Venerable Xuan following him out, and he was well aware that this Tier-4 beast king had probably realized something.

Another beast king might not have had the faintest idea what a Heavenly Monarch was, lacking both the firsthand experience and the relevant intelligence. But Venerable Xuan had lived inside a grotto-heaven fragment for thousands of years. He had definitely been exposed to the aura of a Heavenly Monarch—Zhou Qing had confirmed as much during his earlier Soul Searching.

It wasn't strange at all for him to deduce that Zhou Qing might be a Heavenly Monarch.

Right now, the majority of Zhou Qing's attention was immersed in experiencing the strength of the Deity Transformation Stage.

In the simulation, Zhou Qing had stepped into the Deity Transformation realm many years ago. In reality? He had never personally felt the terrifying power of a Heavenly Monarch.

The simulation's text descriptions naturally couldn't compare to experiencing it firsthand.

Of course, because Zhou Qing had perfectly inherited the power, there was no need for phases like familiarization or consolidation.

It was only in the exact instant of inheritance that he couldn't immediately conceal his aura, which was why he had needed to use this grotto-heaven fragment to mask it.

"The Human Realm..."

Zhou Qing looked out at the world. In the eyes of a Nascent Soul Stage True Monarch, the Human Realm was indestructible. Yet to Zhou Qing at this moment, the entire world appeared incredibly fragile. A casual strike would be enough to tear open massive swaths of space.

This was one of the reasons the Human Realm suppressed Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarchs from fighting at will.

During the near-ancient era, the status of the Human Realm had fallen. Even a Deity Transformation Early Stage Heavenly Monarch could easily rip open large tracts of space.

However, during the late stages of his sixth simulation, when the Demon Abyss Realm invaded, the Human Realm had begun to save itself. It had lifted the restriction that caused a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch to suffer backlash for fighting at full strength.

After briefly feeling out his own immense power, Zhou Qing lowered his gaze once more.

Lines of illusory text floated into view.

[Name: Zhou Qing]

[Race: Human]

[Dharma Cultivation Strength: Deity Transformation Early Stage]

[Body Cultivation Strength: Fifth Tier Early Stage]

[Skills: Fifth Tier Low Grade Alchemist, Fifth Tier Low Grade Talismancer, Fifth Tier Low Grade Array Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Puppet Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Diviner, Fourth Tier High Grade Poison Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Artifact Refiner, Fourth Tier High Grade Spirit Plant Master, Fourth Tier High Grade Beast Tamer...]

[Age: 18]

[Divine Abilities (Body Cultivation): Eruption, Qi and Blood, Transformation, Indestructible Golden Essence, Rebirth from a Drop of Blood]

[Talents: Pill Toxin Bane, Indomitable Will, Natural Enemy of Demonic Cultivators, Legend of a Generation (Gray), Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move, Dead But Not Stiff]

[Simulation Count: 0]

Staring at the illusory text, a smile surfaced on Zhou Qing's face.

These strings of text were the fruits of his hard work in the sixth simulation.

Over the course of more than two thousand two hundred years, Zhou Qing had not only mastered three fifth-tier skills, but had also pushed multiple other arts to the Fourth Tier High Grade, such as his spirit plant mastery... and his artifact refining...

With the accumulation of his many past simulations, coupled with him operating from a high vantage point in the Deity Transformation realm during the sixth simulation, he had been able to make such massive strides in one fell swoop.

'It's a pity... my talisman arts were just a hair away from breaking into the Fifth Tier Middle Grade...'

Zhou Qing thought to himself. At the very end of the sixth simulation, his alchemy had hit a bottleneck, yet his talisman arts had advanced like a hot knife through butter, reaching straight to the peak of the Fifth Tier Low Grade.

'There's also my Second Nascent Soul... Although I've reached the Deity Transformation realm and my primary Nascent Soul has evolved into a Primordial Spirit, my Second Nascent Soul remains in the Nascent Soul state...'

Zhou Qing pondered. It wasn't that his realm was lacking; he simply lacked the crucial resources.

To evolve a Second Nascent Soul into a Second Primordial Spirit, one needed a soul-path supreme treasure of at least the Fifth Tier High Grade.

Such soul-path treasures might have existed in the ancient era, but in the near-ancient era? They had long since gone extinct.

Zhou Qing had scoured the entire Human Realm in his simulation but hadn't found a single soul-path treasure of that grade. The Purgatory Demon Sovereign from the Demon Abyss Realm had possessed one, but Zhou Qing hadn't dared to refine it, afraid that some backdoor had been left on it.

'I'll have to see if there are any such treasures inside the Ghost Realm Trial Field during my next simulation...'

Zhou Qing glanced in the direction of the Nether Mountain as he thought this.

Although the Ghost Realm Trial Field and the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens of the Central Continent Territory were opportunities of the same tier, their natures were fundamentally different.

The Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens opened once every few centuries or millennia. The resources inside them were renewable and could be produced endlessly.

But the Ghost Realm Trial Field... the resources inside were basically non-renewable. Certain items only had a single copy; taking one meant it was gone forever.

Of course, for Zhou Qing, all those precious resources inside the Ghost Realm Trial Field were perfectly renewable. They would simply "refresh" every time he ran a simulation, waiting for him to take his pick.

It wasn't just the Ghost Realm Trial Field; in Zhou Qing's eyes, the entire Human Realm was "renewable." Even if it was destroyed, once the next simulation began, it could simply be restored and restarted.

As long as nothing went wrong in reality, everything would be fine.

'A Second Primordial Spirit...'

Since his Second Nascent Soul had gone through the inheritance process, there was zero chance of it betraying him or birthing an independent consciousness, so Zhou Qing still intended to cultivate it into a Second Primordial Spirit.

With a Second Primordial Spirit, not only would Zhou Qing's combat prowess soar, but his methods would also undergo a qualitative transformation. At the very least, he wouldn't need his primary Primordial Spirit to personally handle every little thing.

'I didn't see a Fifth Tier High Grade soul-path treasure during the last simulation, but that doesn't mean there won't be one in the next. Next time, I can instantly master the third and fourth levels of the Divine Origin Void-Crossing Great Art... plus there's the aptitude test...'

Zhou Qing mused.

With his current cultivation realm, the vast majority of resources and treasures in the Human Realm were of no use to him.

Only the Ghost Realm Trial Field... Many of the rare treasures inside still appealed to Zhou Qing.

Such as the World-Crossing Immortal Ark? And the Blood of the Heavenly Phoenix, among others.

These were all external items that could provide him with significant improvements.

Especially the Blood of the Heavenly Phoenix. As a supreme True Spirit on the same level as a True Dragon, once its bloodline was refined into his Transformation divine ability, what kind of qualitative change would it bring Zhou Qing?

In his sixth simulation, Zhou Qing had fully circulated the True Dragon Transformation and relentlessly battered a Fifth Tier Late Stage demon lord, his fierce might surging to the heavens.

Gathering his thoughts, Zhou Qing turned his head to look at the entrance to the grotto-heaven fragment, as well as the trembling Venerable Xuan standing nearby.

'I should just take this grotto-heaven fragment.' Zhou Qing made his decision; this was also his plan in the simulation.

Though a grotto-heaven fragment was inferior to a complete grotto-heaven, it was isolated from the outside world and could be carried on one's person.

With his abilities, Zhou Qing was fully capable of relocating outside spirit veins into it, forging it into a paradise.

Most importantly, since he was already here, taking this grotto-heaven fragment was a simple matter of convenience.

This grotto-heaven fragment was located in a remote corner of the Eastern Wilderness Domain. It wasn't like the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands of the Central Continent Territory, which had massive implications where the slightest movement would affect his future simulations.

In his sixth simulation, Zhou Qing had gained a general understanding of what later happened to this grotto-heaven fragment. Even up until the Demon Abyss Realm fully invaded the Human Realm, it never sparked any major incidents.

Taking it in reality would have almost zero impact on the simulations that followed.

Memories of entering this grotto-heaven in the simulation surfaced in Zhou Qing's mind.

To take away this grotto-heaven fragment, he needed to thoroughly refine it.

The prerequisite to refining it was mastering the Grotto-Heaven Core deep inside the fragment.

That was the control source of this grotto-heaven fragment.

There were indeed dangers deep within the grotto-heaven fragment, but they posed absolutely no threat to a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch like him. However, in the simulation, Zhou Qing hadn't entered this grotto-heaven fragment until over a thousand years later.

Having no danger a thousand years from now didn't mean there was no danger right now.

That possibility might be minuscule, and Zhou Qing's current strength was only stronger, not weaker, than the pioneer of this grotto-heaven fragment.

But he still had to be on guard.

In reality, Zhou Qing was naturally as cautious as could be.

When he entered the grotto-heaven fragment just now to inherit his cultivation and strength, he had completed the inheritance the moment he entered, then immediately stepped back out.

This minimized the risks he might face as much as possible.

Zhou Qing glanced at the apprehensive Venerable Xuan.

Since he wasn't going in personally, he naturally had to dispatch a lower cultivator to enter.

Didn't the Venerable Xuan right in front of him fit the scope of a lower cultivator perfectly?

Viewing a Tier-4 beast king as a lower cultivator—only a Heavenly Monarch like Zhou Qing possessed such qualifications.

"If Senior has any need of this little demon, please do not hesitate to command," Venerable Xuan said respectfully, shuddering violently as he noticed Zhou Qing's gaze.

"Mm. Take a trip inside and extract the Grotto-Heaven Core from the depths."

Zhou Qing didn't stand on ceremony, directly giving the order.

"The depths?"

Venerable Xuan's heart trembled. He had once carefully explored the depths of this grotto-heaven fragment; it was incomparably dangerous. With the slightest misstep, even a beast king adept at defense like him would die without an intact corpse.

However, this was an order from Zhou Qing, a Heavenly Monarch. Even if an endless abyss lay ahead, Venerable Xuan could only close his eyes and jump.

If he didn't jump? He would die right now.

"Follow the route I give you. Once you reach the Grotto-Heaven Core, take out this item and infuse it with your demonic energy."

With a stir of his mind, Zhou Qing imprinted a route into Venerable Xuan's divine soul, then took out a white jade bottle.

The route was one Zhou Qing had mapped out specifically for him.

The dangers deep within the grotto-heaven fragment came from residual formations. However, since Zhou Qing was a celestial array master, mapping out a safe route for Venerable Xuan was far too simple.

As for that white jade bottle, it was something Zhou Qing had casually refined just now. It contained a miniature item-retrieval array; as long as he pointed it at the Grotto-Heaven Core, he could collect it inside. "Go on in."

Zhou Qing's tone was placid.

Venerable Xuan immediately stepped into the grotto-heaven fragment, bracing himself as he approached the depths. He continuously moved forward according to the route just imprinted in his divine soul.

Soon enough.

Venerable Xuan arrived at a region he had never explored before. It looked incomparably peaceful, but Venerable Xuan's brow twitched violently. He knew the hidden dangers nearby far exceeded the scope of what he could handle; the slightest carelessness would result in his ashes being scattered, with no other outcome.

Taking a deep breath, Venerable Xuan gingerly drew closer to the depths by following the route Zhou Qing had given him.

'I'm still alive?'

After passing through a sea of fire, Venerable Xuan's eyes widened.

That sea of fire was entirely formed from Fourth Tier High Grade spiritual flames. Even an entity as strong as a Great Cultivator might not walk out alive if they fell into it. If an early-stage beast king like him was tainted by even a little of it, he probably wouldn't survive.

'The route Senior gave me... it really avoids all the dangers in here...'

Venerable Xuan's heart raced, realizing that Zhou Qing possessed an incomparable understanding of this grotto-heaven fragment.

Although he didn't know why Zhou Qing was unwilling to enter personally, Venerable Xuan's courage finally grew a little upon confirming that he wouldn't encounter any mortal danger. Soon after...

Under the guidance of the route, Venerable Xuan finally arrived at the deepest part of the grotto-heaven.

A boulder several meters across floated in the air, faintly connected to the entire grotto-heaven fragment.

'That's the Grotto-Heaven Core Senior wants...'

Feeling the ambient spiritual pressure, Venerable Xuan was certain that let alone refining that stone, he couldn't even get close to it.

Venerable Xuan settled his mind and immediately took out the white jade bottle Zhou Qing had bestowed upon him.

Aiming the mouth of the bottle at the Grotto-Heaven Core, he channeled his demonic energy.

In a flash, a spatial fluctuation surged from the white jade bottle. The suspended Grotto-Heaven Core drew near the bottle uncontrollably, continuously shrinking until it finally burrowed into the narrow mouth.

'It's done?'

Venerable Xuan immediately followed the route he had come from and headed toward the exit.

Outside the grotto-heaven fragment.

Zhou Qing waited for a brief moment before he saw Venerable Xuan walk out. "Senior."

Venerable Xuan was fully respectful as he took out the white jade bottle.

With a thought from Zhou Qing, the several-meter-wide Grotto-Heaven Core appeared before him.

Primordial Spirit dharma power surged into it, and within a few breaths, it was completely refined.

Then, through this Grotto-Heaven Core, Zhou Qing looked at the grotto-heaven fragment not far away.

Rumble—

The grotto-heaven fragment trembled, continuously shrinking until it finally took the shape of a fist-sized crystal and fell into Zhou Qing's hand.

"Done."

Zhou Qing gave a slight nod and stowed away the grotto-heaven fragment. The purpose of his trip was essentially accomplished.

Before leaving, Zhou Qing cast a glance at Venerable Xuan.

"I'll give this legacy to you."

Zhou Qing raised his right hand and gently pressed it against Venerable Xuan's crown. A profound and complex legacy was once again imprinted into Venerable Xuan's divine soul.

This legacy was a demonic beast legacy, one that Zhou Qing had casually collected during the simulation.

For a Rank 4 Early Stage beast king like Venerable Xuan, this legacy was an exceedingly rare opportunity that held the promise of guiding him into the Rank 4 Mid Stage.

This could be considered Zhou Qing's compensation to Venerable Xuan for taking away the grotto-heaven fragment.

The grotto-heaven fragment was of no use to Venerable Xuan anyway. In the previous simulation, Venerable Xuan hadn't even finished exploring it by the time he died of old age, much less stepped into the Rank 4 Mid Stage.