Chapter 272: The Seventh Simulation

After bestowing the inheritance, Zhou Qing erased all memory of his presence.

Given Venerable Xuan’s strength and influence, knowing about a Heavenly Monarch like Zhou Qing would not affect the future. Venerable Xuan had no opportunity to cross paths with other Heavenly Monarchs. He would likely never even meet a Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator.

Still, since it required no extra effort, Zhou Qing saw no reason to leave loose ends.

He didn't harbor any real killing intent toward Venerable Xuan. During the fourth simulation, the Tier 4 Monster King had treated him decently enough.

Otherwise, given how Zhou Qing typically handled lower cultivators, he would have permanently silenced the beast.

"No issues."

Before leaving, Zhou Qing used his Fourth Tier High Grade Divination to run a quick deduction, mapping out Venerable Xuan’s general trajectory over the next several hundred to a thousand years.

By the end of the sixth simulation, Zhou Qing had invested hundreds of years of lifespan into his Divination. The skill had now reached the absolute limit of the fourth tier, only a hair away from breaking into the fifth.

Coupled with his Deity Transformation cultivation, divining a Rank 4 Early Stage Monster King like Venerable Xuan posed no difficulty whatsoever.

Whoosh—

His work complete, Zhou Qing’s figure silently vanished. A long time passed.

Venerable Xuan’s eyes snapped open.

"What happened?"

Venerable Xuan froze, looking around as a trace of terror gradually seeped into his expression.

He had no idea why he was here, nor why a profound inheritance had suddenly appeared in his mind.

"The grotto-heaven fragment... is gone?"

Venerable Xuan looked nearby. The entrance to the grotto-heaven fragment should have been right there, but now, the space was entirely empty.

"Someone came here... took the grotto-heaven fragment... and planted an inheritance in my soul... What kind of power is this? A Fourth-Order Late Stage Great Monster King? Or a Great Cultivator..."

Venerable Xuan felt his very soul tremble. If this entity could silently plant an inheritance in his mind, they could have just as easily erased his soul.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness this entity was quite merciful..."

Venerable Xuan breathed a deep sigh of relief. The mere fact that he was still alive proved it. Not to mention, after briefly examining the inheritance deep within his soul, he realized it held endless wondrous applications and suited him perfectly.

"Seclusion. I must enter seclusion. I absolutely won't come out for the next five hundred years. The outside world is simply too dangerous..." Trembling with fear, Venerable Xuan immediately dove deep into the lake, closed his eyes, and fell into a slumbering cultivation.

...

After leaving Xuanwang Lake, Zhou Qing executed a spatial shift and instantly returned to his cave dwelling deep in the Savage Wilderness.

Before leaving this cave dwelling, Zhou Qing had been a mere Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator. Upon his return, he was already a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch—and a dual Heavenly Monarch in both body cultivation and dharma cultivation at that.

"It's been... less than two hours..."

Zhou Qing gave a faint nod. He had mainly wasted some time traveling to Profound King Island. The spatial shift back had taken only an instant.

Next up is refining this cave dwelling into the grotto-heaven fragment, and moving the spirit vein inside while I'm at it.

Zhou Qing thought.

Now that he had refined the core of the grotto-heaven fragment, he was effectively the master of this grotto-heaven and could regulate everything inside.

Once the spirit vein was moved into the grotto-heaven fragment, Zhou Qing would be able to control the space inside to compress the vein and raise its grade.

While waiting for his simulation count to refresh this time, Zhou Qing had no plans to move. Instead, he intended to forcibly upgrade the spirit vein's grade.

As a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch and a Heavenly Master of formations, Zhou Qing was fully qualified to do so. Rumble—

Moving the entire cave dwelling into the grotto-heaven fragment naturally caused quite a commotion. Li Yan sensed the disturbance.

"Master, what are you doing?"

Li Yan’s eyes widened as she watched a hazy entrance appear high in the sky. The cave dwelling, spanning hundreds of miles, was being drawn completely inside.

"Yan'er will find out soon enough."

Zhou Qing offered a faint smile. After sending the cave dwelling into the grotto-heaven fragment, he extended his right hand, directly seized the underground Tier 4 spirit vein, and integrated it into the grotto-heaven fragment as well.

The grade of this Tier 4 spirit vein was originally at the peak of Rank 4 Lower Grade. Only after Zhou Qing compressed it using formations did it barely reach Rank 4 Middle Grade.

Now that the entire spirit vein had been relocated into the grotto-heaven fragment, Zhou Qing borrowed the fragment's power to compress the Tier 4 vein even further, successfully pushing its grade to the Fourth Tier High Grade.

Of course, the price for this extreme compression was that the spirit vein would dry up in ten thousand years.

But with Zhou Qing's cultivation speed? Ten thousand years from now, provided he didn't die prematurely, he would have long since surpassed the Deity Transformation Stage. There was naturally no need to worry about such things.

Whoosh—

Zhou Qing brought Li Yan along as they entered the grotto-heaven fragment together. Everything looked exactly the same as outside. The cave dwelling remained intact. Other than the lack of the sun, moon, and stars, everything else was identical.

The spiritual energy, however, was much denser. Even a Qi Refining Stage cultivator like Li Yan could clearly sense the difference.

"Master, it's so comfortable here..."

Li Yan’s face lit up with delight. Basking in the environment of a Fourth Tier High Grade spirit vein, she felt as if she might float away. The awakening speed of her Primordial Yin Treasure Physique had surged.

Across the entire Eastern Wilderness Domain, Fourth Tier High Grade spirit veins were exceptionally rare—they could be counted on one hand.

Zhou Qing patted Li Yan's head while glancing down at the illusory text at the bottom of his vision, specifically the [Simulation Count] column.

"The cooldown time has shortened to one month and twenty days..."

Zhou Qing gave a slight nod. Under a Rank 4 Middle Grade spirit vein environment, the simulation cooldown time was two months.

Now that the spirit vein had reached the Fourth Tier High Grade, it shaved off ten days, bringing the cooldown to one month and twenty days.

It's not enough...

Zhou Qing thought to himself. As a Heavenly Monarch and a Heavenly Master of formations, his goal naturally wouldn't be a mere Fourth Tier High Grade spirit vein.

Zhou Qing intended to forge a Rank 5 spirit vein.

However, a Rank 5 spirit vein couldn't be achieved through mere compression. Zhou Qing needed more spirit vein origin essence.

In fact, as early as the sixth simulation, Zhou Qing had already started doing something similar. He had secretly controlled dozens of nearby large domains, ordering their respective true lords to nurture their spirit vein origin essence in preparation for upgrading his cave dwelling's spirit vein.

If he wanted to nurture the Fourth Tier High Grade spirit vein inside the grotto-heaven fragment to the level of a Rank 5 spirit vein, he would need to invest a vast amount of spirit vein origin essence.

"Never mind, I'll just make a trip outside."

Zhou Qing looked at Li Yan, gave her a few instructions, and vanished.

Taiyuan Region, Taiyuan Palace, the underground Tier 4 spirit vein.

Zhou Qing's figure appeared out of thin air.

Throughout the process, Taiyuan Palace's True Monarch Zixu, its Tier 4 grand formation, and everything else showed absolutely no reaction. They were completely oblivious to Zhou Qing's arrival.

As a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch and a Tier 5 Heavenly Master of formations, slipping past a Nascent Soul true lord? Bypassing a Tier 4 grand formation? It was effortless.

Swish—

Zhou Qing reached out and silently extracted a few ten-thousandths of the origin essence from the Tier 4 spirit vein below. Taking a few ten-thousandths wouldn't affect the spirit vein's own emission of spiritual energy. Even the formation masters of Taiyuan Palace would find it extremely difficult to notice any obvious anomalies.

After doing all this, Zhou Qing vanished. In the blink of an eye, he appeared next to another Tier 4 spirit vein.

In just a few dozen breaths, Zhou Qing had extracted a minuscule amount of origin essence from hundreds of Tier 4 spirit veins.

Wujian Region, Wujian Hall.

Zhou Qing's figure appeared next to the underground Rank 4 Middle Grade spirit vein.

After smoothly extracting a fixed proportion of the origin essence, Zhou Qing glanced deep into Wujian Hall, toward the area where the Reincarnation Stone was kept.

In the sixth simulation, Zhou Qing discovered that the Hall of Reincarnation's Reincarnation Stone would resonate with the Purple Eye Jade Stone on Purple-Eyed True Monarch. The two shared a profound connection.

However, even when the Human Realm was entirely overrun by the Demon Abyss Realm at the end, Zhou Qing still hadn't figured out the true link between the two items.

Originally, Zhou Qing had assumed the Purple Eye Jade Stone was related to the Demon Abyss Realm, given that Purple-Eyed True Monarch had obtained the Demon Abyss Realm's backing.

But later, while dealing with Purgatory Demon Sovereign from the Demon Abyss Realm, he realized that even this Void Return demon sovereign did not recognize the Purple Eye Jade Stone. That confirmed the jade stone had not originated from the Demon Abyss Realm at all.

In the seventh simulation, I can't just kill Purple-Eyed True Monarch right away. I need to use Soul Searching on him first to figure out the origins of the Purple Eye Jade Stone. It might help me understand its connection to the Reincarnation Stone.

Zhou Qing thought to himself. In the sixth simulation, his relative lack of strength meant he couldn't afford to hold back enough to perform Soul Searching. But the next simulation would be different. His starting point would be as a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch. Moreover, under the enhancement of his Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move talent, he would be on par with a Heavenly Monarch at the Deity Transformation Middle Stage.

Dealing with a mere Purple-Eyed True Monarch? A mere Great Snow Mountain? He could suppress them entirely with a single thought.

Zhou Qing had a vague sense that the Purple Eye Jade Stone's origins were far from simple. After all, the Reincarnation Stone hailed from the ancient era, reportedly originating from some illustrious Deity Transformation holy land.

...

Zhou Qing took one last look at the area where the Reincarnation Stone was kept, but he didn't take it.

The Reincarnation Stone was sitting right there; it wasn't going to run away. It would be best to take it during the simulation.

In reality, Zhou Qing's code of conduct was to keep as low a profile as possible.

Take, for instance, his current gathering of origin essence to upgrade his spirit vein.

With Zhou Qing's strength, he could easily forcefully seize the Tier 4 spirit veins of several nearby large domains, extracting all of their origin essence for his own use.

But doing that would stir up quite a commotion and subsequently spawn unexpected variables.

That was why he opted for this method of siphoning a minuscule amount of origin essence from each individual vein, reducing his impact to the bare minimum.

Extracting a mere few ten-thousandths of the origin essence had virtually no effect on the spirit veins themselves; they would recover in a few decades at most. Only a few hours passed.

Zhou Qing had gathered just about enough spirit vein origin essence.

The area he targeted this time didn't involve the three hegemon factions of the Eastern Wilderness Domain.

At most, he targeted super domains like the Wujian Region, forces governed by Mid Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.

Aside from these claimed spirit veins, Zhou Qing didn't spare any of the ownerless Tier 4 spirit veins that had yet to be discovered in this time period.

For ownerless Tier 4 spirit veins, Zhou Qing extracted a bit more, but never more than one ten-thousandth. It wouldn't visibly impact the veins, and they would recover in roughly a century.

Zhou Qing stopped in a corner of a dense forest. With a flicker of thought, a crystal appeared in front of him.

It was the grotto-heaven fragment.

Having been fully refined by Zhou Qing, the grotto-heaven fragment could now be carried on his person.

While Zhou Qing had been siphoning the vast amount of origin essence, his divine sense had stayed connected to the grotto-heaven fragment. This meant he was effectively residing within its Fourth Tier High Grade spirit vein environment, so the reduction of his simulation cooldown wasn't interrupted.

Zhou Qing's consciousness merged with the grotto-heaven fragment, and he instantly entered it.

A crystal fell to the ground. This was the true body of the grotto-heaven fragment. Its aura was entirely concealed, and after Zhou Qing entered, the luster on its surface vanished. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary stone. Unless a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch closely scrutinized it with their divine sense at point-blank range, no one would ever discover that a separate world lay within this stone.

...

Inside the grotto-heaven fragment.

The spiritual energy was exceedingly abundant, practically manifesting in physical form.

In such an environment, even a cultivator with a low-grade spiritual root would have hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, and one with a mid-grade spiritual root could potentially reach Core Formation.

Zhou Qing's figure appeared. He immediately began refining the massive quantity of gathered origin essence into the Tier 4 spirit vein within the grotto-heaven fragment.

Buzz—

As the spirit vein origin essence was continuously refined into it, the density of the spirit vein inside the grotto-heaven fragment steadily climbed.

Then, as if shattering a shackle, the grade of the spirit vein within the fragment broke through to a higher tier.

"Master..."

Li Yan naturally sensed the shift in the environment immediately. Right now, her body was practically glowing—the external manifestation of absorbing vast quantities of high-quality spiritual energy.

"How is it?" Zhou Qing silently appeared beside Li Yan.

"So comfortable..."

Li Yan replied honestly, her pretty face flushing slightly.

At this moment, the grade of the spirit vein inside the grotto-heaven fragment had reached Rank 5.

A Rank 5 spirit vein! There was a limited number of them in the entire Human Realm, and the majority were concentrated in the Central Continent.

It's just a pity that its current Rank 5 status is temporarily formed by converging a massive amount of origin essence. It will last a century at most...

Zhou Qing thought to himself.

Forming a true Rank 5 spirit vein was easier said than done. It required the natural nourishment of heaven and earth over endless eons.

The Rank 5 spirit vein environment Zhou Qing had just forged wasn't permanent.

But for Zhou Qing, a century was already more than enough time.

He only needed it to bridge the waiting period for his simulation count to refresh.

Once he entered the simulation, Zhou Qing would immediately swap to a different Rank 5 spirit vein environment. "The current cooldown time..."

Zhou Qing looked at the [Simulation Count] column. "One month and three days..."

Zhou Qing was in a fantastic mood.

Under a Rank 5 spirit vein environment, the cooldown time for a simulation only took thirty-three days.

This meant that roughly every single month, Zhou Qing could run a simulation, thereby achieving comprehensive upgrades to his strength, skills, and more.

Thus far, Zhou Qing had undergone six simulations, and every single one had brought a qualitative transformation to his strength.

"Yan'er..."

Zhou Qing cast a glance at Li Yan. Under the Rank 5 spirit vein environment, the awakening speed of Li Yan's Primordial Yin Treasure Physique had surged massively. He estimated it would only take seven or eight months for it to awaken entirely on its own.

...

Time flowed on.

In the blink of an eye, over a month had passed.

During this month, Zhou Qing had spent nearly half his time comprehending his skills. As for cultivation? Even while residing in a Rank 5 spirit vein environment, Zhou Qing couldn't be bothered to cultivate.

In a short span of a single month, no matter how hard Zhou Qing cultivated, he wouldn't make any meaningful progress.

The time frame was just too short. It was better to wait for the simulation count to refresh and cultivate once he entered the simulation.

Inside the grotto-heaven fragment.

Zhou Qing sat cross-legged, staring fixedly at the illusory text at the bottom of his vision.

[Simulation Count: 1]

Only when the '0' following the simulation count shifted to a '1' did a smile finally surface on Zhou Qing's face.

"I can simulate now."

Zhou Qing's spirit surged with excitement.

During this month-long wait, aside from comprehending his skills, Zhou Qing had also mapped out a series of plans for the upcoming simulation. He was just waiting to execute them once he entered the simulation.

"The seventh simulation!"

Zhou Qing steadied his mind and immediately initiated his seventh simulation.