Chapter 54: Heavenly Craft Opens Things!

【Ding! Reset successful: Simulation beginning.】

Following Lu Qingyang’s string of responses, the scene before his eyes began to flicker.

【Age 0: You are reborn, carrying the memories of your past life. You may choose to discard or retain them.】

【Retain】【Discard】

“Retain.”

【Age 1: Possessing the memories of a Golden Core True Monarch, you are born into a cultivation dynasty. You are the reigning Crown Prince, and your Imperial Father is a Nascent Soul Ancestor.】

【Age 2: Your Empress Mother is the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Craft Sect. Your arrival elevated the sect to the status of the dynasty’s National Sect.】

【Age 3: Nurtured by all manner of heavenly treasures, your Heaven Spirit Root swiftly broke through to the twelfth layer of Qi Refining.】

【……】

【Age 13: You are the undisputed First Crown Prince of the Great Yan Dynasty. At merely twenty, you are already preparing to condense your Golden Core.】

【Age 14: You successfully condense your Golden Core. The whole nation celebrates. Your Imperial Father bestows upon you a fief, and your Empress Mother gifts you the sect’s treasure, Heavenly Craft Opens Things.】

【Age 15: You painstakingly study Heavenly Craft Opens Things and become a senior artificer of the dynasty.】

【Age 16: With the aid of Heavenly Craft Opens Things, you forge your first Spirit Artifact.】

【……】

【Age 87: As a peak Golden Core cultivator, with the aid of a low-grade fourth-tier Dharma Artifact bestowed by your Imperial Father, you successfully shatter your core and form your Nascent Soul.】

【Age 88: Now at the Nascent Soul stage, you begin to rise prominently within the dynasty. The powers of the world no longer dare to underestimate you.】

【Age 89: Relying on the Spirit Artifacts in your possession, you lead the dynasty’s grand army across the battlefield, invincible and unstoppable.】

【Break through】【Do not break through】

“An early-stage Nascent Soul at eighty-nine. Terrifying…”

“And I’m even about to break through to mid-stage Nascent Soul.”

Looking at the simulation options, Lu Qingyang couldn’t help but click his tongue.

His current Attribute Panel was far too luxurious.

The simulation bonuses were so high that almost every simulation start was extremely impressive.

Especially this time. The speed of breaking through to Nascent Soul was simply astonishing.

“However…”

Lu Qingyang shook his head.

He had no intention of breaking through.

After all these years, he had now figured out the Simulator’s patterns.

Right now, the simulated version of him was in a military tent, with chaos all around.

Though the whim had struck, it was clearly not suitable for a breakthrough.

If he foolishly chose ‘break through,’ the simulation would probably end the very next second…

“Do not break through.”

As Lu Qingyang murmured softly, the simulation continued.

【Age 90: This day, you devise strategies within your military tent. Suddenly, on a whim, you feel you are about to break through. But the chaos of the army camp is not suited for a breakthrough. Fortunately, you did not break through—the enemy, for some unknown reason, suddenly attacked. You respond in a panic.】

【Age 91: Returning in triumph with your army, you encounter a beggar on the road asking for food. The other party asks you for money and grain. You……】

【Give】【Do not give】

“Again?”

“It seems the simulation’s intensity grows stronger as the simulation progresses, and there will be more and more variations.”

Lu Qingyang could naturally tell that this beggar who suddenly appeared was no simple matter.

If he chose not to give, something unexpected would inevitably happen.

If he chose to give, he might well obtain some treasure.

“Give!”

【Age 91: Returning in triumph with your army, you encounter a beggar on the road asking for food. The other party asks you for money and grain. You generously open your purse. The beggar laughs heartily, then reveals his true form—he is actually a Spirit Transformation Divine Lord.】

【Age 92: Because you were taken as a disciple by a Spirit Transformation great cultivator last year, your status within the dynasty has risen sharply.】

【……】

【Age 135: Under a top-grade fourth-tier pill bestowed by your Master, you successfully break through to late-stage Nascent Soul. Your cultivation surpasses that of your Imperial Father.】

【Age 136: Rumors circulate through the court and countryside that you intend to ascend the throne. Coinciding with your Master’s years-long wandering, undercurrents surge through the royal court.】

【Age 137: Your Imperial Father begins to fear you. He tentatively asks whether you intend to ascend the throne……】

【Yes】【No】

Seeing the options appear once more, Lu Qingyang did not hesitate long.

What he wanted was to deepen the simulation process—that is, the longer the simulation lasted, the better.

So for choices that were obviously traps or obviously unstable, he generally did not consider them.

“No.”

But who could have known that the moment Lu Qingyang finished speaking, the simulation process flickered rapidly.

【Age 145: Although you clearly stated you had no intention toward the throne, it still left your father full of suspicion. The civil and military officials who leaned toward you were also greatly disappointed. The cultivators in the army all secretly sighed that they had not met a wise ruler.】

【Age 146: Your Master has wandered for many years without returning. Your father is filled with dread and unease day and night, and begins to win over the court officials.】

【Age 147: On the very night you prepare to break through to peak Nascent Soul, a hundred thousand Forbidden Guards storm your palace. Despite your formidable cultivation and numerous Dharma Artifacts, the betrayal of your closest kin leaves you shocked and furious.】

【Age 148: Last year you were surrounded and killed by a grand army, but fortunately, with a talisman left behind by your Master, you slaughtered the entire court of civil and military officials and gravely wounded your Imperial Father. Afterward, you wandered the four seas, only to encounter a Spirit Transformation demonic cultivator.】

【Ding! Simulation ended: You died.】

【This simulation lasted: one hundred and forty-eight years.】

【Simulation settlement in progress. Please wait……】

【Settlement complete.】

【Items that may be brought back this time: Sect Treasure ×1, Spirit Artifact you forged yourself ×1, top-grade fourth-tier pill ×1, low-grade fourth-tier Dharma Artifact ×1, talisman left behind by the Spirit Transformation Divine Lord ×1】

【Simulation Points obtained this time: sixty-two】

【Panel loading. Please wait……】

【Loading complete.】

【Name: Lu Qingyang】

【Constitution: Tier 6+】

【Comprehension: Tier 7+】

【Fortune: Tier 6+】

【Family Background: Tier 6+】

【Remaining Simulation Points: ninety-four】

【Simulation Save: None】

【Simulation cooling down: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds】

As a long string of system notification sounds rang out, Lu Qingyang concluded the simulation.

“Unsolvable… This Simulation System is heaven-defying in effect, but the simulation process is completely unreasonable.”

Lu Qingyang was helpless, but he could only let it go.

“However, the results of this simulation really are bountiful.”

“That sect treasure, Heavenly Craft Opens Things, could actually let the simulated me forge a Spirit Artifact!”

Lu Qingyang’s eyes shone. He remembered clearly just how precious Spirit Artifacts were.

“Cultivation implements, aside from their grade, are also divided into Dharma Artifacts and Spirit Artifacts.”

“Though Dharma Artifacts are powerful, they are ultimately dead objects. Spirit Artifacts, however, are born with spiritual intelligence and possess all manner of wondrous uses.”

“If I could obtain that Heavenly Craft Opens Things, perhaps I would have a chance to forge Spirit Artifacts too!”

A thick excitement surfaced in Lu Qingyang’s eyes.

As for the Spirit Artifact he had forged himself in the options behind it, though it also moved him, giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him to fish.

If he could forge them himself, why care about one or two pieces?

Thinking of this, Lu Qingyang did not even look at the top-grade fourth-tier pill, the Dharma Artifact, and the talisman left by the Spirit Transformation Divine Lord behind it.

His goal was clear: that sect treasure called ‘Heavenly Craft Opens Things’!

“Bring back, Heavenly Craft Opens Things!”

【Ding! Congratulations, Host, on a successful retrieval.】

【Item Name: Heavenly Craft Opens Things】

【Item Origin: Bestowed by the Empress Mother in the simulation.】

【Item Analysis: Heavenly Craft Opens Things—a fourth-tier Dharma Artifact forged by the founding ancestor of the Heavenly Craft Sect. Though a Dharma Artifact, it has many uses.】

【Item Hint: This treasure can not only assist in artifact forging, but also has the wondrous effect of boosting the success rate of forging.】

“Perhaps… is it possible that I could forge a Spirit Artifact-level production line?”

“Truly achieve automated artifact forging?”

A bold idea suddenly arose in Lu Qingyang’s mind……