Chapter 333: Simulator and Reincarnator?

A night of cold wind swept through, bringing new life to this cruel world draped in silver.

Winter grew peaceful, and everywhere, dan fruits sprouted.

Across the mortal realm, white dan fruits named "Tai Ping" sprouted without warning.

Eating three daily would satisfy hunger and fill one with vigor.

A divine miracle?

Or heaven's grace?

Grain merchants who had hoarded rice, planning to profit from this harsh winter, naturally did not wish for this to happen—but faced with the dan fruits that regrew endlessly the moment they were harvested, they had no recourse.

Even stranger, these dan fruits could not be stored.

If not consumed within twelve hours of being picked, they would vanish, dissolving into an untouchable wisp of yuan qi.

No one in the world understood the reason, and the common people even less so.

But they understood one thing: perhaps they could survive this deadly winter…

Such a wondrous event naturally affected the Da Tong Dynasty itself.

Instantly, the court all praised the Son of Heaven's sacred virtue, claiming his profound moral conduct had drawn heaven's favor.

The emperor himself, lost in pleasure, was bewildered—but eventually, under his ministers' "urging," accepted the claim.

In this year of poor harvest and bitter winter, a divine miracle descended—could this not prove that my virtue moves heaven, surpassing even my predecessors?

The current emperor of Da Tong was already arrogant by nature; the more he thought on it, the more reasonable it seemed, until at last he was overjoyed, ordering the construction of an extravagantly lavish Daoist temple in the capital to enshrine the God of Tai Ping.

In a remote place, the old Daoist Jiang Lin awoke after a night of meditation and stared for a long while at the dan fruits covering the ground, standing in the snowstorm.

In the end, he merely smiled in relief, telling his disciples to return to Chengming Mountain's Yunhai Temple to continue their cultivation, while he himself set out alone to wander the world.

Gathering snow and wind, refining dan arts, punishing wicked and unworthy gods.

Aside from these matters, even the chaos of the mortal realm had calmed considerably due to the appearance of the "Tai Ping Dan."

Beside the waterfall.

As the weather grew colder, snow piled before the small cottage, and the water cascading from the cliff had diminished.

Dozens of Tai Ping dan fruits grew near the cottage, their round, translucent fruits hanging downward.

Suddenly, a clear moonlight pierced through the snowstorm, drifting gently onto the cliff's edge, taking form as a barefoot woman clad in moonlit gauze, her skin like congealed fat.

"Someone lives here too…?"

Tai Yin Star Lord.

She had come to this mortal realm to see what she might do.

But before she could act, she discovered that overnight, the world had been filled with these Tai Ping dan fruits, capable of replenishing yuan qi.

Nighttime was within her domain, yet she had sensed nothing amiss…

Out of curiosity, she decided to investigate the cause.

She had landed here because she noticed this remote spot contained a small cottage—and the Tai Ping dan fruits growing here were more translucent and plump than those elsewhere.

She glanced at the little girl ahead, stacking a snowman, and seeing the child showed no awareness of her, Tai Yin Star Lord turned her gaze away.

She bent down, plucked a translucent dan fruit, and held it between her fingers to examine it.

Thin mist swirled, faintly revealing the characters "Tai Ping."

Previously, the mortal emperor had built a Daoist temple; she had assumed he was involved, so she had specifically visited him in a dream to ask.

But she gained no useful clues—instead, the mortal emperor had boldly declared his intent to take her as a concubine…

He had never even seen her face, only heard her voice.

Sigh~

Truly incomprehensible!

A flicker of anger rose in her heart, but she quickly suppressed it.

After long observation revealed nothing unusual, Tai Yin Star Lord parted her red lips and placed the dan fruit into her mouth.

Huh~

A pure, gentle yuan qi rose within her; she closed her eyes and silently felt it.

Hmm…

Indeed, the yuan qi contained in the dan fruits grown here was purer than those from other places.

Yuan qi was under Emperor Sui Zu's dominion; had she not confirmed this with him, she might have suspected the entire world's abundance of Tai Ping dan fruits was his doing.

Who could it be…?

Slowly opening her eyes, what she saw made her freeze.

The little girl stacking the snowman nearby was staring at her, her eyes a beautiful red.

"…"

Impossible!

Her divine form, unless deliberately manifested, could not be perceived by ordinary cultivators—even if this girl had some special quality…

Thinking this, she stepped two paces aside—but the girl with the red eyes still stared at her.

"How is it? Isn't it tastier than elsewhere?"

Tai Yin Star Lord: "…"

So she really could see me!

What exactly is this girl?!

"You… did you cultivate these dan fruits?"

Because she could not perceive the girl's nature, Tai Yin Star Lord carefully chose her words.

You?

Yue Ling paused; in her experience, very few people used such a respectful title to address her.

That eldest disciple of the Lord is always so rude!

And the other new disciple she had taken in offered no chance for a meeting.

"It wasn't me."

Both were 'Spirit,' and given that the Lady of the Taiyin Star was also courteous, Yue Ling's initial impression of her was quite favorable.

"It was forged by the Master Jianzu."

The Master Jianzu…?

The Lady of the Taiyin Star froze. Who else was this great being?

Could it be someone on the level of the Heavenly Sovereign?

As the ruler of this world's Taiyin Star and one of the 'Great Deity'-ranked spirits, she was familiar with some secrets from before the Divine Dao era.

Though Divine Dao now flourishes, in even more distant ages, Immortal Dao once thrived.

Among them, the supreme ones were no less formidable than the Heavenly Sovereigns, and they did not perish with the shift of eras.

Just as the Lady of the Taiyin Star was about to ask further, a woman with white gauze over her eyes, exquisitely serene, stepped out of the room.

Boom!

Her very 'existence' seemed to split into countless fragments in an instant.

Yet each fragment, no matter how small, was filled with a dense web of karmic threads filling her vision…

No!

It was everything within her perception.

Scene after scene flashed by—herself, all beings bathed in moonlight, the Heavenly Sovereign gazing down and whispering, the Heavenly Palace crumbling, the gods sinking…

In the end, giant hands descended from beyond the heavens, reaping the cosmos; even the Golden Crow, transformed into the Sun and patrolling the heavens, was snatched away like a chick by one of those hands.

!. Du

Countless possibilities flooded in; the torrent of information nearly washed her 'self' clean away.

After an unknown length of time, the dense web of karmic threads vanished, the sensation of being split into countless fragments faded, and her vision cleared once more.

That terrifying being, which she could not possibly comprehend, now gazed at the little girl.

Recalling all she had just witnessed, a chill surged through the Lady of the Taiyin Star's heart.

…………

At dusk, heavy snow fell.

In a pine forest, He Yunqi, clad in a fur coat, moved swiftly through the trees.

The sky was dim, making direction hard to discern; deep snow piled on the ground, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to cross this pine forest.

But for a cultivator with cultivation, it was trivial.

No complex technique was needed—just channeling spiritual energy and activating a lightness spell allowed her to tread as if on solid ground across the soft snow.

He Yunqi sprinted forward relentlessly, cursing inwardly without pause.

She had been so careful, yet trouble kept finding her anyway.

Fuck!

Ever since Fa Yan became entangled with that???, her troubles never stopped!

Why, when she barely left Fuming County, did so many people come seeking revenge on her?

The wind rushed past her ears; the spirit-replenishing pill she held in her mouth grew smaller.

A black bear, ambling slowly in the higher reaches of the pine forest where snow was thinner, saw a dark shadow flash past and was startled.

But when she looked again, there was nothing…

Huh?

He Yunqi kept racing, crossed the pine forest, climbed a steep slope, and finally stopped before a hidden cave.

She swept away the snow, moved the boulders blocking the entrance, entered the cave, sealed the entrance again, and activated the previously set concealment array.

Only after completing all this did she exhale in relief.

Leaning against the cave wall, she sat down slowly.

She took out a spiritual pearl for illumination, placed it into the recess beside her, and soft light instantly filled the entire cave.

She pulled out dried rations and gnawed on them, but her gaze never left the front.

More precisely, she stared at the slowly opening Cloud Book.

'Begin Fa Yan!'

She silently murmured in her heart.

【Dao Yan Da Qian, All Phenomena of the Cosmos】

Everything was the same as before.

【On Day One of Fa Yan, you fled to a pre-prepared cave and successfully evaded Cangyun Yaojun's attack】

【Cangyun Yaojun, unwilling to provoke the Thunder Bureau spirits of Fuming County for now, abandoned the search upon finding you gone】

Finally escaped.

Damn it!

Is Cangyun Yaojun mentally ill?

I've never even met him, yet he went all this way to harass me!

He's clearly got a screw loose!

After muttering a few curses, He Yunqi continued reading.

【On Day Two of Fa Yan, Cangyun Yaojun, unable to find you, did not give up and began searching for your traces near Fuming County】

But you didn't realize this, thinking the Concealing Qi Array would let you rest easy.

After three days of Dao Yan, using the Shanhe Pearl that had manifested the Azure Dragon aura, Cangyun Yaojun still dug through three feet of earth to find you.

You unleashed your full strength but could not match him.

In the end, you were skinned, tendon-stripped, bone-ground, ash-scattered, soul-pulled, and spirit-refined to death.

He Yunqi: "…"

What enmity, what grievance?

Have I done anything to deserve a life-or-death feud with you?

Since acquiring the Dao Yan Da Qian Lu, I've died this way at least eighty times, if not a hundred!

Just as he grumbled inwardly, the Yunshu, which should have vanished with his death, did not disappear this time.

As the golden characters of Dao Yan faded, several large characters surfaced upon it.

【Dao Yan Jiu Jiu, Yan Xu Wei Shi】

The large characters glowed brightly, golden and brilliant, reflected in He Yunqi's eyes, making him instantly understand their meaning.

He had already completed the Dao Yan's ninety-nine iterations, altering a future with major changes, thus unlocking a new ability of the Dao Yan Da Qian Lu—Yan Xu Wei Shi!

As the name implies, it allows you to choose one item you will possess in the future, or a personal ability (excluding cultivation level), from among the possibilities of Dao Yan, and manifest it as real.

He Yunqi's eyes lit up!

What an incredible ability! (End of Chapter)