[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten":3,"chapter-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-644":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Simulated to Reality: I Once Looked Down Upon Ten Thousand Ages?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2347659,4587,"Chapter 644: The Master","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-644",644,"\u003Cp>Yu Ke’s heart raced like lightning, his thoughts trembling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The several options from his simulations surged forth like tidal waves—the ever-present Master Dong was the mastermind behind it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the first teacher of this life’s Xie Guan, Master Dong had gifted him numerous Confucian texts before Xie Guan came of age, many of which profoundly shaped him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Precisely because of this, Xie Guan held Master Dong in deep reverence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as for the calligraphy of the Second Master, had Master Dong not gifted it to him, Xie Guan would never have encountered the chance to “fish for characters in the lake” at Hongjing Academy, nor the destiny tied to Lu Hua and the Three True Ones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the final news arrived—Master Dong had died at home from alcoholism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Guan had triggered several options because of this, all pointing toward Master Dong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who could have imagined that, behind the Qunfang Banquet, the one quietly observing it all all along was this very Master Dong?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Guan had long been under this man’s covert watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This man’s identity—Yu Ke had a faint suspicion forming in his mind!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man on the carriage spoke slowly, his voice tinged with quiet lament.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like an ordinary elder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is our first true meeting.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke nodded. Facing such a figure, he remained calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This world, in his eyes, was like “flowers in a mirror, moon in water”—illusory and unfathomable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if this old man was indeed the one he suspected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his perception, he was a bottomless black hole, his cultivation base so profound it defied estimation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Yu Ke’s spiritual sense touched the old man, it vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Yu Ke felt no fear; instead, a strange sensation stirred within him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did the other feel a kind of “fear” toward him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That fear was buried deep—had Yu Ke not been in a state akin to “observing the Dao,” he would never have sensed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Yu Ke was in no hurry, nor could he leave now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Master Dong revealed no aura or malice, that invisible pressure remained still as a gourd drawn from a water vat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air around them was utterly silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke simply stood with his hands behind his back, his mind like a still ancient well, unruffled, motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two remained silent for a long while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man slowly stepped down from the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was hunched, his hair gray and white, yet meticulously combed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A short, stiff mustache curled at the corners of his mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stood facing each other, the air thick with an indescribable stillness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crimson carriage behind them remained motionless, utterly still.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The horses did not stir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mist from the river drifted slowly between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man finally lifted his gaze, his eyes deep as a still pool.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spoke again, voice low and slow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old man…” He paused, sensing the term was inappropriate, then changed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My name is Dong Cheng, a scholar-teacher of the Great Qi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Yu Ke had suspected, hearing the man confirm it sent a jolt through him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man before him was none other than the greatest man in the world—the Master!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The legendary figure who had sought immortals on the Eastern Sea for two centuries and founded the Great Qi Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though his heart churned, Yu Ke’s expression remained unreadable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man seemed to sense Yu Ke’s composure and continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am not the first to invite…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng weighed his words, then uttered a simple “you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke thought briefly: if counting direct involvement, he had already participated three times before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He replied calmly: “No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s voice, carried by the river wind, sounded distant, steeped in the weight of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you heard of me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Yu Ke did not understand why the Master asked this, he answered frankly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course I have.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Many times.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man smiled faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I have not lived in vain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s gaze grew deeper, as if lost in memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In my youth, my younger brother Ah Xiu and I founded the Tang Dynasty, determined to unify the world—we endured great hardship.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Later, when the world was unified, Ah Xiu said he was the Lord of All Under Heaven, and no one should stand above him. I thought all night, and decided to kill him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His tone was calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I always wished to be like Lu Chen and Lu Yu—two brothers in harmony, ascending together from this world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I was not Lu Chen, and he was not Lu Yu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s voice carried a trace of regret: “I thought, once the world was united, the path to transcendence would open.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I waited three hundred years—but not a single Heavenly Gate opened for me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, the old man sighed. He looked at Yu Ke, his tone tinged with apology:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Forgive me—I’ve lived too long, and my heart holds too many words.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke showed little expression now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt deep curiosity toward this Master, the one he could never escape in this life’s simulations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s words had lifted a corner of history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master was a figure from the Tang era—indeed, its founder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having absorbed Xie Guan’s memories, Yu Ke knew the identity of the “Ah Xiu” Dong Cheng mentioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Gaozu Ran Xiu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Dong Cheng may not have been his real surname—he was likely surnamed Ran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, he would not have called him “brother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s voice was low and slow, as if recounting a distant history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In the following century, the Tang Dynasty fell into chaos. Every dynasty is the same—men devour men by nature. Warlords fought across the land, the people suffered.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At that time, I could no longer care—I was nearly dead. But I could not die, so I performed my first corpse liberation. I buried myself at the bottom of a frozen lake, and three hundred years later, I revived.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, the old man’s gaze brightened slightly, his tone softening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I met a woman, the daughter of a fisherman. I married her, had children, and my first child. I named him ‘Qi’—those four or five years were among the happiest of my life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The woman died. I raised Qi alone. I once again sought to unify the world, so I helped him establish the Great Qi and founded the Academy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke felt a quiet shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had not expected the ancestor of the Great Qi to be this very Master—Dong Cheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This legendary figure, who had lived nearly two thousand years, had personally founded two dynasties and witnessed countless rises and falls of history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The river wind still blew, mist swirling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s voice remained low and calm, yet carried an indescribable weariness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Qi died. His son, his son’s son, ascended the throne—and finally, they began to fear me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng’s gaze lowered slightly. “At that time, I was nearly dead again. I pretended to let them kill me. They altered the family genealogy, changed the surname.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, I began my second corpse liberation. I went north to the Land of Eternal Life, took on a new identity—the Son of Eternal Life, the Demon Master of the Demon Cult. I founded the Xu family to oppose the Great Qi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke’s heart stirred—he recalled the steppe’s Golden Clan mentioned by the Demon Master Xu Jiangxian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could that, too, have been built by the Master? Was the Xu family his bloodline?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He harbored doubts but did not interrupt the old man’s tale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The steppe offered no path to transcendence, and I was dying again. So I performed corpse liberation once more and went south.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There, spring warmed the flowers, and temples stood everywhere. I became a monk, and they called me the Living Buddha. I founded the Eastern Holy Sect, gradually turning it into a Buddhist kingdom.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No matter how they praised me, I could not survive that winter. I knew I was dying. I took many disciples—all virtuous, high-ranking monks. That night, they discovered my body did not decay… and they fought to eat me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man fell silent. The air grew heavy with an indescribable weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke thought of the Eastern Holy Sect, where Master Lianchi resided—it too had been founded by the Master!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s voice remained calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I performed corpse liberation again and came to Mount Zhongnan, this ancient sect with a three-thousand-year legacy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I became a Daoist, believing my many corpse liberations would make me a Tian Shi of the Three True Ones… but in the Tomb of the Living Dead, I met the ancestral masters of the Three True Ones. Their bodies did not decay, their spiritual senses still lingered. They sensed me—and wounded me. I had never suffered such a grievous injury.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke was startled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He now understood the Three True Ones, to which Lu Hua belonged, on a deeper level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A great sect of this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the Sui Dynasty was the only nation capable of standing against the Qi, for behind Sui stood the support of the Three True Ones and One Teaching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as for the Northern Heaven of Eternal Life, the Southern Buddhist Kingdom, even the Qi itself—how could a man of this Master’s cunning have left no countermeasures?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, they suffered too. I destroyed the physical bodies of over a dozen generations of ancestors, yet was still forced into another corpse liberation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I returned to the Qi and became the Master. I feared they would fear me, so I walked the mortal world again under the name of the Second Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Dong Cheng’s gaze grew profound, as if piercing through the torrent of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For all these years, I have sought the path to transcendence. Alas, I have traveled the entire world and never found it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s voice was low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though I never saw with my own eyes the epitaph left by Lu Chen in the Three True Ones’ tomb of living dead, I learned many of their secrets.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Peng Chuan cast a cauldron and ascended on a soaring dragon; so I forged my own great cauldron, placed it in the Academy, and raised a dragon in Dezehu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alas, the cauldron was no cauldron, the dragon no dragon—merely a poor imitation. All ended in vain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this, Dong Cheng’s tone carried a faint regret, yet quickly returned to calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though disheartened, I took a disciple in the Qi, and gradually gathered four disciples.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I discovered two things: first, over these five hundred years, heaven and earth had begun to awaken once more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second, my four disciples were more outstanding than anyone I had ever seen. In a short time, their cultivation bases rivaled mine at the moment of my second corpse liberation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s gaze flickered slightly, as if recalling something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Especially the second disciple—when his true essence emerged, I felt fear for the first time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke heard this and his heart stirred, recalling what Lu Hua had once said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Second Master’s sword bore a single bone of integrity; nine swords united could slay the Master.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed this saying was not without foundation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet I also felt joy, for at last I had found that glimmer of transcendence.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I built the Shocking Divine Array, deliberately revealed my identity, and waited for my four disciples to join forces and slay me—thus completing my fifth corpse liberation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this, the old man’s tone grew solemn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Corpse liberation seizes the transformations of heaven and earth, yet cannot escape heaven’s ultimate limit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only six cycles are permitted—six corpse liberations.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have already undergone five corpse liberations. Only one remains.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke these words, the old man straightened his back for the first time. To recount this long past—five corpse liberations, an existence as strange as no mortal could imagine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, before this man, he had the strength to stand tall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gaze, deep as a still pool, fixed on Yu Ke, and he asked slowly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In your eyes, what is the sight of a nineteen-hundred-year life?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke heard this, his heartstrings trembling, his thoughts drifting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled Lu Chen’s life—merely a five-day simulation within the Shenxiao Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second simulation lasted but one day—six days total.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the Kunxu Realm, three thousand years had quietly passed, oceans turned to mulberry fields.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One day in the mortal world, yet three thousand years had flowed within the cauldron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master’s nineteen hundred years in the mortal world—within Yu Ke’s eyes—were but a single day within the Shenxiao Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancient great cauldron within Yu Ke’s heart resonated softly, its sound ancient and profound, echoing through past and present, reverberating across the cosmos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The greatest sound is silent!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laden with infinite antiquity and weight, it harmonized with heaven and earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke nodded slightly, pondered a moment, then spoke at last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Like a mayfly, like morning dew!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master murmured softly, repeating those two words:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mayfly…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Born at dawn, dead by dusk; morning dew vanishes without trace, arrives without mark.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At this moment—it is… the mayfly beholds the blue sky!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice carried a barely perceptible sigh, as if savoring the depth behind those two words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The river wind still blew, carrying a chill; mist curled, as if heaven and earth held nothing but the two men’s dialogue—clear, endless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man smiled wistfully, yet felt it was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Cheng asked again, “Have you met that Lu Chen?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Chen had been gone from this world for three thousand years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man asked, “What did Lu Chen ask?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke shook his head. “I met him, but he never saw me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master’s face showed confusion, yet did not press further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, the old man asked the question he cared most about: “How do I compare to Lu Chen?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke looked at the man before him—truthfully, he could not deny that the Master’s life, whether in length or achievements,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the Academy he built, the Confucian doctrines he left behind—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was a figure history could never bypass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Lu Chen was compared to him, both were the most brilliant figures of these three thousand years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Excluding the mythical, unverifiable ages before, since the Warring States, the first page of history was The Annals of Lu Chen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Yu Ke, his first reincarnation as a celestial was “Lu Chen,” his second was “Xie Guan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how powerful the Master, to him, it meant nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Ke paused, then spoke slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your life—I have never cared about.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A short sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master’s expression finally changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2457,"2026-06-21T01:33:03.787Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5df5269f457cbc969da5d4922b6074e1901179c85e976067baf08b394f8fe2de","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-645","simulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-chapter-643",728,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsimulated-to-reality-i-once-looked-down-upon-ten-cover.jpg"]