Past Life Simulator

"Jiang Yuan! What are you spacing out for!"

A deep, booming voice rang out, and Jiang Yuan stared around him with dazed eyes.

Burly men in gray martial outfits surrounded him, and now, the burliest of them all was glaring at him viciously.

This place was a stretch of sandy ground. Further ahead, weapon racks held countless examples of the eighteen kinds of weapons.

It looked somewhat like a martial arts training ground from a TV drama.

Jiang Yuan's mouth fell slightly open. Was this... a film set?

Then what was my next line?

"Jiang Yuan! Let me tell you this! Don't think you can ignore me just because you're Lord Wen's nephew! Since you've entered the martial hall and fallen under my command, you'll listen to me!"

The burliest man seemed to be the leader of those around him. He wore a pitch-black martial outfit, yet even beneath the cloth, his powerful muscles were obvious. Jiang Yuan even felt that the man's pecs could crush him to death.

Suddenly, a needle-prick pain struck him. Fragments of memory surged into Jiang Yuan's mind like a tide. As though watching a movie, scene after scene and chaotic streams of information emerged in his head.

Jiang Yuan's face turned incomparably pale. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripped continuously, and his expression twisted in pain and savagery, as though he were enduring some terrible torture.

"Hm?"

Jiang Yuan only felt a fierce gust of wind rushing toward him before a black figure instantly appeared before him.

The burly man in black seized Jiang Yuan's wrist at once. His brows furrowed slightly as he examined Jiang Yuan in confusion, then gave instructions to those nearby.

Two gray-clothed men supported Jiang Yuan and led him away from the training ground.

They left behind a crowd buzzing with discussion.

"What are you making such a racket for?! Today's training will be doubled!" the burly man in black snarled ferociously.

Everyone present let out a chorus of wails, yet none dared voice the slightest complaint.

My name was Jiang Yuan. My current identity was the nephew of Wenzhao, the chief escort of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency. Of course, I could also be called the Young Escort Chief of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, because my uncle had no son and treated me as his own child.

Perhaps I could be considered a second-generation heir.

The Zhenyuan Escort Agency was the foremost escort agency in Haiyuan City, and its reputation had spread throughout more than a dozen great cities in the surrounding region.

Whether among the underworld or the legitimate factions, anyone faced with a shipment escorted by the Zhenyuan Escort Agency would give it some face.

As the Zhenyuan Escort Agency grew powerful, it had two methods of taking in fresh blood. The first was to hire martial artists who already possessed martial skills. The second was to cultivate half-grown youths into direct disciples of the escort agency.

Though the second method consumed more resources and time than the first, those it trained were true direct disciples of the escort agency. They possessed great potential and unwavering loyalty to the agency.

Among escort agencies for a thousand li around, only the Zhenyuan Escort Agency possessed the foundation to cultivate direct disciples.

Jiang Yuan was precisely one such direct disciple of the escort agency, with a special status.

Jiang Yuan accepted the mind-nourishing soup delivered by a maid and gently took a sip.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar face in the mirror, the thoughts in his mind gradually sorted themselves out.

He truly had transmigrated. Yet unlike other transmigrators, whose beginnings were utter disasters, he had started out as a second-generation heir?

"Yuan'er! Yuan'er, how are you!"

At that moment, a lean and scholarly middle-aged man with a mustache rushed into the side room.

Only after seeing that Jiang Yuan had awakened did he finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Uncle!" The moment Jiang Yuan saw the middle-aged man, he hurriedly set down his mind-nourishing soup and spoke instinctively.

The man before him was one of the escort agency's higher-ups, Chief Escort Wenzhao, and also the original owner's uncle.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and his wrist was in the middle-aged man's hand.

Clearly, although this uncle appeared scholarly, he possessed martial skills as well. Otherwise, how could he have single-handedly built the renowned Zhenyuan Escort Agency?

"Damage to the mind? Exhaustion from overthinking?" Wenzhao frowned, closed his eyes, and gripped Jiang Yuan's wrist. After a while, he relaxed, opened his eyes, and spoke in puzzlement.

"Uncle, these past few days, I was studying the Gale Embrace Art Mother left behind. Without realizing it, my mind became somewhat exhausted."

Based on the original owner's memories, Jiang Yuan gave an explanation.

"This is utter nonsense!" Wenzhao scolded Jiang Yuan with a face full of fury. "The Gale Embrace Art is a method for the Internal Force Realm! You haven't even cultivated your Blood Qi to perfection, yet you dare practice the Gale Embrace Art!"

"Fortunately, your meridians and innate bones weren't harmed. Otherwise, how could I face my elder sister? Remember this: in martial arts, one must avoid aiming too high!"

Wenzhao's reaction was within Jiang Yuan's expectations.

This world possessed martial arts and extraordinary power.

The strength of martial artists in this world was nothing compared to the fighters of his past life. Powerful martial artists could split mountains and shatter rocks with ease. In Jiang Yuan's eyes, this was at least a mid-level martial world.

Martial artists nurtured their Blood Qi, continuously circulating it until it grew powerful and became a complete, seamless whole.

This was the first realm of martial artists: the Blood Qi Realm.

At this realm, a martial artist's strength and stamina would greatly increase, opening a gap between them and ordinary people.

The original Jiang Yuan had been a martial artist of the Blood Qi Realm.

After Blood Qi came the cultivation of Internal Force. One relied on one's vast, unified Blood Qi to knock upon the Hua Jin Heavenly Gate and produce Internal Force. At this stage came all sorts of mysteries that ordinary people could never attain. It could be called transcendent.

This was the second realm of martial artists: the Internal Force Realm.

Wenzhao was a powerful martial artist beyond the Internal Force Realm. The original Jiang Yuan knew little about the realms above that.

He only knew it was called something like the Blood Force Realm.

After learning this information, Jiang Yuan felt somewhat excited.

Since he had transmigrated into this martial world, he naturally had to try shattering the void and ascending to the pinnacle of martial arts.

He wanted to see whether martial artists could ultimately reach the immortal realm of regenerating from a drop of blood and shattering mountains and rivers with a single finger.

For a time, Jiang Yuan's thoughts ran wild.

After seeing Wenzhao off, Jiang Yuan could not resist circulating his Blood Qi cultivation method.

Ten Directions Fist.

He could feel his blood flowing and his body temperature slowly rising.

If the Blood Qi stage had to be divided into realms—

It could be divided into the initial birth of Blood Qi, surging Blood Qi, and perfected Blood Qi, corresponding to the early, middle, and late stages.

Jiang Yuan had inherited the original owner's strength: the realm of surging Blood Qi, namely the Mid Qi and Blood Stage.

Jiang Yuan could feel his body brimming with strength.

If he returned to his past life now, he would probably be far stronger than those so-called returning king soldiers...

[The host has begun the journey of martial arts. The Past Life Simulator has activated. Loading simulator... 10%... 50%... 99%... Loading complete.]

[The Past Life Simulator will simulate one past life after another for you. You will enter these simulated lives and conquer them.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained Points x100. Points are an extremely important resource in the simulator. They can be acquired by conquering simulated lives and killing anomalies. Please cherish them.]

[Simulated Lives]

[Exchange Rewards]

[Personal Backpack]

A golden finger!

I thought I, Jiang Yuan, would have to follow the path of a mortal defying immortals. I never expected to have a golden finger.

Several lines of glowing green text appeared in Jiang Yuan's field of vision. They looked somewhat like a game interface.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan opened Simulated Lives.

A mass of information appeared in his mind. The Past Life Simulator's function was to provide one simulated life after another, which the host needed to conquer in order to obtain rewards.

This was somewhat like a dungeon...

[There are currently no simulated lives available to enter.]

Hm?

Jiang Yuan wore a dumbfounded expression, but soon noticed Past Life Simulation in the lower-right corner.

When his consciousness touched it—

[First activation of the Past Life Simulator. A simulated life template will be randomly drawn for free.]

[Drawing complete.]

Then, a line of text suddenly appeared within Simulated Lives.

[Martial Emperor]

Four glittering golden characters appeared before Jiang Yuan's eyes.

Jiang Yuan licked his lips, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

Th-this-this... Could it be that Jiang's path isn't the normal system route, but the invincible route?

Without any hesitation, Jiang Yuan opened his first simulated life.

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

The world spun around him. When Jiang Yuan opened his eyes again, the environment around him had completely changed.

He was in an incomparably luxurious room. Purplewood beams, a spiritwood bed, sandalwood incense permeating the air that could dispel inner demons—heavenly treasures that tens of thousands fought over outside were merely decorations here.

Yet none of it had anything to do with Jiang Yuan. He stared blankly at the child before him.

The child before him seemed only three or four years old. Dressed in white, his tender features already showed that he would inevitably grow into a handsome and elegant man.

However, the white-clothed child wore a gentle smile at that moment, while his hand was thrust into Jiang Yuan's chest...

My chest?

Jiang Yuan's consciousness blurred again. The last thing deeply imprinted in his memory was the white-clothed child's golden double pupils, devoid of the slightest emotion, like the eyes of a god.

[You died.]

[Age 0: You were born into a top-tier martial arts family. Both your parents were martial arts experts. At birth, dazzling golden light radiated from your entire body. After examination by the clan elders, they discovered that you possessed an innate strange bone and were a martial arts prodigy, receiving the attention of the entire clan. However, when you were three, your cousin with double pupils took advantage of your parents' inattention for unknown reasons and dug out your strange bone. Your parents were enraged, but they still could not save you. You died.]

Jiang Yuan, who had just returned to reality, wore a dumbfounded expression.

How long did I live? And that was it?

Damn! What happened to the Martial Emperor?

What happened to being invincible?

I died right at the start! Damn it!

His First Life turned out to be a standard Desolate Heavenly Emperor template, except without the protagonist's plot armor.

Damn!

Jiang Yuan refused to accept this. He activated the Martial Emperor simulated life again.

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

"Smack."

A tiny hand like a tender bamboo shoot thrust into Jiang Yuan's chest.

[You died.]

"Damn it! Simulator, are you messing with me?"

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

"Smack."

[You died.]

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

"Smack."

[You died.]

Jiang Yuan lay on the bed with lifeless eyes.

He had grinded through more than fifty attempts in one go.

Every time, he died immediately. There was not the slightest difference.

Though Jiang Yuan desperately wanted to resist, in the simulated life he was a newborn infant with no power to resist whatsoever.

Jiang Yuan had also tried shouting to warn his parents and relatives in that life, but it had no effect at all.

From the very beginning, it was a dead end!

What Jiang Yuan had gained was only the knowledge that the white-clothed boy had thrust his hand into his chest in order to extract a bone from there.

That bone seemed to be the strange bone mentioned in the simulated life summary.

Th-this-this wasn't right.

The Jiang Yuan of the First Life had nothing to rely on. The only thing different about him was the strange bone in his chest.

Yet that very strange bone had created the dead end.

He had a protagonist template, but not a protagonist's fate.

Wait! The strange bone!

Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up. Since the simulator had provided this simulated life, there had to be a way to break the deadlock. It could not possibly give him an unsolvable situation.

The key to his beginning should lie in that strange bone.

Jiang Yuan then persevered and opened Martial Emperor once more.

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

"Smack."

[You died.]

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

"Smack."

[You died.]

[This simulated life journey has begun.]

As always, the white-clothed boy's hand reached toward Jiang Yuan's chest, but suddenly, a scorching blaze erupted.