Cultivation Family Simulator

3014.

Huaxia, California's foremost cultivation academy.

On his way home from school, unlike the students riding their flying swords through the sky, Li Xiang flicked his Storage Ring, and a sports car appeared on the avenue.

"Hey, I can go joyriding before I'm even an adult. And I don't have to worry about traffic after school, either."

Then he pressed the token in his hand against the sports car's steering wheel and started the engine. "What a magical world."

Even after transmigrating here three years ago, Li Xiang still found himself marveling at how wondrous this world was.

A thousand years ago, this world had been much like the Blue Star he'd lived on in his previous life.

But then spiritual energy returned, and the world became a blend of technology and cultivation. Huaxia, with its long and storied civilization, naturally became the world's only nation. A new age had dawned.

Everyone cultivated in pursuit of Longevity. In a remarkably short time, Huaxia had even begun exploring the stars.

"Look, isn't that young master of the Li Family?"

"He's driving his magical artifact again. I heard making it cost a fortune in Spirit Stones. He burns through at least three low-grade Spirit Stones a day just driving to and from school. Must be nice to be rich."

"Big deal. What's there to show off about? He's just got an ordinary mixed spiritual root, same as us. I heard the Li Family kicked him out. The other young masters in the family all say he's a disgrace to the Li Family!"

"..."

There were plenty of students by the roadside who couldn't fly on swords and couldn't afford magical artifacts.

Li Xiang drove his Spirit Stone-guzzling sports car around town every day, making a spectacle of himself. Naturally, he became the center of attention.

Hearing the passersby gossip, Li Xiang wasn't offended.

He put on his sunglasses and glanced in the rearview mirror at the students still watching him enviously as they whispered. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he stuck his middle finger out the window with the other, then started the car and sped away.

He'd rather get home early and play games than waste time arguing with these idiots.

Before long, Li Xiang had bought groceries and driven back to Jixian Manor. The old man guarding the array around the high-grade cave-dwelling district was eating a meal of grains and gnawing on a chicken leg. The moment he heard the engine, he set down his bowl and warmly opened the array for Li Xiang.

"Young Master Li, off to buy groceries from so far away again? Are the high-grade Fasting Pills not to your taste?"

"Uncle Chen."

Li Xiang smiled as he answered, "No matter how high-grade they are, Fasting Pills still taste like chewing wax. No matter how much we cultivate, we can't deprive our mouths of good food, right? What's the point of cultivating otherwise?"

Uncle Chen's eyes lit up. He gave a deeply sympathetic thumbs-up. "Now that's music to my ears. These days, people eat Fasting Pills to keep their bodies pure. They're all crazy. If you can't keep an open mind, what the hell are you cultivating for?"

"Well then, Uncle Chen, I'll head back and cook."

Li Xiang drove into the villa district. Along the way, he came across a few uncles and aunties, as well as some old-timers who'd been alive for who knew how many years, and cheerfully greeted them all.

The cultivators of Jixian Manor were nothing like those students.

The passage of time had taught them the ways of the world. They didn't look down on Li Xiang for being young or for his rumored mixed spiritual root; they returned his greetings with friendly warmth. After all, everyone knew that anyone who could live here was no ordinary person.

The cave-dwellings in the villa district were no different from ordinary villas, though most concealed a world within.

His own cave-dwelling, Jixian Manor Number One, stood at the far end of the estate.

Just as Li Xiang drove back, a girl as lovely as a heavenly immortal caught his eye. She wore a white maid outfit, and the long, pale legs beneath her apron were impossible to look away from. Most striking of all was her bewitching face, framed by blunt bangs and long locks at her temples.

Even after living with this puppet for three years, Li Xiang nearly lost himself in her smiling, downcast eyes.

"Welcome home, Master." The puppet's voice was like a clear spring, and in an instant, the irritation he'd felt from studying at school all day melted away.

"Yuexian, take the car back to the garage."

Li Xiang tossed the puppet a set of keys. "The groceries are in the trunk's storage space. There's quite a lot, so keep an eye on the cooking today and bring it all to my room. I'm planning to spend the holiday playing games."

"Of course, Master."

Yuexian nodded gently. Just as Li Xiang was about to step inside, she said, "Oh, right, Master. The monthly Spirit Stone stipend from your family still hasn't arrived. We're almost out of Spirit Stones. Would you like me to get in touch with them?"

Even Li Xiang had no idea what level this puppet was. As far back as he could remember, she had always taken care of him. She was beyond anything like the advanced artificial intelligence he'd known in his previous life.

"It still hasn't arrived?"

Li Xiang frowned. "Call and ask them about it. Oh, right, call Old Ghost first. He's one of our own. Let's find out what's going on."

"Yes, Master."

Hearing Yuexian's reply, Li Xiang thought no more of it and went back to his room.

There were quite a few cultivation clans in California, and the Li Family was undoubtedly among the most prominent. But Li Xiang knew very little about them. Ever since he was born, he'd lived at Jixian Manor, raised by Yuexian. He didn't know whether it was because of his poor aptitude, or because his missing parents had fallen out with the family.

He'd spent less time with his relatives in the Li Family than with the uncles and aunties at Jixian Manor.

Although Li Xiang was a direct descendant of the family, he hadn't grown up with them. Still, every month, he received a generous allowance to cover his daily expenses.

He'd heard from the family elders that it was because his parents had made enormous contributions to the Li Family.

So long as the Li Family endured, his branch would receive their support for all eternity.

That was why Li Xiang had never worried about making ends meet.

Back in his room, Li Xiang sat in front of his computer and stared into space for a long time.

"Looks like I'm stuck coasting through life."

As he said it, Li Xiang smiled and turned on the computer.

This was the life he'd dreamed of: a "rich Nth-generation heir" who never had to worry about food or clothing. He was content with how things were. As long as he didn't go looking for trouble, his life was already enough to make anyone envious.

Li Xiang had even planned out a quiet, carefree future.

"Though..."

Li Xiang paused. He thought of the grand, turbulent lives of the powerful cultivators in this world. They could witness a far broader world among the stars, while he could only spend his entire life at Jixian Manor.

"I really am greedy."

Li Xiang chuckled at himself. By then, his computer had booted up. Although this was a world of cultivation, games still existed. They were one way for idle people like him to pass the time.

Most games were VR, and also trained cultivators' reaction speed and such. They could even be considered a form of unconventional education.

But Li Xiang preferred the old-fashioned games from his previous life, like the relic he was playing now, still controlled with a mouse. The VR games these days were mostly just fighting and killing. Play them too much, and they got old.

He opened the ancient games Yuexian had gone to great lengths to find. She'd copied them from thousand-year-old computers she'd bought at an antique market. Like his own computer, they were relics.

Li Xiang looked through them, but didn't click on any. He'd played most of them to death.

After thinking for a moment, he opened a folder to see if there were any new files he'd forgotten about.

As Li Xiang searched, a game file caught his eye!

"Cultivation Family Simulator? Is it a management game?"

Wanting to try something new, Li Xiang opened it.

In an instant, the screen finished loading.

An ancient, simple art style appeared before him. Even back in the days of his previous life, this game would've seemed extremely old-fashioned.

On a landscape painting, a small wooden hut gradually appeared.

A young man was arranging memorial tablets and burning incense before a bronze censer.

[On this day, your only descendant living outside your home is worshiping you. A slave, he doesn't even have a surname; he only heard from others that kneeling before his ancestors would earn their blessing.]

[Choose a surname for this family, which may soon rise to prominence—or vanish into obscurity.]

[___ Family]

"Pfft."

Li Xiang nearly spat out his drink. Was the start really this bleak? Was there only one person on the whole family register?

Still, Li Xiang followed the game's prompt and entered [Li Family].

After he entered the surname,

the game interface began to change, though it remained as simple as ever.

Li Xiang took a quick look around.

There was a [Time Rate] slider on the left, set to one hour per year of real time.

"Is there no pause button?"

Li Xiang checked. It seemed time only stopped during ancestral worship or special events, and the ancestral worship event would automatically end after five minutes.

And right now, at the start of the game, it was time for the first ancestral worship.

It seemed to be a tutorial. On the screen, the Li Family's memorial tablet suddenly sprouted a big, bold "Li."

The family's sole descendant saw the change. A line of text appeared over his head.

"The ancestor has answered my prayers! My surname is Li! I finally have a surname! Hahaha!"

Watching the Li Family descendant dance with joy, Li Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or feel moved. After all, he couldn't relate to a game NPC.

At the same time,

a large black panel appeared on the right side of the game screen, with a line of text on it.

[Your descendant sensed your presence and was overjoyed. He gave himself the name Li Dalong.]

[Incense +1]

And in the member list,

Li Xiang even saw a family tree...

[First Generation Member: Li Dalong]

He could even view Li Dalong's personal information. Well, he was an ordinary man through and through.

"Cultivation Family Simulator. Does that mean I can only watch the family grow?"

Li Xiang still didn't quite understand the game.

[Your descendant is performing ancestral worship. The great sacrifice is held once every ten years.]

[Offering: A pile of ashes from burnt yellow paper]

[Take it out?]

"What would I want that for?"

Though he hadn't seen an inventory, Li Xiang still clicked "No."

[You declined the offering.]

A gust of wind swept across the screen, scattering the ashes of the burnt yellow paper.

But the Li Family's only descendant panicked.

"Ancestor, please calm your anger! Your unfilial descendant is useless and couldn't offer you anything pleasing!"

[Will you bestow a gift upon your descendant during this ancestral worship?]

Looking at the screen, Li Xiang froze. His hand, still holding his drink, stopped in midair and began to tremble. His eyes widened further and further, and his mouth fell open.

It wasn't because of what he saw on the screen. It was because...

A censer that hadn't been there before now sat beside the computer, amid the cluttered desk.

Li Xiang could even smell the smoke from the yellow paper that had just burned in it!

The censer was exactly the same as the one he'd just seen on the game's altar.

"I... what the hell???"