Lin Jiang rolled over, making the chair creak.
"I need to think this through..."
Leaning back in his chair, Lin Jiang tapped his fingers against the desk and mentally ran through the notable Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest.
They were all good choices. But somehow, something still felt missing.
He sat up straight, his eyes lighting up.
"Right! I almost forgot about Tang San's mom!"
"Ah Yin eventually became a Second-Level Deity, the Core of Life of the Douluo Continent!"
He slapped his thigh. The more he thought about it, the more he felt this was the right path.
She should still be a little Blue Silver Grass, not very old, with her consciousness not yet awakened.
If he could tie the bond with her in advance and have her run through a simulation, then get a hundredfold return—
Lin Jiang rubbed his hands together, unable to suppress the grin tugging at his lips.
"System, tie the bond with Ah Yin."
[Bond established successfully!] [Remaining distribution attempts: 2] [Current Subversion Points: 256] [Host, please write the Life Simulator content--]
Lin Jiang moved his chair beside the window, where the sunlight fell just right across the desk.
He spread out a sheet of paper, picked up his pen, and began planning what Ah Yin's simulated life should look like.
Meanwhile.
Deep in the mountains near Holy Soul Village stood a cave no one had ever set foot in.
Vines covered the entrance so thoroughly that only at noon could a few rays of sunlight slip through the gaps and fall on the palm-sized Blue Silver Grass growing in the middle of the cave.
The Blue Silver Grass was tiny, with only three leaves. They shimmered blue, their edges glowing faintly.
Compared with the countless others growing across the mountains outside, it was no different except for its deeper color.
Suddenly, its leaves trembled.
It wasn't the wind. There was no wind in the cave.
[Ding! Congratulations, host! You have bonded with the Life Simulator! Using the Simulator will grant you simulated-life rewards!]
The Blue Silver Grass's leaves trembled again, more violently this time. All three leaves stood straight up, like three antennae.
[Current simulations available: 1] [Would the host like to begin a simulation?]
The cave remained quiet for a long time.
The Blue Silver Grass stood perfectly still, its leaves held upright, as if digesting some earth-shattering piece of information.
Then its leaves slowly unfolded and slowly closed again, like someone repeatedly clenching and unclenching a fist.
"I... am awake?"
A consciousness so faint it could barely be said to exist rose from within the Blue Silver Grass.
It was dazed and muddled, like someone who had just woken up and couldn't yet tell dream from reality.
"No, that can't be right. I'm only a little over ten years old. How could I have a consciousness?"
Her consciousness cleared somewhat, and she began to examine herself.
Her roots were embedded in a crack in the rock, she had only three leaves, and her Soul Power was as thin as the morning mist. She really was nothing more than a little Blue Silver Grass that had lived for a dozen years or so.
Under normal circumstances, she would have to live another ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and eighty years before she could become a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
"The Simulator?" She turned over the word that had suddenly appeared in her mind again and again. "Could this thing be what gave me consciousness ahead of time?"
She tried moving her leaves. They moved.
She tried sensing her surroundings. She could sense them.
She tried recalling who she was—
Ah Yin.
The name rose from the depths of her memories, like a stone lying at the bottom of a river turned over to reveal words carved beneath it.
She remembered many things.
A hundred thousand years of cultivation, taking human form, Tang Hao, her sacrifice, Blue Silver Grass seeds, this forest, this cave.
She remembered why she was here.
She also remembered that she was now just a little Blue Silver Grass that had lived for a dozen years or so.
Her leaves drooped, and she wilted for a while. Then they stood upright again.
"This Simulator... Could it be a new opportunity I've gained?"
With her newly awakened, not-quite-sharp consciousness, she thought it over carefully.
Then, cautiously and tentatively, she sent a single word through her mind.
"Simulate?"
[Simulation begins--] [Age 0: You are born deep within the Star Dou Great Forest. Your true form is the Blue Silver Emperor, the sovereign of the Blue Silver Grass Clan, born with dominion over countless millions of your kind.] [You endure thousands upon thousands of years of cultivation, weathering wind, frost, rain, snow, thunder, and natural disasters.] [At last, your cultivation reaches a hundred thousand years, and the tribulation of human transformation arrives. You choose to reincarnate as a human and enter the human world.]
Ah Yin's leaves trembled slightly.
Those memories were so distant that she had thought she'd long since forgotten them.
But now, every moment came back as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
[Eighteen years after taking human form, you travel across the continent as a human woman.] [In a blue-and-gold gown, with azure eyes, you draw every gaze wherever you go.] [At age 19, while out on a trial, you meet Tang Hao and Tang Xiao, brothers and direct descendants of the Clear Sky Sect.] [The three of you travel together, and both brothers fall in love with you.]
Ah Yin's leaves stood upright.
Tang Hao. Tang Xiao.
The two names fell into her still waters like pebbles, sending ripples spreading outward in rings.
She remembered the burly man, his grand words when drunk, his helplessness as he held their newborn child, and the look in his eyes when he watched her sacrifice herself.
[One day, while you go to the toilet, the brothers begin talking.]
Ah Yin: "...You even had to write in that I went to the toilet?"
[Tang Xiao speaks first: "Hao, your talent is better than mine. Ah Yin... I'll leave her to you."] [Tang Hao falls silent for a moment. "Big brother..." His voice carries guilt, along with a trace of delight he can't quite hide.]
Ah Yin's leaves bent slightly, as if someone were giving a gentle nod.
As the elder brother, Tang Xiao really did have a sense of responsibility.
[Tang Xiao pats his younger brother on the shoulder. "I can make do with any black one for my ninth Soul Ring. You're different, Hao. With this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, you'll surely lead our Clear Sky Sect back to the pinnacle of the continent."] [Tang Hao clenches his fists, his eyes reddening. "Big brother, I won't let you down!"] [Tang Xiao nods, his gaze passing over his younger brother's shoulder and settling on the distance. "Good. Keep Ah Yin close for now. Once you reach Level 90, strike without hesitation."]
Ah Yin's leaves froze.
What?
[Tang Hao asks quietly, "And before then..."] [Tang Xiao answers without expression. "Treat her well. Make her devoted to you. Keep her by your side; that'll make things more convenient when the time comes."] [Tang Hao falls silent for a moment, then nods.]
Ah Yin's leaves began to shake.
[Tang Xiao turns toward camp. After two steps, he stops and adds without looking back, "One more thing. If she offers her sacrifice willingly, it'll boost you even more. Put in some extra effort."] ["Understood." Tang Hao's voice is calm.]
Ah Yin's entire body trembled. The blue light on her leaves flickered on and off, like someone breathing faster and faster.
So that was it.
This had been their plan from the very beginning.
She remembered Tang Xiao's gentle smile, how he always stood in front of her whenever danger struck, and how he had said, "Ah Yin, your safety is what matters most."
It had all been a lie!
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