Main Plot 1: Setting Fire to the Mountains

Midnight, and no stars filled the sky.

Fireburn Kingdom, Azure Mist Sect.

Stubborn Stone Peak, inside a certain secluded, cramped cave dwelling.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on a rush mat, staring at the translucent subtitles that had suddenly appeared before him as he fell into deep thought.

[Name]: Jiang Chen.

[Cultivation]: Ninth Layer of Body Tempering.

[Money]: Low-grade spirit stones × 3.

[Items]:

Multi-purpose chopper × 1 (Mortal grade);

[Skills]:

Eight-Step Mad Blade: Small achievement;

[Main Plot]: First round of main plot simulation not yet started.

[Butterfly Effect]: None for now.

Not until he witnessed the system's arrival with his own eyes did Jiang Chen finally remember that he was actually a transmigrator.

Three years ago, having died suddenly from staying up all night grinding games, he had transmigrated into this realm of cultivation plagued by fiends and demons:

Ascending Dragon Continent.

His identity was that of a pugilist wanderer with no background, mediocre talent, and only an extraordinarily outstanding figure and appearance.

As a transmigrator, Jiang Chen possessed no backing system, nor had any fortuitous encounters descended upon him, much less any old grandfathering guidance.

Unloved by his father and mother, he could only rely on his own two hands to manufacture and sell glass in the mortal world, earning enough silver taels to exchange for spirit stones, bribe an outer sect deacon of the Azure Mist Sect, and ultimately become a miscellaneous chores disciple on Stubborn Stone Peak of the Azure Mist Sect.

Lacking any cheat, he knew full well how perilous the cultivation world was, so for the two years since entering the sect he had practiced in low profile, neither forming factions nor making enemies, acting as a veritable little transparent—so much so that many disciples on Stubborn Stone Peak still could not call him by name.

Fortunately, his talent was of middle-of-the-road caliber, reaching the ninth layer of Body Tempering in two years, and the Eight-Step Mad Blade had also achieved small success.

Yet for Jiang Chen, who possessed middle-of-the-road talent and no extra assistance, Qi Refining was a major problem.

At this moment, the system had arrived like charcoal in snowy weather.

Without having experienced the bitterness of mortal cultivation, one could not feel the ecstasy in Jiang Chen's heart at this moment!

Yet Jiang Chen, accustomed to acting with caution, forcefully suppressed the ecstasy in his heart.

He immediately studied the details of the system!

[Main Plot]: First round of main plot simulation not yet started.

Judging from this sentence, this should be a simulation system.

As for the [Butterfly Effect], it presumably referred to the consequences produced after simulating the plot.

Other than that, there were no other prompts.

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Chen took action.

He immediately held his breath and concentrated, focusing his divine sense on the [Main Plot] column.

Just at that moment, the system panel popped up with a prompt:

[Main Plot 1 "Setting Fire to the Mountains" is now online. Would you like to immediately view the original plot and participate in three plot simulations?]

[Prompt 1: After viewing the original plot, you have three opportunities to actively participate in simulations of this plot. The entire process is controllable, simulating only the plot changes within twelve hours. Upon completion of the simulations, you must choose one of the endings to overwrite the reality path, and accept the butterfly effect brought by this ending!]

[Prompt 2: The so-called original plot is a deduction of the future plot by the system. Just like the three simulated plots, it has not truly happened. Until you choose one of the endings, reality will strictly advance along this line for twelve hours.]

[Prompt 3: Viewing the original plot and conducting three plot simulations does not consume time in this plane. From your perspective, the outside world is frozen; from the outside world's perspective, it is merely the blink of an eye.]

The amount of information was a bit large. Jiang Chen understood it half and half, and would only know after trying.

"Yes!"

Immediately, a high-definition holographic video began to play before Jiang Chen.

The content of the video seemed to be something that happened on the neighboring Sunset Glow Peak.

The starting time was precisely midnight right now, and the duration was twelve hours.

He could fast-forward, rewind, zoom in on close-ups, zoom out for an overview, and repeat on a loop according to his intent.

Meanwhile, the surrounding environment was truly as the system prompted, as if frozen in place.

This gave him enough time and patience to watch the plot, formulate a plan, and then simulate the plot.

Right now, in the center of the plot's lens.

A young female cultivator with pure facial features and a bewitching demeanor, her eyes filled with peach blossoms and looking touching, her slender figure draped in a sheer, translucent pink-water mist gown, made it impossible for anyone to look away.

Jiang Chen recognized this female's identity at a glance!

"Isn't this Senior Sister Liu Ruyan from Tranquil Heart Peak of the inner sect? Why would she appear on Sunset Glow Peak so late at night?"

Liu Ruyan excelled in illusions, and because she often came to the various outer sect peaks to recruit new disciples for Tranquil Heart Peak, she was widely known.

As he wondered, the scene that played out in the video next made Jiang Chen's jaw drop—

He saw Liu Ruyan cast an illusion to turn invisible, and then she ignited the Flame Vein of Sunset Glow Peak... she was actually setting fire to the mountain!

Jiang Chen instinctively wanted to step out of his cave abode to see if Sunset Glow Peak was really on the fire.

Only then did he realize that once the plot simulation began, all his operations were instantaneous in reality.

To his spiritual-sense activity at this moment, the real world was static, as if time and space had frozen solid.

He could not move to do anything else.

The scene in the video, Liu Ruyan setting fire to the mountain, was very likely something about to happen, not yet happened.

Why is Senior Sister Liu setting fire to the mountain? Is she not afraid of rotting in a prison cell to the end of her days?

Jiang Chen was exceptionally curious, continuing to watch the projection to investigate the cause of the matter.

Soon, the entire mountainside burned, resembling a red glow falling upon the mountain ridge.

The disciples of Sunset Glow Peak woke up in their sleep and hurriedly hauled pond water to fight the fire.

The outer sect of the Azure Mist Sect was equivalent to the chores quarters, and Sunset Glow Peak's chief deacon, Sunset Glow Adept, was only at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivation realm and unable to extinguish the Flame Vein wildfire, so he had no choice but to go to the inner sect for help.

Meanwhile, Liu Ruyan hid in a secluded cave abode prepared in advance, sat cross-legged, and under the cover of her illusion, integrated demonic qi into the spiritual veins of Sunset Glow Peak, closing her eyes to cast a positioning spell.

Jiang Chen guessed that she was searching for something.

What is Senior Sister trying to find?

The spell lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and Liu Ruyan seemed to have found the specific location.

She then immediately took out a piece of talisman paper and wrote:

"The life gate of the Azure Mist Array is at the bottom of Orchid Mound Peak."

Immediately afterward, she guided a wisp of Demonic Flame to burn the talisman paper, transmitting this information out.

Although Jiang Chen had not yet reached Qi Refining, he had read extensively and possessed a rudimentary understanding of array-formation common knowledge.

The life gate of a mountain-guarding array, which was the location of the array eye, was an escape gate within the array formation that could lead to the outside world.

When the sect suffered attacks from demons or other sects, the life gate could be utilized to transfer important figures outward.

At the same time, however, if the life gate was exposed, it was also very easy for enemies to seize loopholes and attack the array formation.

Generally speaking, only the sect master or supreme elders knew the life gate of the sect-protecting array.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen finally understood.

Liu Ruyan was a mole of the Demon Sect, lying in ambush within the sect beforehand to secretly inquire about the location of their sect's array eye.

If she were allowed to succeed tonight, the Demon Sect would attack the Azure Mist Sect at any time...

This is bad!

Jiang Chen thought to himself that if the Azure Mist Sect was captured by the Demon Sect, it would surely be slaughtered, and he would not escape death either.

After finding the array eye, Liu Ruyan withdrew her demonic qi and quietly left Sunset Glow Peak amidst the flickering firelight.

After quite a while longer, inner sect elders hurried over to put out the fire.

Once everyone extinguished the mountain wildfire, the elders all assumed it was an accidental fire and did not investigate carefully.

After all, the Flame Vein was exposed here, and it had frequently caught fire in the past.

Twelve hours passed just like that...

[Main storyline one "Setting Fire to the Mountain" has been viewed. Do you wish to immediately begin the first simulation?]

Jiang Chen frowned.

Three simulations, the process free and controllable... This was brilliant, much more interesting than ordinary simulators.

However, one must choose an ending?

This required caution.

Right now, Jiang Chen's best plan was to flee overnight and stay far away from the right-and-wrong place that was the Azure Mist Sect.

However, crisis was both disaster and a turning point, concealing opportunities that were usually difficult to encounter.

He had three simulation chances.

Logically speaking, the first simulation should just be doing nothing and directly fleeing the sect to secure a baseline guarantee.

Yet doing this, while stable, would waste a chance to acquire an opportunity for nothing, failing to maximize benefits.

He could change it to carefully watching the original plot first.

If the original plot endangered himself, he would directly attempt to flee during the first simulation.

If the original plot posed no danger to himself, just like tonight, where only Sunset Glow Peak had an incident and the Demon Sect did not attack the mountain within twelve hours, he would definitely be able to leave the Azure Mist Sect.

Under such circumstances, the first simulation could let loose and go all out, striving to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle and plunder resources to the maximum extent.

If he encountered danger the first time, he could flee the second time, and continue to let loose and go all out the third time.

If a decent baseline ending was achieved the first time, both the second and third attempts could be gambled on.

That way, he would not waste every simulation opportunity.

Jiang Chen considered it patiently for a long time, and only then did he make up his mind to begin the first simulation.

"Start the simulation!"

[Please select a starting location for the character to participate in the plot simulation!]

"Parachute directly into the scene?"

That made sense too. If he could not flash straight to the place where the plot unfolded, perhaps the tea would already be cold and the people gone by the time he hurried over there.

Jiang Chen tried using his mind to operate the panoramic map and discovered that he could parachute into any location that could influence the plot, rather than being forced to stay around the area where the plot took place.

The simulation process was in a first-person perspective with his five senses simulated realistically, so it still had a subtle difference from experiencing it firsthand.

For his first simulation, his idea was very simple: report it to the sect and notify the sect master or elders to go to Sunset Glow Mountain and capture Liu Ruyan.

For one, he could obtain a reward from the sect because of this.

For another, the sect could also avoid a disaster, and he would not need to flee overnight.

Unfortunately, he had no idea where the True Person sect master was, and had never even laid eyes on the sect master...

So he had no choice but to go to the Discipline Hall first.

The Discipline Hall was similar to a yamen of a sect, with someone on duty at all times.

Thinking this, Jiang Chen set the starting location for his first simulation at the foot of the Discipline Hall's mountain.

Running all the way up the mountain, he dashed into the hall panting heavily.

Inside the Discipline Hall, the one on duty tonight was an old deacon.

Jiang Chen happened to know him: Han Yan, with a cultivation base at Foundation Establishment Peak, known for being iron-faced and merciless.

"What business do you have to make a report? As an outer sect disciple, why didn't you seek out your own peak's deacon first?"

With a flustered expression and gasping for breath, Jiang Chen said:

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