Settlement, review, desperate straits, a way forward

[This simulation has ended. Duration: 5 years.]

[Final realm]:

[Evaluation]: Offered yourself as a sacrifice, buried yourself to comprehend the Dao. You glimpsed a corner of the chessboard. In the end, you were a chess piece, yet also counted as a Chess Player. You bloomed amid Annihilation; this journey was not in vain.]

[You may retain one of the following]: By relying on [Borrowed Attunement to the embryonic Dao-Burying Fruit Position], your rank reached Formation half-step Nascent Soul (remnant soul state)

[One]: Your realm at death (mid-stage [Heaven-grade Qi Refining])

[Two]: Your life experience and talents at death (including the blue talents "Eye of Illusion," "Twice the Results with Half the Effort," and "Beloved Object")

[Three]: The items you carried at death (None)

The vast flood of memories and the truth understood at the very end struck like ice water poured over his head. In reality, Chen Fan went cold all over, a chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head!

"Are you kidding me?!" He nearly cried out.

The information his Simulated Clone had obtained at the cost of Annihilation showed that he had long since entered the sights of those [Nascent Soul True Lords]!

What did that mean? It meant that every simulation run by the [Simulator]—the very thing he depended on to survive and regarded as his greatest support—might be sounding his own death knell!

Looking back, since the Third Simulation, had he ever lived past fifty?

He had not even matched a mortal's lifespan!

It was truly hard to say whether this Simulator was a blessing or a curse.

The blessing was that it had given him the means to change his Fortune and climb the path to immortality, sparing him the mediocre life he had initially expected.

The curse was that every drastic change in Fortune during a simulation was like "leaping back and forth" right beneath those Supreme beings' noses, frantically drawing their lethal attention!

He forced himself to calm down. He had to review everything and find the pattern.

First, his real self might still be safe for now.

His Simulated Clone had explicitly mentioned that, in the Fifth Simulation, the True Lord's manipulation had begun after he went to the [Treasure Pavilion].

In the Fourth Simulation, too, he had only fallen victim after returning to the Lineage following five years of travel.

Although the True Lord who acted might not have been the same one, the outcome was identical.

Then there had to be a shared trigger, a common condition that made the [True Lords] notice something amiss and begin plotting.

Time? Clearly not.

Cultivation? Chen Fan thought it was highly likely to be a factor, but certainly not the Ruler cause.

His Simulated Clone's final realization pointed to the heart of the matter—his "fate" had changed.

Put simply, he had originally been destined to have neither blessings nor fortunate opportunities, yet he had forcibly achieved [Heaven-grade Qi Refining].

It made sense that such a fundamental Reversal of his Fate Pattern would alert the True Lords.

But a more precise explanation should have been:

From the True Lords' perspective as they observed the River of Fate, his [Future] was constantly being reset and changed by the Simulator!

"See the present, and know the Future."

That was probably what made [Nascent Soul True Lords] so heaven-defying.

He had gone from being fated never to break through to Qi Refining to actually seeing through parts of Their schemes... Such violent, unreasonable fluctuations in Fortune were themselves the greatest anomaly!

Perhaps, during the Fourth Simulation, when he had cautiously kept away from the [Myriad Beasts Mountain Range] because he knew the outcome,

he had already drawn their attention, and thus been chosen as the sacrifice for that "karmic ritual"—[the last member of the Chen Family].

At this thought, Chen Fan made a difficult decision: for now, he absolutely could not choose a reward from the Fifth Simulation!

Whichever option he chose would cement the "variables of Fortune" and "information gained" from this simulation into his real self.

In the perception of those True Lords, that would be no different from lighting up his coordinates once again, hastening the arrival of death!

"So... this is what a Nascent Soul True Lord is?" Chen Fan felt a profound sense of helplessness and absurdity.

"Do they really... have no shame at all?!"

He was utterly speechless.

Was this Cultivation World not a little too brutally pragmatic?

He was merely a lowly Qi Refining cultivator. All he wanted was to solidify his foundation and seek a breakthrough to a higher level. Why did it have to be so difficult?

As a rootless rogue cultivator, he had drifted and struggled for nearly ten years in total across several simulations,

and possessed practical talents like [Twice the Results with Half the Effort] and [Eye of Illusion], yet he could not even find a single [unclaimed Heaven and Earth Wonder]? All because of that damned "lack of fortune"!

As for joining a Sect?

The barriers to entry for the large Sects were too high. He could not get in at all.

He might have a chance with a small Sect, but the Heaven and Earth Wonders capable of producing Heaven-grade Qi Refining had long since been earmarked and divided up. Going there would only be an exercise in futility.

And even if he endured a thousand hardships to achieve [Heaven-grade Qi Refining], he would still face the "inspection" of [Nascent Soul True Lords] observing the river of fate!

Once using the Simulator caused abnormal fluctuations in his trajectory of Fortune, he would be doomed beyond redemption!

"But this is only [Qi Refining]?!" Grief and indignation surged in Chen Fan's heart.

"Only the second major realm in the Cultivation World! Do Upper Cultivators achieve their goals by scheming against, manipulating, and even directly murdering Lower Cultivators? Do they really... have no shame?!"

Then what, exactly, should he do?

Under the immense pressure, Chen Fan's mind worked faster than ever before.

He even kept calling to the [Simulator] in his mind, hoping that this source of all his Everything, troubles and hopes would offer some hint or response.

But the result disappointed him. The Simulator remained as silent as ever, offering no response.

He sighed helplessly and forced himself to accept reality. He would have to break out of this predicament on his own.

After repeatedly working through the possibilities, he was left with only two seemingly viable paths:

The first was to seek Chen Qingyan's help.

This was not yet another True Lord's scheme, but a genuine act of desperation.

He had learned from the simulations that Chen Qingyan's Fate Line was also unusual, and could even evade True Lord-level scrutiny to some extent.

Perhaps he really had a way to help conceal or disguise the anomalies in Chen Fan's Fortune.

But the problem was that, from what he had learned through multiple simulations, Chen Qingyan would never offer help without a reason. Chen Fan would have to offer something enticing enough in exchange.

As for that bargaining chip... Chen Fan thought of the Simulator itself.

Of course, he would not expose it in reality. That would be too dangerous.

Instead, he would find a way to reveal some information to Chen Qingyan in the next simulation, using the "information about the Future" or some "possibility" provided by the Simulator as a bargaining chip.

It was a dangerous move on the chessboard, but perhaps the only way to persuade him.

The second was to keep simulating regardless of Everything, gambling on a Future.

He could rely on the Simulator to keep drawing Talents, hoping to obtain a heaven-defying ability capable of resisting or even blocking a True Lord's scrutiny.

Although he currently only had blue Talents, judging by the Simulator's previous patterns,

once he broke through to the Qi Refining Realm, the Simulator would very likely undergo an upgrade, greatly increasing his chances of drawing higher-tier Talents, such as purple ones.

If he could draw a relevant Fortune-related or concealment Talent, perhaps he could survive this calamity.

But this was fundamentally a gamble, pinning his hopes on an elusive probability.

Chen Fan did not hold out much hope for it.

He weighed the advantages and disadvantages, the risks and rewards.

The second path was too passive and uncertain.

The first, though it meant bargaining with a tiger for its hide, at least offered a clear objective. And the "reliability as a partner" Chen Qingyan had demonstrated in the simulations was acceptable, though the price had been devastating.

"I can only try the first method for now..." Chen Fan drew a deep breath, a glint of resolve flashing in his eyes.

He decided that, in the coming simulation, improving his Cultivation would no longer be his primary goal. Instead, he would do everything possible to establish contact with Chen Qingyan,

and try to use information related to the Simulator as a foot in the Gate, exchanging it for his protection or a solution!

This was undoubtedly dancing on a knife's edge, but rather than wait helplessly for death beneath the True Lords' gaze,

he would rather take the initiative and step into another known danger, gambling for that slender chance to take control of his own Fortune.