A Golden Core Powerhouse Makes His Move, the Simulation Ends, and a Suspicion

[Before Chen Qingyan spoke, you had indeed faintly sensed the unusual aura permeating this Secret Realm—a stifling tension, like wind sweeping through the mountains before a storm.]

[You hesitated for a moment, but could not help asking:]

["What exactly happened? This is the Blazing Fire Sect's territory. There shouldn't be any serious danger to our lives, should there?"]

[After all, you had never heard of mass casualties here in previous years. Foundation Establishment elders from the Blazing Fire Sect always stood guard around the Secret Realm, maintaining order.]

[Chen Qingyan gave you a complicated look and asked in return:]

["Do you know why this Secret Realm produces Heaven and Earth Wonders?"]

["Why?"]

[His tone turned icy. "Cultivators are born of heaven and earth, and upon death, they should return to heaven and earth.]

[But this is, in Essence, a Secret Realm. You could also call it a world transformed from a Golden Core..."]

[He left the thought unfinished, but you felt as though lightning had struck you. You instantly understood what he meant!]

[This Secret Realm was itself a special world—or rather, a "conversion machine" that turned cultivators into Heaven and Earth Wonders!]

[Those so-called Heaven and Earth Wonders were nurtured using the cultivators who came seeking treasure as "fertilizer"!]

[From beginning to end, this was an enormous trap laid by the Blazing Fire Sect!]

["But why hasn't any cultivator spread word of this all these years? Has no one noticed anything wrong?" you asked in bewilderment.]

["Can I still get out?" you pressed, clinging to a sliver of hope.]

[Chen Qingyan shook his head. "I don't know, but you'd best not stay with me."]

[His gaze swept over the increasingly distorted space around you. "My spiritual intuition tells me this Secret Realm is about to undergo a drastic change."]

[You instinctively assumed he feared being burdened by you, a member of a collateral branch.]

[But Chen Qingyan's next words plunged you into despair:]

["There's no chance left. Just wait to die!"]

[He clearly sensed the terrifying aura that had locked onto this place and sighed helplessly:]

["Not Foundation Establishment. Golden Core... It seems they had their sights on me from the very beginning. That's why they started using a Divine Ability to lure me here five years ago!"]

[You were about to ask another question, but that destructive power had already arrived.]

[In an instant, boundless darkness consumed your entire field of vision. You felt the space around you solidify, leaving you unable to move so much as an inch, as though the whole world were rejecting and crushing you.]

["Bang—!"]

[Before you could even think, your consciousness was utterly extinguished with a muffled bang.]

[Under that irresistible Golden Core might, your body burst straight into the finest dust.]

[You died. Simulation ended.]

[This simulation has ended. Duration: 6 years.]

[Final realm]: Embryonic Breath Realm, great perfection (ultimate strength, perfection)

[Evaluation]: You began at the pinnacle, but lacked the Fortune to stand your ground. Instead, you diminished your own allotted fate and ultimately died as collateral damage.

[You may retain one of the following]:

[One]: Your cultivation realm at the time of death (Embryonic Breath Realm, great perfection)

[Two]: Your life experience and Talent at the time of death (includes the blue Talent "Twice the Results with Half the Effort")

[Three]: The items you carried at the time of death (a small quantity of Spirit Stones, one Spirit Sword) ```

"Whew—"

Seeing the words [Simulation ended] displayed on the Simulator Light Screen, he let out a long breath.

Golden Core... A Golden Core Powerhouse had actually stepped in to plot this himself?!

His mind reeled, unable to settle for a long time.

A Golden Core Powerhouse who stood at the summit of the Cultivation World, whose attainment was said to be "One Proof, Eternal Proof,"

had actually expended the effort to lay a five-year trap, all to "lure" Chen Qingyan—a direct-line descendant of the Chen Family, only fifteen years old—over?

And he, Chen Fan, had been casually erased by the irresistible shock waves simply because he happened to be nearby.

What earth-shaking secret was Chen Qingyan hiding that could warrant such scheming from a Golden Core Powerhouse?

What chilled you even more the longer you thought about it was the composure Chen Qingyan had displayed in the simulation, far beyond his years,

his incisive insight into "opportunities that already had an owner" and the Secret Realm's true Essence, and his almost indifferent calm in those final moments, facing a Golden Core death trap...

Were those truly the temperament and insights a fifteen-year-old boy should possess?

"Reincarnation and cultivation..."

A thought flashed through your mind like lightning.

You recalled the description of the Foundation Establishment Realm: once cultivators established their foundation, their souls stabilized, and they began to possess the potential for Reincarnation and Cultivation.

Then Chen Qingyan was very likely the reincarnation of some old monster with profound cultivation!

Only that could explain his extraordinary insight—and why he had attracted a Golden Core Powerhouse's covetous gaze and schemes!

These waters ran far too deep.

Chen Fan drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the towering waves surging through his heart.

These secrets were far too distant and dangerous for you as you were now.

The more you knew, the sooner you died. The immediate priority was to absorb the gains from this simulation.

"I choose two."

He made his choice without hesitation.

The cultivation realm was certainly tempting, but the potential and value of the blue Talent [Twice the Results with Half the Effort] far surpassed a one-time increase in cultivation,

not to mention the precious life experience purchased with six years of hardship and his eventual death.

In an instant, the full six years of experience from the Third Simulation surged into your Sea of Consciousness like a tide

—the hardship of four years spent licking blood from the blade's edge in the Black Market, carefully saving money; the hope you felt upon learning of the Secret Realm; the pain and resolve of paying a hundred thousand Spirit Stones;

the persistence with which you sought wonders in the secret realm; the shock and defeat of meeting Chen Qingyan; the horror of hearing those secrets; and finally, the helplessness and darkness of that instant of annihilation...

Yet, perhaps thanks to the Simulator's own protective mechanism, these vast, vivid memories neither overwhelmed nor confused your primary consciousness.

They were like a long, lifelike film you had watched in complete immersion, from a first-person perspective.

You felt every emotional fluctuation, every realization and insight, as though you had experienced them yourself,

yet they remained clearly isolated beneath the understanding that "these were simulated experiences," unable to shake your own will or judgment.

Chen Fan was still Chen Fan—the Chen Fan who had just completed his second simulation and was preparing to go out in search of the Golden Stone Bone Tempering Art.

At the same time, however, you now possessed every lesson and experience from those six years of fighting and exploration in the Third Simulation, culminating in a glimpse of the dark truth beneath the tip of the world's iceberg.

The most important gain was undoubtedly the permanent acquisition of the Talent [Twice the Results with Half the Effort].