Only a few days had passed.
Through his deliberate searches, Zhou Qing had already wiped out more than ten Rogue Cultivator hideouts.
This was thanks to the "outdated information" about Rogue Cultivators that Zhou Qing had deliberately sought out during his second simulation.
Some cultivators who encountered Rogue Cultivators blocking their path would recount their experiences after narrowly escaping with their lives.
Of course, these accounts usually meant little. Anyone who became a Rogue Cultivator was exceedingly cautious and would immediately relocate upon realizing their hideout had been exposed.
But now?
The "outdated information" from the simulation amounted to advance knowledge in the present.
Across more than ten hideouts and dozens of Rogue Cultivators at the qi refining stage, Zhou Qing had not killed them all.
Instead, he had spared the nine strongest, all in the late qi refining period.
Now, in a valley, Zhou Qing stood with his hands behind his back, while the nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators stood respectfully below him.
Facing a foundation establishment realm cultivator, these nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators did not harbor the slightest thought of resistance.
With an entire major realm separating them, a foundation establishment realm cultivator possessed absolutely overwhelming power over those at the qi refining stage.
Zhou Qing glanced at the nine trembling Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators.
He had planted a strand of mountain sea mana in each of their heart meridians.
Within a certain range, a mere thought from Zhou Qing would cause that strand of mountain sea mana to explode.
In other words, the lives of these nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators hung on a single thought from Zhou Qing.
"Next, you will..."
Zhou Qing slowly began to speak.
His purpose in sparing these nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators was to use them against the Qian Kingdom's imperial family.
In the simulation, several decades later, Zhou Qing had commanded more than ten Rogue Cultivators in the middle and late Qi Condensation periods to purge the Imperial Palace.
He had uncovered the full extent of the Qian Kingdom's Imperial Palace's strength. Its strongest cultivator was only in the middle qi refining period.
But the strongest person in the Imperial Palace being in the middle qi refining period several decades later did not mean the same was true several decades earlier.
As a foundation establishment realm cultivator, Zhou Qing naturally would not put himself at risk, however negligible that risk might be.
After all, this was reality, not a simulation.
In a simulation, Zhou Qing would take some risks.
In reality, however, the safer, the better.
"Senior, we understand."
Upon learning their assignment, the nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators immediately nodded respectfully.
One day later.
Zhou Qing arrived at the Qian Kingdom's Capital City. Following his orders, the nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators immediately infiltrated the Imperial Palace.
As for Dachun? Zhou Qing had long since sent him back to the Zhou Residence ahead of time, instructing him to tell his parents and two elder brothers to wait at the residence.
Zhou Qing stood atop the Capital City's wall, gazing toward the distant Imperial Palace.
In terms of strength, these nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators far surpassed the dozen or so middle- and late-period Qi Condensation Rogue Cultivators he had commanded in his second simulation.
Before long.
Several fluctuations of spiritual energy came from deep within the Imperial Palace.
Then they immediately subsided.
"Everything is going smoothly."
Zhou Qing had planted a strand of mountain sea mana deep within each of the nine Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivators' heart meridians. By sensing whether those strands still existed, he could determine whether the nine were still alive.
Half an hour later, a Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivator came before Zhou Qing to report what had happened in the Imperial Palace.
"Senior, we followed your instructions and only subdued the emperor and the cultivators inside the Imperial Palace... We did not kill indiscriminately..."
The Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivator spoke in a low voice.
"Mm."
Zhou Qing nodded slightly.
"There is one more thing..."
The Late Qi Refining Period Rogue Cultivator hesitated briefly before saying, "We discovered a cultivator in the Imperial Palace who appears to belong to a demon cult..."
"A demon cult cultivator?"
Zhou Qing's interest was immediately piqued.
Across two simulations spanning more than a hundred years, Zhou Qing had heard information about demon cult cultivators.
Such cultivators were uncommon in this region.
However, several hundred thousand li west of the Mortal Qian Kingdom lay the territory of a faction called the Nine Nether Demon Cult.
The Nine Nether Demon Cult's cultivators employed cruel methods and took pleasure in slaughter. Their conduct and practices differed greatly from those of ordinary cultivators.
"This demon cult cultivator is named Lu Mu. His cultivation is only in the middle qi refining period. Through a chance encounter, he obtained some demon cult legacies. Later, pursued by his enemies, he fled all the way into the mortal world and ultimately hid inside the Imperial Palace..."
The late qi refining Rogue Cultivator spoke quickly. "Through our interrogation, we learned that this demon cult cultivator needed mortal blood essence to recover from his injuries. That was why he sought refuge with the Qian Kingdom's emperor. In exchange, he was willing to help the emperor prolong his life through a demon cult secret art..."
"So that was it..."
Zhou Qing looked thoughtful.
He vaguely understood why the Qian Kingdom's emperor had been willing to risk toppling his own realm to act against the eldest prince and the ministers associated with him.
It was not merely because the eldest prince's prestige threatened to surpass his own.
It was also because the emperor had glimpsed the hope of regaining his youth and continuing to live.
But why did the emperor die after living only a few more years?
Zhou Qing rubbed his chin. In both simulations, the emperor had died of old age a few years after acting against the Zhou family.
Afterward, the fourth prince had smoothly inherited the throne as a puppet.
Could that demon cult cultivator have deceived the emperor?
Or had that supposed life-prolonging demon cult secret art failed?
Zhou Qing silently speculated.
In fact, from his lofty position as a foundation establishment realm cultivator, prolonging a mortal's life was not difficult.
Of course, there were limits to such life extension.
Keeping someone alive up to a hundred years was possible. Beyond a hundred, the price required would soar.
"Bring that demon cult cultivator here."
Zhou Qing's tone was calm.
In his second simulation, there had been no demon cult cultivator in the Qian Kingdom's Imperial Palace several decades later.
"Yes."
The late qi refining Rogue Cultivator immediately withdrew.
As an infamous demon cult cultivator, Lu Mu felt his luck could not have been worse.
He had finally managed to cultivate to the middle qi refining period, only to be hunted by an enemy. Left with no choice.
Lu Mu could only flee into the mortal world.
Spiritual energy was sparse there, and no cultivator wished to stay for long.
Sure enough, the enemies pursuing Lu Mu had conducted a brief search before leaving one after another.
Lu Mu had originally thought himself temporarily safe, so he sought out the emperor of a mortal dynasty.
Using a demon cult life-prolonging secret art.
He enticed the emperor into gathering blood essence for him to heal his injuries.
Yet he had only been recovering for a few years.
While hiding deep within the Imperial Palace, he suddenly found himself surrounded and attacked by nine Late Qi Refining Period cultivators.
Late Qi Refining Period cultivators.
And nine of them joining forces!
The enemy who had pursued Lu Mu all the way here and forced him to flee into the mortal world had been just one Late Qi Refining Period cultivator, and only at the seventh layer of qi refining, having barely entered the late period.
Of the nine Late Qi Refining Period cultivators now attacking him, even the weakest was at the eighth layer of qi refining.
And so.
Without the slightest suspense, Lu Mu had been subdued.
When one of the Late Qi Refining Period cultivators interrogated him, Lu Mu had also revealed everything he knew without hesitation.
These late-period Senior Cultivators...
Lu Mu trembled inwardly, unable to understand what about him had attracted so many late-period Senior Cultivators.
Just as Lu Mu was fretting uneasily.
The cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Period who had interrogated him appeared and said coldly, "Come with me. Senior wants to see you."
"Senior?"
Lu Mu's legs nearly went weak.
Someone whom a late qi refining Senior Cultivator would address as Senior... Lu Mu did not even dare pursue that thought.
Led by this late qi refining cultivator, Lu Mu finally met that "Senior."
He was a man dressed in white, whose aura was too unfathomable to gauge.
"Greetings, Senior! Greetings, Senior!"
Lu Mu dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed as though pounding garlic.