One hundred and fifty years passed in the blink of an eye, and Infinite Simulation's cooldown promptly reached zero.
Seeing this, Zhou Qing immediately began a new simulation.
[Simulation beginning. Simulation world: Desolate Era. Drawing simulation identity...]
The Desolate Era world again?
Before Zhou Qing could give it much thought, the identities that had made his mouth water in the last simulation flashed past again.
Chaos Divine Beast, Ancient Cultivator, Source Walker, Autarch-level Lifeform...
But those simulation identities came and went in a flash, and the identity he actually received in the end was as ordinary as could be.
[Draw successful. Identity: Wu Xian of the Wujiang Clan, Wujiang Immortal Mansion, Tianyou Mountains, Anchan Commandery, Great Xia World, Three Realms, Damo Domain, Flame Dragon Domain, Desolate Chaos Universe.] [Simulation objective: reach the Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal realm within one thousand years.]
Wujiang Immortal Mansion?
It was rare to hear of a place mentioned in the original story, and Zhou Qing's expression immediately turned serious.
The Wujiang Immortal Mansion... Hmm, there's plenty of room to maneuver in this simulation.
In the last simulation, he had been trapped in a small world. Even with extraordinary talent and astonishing fortune, he had ultimately been reduced to ashes in a calamity.
This time, however, he was born in Great Xia. The tempering a prosperous major world like Great Xia offered immortal cultivators was something the cramped Seven Wonders World could never match.
Although the simulation objective was still as difficult as ever, Zhou Qing felt a rare glimmer of hope.
Perhaps... this simulation could succeed?
Of course, that depended on the specifics.
If the Wujiang Clan in the simulation had already latched onto the Ji Clan's coattails, he could pop the champagne early.
A thousand years? That's enough time for Ji Ning to become an Ancestor God.
Given Ji Ning's character, as long as he displayed decent talent in the simulation, he would have no shortage of resources or guidance.
And after receiving Ji Ning's help, never mind becoming an Empyrean God-if he could not even become a Third-Class Celestial Immortal, he might as well buy a block of tofu and smash his head against it to death.
The second possibility was that Immortal Witchriver, the Wujiang Clan's backer in the simulation, was still alive.
Though this was not as good as the first possibility, having a Celestial Immortal patriarch as a backer would give him a much better chance of becoming a Celestial Immortal than the average person.
The third possibility, and the worst, was that the timing fell right after Immortal Witchriver's death and before Ji Ning brought the Wujiang Clan under his command.
Although the original story had not mentioned it, Zhou Qing reckoned that the interval between those events had to be more than a thousand years.
At that thought, Zhou Qing's excitement subsided.
Meanwhile, the simulation interface continued to update.
[Carrying the memories of your previous life, you reincarnated in the Great Xia World.] [As soon as you were born, you noticed the features that made you markedly different from your previous self. The servants attending you were also all fearsome beings with blue faces and long fangs.] [You realized that you had transmigrated, and had become a nonhuman being.] [As a transmigrator, you were precocious and quickly learned the language and culture of this world.] [At first, you only thought you had arrived in a fantasy world and become a member of the Demon Race. But later, while overhearing several powerful demons talking, you suddenly heard two key terms: the Wujiang Immortal Mansion and Immortal Witchriver.] [You also heard that Immortal Witchriver had not returned for ten thousand years, and that without the key, the monsters in the Immortal Mansion were trapped and unable to leave.] [After hearing this familiar information, you finally understood that you had transmigrated into the Desolate Era world and become a lesser monster in the Wujiang Immortal Mansion.] [Being familiar with the original story's plot, you knew that one day in the future, the Shaoyan Clan would obtain the key to the Wujiang Immortal Mansion. Their young clan leader at the time, Shaoyan Nong, would not only seize the treasures within the Immortal Mansion, but also seek to sell its monsters into slavery.] [Although you knew that this scheme would be thwarted by Ji Ning in the future, you still felt deeply uneasy.] [To avoid being utterly helpless to resist when facing the Shaoyan Clan, you decided to strengthen yourself in preparation for the crisis that would arrive at an unknown time.] [Thus, at the age of three, you told your father you wanted to cultivate, with some trepidation.] [Your father was a Wanxiang Diremonster King of the Wujiang Clan. Because of his status, you did not have to fight for survival in the outside world like the other lesser monsters.]
Zhou Qing had not expected his simulated self to be the offspring of a Wanxiang Diremonster King.
He felt slightly surprised.
Still, this was not a bad thing. At the very least, his status as a Diremonster King's son would make his path of cultivation smoother.
[Your father was delighted to hear that you wanted to cultivate. Your older brothers were all men who frittered away their ambitions on amusements, so your interest in cultivation greatly gratified him.] [Your father therefore made a special effort to hire three Zifu greater monsters to teach you Fiendgod Body Refining, Ki Refining, and combat techniques, respectively.] [Under your masters' instruction, your cultivation progress in a mere twenty years shocked your father.] (By the standards of the Demon Race.) [Your progress in Fiendgod Body Refining was somewhat slower, and you had only reached Peak Houtian. But that was while cultivating the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, the foremost Fiendgod Body Refining technique in the Great Xia World.] [Your progress in Ki Refining was much faster. You had already reached Peak Xiantian, just one step away from entering Zifu.] [But what shocked your father most was your talent in the arts. In a mere twenty years, your claw techniques had reached the One with the World level.] [Seeing how extraordinary your talent was, your father immediately thought of a grand event held within the Wujiang Immortal Mansion: the so-called Celestial Fiend Assembly.] [Celestial fiends generally referred to extremely powerful beings within the Demon Race. The most famous celestial fiends in ancient times were the seven great sages of the Demon Race, including the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. In the era of the Three Realms, the threshold for becoming a celestial fiend was much lower. Generally, a Celestial Immortal demon like Immortal Witchriver could be called a celestial fiend.] [Even before the destruction of the ancient era, some Demon Race tribes held celebrations to commemorate these powerful members of the Demon Race. The Celestial Fiend Assembly was one of them.] [The monsters in the Wujiang Immortal Mansion had also inherited this tradition, holding a Celestial Fiend Assembly every sixty years.] [The assembly invited the finest Zifu greater monsters from every tribe. They would then enter a secret realm and fight one another. The thirty-six greater monsters who survived would draw lots for arena duels until the strongest was determined and awarded the title of Celestial Fiend Scion.] [Seeing how outstanding you were, your father conceived the idea of having you represent the Wujiang Clan at the Celestial Fiend Assembly forty years later.] [Faced with your father's request, you chose: 1. Agree to participate in the Celestial Fiend Assembly. 2. Politely decline on the grounds that you were too young.]
"One."
Zhou Qing made his choice without much thought.
If his simulated self had to participate in the Celestial Fiend Assembly right now, he might have weighed his options.
But forty years was such a long time that his strength should be more than enough to handle the so-called Celestial Fiend Assembly.