My Simulated Road to Immortality

“Master?” When Li Fan heard this word, he felt a bit dazed.

In today’s Immortal Cultivation World, cultivating by oneself is already challenging enough. Who would still have time to teach and enlighten others?

Ever since he started his cultivation journey all those years ago, he had never seen a formal teacher-student relationship.

Out of curiosity, Li Fan looked in the direction the voice was coming from.

He saw, standing beside the massive Dustcrosser Boat, a young and old man. But they were both clothed alike, and their demeanors were strikingly similar.

Both were dressed in green, with the old man having snowy hair yet looking youthful and having a ruddy complexion. The young one, however, looked worn and world-weary.

What stunned Li Fan was that the childlike voice he had just heard had come from the mouth of the white-haired old man.

Expressing a bewildered look, he curiously lowered his head to look at the child next to him and asked him a question.

The child, who seemed to be only about five or six years old, spoke words that a child his age could not possibly understand.

“All things come from nothing and return to nothing.”

“The Unity of Five Elements is merely returning to its original form.”

The boy in the green robe answered with a smile.

The old man in the green robe thought for a moment, seemingly understood the answer, and said joyfully, “I understand now, master. You mean, very soon, this place will return to a chaotic void, just like what we saw earlier. Am I right?”

The child chuckled and looked at the old man with a kindhearted gaze, saying, “You’re right. If there is no external intervention and we let it evolve freely, it will indeed end up that way.”

“But if one day, outsiders break in here and take away some of the substances in this Cave Heaven, then it’s hard to say.”

The boy looked at the Five Elements Cave Heaven below him and sighed.

Li Fan was taken aback by his words and started to observe the teacher-student pair more closely.

This old man and a small boy seemed to be completely ignoring Li Fan.

The old man’s brow was furrowed, as if he was pondering over the teachings of his master.

After a moment, he suddenly realized: “This place, the Cave Heaven, where the Five Elements circulate, mixed as one, is perfect. It can be divided into five, but also reunited into one. However, if outsiders deprive a portion from each of the five elements, it will cause the Five Elements to lose balance. Then…”

“Then…”

As he spoke, the old man seemed to falter and then remained silent, unable to continue no matter how hard he tried.

The boy in the green robe let out a faint laugh, then continued the old man’s words: “Actually, if it’s only small-scale mining over a long time, the rotation of the Five Elements Cave Heaven’s attributes can self-regulate and this won’t lead to imbalance.”

“However, if a large amount of resources from certain attribute Cave Heavens are seized within a short time…”

“The adjustment mechanism of the Cave Heaven will not maintain the balance, causing the Five Elements in this place to lose their balance completely.”

“Master, what will happen after it completely loses balance?” The old man in the green robe asked with curiosity.

The boy in the green robe restrained his smile and said, “Do you still remember the Five Elements Sect that I once mentioned to you?”

The old man nodded, “I remember. The Five Elements Sect is a subsidiary sect of the Great Taoist Sect. When their leader came to pay respects to our Calamity Transcendence Sect a few years ago, I saw him.”

Upon hearing the dialogue between the teacher and the student, Li Fan was greatly shocked.

He finally confirmed that the two in front of him did not really exist on the Dustcrosser boat.

Instead, they were like a mirage!

The dialogue between the teacher and student seemed to take place in the Ancient Xian Realm when the Great Calamity had yet to arrive and the sects were still in existence.

Li Fan looked around and found people coming and going on the Dustcrosser Boat. However, no one but himself seemed to be able to see this illusion.

Keeping quiet, Li Fan continued to watch the dialogue between the teacher and student in the ancient Calamity Transcendence Sect.

The boy in the green robe continued: “The Five Elements Sect were quite powerful back then. Apart from the Immortal Dao Ten Sects, they were considered among the leading Great Sects of Cultivation in the Xuanhuang World. They had a Secret Realm, known as [Five Elements Heaven]. As rich in resources as a world in its own right, it was boundlessly abundant.”

“It far surpassed the Five Elements Great Cave Heaven here.”

“With this Secret Realm, if the Five Elements Sect had developed slowly and continued for centuries, it might have even become an unrivaled Sect.”

“Sadly, Lan Xiangfeng, the former Sect Leader of the Five Elements Sect, was short-sighted…”

As he said this, the boy in the green robe scoffed, a flash of contempt for failure appeared in his eyes.

The old man in the green robe gasped, not daring to say a word, awaiting what would come next.

After a moment, the boy in the green robe continued: “Back then, the Heavenly Sword Sect supposedly wanted to forge the legendary [Breaking Boundary Divine Weapon] and required a tremendous amount of [Essence Gold of the Primal Source].”

“This TaiYuan Refined Gold is very rare, randomly appearing in metal ore veins, it is not something one can seek. The Heavenly Sword Sect had already gathered nearly all they could find in the market, but it was still far from enough.”

“They heard that there might be a large stock inside the [Five Elements Heaven] within the Five Elements Sect. So the leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect personally came asking for it.”

“That arrogant old man actually bowed his head to the Five Elements Sect. Lan Xiangfeng was over the moon and more than happy.”

“Plus, the price offered by the Heavenly Sword Sect was so high that all the elders of the Five Elements Sect were persuaded.”

“So, the Five Elements Sect started to massively dig for [Essence Gold of the Primal Source] in the Secret Realm. However, that alone would not have caused the ensuing tragedy.”

“They somehow got tempted by someone who suggested that the metals mined along the way shouldn’t be wasted, so they decided to sell those as well. After hearing the news, other sects came over to buy in a frenzy.”

“Under the influence of greed, the Five Elements Sect’s excavation of the gold attribute veins got increasingly reckless.”

“Lacking manpower, they even hired rogue cultivators.”

“Until one day, the significant loss of the gold attribute led to a loss of balance among the Five Elements within the Five Elements Heaven.”

“Inevitably, it began to evolve toward the destructive state of the Unity of Five Elements.”

“Moreover, when the missing gold attribute could not satisfy the requirement of Unity of Five Elements, the remaining four attributes of wood, water, fire, and earth began an unordered and never-ending collision of energy…”

“The final result was a huge explosion that completely destroyed the Five Elements Heaven.”

“The entire Five Elements Sect suffered irreparable losses. Its core force was almost wiped out, and they never recovered.”

“Just to survive, they had to voluntarily attach themselves to the Great Taoist Sect, relying on their small remaining influence and became a subsidiary sect.”

With this, the boy in the green robe sighed heavily.

Having been listening by the side, Li Fan, however, felt a chill in his heart.

The fate of the ancient Five Elements Heaven was not the same as what is happening in the current Five Elements Great Cave Heaven?

Does this mean that after the Unity of Five Elements, a massive explosion will also occur here?

Muttering silently, when Li Fan looked back at the Calamity Transcendence Sect’s master and disciple, he found that their figures were becoming increasingly blurred.

And the sound of their conversation had also become inaudible