My Simulated Road to Immortality

A thought struck Li Fan as he gripped the wilted branch of Ruo Mu in his hand, studying it closely.

After a while, he shook his head thoughtfully.

“It’s similar, yet different. As if they share the same origin, but there’s a clear distinction.”

“Considering the Wood Taoist’s deep-seated loathing for cultivators, it’s unlikely he would have traded with Jiao Xiuyuan.”

“So this is…”

Before Li Fan’s eyes, the scene of Ruo Mu being besieged by cultivators and its trunk cracking open with many branches falling from the sky flashed again.

“Perhaps, after these separated branches fell into the Xuanhuang World, they embarked on a completely new path.”

The vitality of plant life is always remarkably resilient. Even ordinary plants often regrow from broken branches.

This goes double for an extraordinary being capable of producing the Fruit of Eternal Life like Ruo Mu.

“Nevertheless, whether Jiao Xiuyuan is a transformation of a fallen branch of Ruo Mu, or simply found and used a remaining branch as material to create his avatar, it’s hard to determine.”

With a mere thought from Li Fan, the wilted branch of Ruo Mu suddenly sprouted a bud in hand.

In a blink of an eye, the bud grew into a tender new branch.

At the tip of the branch, like a fruit, hung a small round golden object.

Li Fan’s eye twitched.

This “golden fruit” was the Golden Core that the Wood Taoist had promised him.

Its storage method was rather peculiar, though.

Li Fan reached out to pick the Golden Core.

A slight resistance came from the “fruit”.

With a little more force, Li Fan successfully plucked the Golden Core.

The new branch was thrown back due to the reaction and kept swinging in the air.

However, after not swinging too long, it retracted back into the old branch with a swish.

Without giving Li Fan time to process, it drilled out again carrying another Golden Core.

Looking at the seemingly live twig of Ruo Mu in his hand, Li Fan’s heart grew heavy.

Without acting hastily, he continued to pluck the Golden Cores it produced, one after another.

It took nearly the time of burning one incense stick.

372 cores in total.

Once the Golden Cores were all handed over, the dried branch of Ruo Mu also completed its mission.

Turning into flying ashes that scattered in the wind.

However, during the “fruit picking” process, Li Fan seemingly stored the Golden Cores in his storage ring, but in reality he subtly began absorbing them using [Real].

Just as he had guessed, the Solo Art Golden Core only increased the anchoring progress by 0.25%.

The Dual Law Golden Core, however, offered 0.5%.

The Three Law Gold Pill, on the other hand, marked a significant leap—it could enhance the progress by 2% with just one Pill.

But out of these hundreds of Golden Cores, there were only a few that followed the Three Law.

The majority were Solo Art and Dual Law.

There was not a single one that followed Four Laws or higher.

After Li Fan unlocked the fifth anchor point, only 16 specially selected Golden Cores were left.

However, Li Fan didn’t choose based on the number of laws each Golden Core condensed.

Rather, he made judgments depending on their rarity.

The typical Five Elements laws, for example, were less exquisite than those Li Fan himself had realized and were not worth collecting.

Some, however, touched upon sectors where Li Fan was currently still lacking knowledge in, which were very valuable for Li Fan, who had just stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm.

The whole Nascent Soul Realm stage involves the process of cultivating one’s own Cave Heaven Domain.

The more complete the Cave Heaven Domain is, the greater battle prowess a Nascent Soul monk can demonstrate.

Once one can make it nearly identical to the external Xuanhuang World environment, they can start looking into the God Transformation Stage.

Li Fan did not exactly have a clear understanding of the details yet.

However, he had a vague idea of the overall process.

The so-called “suck the Pith of Heaven and Earth, to attain its spirit.”

Essence of Heaven, by definition, is equivalent to the human bone marrow.

The most vital function of the human marrow is to form blood.

The Essence of Heaven instead, forms laws.

The laws of heaven and earth, like human blood, constitute the cornerstone that maintains the stability of the world.

Without blood, humans die; without laws, Heaven perishes.

By disguising one’s own Cave Heaven as part of the real Xuanhuang world environment, you trick the Essence of Heaven’s instinctive process to ‘give laws’, thereby claiming a fraction of the laws that should have appeared in the world for oneself.

Of course, just as the human bone marrow has an immunological and defense mechanism besides the role of forming blood,

The Essence of Heaven also has some countermeasures.

Therefore, during the [Extracting the Essence of Heaven] process, caution must be maintained to avoid heaven and earth backlash.

It is generally possible to extract only one type of law at a time, and you cannot be greedy or overzealous – it requires moderation.

If enshrining the Essence of Heaven and Earth means, after attaining enough power, claiming laws openly and righteously as one’s own,

Then extracting the Essence of Heaven is, when one still lacks enough strength, stealthily stealing laws.

By strengthening oneself and weakening the opponent, the gap between the two parties is reduced.

Therefore, preparing adequately for the future process of walking the Unity-Path.

Now standing on the cultivation stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, Li Fan replayed the process of [Extracting the Essence of Heaven] in his mind and indeed, compared to the Golden Core Realm period, he had a more profound understanding.

“Transmitting laws indeed does Heaven thereby endow resources.”

“Starting with faking the wonder of heaven and earth, peeping the law of heaven and earth, it leads a person incapable of cultivation step by step to become able to harbor the entire cultivation system.”p>

“Then by seizing the essence of heaven and earth, and sucking the pith of heaven and earth, it narrows the gap between heaven and earth and oneself.”

“Enshrining the Essence of Heaven and Earth, I can grasp the power to grapple with heaven and earth.”

“Finally, by going contrary to the logic of Heaven and Earth, to take its place and obtain eternal longevity.”

“Each step has a clear goal…”

“Undeniably perfect, like a creature impossible to defend against. Hence, no wonder even with the power of heaven and earth, it failed miserably in the face of a new cultivator. It didn’t have a choice but to fight back.”

Li Fan let out a sigh of wonder.

Revisiting the cultivation steps, a thought suddenly struck him, reminding him of something incredibly similar to his memories.

However, when he tried to think hard about it, the inspiration that just dawned on him, vanished abruptly.

Even with the utilization of the Huadao Stone, it was impossible to recall it.

A feeling of loss involuntarily rose in his heart.

“How odd…”

Li Fan’s eyes narrowed slightly and he soon sunk into deep thought.

He was almost certain that under normal conditions, the inspiration would not have disappeared that quickly.

There must be some power at play that made this flash of brilliance disappear abruptly.

“Much like what I experienced in Sister Zhao’s Illusory Realm.”

“Locked in a secret room, attempting to cultivate immediately triggers the room’s walls to emit a noisy, mocking noise, trying to prevent me from meditating and recovering.”

“And this repression from the Xuanhuang world is even quieter, more hidden from others.”

“Celestial Dharma Bearer, is it you…?”

Li Fan’s gaze lifted to the sky, a strange look in his eyes.