The Sims: I Open the Immortal Path for All Beings

[Taoyun points have accumulated to 100, Life Simulator activated.]

[Would you like to initiate a life simulation? Warning: This will consume 100 Taoyun points.]

In the cold and silent Taoist temple, a handsome and elegant young Taoist sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion, looking slightly surprised.

The young man's name was Pei Xuanjing, known by the Taoist appellation "Everlasting". He was the master of the Taoist institution named Everlasting Observance.

Originally an ordinary man from Earth Star, he had since arrived in this world, where his past life's various matters no longer needed to be mentioned.

This world highly resembled the ancient world of his previous life, but with a significant difference: the existence of "Martial Arts".

Martial Arts practitioners would cultivate Inner Qi, then externally strengthen muscles, bones, and skin, and internally refine viscera and marrow, even taking a step further to reach a stage where one transforms blood and is reborn—a realm of invincibility, not mere exaggeration.

A Martial Artist at this level could easily demolish an army without a similarly strong opponent, their full-force strike covering a hundred-zhang radius, capable of moving mountains and shattering stones with a mere flip of the hand.

At present, he was a fledgling Martial Artist who had just begun to cultivate Inner Qi and was preparing to externally strengthen his muscles, bones, and skin.

When he first came to this world, Pei Xuanjing was very excited, as anyone might harbor a dream to roam the martial arts world with a sword at their side, live freely, and relish in the joys and grievances life offers.

However, by the age of six, he had already begun to understand reality.

First of all, he was neither the typical main character with abysmal talent nor a rare genius seen once in a millennium. He was a perfectly average individual, merely existing as a backdrop to highlight the main character.

With his mediocre talent, even if he inherited the Taoist Temple, maintaining this dilapidated institution without cultivation resources would likely lead to an uneventful old age and a regrettable demise, just like his master.

Nearly sixteen years had passed since he arrived in this new world, and he hadn't expected that he would one day get a "golden finger" opportunity.

He learned that this simulator required not gold or silver but what was known as 'Taoyun'—the enlightenment gained from personal cultivation or observing and learning from others.

In the past sixteen years in this world, he had been a minor Taoist acolyte in Everlasting Observance. From learning to read and write, to cultivating Martial Arts and Inner Qi, and observing the experiences recorded by predecessors, he had been continuously amassing Taoyun.

However, due to his weak strength, he initially accumulated Taoyun at a slow rate, and only now had he gathered enough to truly activate the simulator.

Thinking of this, Pei Xuanjing's eyes flickered slightly, as he pondered.

Given such an opportunity, it was worth trying for the chance at a different future.

"Activate!"

As soon as he spoke, silence enveloped Pei Xuanjing's surroundings, as though time itself had come to a halt.

At this moment, his sea of consciousness was like Chaos, followed by a loud bang, and heaven and earth separated.

He didn't know how long had passed—it felt like a moment and yet like eons.

A glimmer of light appeared, followed by a multitude of scenes, as if a movie was playing.

[The Great Tao is fifty, but Forty-Nine Heavenly Paths emerge, one escapes! Therefore, in all things in the world, there is always a sliver of hope!]

At sixteen: Your master passed away, and you inherited Everlasting Observance. However, without a pillar of support after your master's passing, the Taoist temple suffered from the oppression of other forces, and your income gradually diminished.

Facing this pressure, you chose to bear the humiliation and persevere in cultivating your sect's skill "Yi Wood Skill", with the hope of breaking through to Ninth-grade as soon as possible, becoming a true Martial Artist.

At seventeen: Due to a lack of income, you were forced to sell some of the temple's items to exchange for gold and silver, aiming to buy enough resources for cultivation.

At twenty-five: After consuming a considerable amount of resources, you finally succeeded in cultivating the first layer of "Yi Wood Skill", your skin as tough as bone, and ascended to Ninth-grade.

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You've waited nearly ten years just for one opportunity, not to prove you're extraordinary, but to tell others that your master's choice back then was not wrong. You're going to take back what was lost. To that end, you decided to establish Everlasting Observance's prestige and reclaim what rightfully belonged to you.

At the age of twenty-six: You've successfully taken back everything that belonged to Everlasting Observance and stood at the pinnacle of this small city.

At twenty-eight: You toiled in cultivation for two years, but you still haven't made any further progress in the martial arts. So, you decided to leave the Taoist Temple to travel. Shortly after your departure, you encountered bandits pillaging and, moved to act with justice, you intervened only to be killed by the bandits.

[This life has ended.]

This...

Pei Xuanjing didn't know what to say. Was this his debut into the martial arts world, only to die in frustration?

Can it be that he nurtured his Inner Qi since the age of ten, but only managed to enter the Ninth-grade when he turned twenty-five?

You must understand that in the current times under the heavens, the Immortal Path had declined, and the Martial Arts flourished.

The methods of Cultivation among the Taoists, Buddhists, Demons, and Confucians vary, and there is no unified term for their realms.

Six hundred years ago, during the previous dynasty's chaos, The Heroes rose up, and dragons and snakes emerged from the earth.

The Great Ming's founding emperor rose from insignificance, wielding a Three-foot Sword to create unparalleled achievements, sweeping across foreign lands, unifying the Divine Continent, and securing the imperial throne.

Thereafter, he established the system of the nine grades of cultivation:

Those who externally cultivate their muscles, bones, and skin belong to the lower Third Layer; those who internally cultivate their organs and marrow belong to the middle Third Layer; and those who renew their blood, are reborn, and cleanse their marrow rank in the upper Third Layer.

Thus, dividing the realms of cultivation into nine grades for the selection of talents for the Great Ming.

Today, six hundred years since the Great Ancestor, the concept of the nine grades of cultivation has deeply ingrained itself in people's hearts and is recognized by various religious sects.

Fifteen years of cultivation to become a beginner Martial Artist is indeed quite ordinary.

[Simulation has ended, you may choose to keep one of the following rewards.]

[Option one, the Cultivation Realm of a twenty-eight-year-old.]

[Option two, the cultivation experience of "Yi Wood Skill".]

Upon seeing this, Pei Xuanjing smiled.

With such rewards, one could say the experience wasn't a loss after all.

As for which to choose?

Without any hesitation, Pei Xuanjing chose the first option, the Cultivation Realm of a twenty-eight-year-old.

Because for him, strength at this moment is the most important thing. As long as he could achieve the strength of a Ninth-grade Martial Artist, he could then address the problems at their source and make a significant turn in his life to come.

The next instant, he felt the Inner Qi circulating throughout his body, his muscles began to swell, and the skin all over his body started vibrating with a unique rhythm. Taking out a small knife from the side, he gently slid it across his arm, leaving only a shallow white mark on his skin,

Tough as a drum, the knife couldn't cut through—an emblem of a Ninth-grade Martial Artist.

"Is this the power of a Ninth-grade Martial Artist?" Pei Xuanjing muttered to himself.

At this moment, he knew his life had changed; he would no longer end up like his master, who cultivated hard all his life and died having achieved nothing significant, merely withering away in this desolate small town.

He turned his gaze to the Life Simulator and noticed that as his strength increased, the Taoyun it required also grew.

[Do you want to use the Life Simulator? It will consume 200 points of Taoyun.]

With an increase in strength, does the consumption of Taoyun double?

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