One Trait Draw Per Year Even Simulations Count

Staying in this lifeless distant sea was indeed a boring matter.

But with Hua Wuyan, the Guardian, helping out, Chen Yi could actually go wherever he wanted, completely unrestricted.

For example, the Path to Immortality wouldn't appear for at least another year, so guarding here was meaningless.

Besides, no one could possibly fly from the continent to this location within a year.

Even a Martial God would need three years to traverse this distance. If traveling through the Starry Domains, it would still take a year.

So, after everything had settled, Chen Yi stored all the survivors inside the Cauldron Realm, then had Hua Wuyan bring them back to the continent.

Everyone emerged from the Cauldron Realm and went their separate ways, returning home to their families.

Everyone's heart was incredibly stirred.

There was the relief of surviving the battle against the Ancient Wasteland Survivors.

There was the reverence of witnessing the splendor of so many Martial Gods.

There was also the excitement of personally seeing a path to ascension appear before their eyes.

After so many people returned separately, the appearance of the Path to Immortality would no longer be a secret.

Many older martial artists, who had long regarded ascension as mere legend, began heading toward the end of the North Sea from that day onward.

Some flew on their own, while others wanted to borrow a path through the Starry Domains.

There were also those below the Martial King realm who couldn't fly but were simply too curious about the Path to Immortality. They directly boarded ships.

A ship would take many years to travel, and they might spend their entire lives on the journey.

But even so, the shores of the North Sea now saw ships setting sail northward every single day.

These ships were, of course, not ordinary vessels. They were specially refined Spirit Artifacts capable of long-term navigation at relatively high speeds.

Some people used even more advanced flying boats for the voyage.

The coast was bustling with people coming and going, an endless stream.

The Northern Frontier, always sparsely populated, had been turned by this Path to Immortality into one of the continent's most prosperous future regions.

Chen Yi returned to the Chen Mansion in Baiyun County, continuing his peaceful and comfortable days.

On ordinary days,

He would either switch to specialized trait tags and delve into the intricacies of artifact forging, alchemy, formations, and such,

Or use "Proficiency" to raise the mastery level of Heaven-Grade martial arts, advancing toward his goal of maxing out proficiency in all techniques.

If he felt bored, he would freely fly wherever he pleased.

One day, he would go to the Holy Lands to enjoy the sea breeze; the next, he would head to the Starry Domains to test his martial arts' power against the stars; and the day after, he would visit the Sword Lord for tea and a chat about life.

At the same time, he was also keeping an eye on the remaining issues from the Ancient Wasteland Survivors — the handling of the Blood Moon organization's sleeper agents lurking within various factions.

All the major powers were currently conducting self-investigations.

Although some discoveries had been made, Chen Yi knew that the ones caught so far were far from all of them.

More Ancient Wasteland Survivors would remain permanently hidden within the human world.

These people faced two choices.

Forget their origins and assimilate into the human world.

Or harbor their hatred and wait for an opportunity to avenge the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm.

The former could be ignored — they would be assimilated.

As for the latter, they wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble. The moment they showed themselves, they would be instantly eliminated.

The Blood Moon organization — the ones who had slaughtered Chen Yi's family, the very beginning of this entire story, and the hidden hand behind so many secrets — would, with the destruction of the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, finally become history.

The edifice of many mysteries had already fallen, but three dark clouds still lingered above it.

"Who is helping the Dragon-Man tribe stabilize their passage?"

In the Fifth Simulation, the underwater spatial passage of the Dragon-Man tribe was opened with assistance from someone on the human side.

Such power was no ordinary feat; it required at least a Martial God.

Was it Yi Chengsheng and the other four City Lords?

No, because Hua Wuyan had said that the five of them had never left the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm.

If they ever left, another Martial God would appear in the world, and Hua Wuyan, as the Guardian, would sense it immediately.

In the simulation, Hua Wuyan had never mentioned it, which meant it wasn't them.

What about the last Wild Soldier?

No, that wasn't it either.

He was one with the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm and couldn't leave it.

"Where did the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array come from?"

In the Fourth Simulation, before Li Lingyue's death, she had handed the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array to Chen Yi.

She said the array was given to her by her Master, Hua Wuyan.

Chen Yi believed that Li Lingyue would never lie to him.

But the problem was,

The simulations were extensions of real time.

Although the butterfly effect existed, causing some things to differ greatly in the later stages due to different early developments,

Certain events were bound to happen.

If the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array was such an important item, why did Hua Wuyan have it in the Fourth Simulation but not in the Fifth?

No matter which simulation, Chen Yi and Hua Wuyan's contact in the early and middle stages was virtually nonexistent. Logically, this shouldn't have affected the events Hua Wuyan experienced.

"Where has the Heaven and Earth Sword gone?"

The Five Element Root Vessels could sense each other, especially when in close proximity. The sensation became even more pronounced.

But when they entered the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm, the Qiankun Mirror, the Nine Provinces Cauldron, the Sun Moon Tower, and even the Mountain River Armor on Hua Wuyan's body had not sensed the Heaven and Earth Sword.

Intuition told Chen Yi that these three issues were probably unrelated to the Blood Moon.

Verifying them would also be simple.

In the next simulation, he would raise his strength, then use Reformation on Yi Chengsheng and the others. That way, he could extract all the intelligence about the Blood Moon.

— Chen Yi in his peaceful state couldn't stack his full power, so he couldn't use his fists and the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to reform Martial God-level souls as he did in the Fifth Simulation.

Time passed swiftly.

One year later.

The Path to Immortality appeared once again at the end of the North Sea.

Although the martial artists had already entered the "Great Age of Navigation," no Spirit Artifact could possibly reach the distant sea within a single year.

So this area remained empty, with only the sacred rainbow light cast by the Path to Immortality.

Chen Yi, Hua Wuyan, and the Sword Lord appeared together at this spot.

This was the first time the Sword Lord had personally experienced Hua Wuyan's world-teleportation ability, and he couldn't help but marvel.

"So this is the power of a Guardian?"

Hua Wuyan smiled slightly.

"With rights naturally come obligations."

"So, you don't plan to leave the human world? I heard that the position of Guardian can be passed on voluntarily."

"I could indeed pass this identity on to someone else, but doing so would be too rash. It wouldn't be right. Besides, I'm already old — what good would going to the Real Realm do me?"

Not far away, Shen Yang stood below the Path to Immortality, surrounded by piles of texts, ink, writing brushes, all kinds of materials, and experimental apparatus that had failed, among other things.

In the past year, Shen Yang had only returned to the Starry Domains once, after which he had asked Hua Wuyan to bring him here.

By now, he had already separated from Shen Qingshan.

The body he currently occupied was the same decrepit one from before.

Even though his physical condition was poor, it couldn't stop Shen Yang's enthusiasm for studying the Path to Immortality.

"Old Shen, have you found anything?"

Shen Yang didn't even bother to see who was asking him; he just instinctively entered discussion mode.

"I have made some discoveries. It seems there are divine marks on the Path to Immortality, but they are buried very deeply. I suspect that divine marks aren't some power from the Real Realm at all. They might have originally been brought up by the Human Ancestor!"

This Old Shen, even with just a little research, had made a significant discovery.

Shen Yang finally took note of the newcomer. He glanced at the Sword Lord.

"At only the Martial Saint realm, this path will be very difficult for you."

The Sword Lord replied with some helplessness.

"I actually wanted to wait a few more years, to see if I could break through to Martial God. But Brother Chen Yi told me there's no need to wait — that I won't be able to break through in the next eighty years.

Brother Chen Yi does have a certain ability to see the future, so..."

A Martial Saint who couldn't break through to Martial God wasn't necessarily due to a lack of effort or talent.

Sometimes, all it took was a tiny bit of missing opportunity.

Since the Sword Lord was determined to venture into the Real Realm, he should go while he still had plenty of years left. What would be the point of going when he was already old?

—

Small holes don't need to be addressed; everyone can figure them out on their own (like blaming everything on the Blood Moon). As for the big holes, I think it's only the three mentioned in this chapter, right? Everyone can discuss here: what other big holes haven't been filled? Help Liu Zi remember.