One Trait Draw Per Year Even Simulations Count

When the Sword Lord left the Limitless Sword Sect, the scene could only be described as "tragic and solemn."

From the Grand Elders at the top down to the lowest outer sect servant disciples, everyone lined the path to see him off. From top to bottom, regardless of gender, every single person shed at least a full liter of tears.

"I heard that once you go to that so-called Real Realm, you can never come back! Sword Lord! How is this departure any different from riding a crane to the afterlife?!"

"Sword Lord! Please take me with you!!"

"If I think about never seeing the Sword Lord again, what meaning is there left in practicing the sword?!"

"Hurry! Someone bring those fainted disciples in the back for medical treatment!"

It wasn't just the Limitless Sword Sect's people.

Many sects and aristocratic families from the Five Regions also sent people to bid him farewell.

The Sword Lord's charisma was maxed out.

Those who came to see him off genuinely didn't want him to leave. Their mindset was truly like attending a funeral—coming to see the Sword Lord one last time.

Emotionally, the Sword Lord also felt reluctant to leave these friends from all directions.

But from the depths of his heart, the Sword Lord wanted his cultivation path to reach higher steps, to incidentally solve the mystery of why he could comprehend Divine Abilities, and to truly unleash that power.

Only then, he felt, would he have no regrets in this life.

The Sword Lord had already lived for over two hundred years.

There was nothing in the human world that he found particularly rare, novel, or reluctant to part with.

The Sword Lord stood alone, now facing the Path to Immortality, recalling the tear-streaked faces during his farewell at the sect. He couldn't help but smile softly.

The next moment, the Sword Lord's gaze turned icy cold. His sword slid from its sheath, and the blade sang with resonant chimes.

"Sword brother, are you also eager to go to the Real Realm?"

The Sword Lord's sword had an Artifact Spirit, but at this moment, only the Sword Lord could hear what the sword spirit said.

"Hahaha! Good! Then let the two of us break the iron law that Martial Saints cannot walk this path! The road is right beneath our feet—how can there be any reason we can't walk it?!"

The Sword Lord stepped onto the Path to Immortality. The galaxy projection on the bridge surface rippled in layers because of his arrival.

Just trying to take the first step forward, the Sword Lord was violently shaken off this rainbow bridge of stars by an immense resistance.

Seeing this, Shen Yang shook his head.

"Though Martial Saints can stand on it, completing this path is truly too difficult."

Chen Yi didn't speak.

Because he understood the Sword Lord.

He wouldn't give up!

The Sword Lord rallied once more, charging up with his sword, unleashing sword intent toward the path ahead. Sword light illuminated the sky, and sword momentum crushed the sea!

"Open!"

This time, the Sword Lord took three steps forward in one go!

Shen Yang's eyes lit up.

"It seems his cultivation level suddenly increased quite a bit?"

Chen Yi smiled.

That was more like it.

The Sword Lord was exactly the type who, when you asked if he won or lost, would tell you he understood!

Though it was a good start, the Sword Lord's incredibly difficult journey had only just begun.

The Path to Immortality couldn't be flown directly to the middle or the end; it had to be walked from the start.

The entire visible portion was about ten thousand steps long.

The first thousand steps alone took the Sword Lord an entire month.

During this time, he exhausted his strength many times, using his sword to prop himself up to keep from falling, snatching brief moments of rest, then rallying again.

Hua Wuyan, Shen Yang, Chen Yi, and the others couldn't help him.

If a second person intervened, the Path to Immortality's resistance would instantly explode, blasting everyone on it off.

Time and again, he stopped to recover, time and again, he pushed the limits of his body.

The Sword Lord's clean, neat robes were soaked with sweat over and over, only to dry under the blazing sun again and again.

As his body resisted the opposing force, his muscles tore countless times, forcing him to rapidly repair them with pills, only to tear them again.

However, the Sword Lord discovered that, with each step forward, his sword path had actually advanced further from its peak!

This made the second half of his journey easier than the first.

Half a year later.

Just one more step, and he would leave the human world. The Sword Lord turned back for one last look.

Chen Yi was still below the Path to Immortality.

The Sword Lord said nothing. He only gave Chen Yi a slight nod.

The next moment, without hesitation, he stepped into the other side of the Path to Immortality.

The Sword Lord disappeared.

The Path to Immortality vanished along with him.

[Simulation Task Progress: 2/4.]

Chen Yi let out a sigh of emotion.

"Watching someone ascend really feels strangely painful."

If the Great Demon were here, he'd probably ask: Why didn't you feel pain watching me ascend?

Hua Wuyan patted Chen Yi on the shoulder.

"Time to go back."

Chen Yi asked.

"Senior Hua, are you really not considering going to the Real Realm?"

If Hua Wuyan could walk the Path to Immortality, then in just two more years, they could simulate it.

Otherwise, they'd have to wait for Li Wentian—a full four more years.

Unfortunately, Hua Wuyan's attitude remained quite firm.

"That Real Realm is a strange, unknown shore. I prefer the human world I'm familiar with."

Back at Baiyun County, Chen Yi saw Third Sister Chen Yun waiting for him at the Chen Mansion's entrance.

"Third Sister, why don't you go inside and sit?"

Chen Yun saw Chen Yi fly over; she was used to it by now.

The man in her household had also been flying around last year.

In Chen Yun's understanding, her fourth brother and her husband had basically suddenly turned into immortals.

Forget martial arts training.

How could someone who was a ground-walking chicken last month suddenly become a flying dragon the next month?

They had to be immortals.

"I just got here... Fourth Brother, I want to ask—once someone goes to that Real Realm, can they definitely never come back?"

Chen Yi took his third sister's arm and led her into the Chen Mansion, speaking as they walked.

"That's not entirely absolute, but traveling between the Void and Real realms, based on my current understanding, only exists in theory. Once someone goes to the Real Realm, it's not much different from being dead—just without a corpse or grave."

"I see..."

Chen Yun seemed to be thinking about something, her pace slowing.

Chen Yi stopped and looked at her.

"Did brother-in-law tell you about merging with Founding Ancestor Shen, and about going to the Real Realm?"

"He didn't say it. I was just curious how he suddenly became so powerful. I kept hounding him, and only then did he tell me it was the Founding Ancestor Shen's power, and that he has some special physique that lets him coexist with the Founding Ancestor Shen."

"The Founding Ancestor Shen wants to go to the Real Realm. If he has brother-in-law, he can go in a perfect state, but brother-in-law is still considering it, right?"

"No, he refused the Founding Ancestor Shen. He said he hopes to spend this life with us mother and daughter. If he's still alive by then, he'll go to the Real Realm with the Founding Ancestor Shen."

Shen Yang was probably pretty frustrated too.

That way, he'd either have to go to the Real Realm in his current state, or run a few more rounds of "Mirror Wielder Selection" and wait for an aged Shen Qingshan.

Chen Yi was now taking a laissez-faire attitude toward whether Shen Qingshan and Shen Yang merged.

It didn't matter if Shen Yang didn't go to the Real Realm; there were other people who could step onto the Path to Immortality.

If all else failed, they could just wait a few more years to simulate.

Anyway, there weren't any major disasters or catastrophes in the coming years.

Chen Yun dropped a bombshell.

"I hope he can go to the Real Realm with the Founding Ancestor Shen."

"Third Sister, if that happens, you and Shen Jia will never see him again in this life..."

"Family members should be each other's pillars, not burdens. If he wants to go, I should support him. For him to be held back by me and our daughter, missing out on his opportunity—that would be unfair to him."

A few months later.

At the edge of the North Sea.

On a desolate island, Chen Yun and Shen Jia watched Shen Qingshan, standing aloft in mid-air, waving farewell.

"Husband! Go with peace of mind! I'll take care of things at home!"

"Dad! You have to come back soon!"