One Trait Draw Per Year Even Simulations Count

[Although your true realm is Martial Saint, thanks to the "Half-Emperor for a Thousand Ages" effect, you are actually at the Martial God level.]

[Even so, the moment you set foot on the Path to Immortality, you felt a terrifying resistance that made your scalp tingle.]

[You felt as if you were standing before a wind wall of incredibly high intensity—one slight lapse in concentration, and you would be blown away by the gale.]

[You activated your martial arts to resist it, every muscle in your body exploding with power, your bones and tendons rumbling.]

[At the same time, you ordered the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to release Yi Chengsheng and the other five halfway out.]

[The five vicious ghosts' bodies remained inside the banner, with only their upper halves protruding, crammed together on the banner's surface, baring their teeth and snarling with ferocious expressions.]

["Chen Yi! What the hell did you let your grandpas out for?!"]

[They were still arrogant.]

[Since they were already dead, and completely suppressed by the Super Immortal Artifact, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, with no hope of breaking free, they had simply given up and stopped caring.]

[Upon discovering that you were walking the Path to Immortality, they immediately began sneering and jeering.]

["After fighting so hard to snatch the Path to Immortality, you waited until today to walk it? Hah! We thought you'd grabbed it for the sake of all creation, not planning to use it yourself!"]

["Chen Yi! The Path to Immortality isn't something just anyone can traverse! With that baby face of yours, you won't even make it a hundred steps! Hahaha!"]

["This Chen Yi is actually quite nice, specially letting us out to watch him embarrass himself, haha!"]

[Just as the five vicious ghosts were chattering noisily, they heard the crisp sound of metal being struck.]

["Clang!"]

["What's that noise?"]

["DONG!!"]

[Chen Yi slammed his fist into Yi Chengsheng's face, twisting his features into a contortion and rattling his soul.]

[Heartsteel stacks +1.]

[Then came the Eastern City Lord.]

["DONG!"]

[Heartsteel stacks +1.]

[After punching each of the five, you waited one minute.]

[Then you continued stacking the steel.]

[Although they didn't understand what you were doing, watching your body swell in size with every round of punches they endured, Yi Chengsheng and the others easily grasped one thing:]

[You were keeping them alive to farm battle power.]

[The five former City Lords of the Martial God realm, who had once lurked behind the scenes in the human world and styled themselves as the Ancient Wasteland Upper Realm, had now become nothing more than five tools in your hands—or rather, tool souls.]

["Ah!! This is too much!!"]

["First you kill us! Now you humiliate us! Chen Yi!! I HATE YOU!!"]

["If anyone can kill Chen Yi!! I'll be their slave for life in my next life!!"]

[You swept your cold gaze across the five vicious ghosts on the banner.]

["What are you squawking about? Get used to it quickly. There will be plenty of 'battlefield opportunities' for you in the future."]

[What is more despairing than death is being used as a tool by your enemy even after death.]

[The five City Lords were in agony.]

[After breaking through to Martial Saint, the maximum stacks of Heartsteel reached 10,000 layers!]

[Once you finished stacking the steel, your strength increased dramatically, and your body swelled to several hundred meters tall!]

[The resistance of the Path to Immortality correspondingly weakened.]

[The ten-thousand-step segment of the Path to Immortality within the human world instantly shrank before you, a titan touching the sky.]

[With one giant stride, you covered a tenth of the distance.]

[This spectacle left Hua Wuyan, Shen Yue, and the others utterly dumbfounded.]

[Shen Yue: "So that's how it is..."]

[Hua Wuyan: "Chen Yi... burst onto the scene from nowhere, then abruptly ascended like a mysterious shooting star. Truth be told, I still don't know his real background."]

[Possessing a Martial God cultivation base, and ten thousand layers of Heartsteel...]

[The half of the Path to Immortality located in the human world posed virtually no challenge to you.]

[After a simple ten steps, you stood at the junction where another space connected with the human world.]

[There, it was hazy and dreamlike, both real and illusory, radiating an enchanting aura that stirred the soul.]

[You turned back to look.]

[Standing high above the heavens, the world of earth and sea spread out like a magnificent scroll. The infinitely distant sky and azure ocean formed the exquisite, untouched blank spaces of that painting.]

[Your heart swelled with fierce emotion, a tangle of feelings within you.]

[After one last glance, you turned and strode toward the other end of the bridge.]

[You, have ascended!]

……

[Before you stretched an endless Great Wall, suspended in a void that was empty of all else but emitted a faint, golden light.]

[The wall wound and undulated, with a beacon tower standing at intervals along its length.]

[When you looked behind you, what lay beyond was not the human world you had just crossed, but the same boundless Great Wall.]

["Where the hell did this dump me? I thought the human world section was supposed to be half the Path to Immortality? Turns out it was just the starting line?"]

[Now, a single question confronted you.]

[Which way should you run?]

[After some thought, you decided to continue forward, based on the direction you were initially facing.]

["Hmph! A mere Path to Immortality—how could it stop me! I'll fly!!"]

[You leaped into the air, only to crash headfirst into the ground.]

["Ouch! Can you not fly here?!]

[From within the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the five City Lords laughed wildly in scorn.]

[This enraged Chen Yi so much that he pulled them out and, with the iron fist of materialism, manually helped them mute themselves.]

[The canine-headed strategist, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, spoke with a note of pessimism.]

["Buddy, I've got a bad feeling about this place. Is this really the Path to Immortality? Are you sure you haven't been scammed?"]

["If you ask me that, it's like asking whether I closed the door at home after I just stepped out. It makes me doubt it myself..."]

[You chose to trust the system.]

[If this weren't the Path to Immortality, how could the task of sending four people to the Path to Immortality have been completed?]

[The Demon Refining Pot was far more optimistic.]

["My liege, don't listen to that evil artifact's nonsense! Hey! You'll never guess—you, sir, have now ascended! You're an immortal! This here, is the Immortal Realm!"]

[Before setting out, you took out the Five Regions Sacred Pill.]

["Xiao Wu, your master needs you to play your part."]

["Mm-hmm! Xiao Wu is ready! Master is going to the upper realm, and you'll face many more challenges. Let Xiao Wu strengthen you!"]

[The Five Regions Sacred Pill's enhancement to a Martial Saint was negligible, practically insignificant.]

[But the twenty years of lifespan was absolutely real. Amplified by "Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles," that became forty years!]

["Xiao Wu, we will meet again."]

["Xiao Wu believes in Master!"]

[You consumed the Five Regions Sacred Pill. Theoretical lifespan +40 years. Current theoretical lifespan: 440 years.]

[You began your long journey along the Path to Immortality.]

Baiyun County, Chen Mansion Courtyard.

Moonlight like water.

Chen Yi sat in the courtyard, watching the simulation text flicker, while taking out the Five Regions Sacred Pill.

"Xiao Wu, we meet again."

Although the Five Regions Sacred Pill had no idea what had just happened, and didn't understand why her master was suddenly greeting her, she was just happy to see him.

"Mm-hmm! Good evening, Master. Why aren't you asleep yet? Is it because Martial Gods like you don't need to sleep?"

Chen Yi laughed.

"Master isn't sleeping tonight, because after tonight, Master is going to get a whole lot stronger!"

[Third year. Twenty-seven years old.]

[Extracting trait tags...]

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Chen Yi: "?"

——

The second version of the animated adaptation is now online. It's an AI-generated animation, and the production quality is quite decent. If you're interested, feel free to check it out.