My Longevity Simulation Chapter 2: Aspiring to Seek Eternal Life

In the darkness, a row of small, shimmering words manifested on the screen.

[Upon returning to the year of anchoring, your overwhelming joy caused you to act erratically. This behavior nearly led to your aunt drowning you in holy water provided by the village witch.]

[With six months remaining before the countryside examination, you dedicated yourself to your studies from dawn until dusk. Armed with prior knowledge of the test questions, you were brimming with confidence. Despite her frequent complaints, your aunt remained steadfast in supporting your academic pursuits.]

[The village chief's brother harbored designs on your family’s ancestral lands and plotted to seize them. Your aunt tried to resist but was unsuccessful. However, you resolved the conflict with a clever ruse, causing your aunt to view you with newfound respect from that day forward.]

[Half a year later, you sat for the provincial examination. Although you did not rank in the top thirty, you succeeded in becoming a scholar, bringing great honor to your lineage.]

[Two years after being anchored, you traveled to Xuanjing City for the Imperial Examination. Having prepared for the specific questions, you naturally excelled. Your outstanding performance earned you the rank of a second-class scholar.]

[You spent time exploring Xuanjing City before finally achieving your objective: an appointment as the magistrate of Wen County in Jiangnan.]

[During the third year, you brought your aunt to live with you as you assumed your post. You began the secret process of building a network of loyal subordinates. That same year, you led a team into the deep mountains to locate the precious mineral deposits you remembered from your past life.]

[In the fourth year, your efforts resulted in the production of muskets and explosives. Your specialized musketry unit easily wiped out a nearby camp of mountain bandits.]

[In the fifth year, a brutal drought struck Jiangnan Province, causing widespread displacement. Thanks to your proactive water conservation projects, Wen County remained relatively stable. That year, a rebel group of migrants planned an assault on the Langya Prince’s estate. Your timely intervention saved his family, earning you the Prince of Langya's eternal gratitude.]

[By the sixth year, you earned a promotion to Governor of Jiangnan Province. During this time, you also wed the daughter of the Minister of Personnel.]

[In the seventh year, a plague of locusts devastated the grain harvests of Jiangnan. Only the territories under your administration were spared significant loss. That same year, your wife gave birth to a son.]

[In the eighth year, your craftsmen successfully developed flintlock pistols.]

[In the tenth year, Lady Langya bore a son. You visited in person to offer your congratulations and presented a meticulously chosen gift.]

[In the fifteenth year, the Emperor fell victim to a sudden malady. On his deathbed, he summoned the Prince of Langya to the capital and abdicated the throne to him. The Prince ascended as Emperor Xuanjing.]

[In the sixteenth year, Emperor Xuanjing called you to the capital, appointing you Minister of War. As various rebellions erupted across the land, the Emperor commanded you to lead the imperial armies to suppress the uprisings.]

[By the eighteenth year, you had traversed the realm and crushed the rebel forces. Upon your return to the capital, Emperor Xuanjing reclaimed your military authority but appointed you as the Tutor to the Crown Prince.]

[In the twentieth year, the Empress was suddenly implicated in a witchcraft scandal. Enraged, Emperor Xuanjing banished her to the Winter Palace. When the Crown Prince approached you in secret for help, you agreed without hesitation. Your private investigation uncovered evidence that Consort Xi Fei had framed the Empress. While the Emperor executed Consort Xi Fei and her entire clan, he refused to release the Empress from her exile.]

[In the twenty-first year, an anonymous informant accused you of high treason, providing evidence of your illicit mining operations and private militia. Stricken with anxiety, you submitted a formal apology. Emperor Xuanjing stripped you of your ministerial rank but allowed you to remain the Crown Prince’s tutor.]

[In the twenty-third year, during a spring hunt, Emperor Xuanjing decided to revisit the Langya royal residence in Jiangnan.]

[In the twenty-fourth year, you accompanied Emperor Xuanjing on his tour of Jiangnan. During the trip, you visited several of the mines you had once operated in secret.]

[In the twenty-fifth year, the Emperor made a third trip to Jiangnan, this time without you. Three months later, you received secret word that you had been denounced for visiting the Empress in the Winter Palace. That same year, Emperor Xuanjing was assassinated during his journey back to the capital. The capital was thrown into chaos by the news. The officials escorted the Empress out of the Winter Palace, and the Crown Prince ascended the throne as Emperor Kangning.]

[In the twenty-sixth year, you were named Imperial Advisor and Head of the Parliamentary Court, reaching the pinnacle of power. The young emperor relied on you heavily, allowing you to solidify your dominance over the court.]

[In the twenty-seventh year, your aunt passed away. Your thoughts returned to the pursuit of immortality, and you dispatched agents to search for any signs of immortals across the world.]

[In the twenty-eighth year, the Emperor reached adulthood. However, your influence continued to expand until the court was entirely under your control.]

[By the thirtieth year, the world recognized only the Imperial Advisor; the Emperor was little more than a shadow.]

[In the thirty-first year, the Empress Dowager discovered she was pregnant and summoned you to the palace in a panic. Overjoyed, you secretly moved her to the Imperial Advisor’s residence for her protection. That year, she gave birth to your son.]

[In the thirty-third year, you were ambushed by guards Emperor Kangning had trained in secret while entering the court alone. You narrowly survived thanks to a unique treasure. In your fury, you considered killing the Emperor to take the throne, but you relented after the Empress Dowager’s desperate begging and the advice of your ministers. Instead, you purged the Emperor's inner circle, leaving him a mere figurehead.]

[In the thirty-eighth year, Emperor Kangning died in despair. You installed your eldest son on the throne as Emperor Longchang.]

[In the fortieth year, the Empress Dowager succumbed to illness. Your obsession with immortality intensified.]

[In the forty-fifth year, your wife passed away.]

[In the forty-sixth year, your eldest son died of illness.]

[In the forty-eighth year, after decades of failing to find the path to immortality, you finally abandoned the search.]

[Fifty years after being anchored, two immortals emerged from the Ruins Abyss to the west and obliterated Xuanjing City. You were among the few to miraculously survive.]

......

[The simulation has concluded.]

[Select one of the following rewards to retain:]

1. An object you owned during this simulation.

2. Your Cultivation level from this simulation.

3. The simulated memories of an individual close to you. These memories will be transferred to that person.

4. Forgo the options above to speed up the recharging process.]

Li Fan woke up, finding himself back in his modest, quiet study.

As he looked at the surroundings that felt both intimate and distant, the decades of lived experience played back in his mind. He couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion. “Did reality turn into a simulation? Or has everything always been one? Perhaps, at a high enough level, the line between truth and illusion simply vanishes.”

Li Fan, however, wasn't one to fret over the unknowable. He quickly composed himself and turned his attention to the four choices.

The first and second options were unremarkable. While they would be invaluable if he had managed to step onto the path of Cultivation, he had remained a mere mortal in his previous life. There was no Cultivation realm to bring back.

The most significant item he had owned was likely the Imperial Jade Seal.

Yet, that too was useless—possessing it would only bring trouble.

As for the third option, granting his memories to another...

The thought made Li Fan’s pulse quicken for a moment.

Images of several people flashed through his mind.

Ultimately, he shook his head.

The human heart is unpredictable. There was no telling how someone would change after suddenly gaining decades of life experience.

Currently, [Truth] had not finished recharging, and he was nothing more than a powerless scholar without resources.

Stability was his priority.

That left only the fourth choice.

Accelerating the recharge.

For [Truth] to turn reality into a simulation, it required power.

Based on his past experiences, this charge usually accumulated naturally over time, taking roughly twenty years to fill completely.

The progress would cap at 200%.

Furthermore, if Li Fan faced a lethal threat, [Truth] would automatically expend its charge to protect him. This mechanism was the only reason he had survived several brushes with death in his last life.

Thus, the fourth option was the most logical.

Decision made, Li Fan didn't linger and made his choice mentally.

Immediately, the glowing text dissolved into sparks of light and reformed into a new status display.

Name: Li Fan Cultivation Realm: Mortal Physical Age: 20/86 Mental Age: 166/1056↑ Charging Progress: 30%

“Three lives as a man, totaling one hundred and sixty-six years. I’ve lived quite a long time. I recall my mental age limit being around nine hundred years before, but now it has reached a thousand. It seems that as I accumulate more experience, the limit expands, which is a relief.”

Just as a body has a finite lifespan, the mind has a limit to what it can endure.

Carrying too many memories creates a psychological weight. If that burden becomes too heavy, it can shatter a person's soul.

This was known as the “wear and tear of time.”

Fortunately, as one's mental horizons broadened, the capacity of the mind increased as well.

For the moment, Li Fan had no reason to worry about it.

“Everything will be fine once I set foot on the path of immortal Cultivation. In this new beginning, I no longer care for wealth, fame, or beauty.”

“My only desire is immortality!” The agony of watching loved ones wither away and the terror of his own aging body in his previous life had forged a resolve of iron within him.

“My goal for this life is to extract the secrets of Cultivation from those two. They will arrive in Xuanjing City in fifty years. With enough foresight and preparation, even if they are Foundation Establishment experts, I might find a way to win.”

“Beyond gunpowder, I might have to rely on that 'Immortal-Mortal Miasma' they mentioned.”

“I can't just sit around for fifty years, either. Since they originate from the eastern Ruins Abyss, perhaps I should send scouts to investigate the depths of that place ahead of time.”

......

The most miserable state of existence was living without a purpose. In his last life, Li Fan would often wake in the Empress Dowager’s chambers feeling a profound sense of hollow futility.

In that life, he had reached the absolute peak of mortal existence.

He was the Emperor’s teacher and the commander of the realm’s armies. The court was filled with his puppets.

He could have replaced the Emperor at any time, and the Empress Dowager lived to please him.

There was nowhere left to climb.

Should he repeat that in this simulation?

If so, what was the point of these cycles? Power and pleasure lost their flavor after being repeated so many times.

Without a new variable, Li Fan might have eventually chosen to end his own existence out of sheer boredom.

But!

The arrival of those two immortals had revealed a world of new possibilities!

They showed him a realm of strange and intoxicating opportunities.

It sparked a burning ambition within his soul.

He wanted to pursue immortality!

He wanted to live forever!

And he would let nothing stand in his way!

Li Fan pushed open his door and stepped outside, his gaze fixed firmly on the horizon.