My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 2 - 2: Aspiring for Longevity
Previously on My Simulated Road to Immortality...
Chapter 2: Aspiring for Longevity
Translator: 549690339
Glimmering strings of text and flickering images manifested sequentially within the darkness.
[You have returned to Anchor Year 1. Because of your erratic behavior, your aunt nearly forced you to consume exorcism water provided by the village witch.]
[With six months remaining before the rural examination, you dedicated yourself to rigorous study at home day and night. Since you already possessed knowledge of the exam questions, your confidence was unshakable. Despite her usual nagging, your aunt remained your steadfast supporter during your studies.]
[The village chief’s brother attempted to seize your family's fertile land by applying pressure behind the scenes. Your aunt tried to resist, but she struggled to oppose him as a lone woman. However, you resolved the crisis with your wits, causing your aunt to view you with newfound respect.]
[Half a year later, you sat for the rural exam. You secured the thirtieth rank, successfully passing and bringing great honor to your household.]
[In Anchor Year 2, you traveled to Xuanjing City for the metropolitan examination. Thanks to your prior preparation, you performed brilliantly and were ranked among the ‘double-second’ scholars during the palace examination, earning the title of ‘jinshi’.]
[After navigating the complex social circles of the capital, you managed to secure the coveted position of county magistrate for Wen County in Jiangnan.]
[In Anchor Year 3, you moved your aunt to your new residence and officially began your duties in Wen County. You started quietly building a circle of loyal subordinates. During that same year, guided by memories of your previous life, you led a team into the mountains and located several mineral deposits.]
[In Anchor Year 4, you successfully produced a shipment of explosives and flintlock guns. Utilizing this new firearms squad, you suppressed local outlaw groups and forced them into your service.]
[In Anchor Year 5, a severe drought devastated Jiangnan, causing massive displacement. Because you had invested early in waterwheels and canals, Wen County remained largely unaffected under your governance. That year, a rebel group attacked King Langya’s Mansion; you arrived with your troops just in time to save the King and his family, earning their profound gratitude.]
[In Anchor Year 6, you were elevated to District Governor of Jianghuai. During the same year, you married the daughter of the Minister of Personnel.]
[In Anchor Year 7, a locust plague ruined the harvests across Jiangnan Taoist, yet your territory suffered the least damage. That year, your wife gave birth to your first son.]
[In Anchor Year 8, your researchers successfully refined the production of flintlock guns.]
[In Anchor Year 10, a son was born to Queen Langya. You visited personally to offer your congratulations and presented them with meticulously chosen gifts.]
[In Anchor Year 15, the emperor’s health failed. On his deathbed, he summoned King Langya to the capital and abdicated the throne to him. King Langya became the new Emperor and renamed the era to Xuanjing.]
[In Anchor Year 16, Emperor Xuanjing called you to the capital, promoting you to Minister of War. As rebellions flared up across the empire, you were commanded by the Emperor to suppress the uprisings.]
[In Anchor Year 18, you crushed the final rebel forces after years of warfare. Upon your return, Emperor Xuanjing reclaimed your military authority but appointed you Secretary of War and granted you the title of Grand Master of the Crown Prince.]
[In Anchor Year 20, a witchcraft scandal suddenly implicated the Empress. Enraged, Emperor Xuanjing banished her to the cold palace. The crown prince secretly pleaded for your assistance, and you agreed immediately. Your private investigation uncovered evidence that Venerated Consort Xi had framed the Empress. While the Emperor ordered the execution of the Consort’s entire clan, he refused to release the Empress from the cold palace.]
[In Anchor Year 21, you were accused of high treason after someone exposed your secret mines and private army. Overwhelmed by fear, you sent a letter begging for the Emperor's mercy. Emperor Xuanjing stripped you of your Secretary post, leaving you only as the tutor to the crown prince.]
[In Anchor Year 23, during a spring hunt, Emperor Xuanjing felt a sudden longing to return to the King Langya’s Mansion in Jiangnan Taoist.]
[In Anchor Year 24, Emperor Xuanjing commanded you to accompany him to Jiangnan. While admiring the scenery, he also inspected the private mines you had once operated.]
[In Anchor Year 25, the Emperor made a second trip to Jiangnan, but you were excluded this time. Three months later, secret reports reached you that you were being accused of visiting the Empress in the cold palace. That same year, Emperor Xuanjing was assassinated during his return journey. Chaos gripped the capital; the court officials reinstated the Empress from the cold palace, and the crown prince took the throne, initiating the Kangning era.]
[In Anchor Year 26, you were appointed Grand Master and head of the Council of State affairs, reaching the pinnacle of prestige. Since the young emperor relied on you heavily, you used the opportunity to cement your dominance over the imperial court.]
[In Anchor Year 30, the people of the realm recognized only the Grand Master, while the Emperor was ignored.]
[In Anchor Year 31, the Empress Dowager discovered she was pregnant and summoned you in a panic. Delighted, you moved her into the Grand Master Mansion in secret to care for her. Later that year, she gave birth to your son.]
[In Anchor Year 33, you were ambushed by the Palace Guard, who had been secretly trained by Emperor Kangning, while entering the court alone. You barely survived thanks to a magical artifact. Though you were furious and intended to seize the throne, the pleas of the Empress Dowager and the officials stopped you. Instead, you executed the Emperor’s inner circle. From then on, Emperor Kangning remained a ruler in name only, stripped of all power.]
[In Anchor Year 38, Emperor Kangning died of a broken spirit. You placed his legitimate eldest son on the throne, beginning the Longchang era.]
[In Anchor Year 40, the Empress Dowager succumbed to illness. Your obsession with finding the path to immortality grew stronger.]
[In Anchor Year 45, your wife passed away.]
[In Anchor Year 46, your firstborn son died of illness.]
[In Anchor Year 48, you abandoned your search for immortality after years of finding nothing.]
[In Anchor Year 50, two Immortals emerged from the Eastern Ruin Abyss and laid waste to Xuanjing City, but you managed to survive the catastrophe.]
... [Simulation concluded]
[Select one of the following rewards to retain:]
1. An object owned by your simulated self during the session. 2. The Cultivation level achieved by your simulated self during the session. 3. The simulated memories of one individual closely tied to you. This memory will be inherited by that person. 4. Forgo the rewards above to increase the energy charging speed.]
Li Fan’s consciousness returned, and he found himself sitting in his humble study once more.
As he surveyed the room—a place both strange and deeply familiar—decades of lived experiences surged through his spirit consciousness. He pondered, “Has reality become a dream, or was that simulation so vivid that it created an illusion? Perhaps, at a certain stage, the line between truth and falsehood simply vanishes.”
But Li Fan was not one for idle sentiment. He composed himself quickly and evaluated the four choices.
The first and second options were immediately dismissed. If Li Fan had actually started Cultivation, those would be invaluable. Unfortunately, he had remained a mortal in his previous life, possessing no Cultivation level at all.
As for his most prized possession, it would have been the imperial jade seal.
That was equally useless; such an item would only bring disaster upon him.
The third choice—bestowing his simulated memories upon another person...
This idea made Li Fan’s heart race for a moment.
Several faces from his past life flickered through his spirit consciousness.
Ultimately, he shook his head.
The human heart is a fickle thing. There was no telling how a person might change after suddenly receiving decades of memories.
Furthermore, [Real] had not finished its charging process. He was currently just a frail scholar who couldn't even tie up a chicken; he lacked the foundation to take such risks.
Stability was the priority.
Thus, only the final option remained.
Accelerating the charge.
The transition of [Real] from reality to the void required energy.
Based on the experiences Li Fan had gathered in his former life, this charge accumulated naturally over time. It usually took about twenty years to reach full capacity.
Once the charge hit the 200% limit, it would stop increasing.
Additionally, if Li Fan suffered a fatal blow, [Real] would expend its charge to provide automatic protection. This was exactly how he had cheated death multiple times in his last life.
Therefore, the fourth option was undoubtedly the safest.
Having made his choice, Li Fan offered a silent command in his mind.
The rows of glowing characters shattered into points of light, rearranging themselves into a new status display.
Name: Li Fan Realm: Mortal Biological age: 20/86 Psychological age: 166/1056↑ Void transformation charging progress: 30%
“Three lives as a man, totaling one hundred and sixty-six years. I’ve lived quite a long time already. As for the psychological age limit, I recall it being just over nine hundred years in my last life, but now it has surpassed a thousand. It seems my experiences expand this limit, which eases my worries.”
Just as the physical body has a lifespan, the mind has a threshold for what it can endure.
Carrying too many memories creates a mental weight. If that burden becomes too heavy, it can shatter a person’s soul.
This is commonly known as the “wear and tear of the years.”
However, as one’s mental resilience grows, so does the upper limit of their psychological age.
For the time being, Li Fan did not need to concern himself with this.
“Once I enter the world of Cultivation, these issues will vanish. In this new beginning, I don’t care for gold, luxury, or women.”
“My only desire is longevity!” The agony of watching his family and friends die one by one, combined with the helplessness of his own aging body, forged Li Fan’s resolve into steel.
“The objective of this life is to seize the secrets of Cultivation from those two practitioners. They will appear in Xuanjing City in fifty years. By planning ahead while they are unsuspecting, I might hold my own, even if they possess the power of the Foundation Establishment phase.”
“Perhaps my advantages aren't limited to guns and powder; I might also use that 'Immortal-Ordinary Miasma' they mentioned...”
“Furthermore, I cannot simply wait for fifty years. Since they hail from the Eastern Ruin Abyss, I could send explorers to investigate the depths of that place beforehand.”
...
A life without a goal is a miserable existence. In his previous life, Li Fan often woke up beside the Empress Dowager feeling a profound sense of emptiness and confusion.
In that lifetime, he had reached the absolute peak for a commoner.
He was the imperial tutor and the commander of the realm’s armies. Most of the court officials were his puppets.
He held the power to crown or dethrone emperors, and even the Empress Dowager was forced to submit to his whims.
There was no higher peak to climb.
Even if he lived another life the same way, the result would be identical.
Would he simply repeat the same actions in the next simulation?
What was the point of enduring cycle after cycle of reincarnation if nothing changed?
Power and pleasure become tasteless once they have been experienced too many times.
Without a new variable, Li Fan might have eventually chosen to end his own life after a few more cycles.
But!
The arrival of those two cultivators had revealed an entirely new path!
They showed Li Fan a mysterious, captivating world that was calling to him from the horizon.
They provided him with boundless ambition and a clear destination.
He would cultivate!
He would attain eternal life!
Nothing would stand in his way!
Li Fan pushed open his door and stepped outside, his head held high.
His stride was unwavering!