My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 1 - 1 Where Does the Immortal Come From
1 Chapter 1 Where Does the Immortal Come From
Translator: 549690339
In the Da Xuan Kingdom's Xuanjing City, within the Grand Master Mansion.
Holding a cup of wine, Li Fan gazed at the assembled officials honoring his birthday. Despite his advanced years, a swell of pride surged within him.
Indeed, the Grand Master Mansion brimmed with dignitaries this day. Such a show of influence was truly formidable.
Li Fan had begun as a destitute scholar upon entering this realm.
During the last fifty years, he ascended from obscurity to the esteemed position of Grand Master. His path could fill volumes of a multi-million-word epic.
What more could life demand!
Stroking his beard, Li Fan drained his cup.
“A toast to the Grand Master!”
The gathered officials chorused together.
Delight deepened in Li Fan's heart.
Suddenly, chaos broke out beyond the doors.
“Look! What’s that thing!”
“Fiery orbs plummeting from above; this has to be a portent, a divine warning! Hurry, alert the Grand Master!”
“They seem headed straight for the Grand Master Mansion!”
…
The uproar from outside made Li Fan knit his brows.
The festive hall fell into hushed stillness.
Rising first, Li Fan led the way out.
Yet before he could scold the servants or voice his irritation, the spectacle overhead left him entranced.
Far in the heavens, twin silver gleams chased each other like meteors, racing toward him.
“What in the world…” Li Fan stood speechless.
In an instant, the twin meteors halted over Xuanjing City.
Simultaneously, a thunderous voice boomed, reverberating painfully in every ear.
“Dao Xuanzi! Don’t test my patience!”
…
The onlookers froze in awe, some shouting “Immortal Teacher” and dropping to their knees.
In that instant, a long-buried term resurfaced from Li Fan’s deepest mind.
“Cult…Cultivators!” Li Fan remained petrified in shock, whispering, “This can’t be real…”
The airborne cultivators paid no heed to the mortals below them.
A second voice countered, “Kou Hong! Did you believe escaping to the Immortal Realm would save you? Surrender the technique you obtained. If not, I’ll pursue you to oblivion!”
“Ridiculous! Stuck at Foundation Establishment for a century, facing my end. This Golden Core Technique is my salvation—why would I yield it?” Kou Hong retorted with scorn lacing his words.
“Precisely!” Dao Xuanzi exhaled heavily, “The Golden Core Path allows only one successor. Countless Golden Core Techniques exist, yet far more cultivators languish at Foundation Establishment.”
His voice sharpened with malice, “Now that immortality beckons me, how could I release you?”
Kou Hong burst into mocking laughter, “Absurd! Brothers for a hundred years, and now we clash over a chance at survival!”
Dao Xuanzi sneered silently.
Abruptly, Kou Hong declared, “I know I can’t defeat you, and flight won’t be simple today. But with all these mortals around, can you endure this thick Immortal-Ordinary Miasma!”
Dao Xuanzi cried out in alarm, “Kou Hong! What madness are you unleashing!”
Kou Hong cackled wildly, “Merely grasping for a spark of hope…that’s all!”
Overhearing the skyborne duelists, Li Fan sensed impending doom. Before he could move, a scarlet fireball detonated high over Xuanjing City.
“Boom boom boom!”
Deafening blasts rang in Li Fan’s ears. Crimson flames swallowed his vision, and darkness claimed him.
…
Upon regaining consciousness, Li Fan lost track of time elapsed.
Initially bewildered, memories soon flooded back.
Coughing up blood, Li Fan rose shakily and surveyed the devastation.
Night lingered, but the opulent Grand Master Mansion lay in rubble.
Acrid smoke from charred remains choked the air.
All banquet guests had perished, their spirits fled.
Even Li Fan’s wives and five sons met the same fate.
His weathered face showed no emotion, eyes vacant.
After a dazed pause, he forced his frail form from the wreckage.
Moments ago a thriving hub, Xuanjing City now resembled a fiery inferno of gore. Shattered corpses and toppled structures dominated the view.
Surely, fewer than one in a hundred endured the calamity.
This ruin stemmed from those abrupt “Immortal Teachers,” the cultivators.
Collapsing against a shattered wall, Li Fan slumped in fatigue.
The blast had ruined his ears. Yet in this moment, it mattered little.
A bitter laugh bubbled within him.
Cultivators in this world? Unthinkable.
Since assuming power, he’d wielded authority to hunt for Immortal traces.
As Imperial Teacher, supreme among all, he’d scoured the globe!
From northern Frozen Ocean to southern Great Ocean, eastern Xu Yuan to western Mountain Lian.
No hint of Immortals anywhere in Great Xuan!
Yet today, in his twilight years, hope abandoned, two cultivators plummeted from the skies, invaded his domain, and obliterated his world without warning.
Is this the essence of Immortality?
And from whence do Immortals hail?
Rage and resentment dissolved into boundless bewilderment.
The heavens toy with mortals!
Yet Li Fan felt a profound gratitude too.
At least before death, he’d verified the Immortals’ reality!
Else, in his next existence, he’d squander another fifty years fruitlessly?!
Indeed! Li Fan, a simple mortal, rose from humble scholar to realm-renowned Imperial Teacher. Could this occur unaided?
This very aid allowed his slim escape from Immortal grasp.
“[Real]!”
Silently invoking the word, Li Fan watched the world dim, as if veiled by a murky shroud. Reality grew hazy, dreamlike.
“Turning Fake into Real.”
Seven glowing characters emerged in the void, then scattered into a shimmering panel.
“Charging complete.”
“Do you wish to virtualize the current scene, and return to the original anchor point.”
The prompts flickered sequentially.
Concurrently, vignettes flooded the display, claiming the panel entirely.
These depicted Li Fan’s fifty-year saga in this realm.
Staring at his life’s montage, Li Fan paused in astonishment.
“[Real].”
So named the enigmatic artifact Li Fan bore eternally.
Its sole ability: Turn Fake into Real, converting fact to fiction!
This reversal implied reshaping all of Li Fan’s tangible encounters into simulated fantasies, allowing reversion to the starting anchor—the moment of his arrival in this world.
Truth be told, this marked Li Fan’s second incarnation.
In the first, though driven, he was ordinary. After repeated setbacks, at thirty he forsook scholarly pursuits and bureaucracy, launching a modest venture to amass moderate wealth, wed, sire children, and lead a mundane existence. Only in senescence, illness-claimed, did [Real] awaken.
Thus ignited Li Fan’s inexorable ascent in the second life.
Regrettably, its application here proved misguided.
Pondering briefly, Li Fan refrained from concluding this existence at once. Matters remained unresolved first.
Dismissing the panel, resuming reality, Li Fan mustered resolve to address Xuanjing’s Immortal-wrought ruin.
Rallying scant survivors, leveraging decades of authority, he marginally steadied the populace.
Deaf though he was, pen and paper sufficed. Communication proved cumbersome, yet his directives flowed unimpeded.
Initially, he summoned loyal forces from beyond the walls to enforce post-cataclysm order. Then dispatched missives to nearby locales for aid in provisions and personnel.
Xuanjing’s structures vaporized instantly. With troops securing the site, Li Fan quartered in the barracks to oversee recovery.
Under his command, supplies and experts streamed from adjacent cities to Xuanjing.
A month on, the rubble-strewn city stirred with renewed life.
Only after Great Xuan rebounded from the Immortal assault did Li Fan decree a realm-wide probe into that night’s two Immortals.
Details sought: their origins, destinations, and any en route exchanges.
Alas, exhaustive inquiries yielded scant fruit beyond their eastern Xu Yuan approach.
The mutual annihilation Li Fan yearned for eluded reality.
“No surprise there,” Li Fan mused inwardly with a soft sigh. “Thus, this life holds nothing more for me.”
From the reconstructed Grand Master Mansion, Li Fan activated [Real] anew.
“Do you wish to virtualize the current scene, and return to the original anchor point.”
Without delay, Li Fan affirmed.
Across the panel, myriad vibrant episodes halted uniformly. Then, this life’s grandeur of status and fortune fractured like a reverie, erupting into meteors that surged into Li Fan’s spirit consciousness.
Images whirled before him in swift procession, halting at the aerial confrontation above the Grand Master Mansion.
“Dao Xuanzi, Kou Hong.” Li Fan murmured their names. “In fifty years, I’ll await you in Xuanjing City.”
“Wealth and honor are fleeting mists to me.” As awareness dimmed, Li Fan’s resolve and ambition crystallized unyieldingly.
“Next life, I shall seize an Immortal!”
The glow in his spirit consciousness waned, and Li Fan drifted into profound slumber.