Chapter 2: The Pursuit Of Eternal Life

In the darkness, glowing lines of text appeared one after another, accompanied by vivid scenes.

Your musket squad annihilated and absorbed a nearby bandit group in their first trial run.]

The Crown Prince secretly sought your help, and you agreed without hesitation. Through discreet investigations, you uncovered evidence proving that Noble Consort Xi had framed the Empress, clearing her name. The Emperor exterminated Noble Consort Xi’s lineage alongside her parental and maternal families, but did not release the Empress from the cold palace.]

[You may choose one of the following options:

1. Retain an item you possessed in this simulation.

2. Retain your cultivation level in this simulation.

3. Retain the simulated memories of one closely associated individual. These memories can be inherited by that person.

4. Forfeit the above choices to accelerate charging process.]

Li Fan regained consciousness and found himself back in his humble study.

Surveying the familiar yet foreign surroundings, decades of memories flashed through his mind. He couldn’t help but sigh.Was reality transformed into illusion, or was it all a simulation from the get-go? Maybe it was so lifelike it blurred the line between truth and falsehood... or maybe, at some point, the distinction doesn’t matter anymore.

Yet Li Fan was not one for sentimentality. Quickly steadying himself, he focused on the four options.

The first two were straightforward. Had he embarked on the path of cultivation, either would have been invaluable. Unfortunately, in his past life, he had remained a mere mortal with no cultivation to speak of.

As for the most valuable item he had possessed—likely the imperial jade seal—it was not just useless now, but a potential magnet for disaster.

The third option, granting someone else the memories of this simulation... That stirred his heart.

For a moment, faces flickered through his mind.

But in the end, he shook his head.

Human nature was unpredictable. There was no telling how someone might change after inheriting decades’ worth of memories.

With Return to Truth not yet recharged, he was still a frail scholar with no means to start over.

Caution was paramount.

That left only the fourth option: accelerating the charging process.

Return to Truth’s virtualization of reality required charging. From his past life’s experience, this ability could only be charged with time, roughly twenty years for a full charge.

The maximum capacity was 200%, at which point the charging process would cease.

When he faced mortal peril, Return to Truth would automatically consume some of the charge to shield him. This was how he had cheated death multiple times in his past life.

Thus, the fourth option was the safest choice.

With his decision made, Li Fan hesitated no longer. He simply confirmed his choice.

Instantly, the glowing lines of text scattered like fireflies before rearranging into new characters:

Name: Li Fan

Realm: Mortal

Biological Age: 20/86

Psychological Age: 166/1056↑

Virtualization Charging Progress: 30%

Three lifetimes, a hundred and sixty-six years. So I’ve already lived for this long. As for the psychological age limit, it was only nine hundred the last time, but now it’s over a thousand. It seems to increase as I accumulate experience.

The thought eased some of his worries. Just as the lifespan of the body had its limits, so too did the mind's capacity for endurance.

The accumulation of too many memories became a burden on the mind. Once that burden grew too heavy, it would crush a person’s soul entirely.

This was the so-called “erosion of time.”

Yet one’s psychological age limit could increase alongside one’s resilience.

For now, Li Fan did not have to concern himself with this.

Once I step onto the path of cultivation, none of this will matter. Now that I’m starting anew, wealth and pleasure mean nothing.

Only eternal life matters!The agony of watching loved ones fade in his past life, the helplessness and dread as his own body withered with age—all of it had tempered Li Fan’s will into unbreakable steel.

My goal in this life is to extract the secrets of cultivation from those two cultivators. Fifty years from now, they will descend upon Xuanjing City. With preparation, even Foundation Establishment cultivators can be outmaneuvered.

Beyond firearms and explosives, perhaps I can exploit the so-called Immortal-Mortal Miasma...

Fifty years is too long. They came from the Abyssal Chasm in the east. Perhaps I can send men to explore it first.

The greatest fear in life is to lack purpose. In his past life, Li Fan had often woken up in the dead of night beside the Empress Dowager, gripped by emptiness and doubt.

He stood at the pinnacle of mortal achievement.

He was the Son of Heaven’s tutor, commander of the empire’s armies. Nearly all court officials were his loyalists.

He could depose Emperors at will, and even the Empress Dowager was at his beck and call.

There was no higher ladder to climb. Even in this life, things could only get this good.

Should he repeat this path in the next simulation? What meaning was there in such endless cycles?

Power and pleasure may taste sweet at first, but savor them too much, and they end up tasting like ash.

Perhaps, if nothing had changed, Li Fan might have given up in some future iteration, choosing to end his own life.

But the appearance of those two cultivators had revealed a new possibility!

An unfamiliar, alluring world beckoned to him, igniting his ambition and sense of purpose.

He would cultivate!

He would attain eternal life!

None would stand in his way!

Li Fan pushed open the door and strode forward, his steps unwavering.

1. The title of Presented Scholar (jinshi) was an actual title granted to a very limited number of people who passed the highest-tier imperial examinations for civil servants. ☜

2. Jiangnan is a real place in China. It’s the territory immediately to the south of the lower Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. Some other places mentioned here also exist in real life. ☜

3. Matchlocks use a burning slow match (rope soaked in saltpeter) to ignite gunpowder. They are simple to manufacture but vulnerable to rain/wind. Furthermore, reloading is slow, and smoke from the match can reveal shooter positions. ☜

4. These use a flint striking steel to create sparks. They are reliable in humid weather and can fire faster. However, they are more complex and expensive to produce. ☜

5. The era name system was established by Emperor Wu of Han in 140 BC for the purpose of numbering years, much like BC/AD. The reigning emperor assigns a relevant word/phrase to the period of their reign, and the year count restarts from 1. In this case, Xuanjing is not an actual word, but it would mean something along the lines of “proclaiming reverence,” and the year the Prince of Langya ascends to the throne is Xuanjing Year 1. Sometimes, the era name also becomes the title of the emperor (the emperor is not to be referred to by their personal name). ☜

6. This is a place of political exile within the palace, often a dilapidated, isolated building staffed by eunuchs/maids who spy on the inmates. Being banished there symbolizes total loss of imperial favor (worse than death for some). ☜

7. This is half of the idiom 福寿康宁(fú shòu kāng níng), meaning “blessings, longevity, health, and peace.” ☜

8. This is not an actual word but it would mean “magnificent and prosperous.” ☜