Shen Li looked at the reward list with a surprised expression."Skin Vessel? What the hell is that?"
He frowned."If I choose this… will it merge with me like a ghost soul? No, no. That kind of thing can't be chosen casually. I need to research it more."
His gaze moved to the next reward: Refined Yin Soul."Hmph. Püü!"He spat on the ground."Everything that's happened to me started with you. Trash."He immediately eliminated the option without further thought.
As planned, he selected Memory Imprint.
The next moment, his mind surged with a flood of memories and knowledge. After the initial dizziness passed, his expression darkened."This is… problematic. Once you lose the fundamentals of being human… you lose the principles that hold your morality together."
In the simulation, Shen Li had begun making plans to invade and erase living souls. The idea of "hosts" had turned clinical in his mind.Without the need for camouflage, he started developing a wardroom project—a system of backup bodies, spare vessels he could switch into at will.
His logic in that world was cold and simple:"If I can build a human shell… if I can have ten bodies on standby like spare tires… then I can be as crazy as I want."
With over twenty years of accumulated soul cultivation experience, Shen Li's Yin Longevity Sutra had evolved into a refined and robust technique. After careful revisions and internal adjustments, he realized that with a slight modification, others could now cultivate it as well.
Of course, not everyone possessed both a white and black soul like him. To accommodate this, Shen Li decided to divide the sutra into two distinct paths:
Ghost Path — This route was designed for the dead or those on the verge of death. The cultivator must die to walk this path. It focuses on how to retain consciousness as a ghost, how to gather Yin energy rapidly, and how to resist soul erosion. It provides swift power growth but at the cost of humanity.
Living Path — This version is for the living. A cultivator can remain alive and focus on refining their soul while still within a human body. Under the right environmental conditions, they can even learn to seize bodies, creating a new avenue for survival and power without full death.
Both paths grant different abilities, tailored to the condition of the soul. While the Ghost Path offers rapid gains and a deep connection to Yin forces, the Living Path provides longevity, adaptability, and strategic possession capabilities.
Although Shen Li had refined his Yin Longevity Sutra through more than twenty years of soul cultivation, the technique was still deeply personal—rooted in his own transformation, his own paradox. He had no method yet to force a living soul out of a body, nor could he reliably teach someone how to become a ghost.
Currently, only those who had already become disembodied souls—by chance or disaster—could practice the Ghost Path portion of the sutra. Even then, it was based solely on Shen Li's own experience. Every line of instruction, every technique, was something he had carved out while wandering as a soul, resisting madness and decay.
Still, Shen Li believed the foundation was there. One day, it might be possible to separate and preserve a soul intentionally.
Until then, the Yin Longevity Sutra remained half-sealed, and Shen Li saw it as a bargaining chip. He planned to trade it—within the simulator—for a high-grade inner breathing method
Like the stitched woman, there were countless other anomalies walking forgotten corners of the world—each one a unique answer to death, desperation, or madness.
Shen Li knew one truth more than any other:
"I was lucky."
Without the simulator, he would have perished within days—his soul lost, his mind shattered. The Ghost Path was never a manual passed down through generations. It was born from survival instinct, blind experimentation, and ten years of simulated torment. His cultivation wasn't a legacy—it was a scarred roadmap out of hell.
And that stitched monster—what was she, if not another survivor?Her path, too, was born from fear.
She had no simulator. No inheritance. No sect.Yet, with only a needle and a corpse, she stitched her way toward immortality.
Shen Li realized something then: every monster in this world was a cultivator.Some grew from jade slips and temples.Others from gutters, graveyards, and broken rules.
There wasn't one path. There were thousands.And most of them began at the edge of death.
Once again, Shen Li sat in silence, holding the Shen family's secret manual in his hands.
He had already read it dozens of times—pages memorized, diagrams sketched out, acupuncture terms whispered under breath like incantations. Yet he can hardly understand half of it.
He closed the book with a heavy sigh.
"This thing doesn't speak human," he muttered. "Without understanding human anatomy and energy pathways, it might as well be a cookbook written in the stars."
Shen Li looked out the window toward the distant hills. The city felt too small—too dense with memories, danger, and watching eyes.
"This time... I'll leave the city," he said to himself. "But before that—"
He opened his palm, calling out softly.
"System."
The pane of light appeared before him once more, its eerie calm as familiar now as breath. A single prompt blinked.
[Enter Simulation Duration]
"Ten years," he said, steeling his will. "Show me if I'm ready to understand… everything."
[Following a moment of sudden clarity, you resolved to walk the path of medicine. You began actively seeking ways to learn—not street cures or folk remedies, but true knowledge.]
[That same month, as predicted, a wildfire swept through the region. You remained calm, watching the panic spread. When the price of wood and coal doubled, you sold your stockpile quietly. The profit was substantial. Whispers followed, but you didn't bother responding.]
[Shortly after, you announced your retirement from business to pursue a more "noble" calling: medicine. The excuse was convenient—it allowed you to vanish from merchant circles and silence unwelcome curiosity.]
[After weeks of careful networking and one gold coin in bribe—an extravagant sum—you secured a position as an apprentice to Shen Lang, a senior doctor of the Shen family. The price stung, but the reward was clear: access to their private medical library and a steady stream of real patients.]
[Year 1][You began your apprenticeship under Shen Lang. Your learning pace was ordinary—not fast, not slow. If things continued this way, you'd become a true physician in eight years. Shen Lang didn't comment on your pace; you weren't a prodigy, but you weren't dead weight either.]
[Halfway through the year, a storm broke inside the Shen family. Old Shen awoke from his coma—and demanded the return of his desk.]
[Chaos erupted. Servants were questioned. Storehouses searched. Every family member sent scrambling for a piece of missing furniture.]
[You said nothing.]
[The book remained hidden. Tension rose. Old Shen's health deteriorated again. Paranoia took root—what if their secret techniques were stolen? The family turned suspicious eyes toward every clinic and apothecary in town.]
[Year 2][At last, you had built a solid foundation in medicine. You could identify symptoms of cold, fever, fatigue, and prescribe basic remedies. Not bad for two years of effort.]
[Knowing the chaos to come, you moved early. Quietly, you relocated to your old winemaker's house on the outskirts. You remembered it well—from the last simulation, you knew it had never been touched during the bandit invasion.]
[The bandits attacked, just as you remembered.]
[But this time, you didn't stir. You returned to your secluded winemaker's house and sealed the door tight. Not once did you venture out—not even after three full days of chaos. You'd already learned your lesson from the last timeline.]
[Don't wade into muddied waters without strength.]
[When you finally returned to the Shen family compound, the sight was grim. Dozens of servants and guards were missing—some fled, others slain. But compared to the devastation suffered by other noble houses, the Shen family had fared far better.]
[Why? Because in a blood-soaked city, even bandits hesitate to kill doctors.]
[Still, the price wasn't light.]
[Old Shen—patriarch of the household—was dead. Rumor said a bandit brought him a mortally wounded comrade, demanding he be saved. But the man was already beyond saving. When Old Shen failed… he paid the price with his life.]
Shen Li couldn't help but curse under his breath."This Old Shen… seriously, so unlucky. Got dragged out of a coma just to be killed by some street dog with a knife."
[Your master Shen Lang survived the chaos, and you naturally clung to him like a lifeline. Through whispers and planning, you learned that the Shen family had a fallback base in Wuhan—one of the Seven Great Cities.]
[Your master Shen Lang survived the chaos, and you naturally clung to him like a lifeline. Through whispers and planning, you learned that the Shen family had a fallback base in Wuhan—one of the legendary Seven Great Cities.]
[It was said that Wuhan had been under the rule of a single family for over a millennium. Their governance was ironclad, their martial forces unmatched, and their stability absolute. Unlike other cities that fell to weirds, fires, or internal rot, Wuhan had never faced catastrophe.]
[The Shen family saw this as their chance for survival and rebirth. They decided to migrate—and you, of course, followed.]
[The journey took two long, cautious months. The roads were unsafe. Bandits, displaced refugees, and stray weirds turned travel into a constant test of awareness. But at last, your convoy reached the outskirts of Wuhan.]
[From the mountaintop, you saw it. A true giant among cities.]
[Wuhan's walls stretched beyond your field of vision. The outer ring wall was ten meters tall, built not just for defense, but for declaration—We are untouchable. And behind that wall, you saw more. Multiple layers of fortification. It was like looking into a giant eye: concentric circles, each ring closer to the heart of power.]
[After the Shen family officially entered the city, they settled in the outer ring—a bustling zone filled with immigrants, traders, craftsmen, and lesser nobles trying to claw their way inward. You, as Shen Lang's apprentice, naturally followed suit.]
[Although you technically had only two years of formal apprenticeship, you carried with you four years' worth of simulation-born medical knowledge. This gave you a clear edge over other apprentices. While they still fumbled with prescriptions and diagnoses, your hands moved with practiced ease. Your insights often left senior assistants nodding in approval.]
[The Shen family noticed.]
[Your shared surname—Shen—earned you subtle favor. While not direct kin, it created a sense of familiarity. Among old families, surnames carried weight. "If he proves himself further," you overheard one elder say, "perhaps he's fated to join us by marriage." The implication was clear: you were being considered as a future son-in-law.]
[Third Year — You are still adjusting to your new life in Wuhan. This place… it's not just larger—it's a different world entirely.]
[Unlike the modest power games of your old county, here every street has a story, every alley hides a blade. You begin to realize that Wuhan is not just a city—it is the stage where the strong come to prove their worth. Strong families from distant counties all eventually migrate here, carving out small fiefdoms within the walls, creating a patchwork of legacies, sects, and old grudges.]
[You try to understand why this city holds such a pull, but you can't grasp it fully. Something about this place makes it feel like a holy site for cultivators and clans alike—a convergence point for destiny.]
[Through careful observation and some hushed conversations, you discover that there are more than a dozen 1st-grade martial artists in the outer ring alone—something your old home could only dream of. And deeper within the inner rings, the pressure is said to be suffocating.]
[Eventually, you learn the name that governs all this weight: Wang Family. The Wang Clan has ruled Wuhan for over a millennium. Not through tyrannical force—but through unmatched prestige and a lineage so deep that even rumors dare not mock them.]
[You've been here a year, and already you feel like an insect beneath an ancient tree.]