One Trait Draw Per Year Even Simulations Count

[You flew for a long time in the direction Wang Mingbai had pointed.]

[You felt that you were approaching the edge of the human world’s plane.]

[Ahead, a massive mountain stood atop the sea.]

[This mountain was extremely tall—what rose above the sea surface was merely the tip of the iceberg, while below the surface it extended all the way to the seabed.]

[Your Divine Sense swept over it, taking in every detail of the mountain from top to bottom.]

[This mountain was no ordinary object; the rocks that made up its body were filled with spirituality, like some kind of rare material.]

[Deep at the bottom of the sea, you saw the Fiery-Eyed Golden Monkey suppressed beneath the mountain.]

[Strangely enough, there was also a person inside the mountain’s core.]

[Once you recognized who it was, you gasped in surprise.]

[”Chen Four?!”] [It was the doppelganger you left in the human world, Chen Four!]

[Half of the Fiery-Eyed Golden Monkey’s body was outside the mountain, while Chen Four was completely sealed inside the mountain’s core; the two were not far apart.]

[Chen Four was speaking.]

[”Brother Monkey, I’m hungry.”]

[”Hehe! Old man, that’s just your imagination.”]

[”I really am hungry...”]

[”Within this Creation Sun Stone, the mountain’s own spiritual energy is enough to keep you alive. You just feel hungry—you won’t actually die.”]

[”True enough... Strictly speaking, I should have died of natural death long ago. Thanks to this mountain... ah, spit! This mountain has trapped me for decades—what do I have to thank it for! Might as well let me die!”]

[You jumped into the water, sank to the seabed, and came face to face with the Fiery-Eyed Golden Monkey.]

[”Fiery-Eyed Golden Monkey! Time to go home!”]

[The Fiery-Eyed Golden Monkey looked up at you, very surprised.]

[Before he could speak, you answered preemptively.]

[”Yes, yes, yes, it’s me, Chen the Martial God.”]

[”You...”]

[”I am a projection, arriving from the Real Realm. I’ve come this time to take you back to the Real Realm.”]

[”Hey! Look at the mess you’ve made! Why didn’t you just let me take the Path to Immortality years ago? That old woman Granny Hua always said you had an important task for me and that I should wait a few more years before going to the Real Realm. Years turned into years, until ten years ago, when Li Lingyue used the Path to Immortality and the Five Elements of the human world collapsed, causing the Path to Immortality to vanish along with it! Now you want to take me to the Real Realm? How?”]

[”You can go to the Real Realm even without the Path to Immortality, because you belong there. When this projection of mine returns, the rules of the Real Realm will pull you up.”]

[”That magical?”]

[”That’s what your people said, anyway.”]

[”My people?”]

[”The Star Apes. You don’t remember anything about them?”]

[”Ah... first time hearing about them...”]

[”It seems you two lost your memories when you fell through the black hole.”]

[”By the way, there’s also a ’you’ inside this mountain.”]

[”I saw him. Wait a moment, I’ll get you both out.”]

[The thing before you that looked like a ”mountain” was not actually a mountain, but a single, complete massive rock.]

[Its material was unknown, its properties mysterious—it was a stubborn piece of stone.]

[You tried using your super strength, but it seemed you couldn’t shatter it directly.]

[If you used too much force and the surrounding space collapsed, you’d probably end up harming the monkey.]

[You had to rely on your super intelligence instead.]

[”This doesn’t seem like something from the Void Realm...”]

[You thought of the Formless, the Dragon-Scale Horse, and the two monkeys.]

[They all originally belonged to the Real Realm but had accidentally fallen into the Void Realm for various reasons.]

[Could this rock also be from the Real Realm?]

[”Fire Monkey, didn’t you just say this rock is called the ’Creation Sun Stone’?”]

[”That’s right.”]

[”How do you know its name?”]

[”It seems I just knew it inherently.”]

[No mistake about it—it must be from the Real Realm!]

[You had once used Reverse Engineering to analyze the residence permit compass from Vermilion Violet Star. Although you got the blueprints and formula, there were many materials you didn’t know where to obtain.]

[One of them was called ”Creation Sun Stone.”]

[Now things were simple.]

[All you had to do was send a signal for the Star Apes to open a false rift between the real and void realms again. That rift would automatically suck in anything nearby that belonged to the Real Realm.]

[That way, mountain, monkey, and man would all go to the Real Realm together.]

[Those monkeys would have their own way to free the one monkey and one man trapped inside.]

[Just as you were about to send the signal.]

[The surroundings suddenly lit up in red—this was a danger warning from your Traffic Light.]

[You stopped your movements and turned to scan the pitch-black depths of the seabed.]

[”Friend, since you’re here, why not come out and meet me?”]

[The other party did not reveal themselves, but a voice came from afar.]

[”Chen Yi, how is it? Is the Real Realm fun? Being a human race member there, you must have suffered a lot, right?”]

[Your tone was quite relaxed and dismissive.]

[”Not bad. If I think about it carefully, I only spent a few days mining, and that was voluntary. You seem pretty well-informed about the Real Realm, friend. Have you been there too?”]

[”Don’t try to pump me for information. Do you think I’ll say more than I should?”]

[”If you don’t want to talk, why bother showing up? Just keep hiding in that dark corner of yours and watch the human world be destroyed.”]

[”Do you think my goal is simply to destroy this world?”]

[”I don’t care what you want. Once I drag you out, what you want won’t matter.”]

[”Heh, I’m afraid you can’t do that right now.”]

[”Yes, ’right now.’”]

[This was your first conversation with the black hand who had been hiding in the shadows all along.]

[You couldn’t identify whose voice it was; he had probably altered it.]

[You retreated to advance, pretending not to want to probe him, showering him with contempt instead. This provoked him into revealing some information.]

[He said he had noticed you from a very early time.]

[He didn’t specify exactly when.]

[You guessed it was when you led the conquest of the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm. That event had far-reaching consequences, so it wasn’t surprising you were noticed.]

[He discovered that you had left a doppelganger behind when you left the Void Realm.]

[So, right when that doppelganger was about to die of old age, he sealed it using the Creation Sun Stone.]

[Trapped inside here, Chen Four wouldn’t die. But once released, he would immediately perish from exhausting his lifespan.]

[This man sealed your doppelganger for his own purposes, but he didn’t say what he planned to do.]

[”Alright, you shady rat. I know you won’t show your face today, because everything you wanted to do in the human world is already done. Now, I’m leaving. If you’re also connected to the Real Realm, you’d better stay far away, or you might get pulled up along with us.”]

[The one in the shadows was silent for a moment before speaking.]

[”I also belong to the human world. The rift the Star Apes opened won’t take me away.”]

[”You’re ruthless enough, aren’t you? Since you’re a being of the human world, how can you bear to watch it be destroyed like this?”]

[”The path of immortality is heartless! Someone like you, clinging to bonds and righteousness, will never reach the end of the immortal road! The universe has no emperors and no immortals. The only one who can become an immortal in this era is me! And you? You’re only fit to be one of my stepping stones!”]

[The red field marked by your Traffic Light gradually faded.]

[You knew he had left.]

[”A stepping stone? Hah... go fuck yourself!”]

[You couldn’t just believe everything he said, but you could treat it as a clue to follow in the future, gradually uncovering more information.]