[The Elder of the Fengshen Sect, mistaking you for a dual-element spiritual root holder due to your disguise, did not highly value the Fire Separation Pill, which could only transform a five-element spiritual root into a four-element one. You exchanged it for a single Foundation Establishment Pill.]
[At thirty-eight years old, you researched and developed the formula for the Fire Separation Pill.]
[At forty years old, you purchased a cultivation technique capable of reaching the Golden Core stage from a market.]
[At forty-six years old, with your spiritual root aptitude improved to four elements, you broke through the ninth level of Qi Condensation.]
In the cultivation world, a five-element spiritual root is typically considered a waste spiritual root.
A four-element spiritual root is usually referred to as a pseudo-spiritual root.
Although the difference appears small and neither offers much hope for Foundation Establishment, a five-element spiritual root cultivator might spend their entire life without reaching the seventh level of Qi Condensation, with most stopping at the fourth or fifth level.
In contrast, a pseudo-spiritual root cultivator, after sixty to seventy years of diligent practice, might not achieve Foundation Establishment but could potentially reach the eighth or ninth level of Qi Condensation.
This is the distinction between the two.
After improving his aptitude from a five-element to a four-element spiritual root, Wang Yuan's cultivation quickly advanced to the ninth level of Qi Condensation. For a typical four-element spiritual root cultivator, reaching this stage usually happens in their seventies or eighties, nearing the end of their lifespan. Wang Yuan, with half his lifespan remaining, now seemed to have a slight possibility of achieving Foundation Establishment with this level of cultivation.
[At fifty-eight years old, your alchemy skills advanced further, enabling you to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, earning you the title of Alchemy Master.]
This was an achievement from a previous simulation, but Wang Yuan had not chosen it as an initial condition, so he had to re-achieve it during this simulation.
[At sixty-two years old, you had cultivated to the peak of the ninth level of Qi Condensation and were ready to attempt breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage. You consumed several Foundation Establishment Pills you had refined yourself, but due to your poor aptitude, you failed, and your cultivation regressed.]
[At sixty-three years old, the demon race launched a large-scale invasion, and Kangzhou, adjacent to Mingzhou, fell first.]
[At sixty-five years old, True Person Tianyu of Mingzhou battled a Nascent Soul demon cultivator in the heavens. After three defeats, an ominous feeling began to permeate Mingzhou.]
[At sixty-nine years old, the demon race invaded Mingzhou from Kangzhou. You, however, had already escaped beyond the Two Realms Mountain, intending to travel to Central Tianzhou, the holy land of human cultivators.]
[At seventy-three years old, after overcoming numerous hardships and trials, you finally reached Central Tianzhou, where late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators were no longer rare, and several Dao Lords of the Soul Transformation stage presided.]
[Leveraging your alchemy skills and your near-Foundation Establishment cultivation, you joined the Lan family, a force under the command of a Soul Transformation Dao Lord, becoming one of their peripheral subordinates.]
[At seventy-five years old, you attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage once more. Despite consuming several Foundation Establishment Pills consecutively, you failed again, and your cultivation regressed.]
[At eighty years old, cultivators from sects in Mingzhou traveled to Central Tianzhou, seeking aid from major sects, requesting the dispatch of late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, or even Soul Transformation Dao Lords, to rescue Kangzhou and Mingzhou from the demon calamity. The Ten Immortal Dao Sects of the human race remained indifferent, as if they saw nothing, even as the elders and sect leaders of Mingzhou's sects knelt at their gates.]
[At eighty-eight years old, you once again cultivated to the peak of the ninth level of Qi Condensation, intending to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. This time, after consuming several Foundation Establishment Pills, you finally succeeded in establishing your foundation.]
[You became a cultivator at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.]
[At one hundred and thirty years old, your alchemy skills advanced further, enabling you to refine pills that aided even Golden Core cultivators. Although you were only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, your status was comparable to that of a true Golden Core cultivator.]
[At one hundred and thirty-eight years old, you married a Golden Core cultivator from the Lan family as your Dao companion.]
[At one hundred and fifty-three years old, you broke through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.]
[At one hundred and sixty-two years old, you gave birth to a child with your bloodline.]
[At one hundred and eighty years old, you refined the Heavenly Dust Pill, which significantly increased the probability of breaking through from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Golden Core stage. Your status within the Lan family rose further.]
[At two hundred and five years old, your lifespan ended, and you passed away peacefully.]
Once again, the simulation concluded with the protagonist living out his natural lifespan and dying.
Wang Yuan's eyes lit up, knowing he had gained more simulation rewards.
This simulation did not involve developing within the Wang family. Instead, he had gone to Mingzhou as a rogue cultivator from a young age.
The benefits gained were indeed greater.
Furthermore, when the demon army arrived, he had researched escape routes and, after much hardship, fled to Central Tianzhou, the holy land of human cultivators, where several Soul Transformation Dao Lords resided, thus no longer facing the threat of demons.
Instead, he married a Golden Core cultivator from the Lan family, a cultivation family with Soul Transformation ancestors, and lived a life interacting with Golden Core cultivators as equals.
Although still limited by his four-element spiritual root and unable to break through to the Golden Core stage, achieving the middle stage of Foundation Establishment was already quite remarkable.
[This simulation has concluded.]
[You can obtain the following rewards.]
[One: Cultivation at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.]
[Two: Alchemy skills capable of refining pills for Golden Core cultivators.]
[Three: A cultivation technique bestowed by the Lan family, capable of cultivating directly to the late stage of Golden Core.]
Wang Yuan, almost without hesitation, chose the cultivation at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
However, the simulator presented a refusal for the first time.
[The cultivation technique currently practiced by the Host is merely a Qi Condensation stage technique practiced by ordinary members of the Wang family, containing only content for the Qi Condensation stage and none for the Foundation Establishment stage.]
[Before obtaining a Foundation Establishment stage cultivation technique, the Host cannot choose to acquire cultivation strength exceeding the Qi Condensation stage.]
Without a cultivation technique, he could not gain the cultivation!
This reminder struck Wang Yuan like a revelation.
Previously, among the three options, one was cultivation, another was alchemy skills, and the third was a cultivation technique.
Wang Yuan had mostly chosen the first two, disregarding the cultivation technique.
He didn't know what purpose choosing the cultivation technique would serve, so he hadn't selected it.
But now, after the simulator's prompt, Wang Yuan understood that cultivation techniques were indeed useful.
It turned out that in the simulated life, although he could acquire cultivation techniques and cultivate to higher realms as shown by the simulator, as long as he didn't select a cultivation technique as one of the simulator's three rewards, he couldn't choose rewards for higher cultivation.
"This is a restriction placed upon me!"
"And I must obtain the cultivation technique first before I can obtain the cultivation."
"Do I have to waste a simulation opportunity?"
Wang Yuan knew he had another option.
The simulator's prompt only indicated that he currently possessed a common Wang family Qi Condensation technique.
In theory, Wang Yuan could choose not to obtain a cultivation technique from the simulator and find a Foundation Establishment technique in reality.
This would allow him to directly acquire the cultivation of the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Wang family's library would contain such a technique.
However, Wang Yuan considered the difficulty of obtaining a Foundation Establishment technique from reality and decided it was better to wait another day and waste a simulation opportunity.
"I choose the third option, to obtain the cultivation technique from the Lan family, which can cultivate to the late stage of Golden Core."
Wang Yuan chose the cultivation technique reward for the first time.
A torrent of knowledge flooded his mind. This was a cultivation technique that could train from the Qi Condensation stage to the late stage of Golden Core.
It originated from the Lan family of Central Tianzhou, which possessed Soul Transformation Dao Lords.
The strength of cultivation techniques from such a supreme immortal cultivation family at the pinnacle of the Azure Sky Realm was imaginable.