Martial arts, in the end, are just martial arts.
Even being revered as an unparalleled Grandmaster, one is still a mortal warrior. Before a cultivator in the辟谷 (Bigu) stage, their life could be taken from ten miles away by a flying sword.
Martial arts could not bring Chen Hao a sense of security.
Chen Hao wanted to cultivate immortality.
But even with the status of a Prince's heir, it was impossible to obtain any immortal cultivation scriptures.
In front of cultivators, even the Emperor was insignificant. They were the true rulers of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Northwest.
With Chen Hao's status, how could he gain the attention of cultivators?
After Chen Hao learned of the existence of immortal cultivators, his motivation to practice martial arts dwindled.
Houtian, Xiantian, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, Unparalleled Grandmaster.
Even an Unparalleled Grandmaster, capable of turning flying flowers and grass into swords, reaching the realm of 'no sword,' what could they achieve?
A cultivator's spiritual sword could kill enemies from ten miles away. What was the great power of the Unparalleled Grandmaster or the 'no sword' realm? They were still killed by a flying sword from a distance.
From the beginning of the battle to its end, this Unparalleled Grandmaster perished without even seeing the cultivator, let alone fighting them.
The pinnacle of mortal martial arts could only achieve this much.
Whether a Houtian warrior or an Unparalleled Grandmaster, they were merely fodder, easily slain by the flying sword of the lowest-level cultivator.
How much enthusiasm did Chen Hao have left for practicing martial arts?
In his dejection, he awakened the Life Simulation System.
Upon obtaining this system and personally saving and loading once, Chen Hao immediately realized that he was no longer like anyone else in this world.
Save, Load.
These two choices, like game options, but in reality, represented true, profound terror.
It was as if he existed on a different plane, a different dimension.
With this system, Chen Hao could regard everyone in the world, including those cultivators—whether low-level cultivators or, as legends told, high-level cultivators capable of traversing the stars and easily destroying planets, or Immortal Path Sect Masters—as NPCs.
And he was the player.
No matter what mistakes he made, he could start over.
This was equivalent to countless rebirths, countless resets of the world.
No matter how powerful a cultivator was, they would be helpless against him, who could "auto-load."
He was invincible.
He had also attained longevity.
Longevity, even high-level cultivators had not achieved it.
Even after transcending physical limitations, they could not resist the decay of their souls.
In legends, this starry universe had no true immortal.
Although some rogue immortals existed, they faced heavenly tribulations every epoch.
Beneath this starry universe, true immortality did not exist.
Yet, he had now obtained the qualification for longevity.
Save a file.
Then, a hundred years later, load the file saved a hundred years prior.
This method of loading saves was sufficient to allow a centenarian, on the verge of death, to return to their youth and undergo artificial rebirth.
Even more marvelous was that this rebirth operation could be repeated countless times.
Was this not longevity?
Was this not eternal life?
Even though Chen Hao had not yet cultivated immortality, possessing only the strength of a Houtian warrior and a shallow amount of internal energy, he had, since obtaining the Life Simulation System, achieved longevity.
He had obtained eternal life.
There was no need to cultivate immortality.
In fact, those cultivators, and even celestial beings from the upper realms, in his eyes, were merely pitiful beings whose memories could be repeatedly overwritten by saving and loading!
They were nothing more than NPCs.
Even if one cultivated immortality to its peak, they could not resist this power of saving and loading.
What Immortal Venerable or Demon Venerable meant nothing; the system was truly invincible.
Having obtained the system, with twenty save slots and the ability to auto-load, he was the sole player in this world!
And the entire world was merely his playground!
The so-called cultivation realms, in his view, were merely levels within a game.
While game levels were important to players, they were merely a source of stimulation.
Fundamentally, they could not endanger the player's life.
A player could choose to quit the game at any time.
Even at a low level, it was feasible for a player to maintain that level as long as they wished.
After all, there were "sightseeing players" who existed.
They specifically visited various maps to enjoy the scenery, without engaging in monster grinding and leveling up.
Chen Hao was currently in a similar player-like status.
He was immortal in this world.
Naturally, he did not place the same importance on cultivation realms as NPCs did.
Unable to break through to higher realms, thus exhausting their lifespan and regretting it for life?
Or killing for treasures, only to be killed in return?
Practicing for decades, becoming a martial arts Grandmaster, only to have their head taken by a cultivator's flying sword, as if their decades of practice were in vain?
After becoming invincible on a planet, suffering from the inability to reach the realm of traversing the stars, and failing to find ancient teleportation arrays, ultimately being trapped and dying on that planet?
These problems were naturally problems for NPCs, but not for Chen Hao.
In fact, compared to cultivation levels, after obtaining the Life Simulation System, he cared more about one question.
That is, if one had infinite time to dedicate to studying martial arts, was the Unparalleled Grandmaster truly the end of the martial path? Could he himself create a martial arts realm that could contend with cultivators?
For ordinary people, there was not enough time to test the answer to this question.
But for Chen Hao, he was interested in trying this.
In any case, with his status, he could not access immortal cultivation techniques.
So why not try?
Thus, in his first life, Chen Hao, relying on the resources of a Prince's heir, numerous cultivation resources, elixirs, and the like, practiced martial arts.
Although Chen Hao's martial arts cultivation talent was only average, neither a peerless genius nor an ordinary one, by consuming the flesh of exotic beasts and eating spiritual rice, converting his massive vital energy into internal force, Chen Hao still broke through to the Xiantian realm in his first life, around eighty to ninety years old, and advanced to the Grandmaster realm.
Grandmaster, Grandmaster.
A martial arts Grandmaster.
On the path of martial arts, the Grandmaster realm was not simple.
The internal force of a Xiantian realm expert was transformed from Houtian internal force into Xiantian true qi. When the Xiantian true qi circulated through the Dantian, it was considered complete.
It was already the peak of Xiantian.
Internal qi was complete, with no room for increase.
The next step was to focus on the spirit.
If one could not comprehend the methods of a hundred schools of thought, condense them into their own, and establish a new school, they naturally could not be distinguished from the peak of Xiantian and be called a Grandmaster.
Chen Hao cultivated Xiantian in his early twenties and reached the peak of Xiantian in his thirties.
However, he only broke through to the Grandmaster realm in his nineties, close to death.
He had comprehended the methods of a hundred schools of thought and read numerous martial arts classics, possessing the qualifications to create his own techniques and establish his own school.
But mortals had limits.
Even if the spirit and mind underwent transformation, the mortal body remained the mortal body.