The light faded, leaving Wei Jin not in a physical space, but in a void of pure consciousness.
He floated in darkness, his Nascent Soul the only source of illumination. Before him, the interface of the Cultivation System v3.0 hovered, crisp and expectant. There were no landscapes, no sensory inputs beyond the visual text. It was a stripped-down, utilitarian environment—perfect for the analytical mind he had cultivated for over a century.
[SIMULATION CHAMBER ACTIVE][Mode: Textual Projection][Soul Force Reserves: 100%]
[Please state the scenario parameters.]
Wei Jin hesitated. The possibilities were endless. He could simulate battles against specific enemies, test the stability of Wei Lan's formations, or model the economic impact of a new pill formula. But his mind gravitated toward the unfinished business of his past.
The Dark Rose Sect.
His departure seventy years ago had been hasty, a flight from a crime he had committed to survive. He had left behind allies, memories, and the structure that had first defined him as a cultivator. Now, as a mid-level Nascent Soul patriarch with a powerful family and an ancient ally, the idea of returning—not as a disciple, but as a conqueror—had been simmering in his subconscious.
Taking over the Dark Rose Sect would secure a massive resource base, provide legitimacy in the orthodox cultivation world, and eliminate any lingering investigations into Elder Shen's disappearance.
But was it possible?
Calculate the most likely outcomes if I attempt a hostile takeover of the Dark Rose Sect within the next year.
The text on the screen dissolved into streams of data. The system was accessing his memories, his knowledge of the sect's structure, the intelligence reports he had gathered over decades, and the general principles of cultivation politics.
[PROCESSING…][Variables: Wei Family Strength, Shen Ruyi Alliance, Dark Rose Sect Defenses, Hidden Elders, External Interventions][Soul Force Consumed: 15%]
[Simulation Complete. Top 3 Probable Outcomes Generated.]
Wei Jin focused, reading the floating text.
—————
[SCENARIO A: The Pyrrhic Victory (Probability: 12%)] > You launch a surprise assault on the main peak with Shen Ruyi and your Golden Core children. The sect's protective formation is breached after three days of bombardment. You successfully kill the Sect Master and two Supreme Elders. However, the sect's Ancestral Artifact, the 'Rose of Withering,' activates a self-destruct sequence. The resulting explosion destroys the main spirit vein. You survive with severe soul damage (cultivation regresses to Early Nascent Soul). Shen Ruyi is crippled. Wei Feng and Wei Lan die in the blast. You rule over a ruined mountain with no resources left to exploit. The Golden Sword Sect invades two months later under the guise of 'stabilization.'
[SCENARIO B: The Hidden Viper (Probability: 45%)] > You attempt a political takeover, leveraging your reputation and Shen Ruyi's ancient connections to pressure the Council of Elders. Negotiations seem to proceed well. You are invited to the Inner Sanctum to finalize the transition. It is a trap. The sect has been harboring a Late-Stage Nascent Soul 'Guardian' in secluded cultivation for two hundred years. You are ambushed. Shen Ruyi flees to preserve herself. You are captured, your cultivation crippled, and your body used as a test subject for the sect's forbidden 'Flesh Garden' techniques. Your family is hunted down and eradicated over the next five years to prevent retaliation.
[SCENARIO C: The Stalemate of Attrition (Probability: 38%)] > You declare war but adopt a siege strategy, cutting off the sect's supply lines and resource points. The conflict drags on for seven years. The sect turtles up inside its main formation. Your resources are drained. The imperial court, fearing the instability, intervenes on the side of the Dark Rose Sect to maintain the balance of power. You are forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty, ceding 60% of Qinghe City's trade rights. Your reputation as a wise leader is shattered. Internal dissent grows within the Wei family. You die of old age without ever advancing past Mid-Nascent Soul due to lack of resources.
—————
Wei Jin stared at the text.
Dead. Crippled. Humiliated. Bereft of family.
The cold text stripped away the romance of conquest. It ignored his ego and focused purely on causality. The Dark Rose Sect was an ancient institution; it had survived for thousands of years not by luck, but by layers of contingency plans that an outsider could not fully predict.
"The Hidden Viper," he murmured. A Late-Stage Nascent Soul Guardian. He had suspected the sect might have hidden reserves, but the simulation assigned a high probability to a specific threat level he was not prepared to face. And Scenario A… the Ancestral Artifact. He had heard rumors of the Rose of Withering but had dismissed them as myths. The simulation treated it as a tactical certainty.
"Useful," he admitted to the empty void. "Incredibly useful."
He exited the simulation. The white light faded, returning him to the familiar stone walls of his cultivation chamber. His head throbbed—a dull ache behind his eyes indicating the consumption of Soul Force. Fifteen percent was significant; he would need a few days to recover fully before attempting another major simulation.
But the price was negligible compared to the cost of actual failure. He had just saved his family from three distinct catastrophes without stepping out of his room.
This tool was the ultimate extension of his philosophy: preparation, knowledge, and risk avoidance.
The future was not set in stone—the probabilities were not 100%—but the trends were clear. Large organizations like sects had inertia. They had hidden depths. Attacking them head-on was suicide.
If he wanted the Dark Rose Sect, he would need to be smarter. He would need to change the variables before he ran the simulation again.
Perhaps he didn't need to conquer it. Perhaps he could buy it? Or infiltrate it? Or wait for it to rot from within?
He smiled thinly. He had time to figure it out.
—————
The Year of Adjustment
[Azure Soul Refining Method - Mid-Level Progress: 10%]
The first year of Mid-Level Nascent Soul cultivation passed with the deceptive quiet of deep water.
Wei Jin's progress was steady. Ten percent in a year was respectable for the Nascent Soul realm—a pace that would see him reach the peak of the mid-stage in a decade, a speed that would make most ancient monsters weep with envy. The automated Azure Soul Refining Method, combined with the dense spiritual environment of his compound, worked tirelessly.
But the most significant adjustments happened outside the cultivation chamber.
Lin Mei and Shen Ruyi had reached a detente.
It hadn't happened overnight. There had been weeks of polite, icy teas in the garden. There had been subtle maneuverings of influence within the household staff. But eventually, pragmatism won out.
Wei Jin watched them one afternoon from his balcony. They were walking together near the spirit herb gardens—Lin Mei pointing out a particularly stubborn strain of Void Grass, Shen Ruyi listening with genuine interest.
Shen Ruyi was not a rival for affection; she was a force multiplier for survival.
That evening, Lin Mei came to his study. She looked tired but resolved.
"She knows things," Lin Mei said, settling into the chair opposite his desk. "About the ancient era. About the formation of the empire. Things that aren't in books."
"She has lived through three dynasties," Wei Jin replied. "Her memory is a library."
"She told me about the 'Shattered Star' incident three hundred years ago. How a rogue cultivator tried to summon a meteor to destroy a rival sect." Lin Mei shook her head. "She stopped it. Her husband… he ate the rogue's soul, and she dismantled the formation."
"She is capable."
"She is a trump card," Lin Mei corrected. "I realized it today. If the Thousand Beast Sect attacks again, or if the imperial court turns on us, or if those… possessors come back… having a second Nascent Soul, one with her experience, changes the equation entirely."
She looked at Wei Jin, her eyes clear.
"I accept her. Not just as your partner, but as part of this family's defense. I don't have to love her to value her utility."
"That is all I ask."
"Good." Lin Mei stood up. "Because she's terrifying, Wei Jin. She smiles, and I see a shark looking at a seal. Keep her happy. Keep her loyal. Because if she turns on us…"
"I have run the simulations," Wei Jin said quietly.
Lin Mei paused. She knew about the new capability—he told her everything now.
"And?"
"And we make sure she stays happy."
—————
The Simulation Habit
Wei Jin began to structure his life around the Simulation Chamber.
He treated his Soul Force like a strategic resource, budgeting it carefully. Small simulations for daily decisions—What if I invest in this new copper mine? What if I appoint Wei Feng to lead the next trade delegation?—consumed only 1-2%. Larger, geopolitical simulations consumed more.
He learned the limits of the text-based system.
It couldn't predict the erratic behavior of individuals it didn't have data on. It couldn't foresee random natural disasters or the sudden appearance of unknown variables (like a wandering cultivator from a hidden continent).
But for macro-scale trends, it was terrifyingly accurate.
One afternoon, he ran a simulation on the atomic weapons.
Project the likelihood of nuclear conflict within the next 20 years if current imperial policies remain unchanged.
[PROCESSING…][Probability of Limited Exchange: 65%][Probability of Total War: 15%][Probability of Containment: 20%]
The results were chilling. A 65% chance of a "limited" exchange—likely a border dispute escalating until a city was vaporized.
Wei Jin used this data to guide his actions in the real world. He quietly funded peace factions within the imperial court through shell companies. He leaked information about the horrifying long-term effects of radiation—data he "discovered" in ancient texts—to influential scholars. He pushed the family's defensive formations to prioritize radiation shielding above all else.
He couldn't stop the trend entirely, but he could nudge the probabilities.
—————
The Family Meeting
The monthly family gathering had grown to fill the great hall.
Wei Feng sat at the head of the table next to Wei Jin, his aura sharp and metallic—the sign of his martial cultivation. Shen Ruyi sat on Wei Jin's left, Lin Mei on his right. The visual hierarchy was clear: the patriarch, the wife, the partner, the heir.
"The beast tides in the south are growing strange," Wei Feng reported. "Scouts report animals moving in organized columns. Not hunting packs—marching columns. Like soldiers."
"Modified beasts?" Wei Jin asked.
"More than that. They have equipment. Armor plates fused to their skin. Elemental cannons mounted on the larger ones." Wei Feng frowned. "It looks like the Thousand Beast Sect is adopting mortal technology. Combining it with their taming arts."
Wei Jin's iron mind spun.
The convergence. It wasn't just mortals adopting cultivation ideas; it was cultivators adopting mortal warfare. Cyborg spirit beasts.
"I will run a projection on this," Wei Jin said.
"Father?" Wei Tianming, the grandson, spoke up. He was fifty-four, a Mid-Golden Core cultivator with a keen mind for logistics. "There is another matter. The Imperial Research Institute has sent a request. They want to establish a branch in Qinghe City. They say our 'stable zone' is conducive to their experiments."
The room went quiet.
The Imperial Research Institute was the body responsible for the atomic weapon. Letting them into Qinghe was inviting the very thing Wei Jin feared most right into his living room.
But refusing them… that might provoke the Emperor.
"If we refuse?" Wei Hua asked.
"They will view it as rebellion," Shen Ruyi said, her voice smooth. "The Emperor is insecure. He fears independent power centers. Qinghe is already too bright a jewel."
Wei Jin nodded. "We cannot refuse outright. But we can manage their presence."
Later that night, he entered the Simulation Chamber.
Scenario: Acceptance of Imperial Research Institute branch. Variables: Strict oversight by Wei family, containment formations, infiltration of their data networks.
[PROCESSING…]
[Outcome A: Technological Leap (Probability: 60%)] > The Institute accelerates technological growth in Qinghe. You gain access to their atomic research data within 3 years. Risk of accidental detonation: 5%. Imperial surveillance increases, but no hostile action taken.
[Outcome B: The Trojan Horse (Probability: 30%)] > The Institute is a cover for the Imperial Guard. They use the facility to map your defenses and identify your family's weaknesses. A purge is launched in Year 5.
[Outcome C: Sabotage (Probability: 10%)] > Foreign agents (Thousand Beast Sect spies) attack the facility, causing a catastrophic containment breach. Qinghe City suffers massive contamination.
Wei Jin studied the lines.
Outcome A was tempting. Gaining access to the atomic data would allow him to understand the threat better—perhaps even develop counters or his own deterrent. Outcome B was manageable if he knew it was a possibility. Outcome C was the nightmare.
"We accept," he decided in the silence of his room. "But we build the facility where we want it. Surrounded by Wei Lan's suppression arrays. And we staff it with our own people in 'support' roles."
He would turn the Trojan Horse into a hostage.
—————
The End of the Year
The year concluded with a heavy snowfall that blanketed Qinghe City in silence.
Wei Jin sat by the fire, Ruyi pouring tea, Lin Mei reading a report from the agricultural division.
His progress to Mid-Level Nascent Soul was stable. His family was secure. His city was thriving, a beacon of a new era.
But the text on the screen of his mind remained, a constant reminder of the fragility of it all.
[NASCENT SOUL STATUS][Soul Strength: Mid-Level (10%)]
He was strong. He was prepared. He could see the future's shadows before they fell.
But the game was accelerating. Cyborg beasts. Atomic politics. Imperial paranoia.
Wei Jin took the tea cup, feeling the warmth seep into his fingers.
"Next year," he said softly, "we expand the intelligence network into the Thousand Beast Sect territories. I need to know who is armoring those tigers."
Ruyi smiled over the rim of her cup. "I know an old contact in the south. A retired elder who owes my late husband a life debt. I will reach out."
Lin Mei nodded without looking up. "I'll authorize the funds."
The machine of the Wei family turned on. Efficient. Ruthless. United.
Catch me if you can, Wei Jin thought to the unseen forces of the world.
He took a sip of tea.
He was ready to run the next simulation.
—————
End of Chapter Three, Book Four