My Longevity Simulation

The True Immortal was enraged to the extreme, causing the rain to grow even more violent.

Water droplets pierced through the curtain of rain like layer upon layer of veils, dividing the battlefield into isolated sections.

Amid the torrential downpour, Li Fan saw through the gaps that among the cultivators who had seized this critical opportunity to besiege the True Immortal, more than a dozen could not withstand the immense pressure of the rain and were instantly crushed into dust.

Then, as the powder of their remains mixed with the rainwater, it suddenly began to squirm and wriggle, unexpectedly transforming into [Rain Men]!

Taking advantage of the omnipresent rain covering the battlefield, they instantly surrounded and attacked Li Fan from all directions.

Li Fan pretended to be greatly alarmed. Holding an umbrella, his figure transformed into a streak of light and rapidly escaped from the encirclement. His speed was actually even greater than the falling rain!

Truly, the torrential rain passed through his body, yet not a single drop touched him.

After fleeing into the distance and reaching a temporarily safe location, Li Fan looked toward the True Immortal, who was still staring fixedly at him, and gave a cold laugh before pointing with one finger again.

"Shave Hair!"

His voice seemed to possess a strange kind of magic. The bodies of everyone present stiffened slightly, causing the movements of those besieging the True Immortal to halt for a moment.

As for the True Immortal, his eyes widened furiously, and he once again let out a heaven-shaking roar.

"Kill you! Kill you! Kill you..."

Resentment surged into the heavens, while rage boiled over.

The heavy rain that had originally been falling evenly across every part of the battlefield now seemed to be drawn toward a certain force. Like countless water dragons, it all howled as it surged toward Li Fan.

But even the True Immortal's attempt at retaliation could not stop the Dao Net command that Li Fan had already issued.

The invisible fluctuations of the Dao Net instantly swept across the battlefield and once again descended upon the True Immortal.

It was as though countless pairs of scissors were trimming the True Immortal's hair and beard simultaneously. As the shattered coverings were slowly removed, this True Immortal finally revealed his true appearance.

Although his face was somewhat gaunt, it was still possible to see that he was handsome and extraordinary. Yet his body was covered in enormous wounds that ran deep enough to expose the bone and could not heal.

His flesh continuously wriggled, but there was always some mysterious force preventing it from regenerating.

The remaining cultivators surrounding him seemed to understand one another without words. Their techniques and divine abilities all struck toward these wounds.

The True Immortal immediately let out a miserable scream.

In the distance, merely holding an umbrella was no longer enough for Li Fan to deal with the countless water dragons filling the sky.

Heavy rain descended from all directions, eroding Li Fan's body and consciousness. The voices reaching his ears were drowned out by the sound of rain, while his vision was completely covered by the dense curtain of falling water.

Even though he had put on a tightly protective raincoat, Li Fan gradually began to feel as though he were being severed from the world around him.

It was like the dust of the world being completely washed away by this torrential rain.

"Is this the Dao of Rain..."

"If I do not do something soon, I am afraid I will completely disappear from this world. All traces of my existence will be like mud stains washed away by the rain, never to remain again."

"Even while bound by the Dao Net, this True Immortal can still unleash such divine abilities. It seems that at his peak, he was by no means a weak existence!"

Standing within the rain, Li Fan closely experienced the divine ability of the Great Dao and gained considerable insight.

At the same time, as various flashes of inspiration emerged in his mind, another rain began to form around him.

The direction in which these raindrops fell was completely opposite to the rain controlled by the True Immortal.

As the raindrops collided with one another, the wind and rain around Li Fan immediately weakened.

Although it could not completely cancel out the True Immortal's divine ability, with the protection of the raincoat, it was enough to ensure his safety.

Li Fan continued sensing the Dao of Rain surrounding him. As he watched the disheveled True Immortal being attacked by the cultivators in the distance, a sudden sense of vigilance arose within his heart.

"It is merely a matter of removing his armor and clothing, leaving him naked."

"Compared with being captured alive by mortals, this level of humiliation is completely insignificant. The performance of this Golden Armored True Immortal is far too pathetic. He is shouting and roaring, almost as though he has completely lost his rationality..."

"He does not look like someone capable of comprehending such a divine ability."

"Something is wrong!"

Li Fan's heart tightened, and he immediately reacted.

Looking toward the battlefield, he discovered that the golden armor, beard, and hair he had previously removed with the art of 'Remove Armor, Shave Hair' had somehow disappeared without a trace!

"His loss of composure was merely bait. He was only trying to draw everyone's attention so that he could take advantage of their negligence and escape."

Li Fan's thoughts raced. He was about to connect to the Dao Net here and activate the divine ability [Restrain].

But then he reconsidered.

This was not truly a battlefield for fighting a True Immortal to the death. It was merely an examination organized by the Shuo Star Sea Administration Council to recruit Immortal Hunters.

With so many people watching, could they really allow a mere True Immortal to escape?

"It must simply be an additional trial. If I expose this fact, I will inevitably attract extra attention from the Administration Council. But if I pretend not to know..."

Li Fan hesitated for only a moment before making the unusual decision to reveal himself.

He suddenly shouted into the air.

"Everyone, be careful! Do not let him sneak away!"

He then swiftly swept his gaze across the surroundings while chanting in a solemn and dignified voice.

"Restrain!"

The Dao Net revealed across the battlefield suddenly seemed to be stirred by a gust of wind, rustling incessantly.

The Dao Strings, interwoven vertically and horizontally, consequently became even clearer.

As they trembled slightly, they radiated dazzling silver light.

The golden armor, beard, and hair that had already scattered and fled toward the edges of the battlefield were all locked down and restrained at the same time!

Buzz!

The Dao Strings shook violently, as though the True Immortal were struggling desperately.

Only then did the cultivators on the battlefield come to their senses as if awakening from a dream.

Some continued attacking the True Immortal's body, while others moved to surround the golden armor, beard, and hair.

The battle situation had already become clear. The True Immortal had completely lost any chance of turning things around and was about to die at the hands of this group of ants...

A flash of light passed.

Yet the dying True Immortal suddenly disappeared before everyone's eyes.

It was not that he had managed to escape again. Rather, the second trial had already ended.

Li Fan could sense the strange glances that the surrounding cultivators occasionally directed at him, but he merely responded with a smile.

"The third trial..."

"Life!"

Before the cold voice had even finished, the Dao Net that had previously served as nothing more than a backdrop suddenly descended from above.

It was as though the heavens themselves had collapsed. Dao Strings stretched across the sky like enormous shattered cliffs and boulders.

Caught completely off guard by this calamity, quite a few cultivators were killed on the spot.

Judging from their appearance, they had not been teleported away just before death. They had truly died!

The Dao Net that they had previously relied upon now instead transformed into a weapon of slaughter.

The cultivators participating in the trial could only rely on their own abilities to evade this inexplicable disaster.

But...

The cultivators of the Shuo Star Sea, especially those who had come to participate in the Immortal Hunters selection, relied almost entirely on Dao Primal Symbols and Dao Net commands for their cultivation and combat strength.

Without the augmentation of the Dao Net, the methods they could employ were pitifully few.

How could they possibly survive beneath such a catastrophe that seemed capable of bringing the heavens crashing down?

Aside from the outstanding elites of the various major factions, everyone else was killed violently in a matter of moments.

The remaining cultivators could do nothing more than struggle desperately before the overwhelming calamity brought about by the crushing Dao Net.

As the collapse of the Dao Net grew increasingly severe, the places where they could evade it became fewer and fewer.

Before long, everyone had gradually been driven into a dead end.

Relying on his Light Transformation Escape Technique, Li Fan was still able to move with relative ease.

However, looking at the brutal state of the selection before him, with only sixteen people remaining, including himself, he could not help but feel a trace of doubt.

"The previous Immortal Hunters trials were never this severe. Could it be that some great upheaval has occurred in the Shuo Star Sea recently?"

The brutality of this examination had clearly exceeded everyone's expectations as well.

The calmness they had shown before was nowhere to be seen on their faces. Instead, they were filled with uncontrollable panic.

They unleashed every means at their disposal, struggling desperately for survival amid this apocalyptic scene.

"Ah!"

Another person was crushed to death by a falling Dao String.

It happened right before Li Fan's eyes.

His soul and spirit were completely destroyed, turning into points of light that merged into the Dao Net.

Yet this brief glance allowed Li Fan to discover something unusual.

Li Fan had witnessed the annihilation of countless living beings. Yet the "death" occurring at this moment seemed different from the true fall of a cultivator.

His heart stirred, and Li Fan immediately understood.

"Of course. This trial appears to be testing the candidates, but in truth, it is testing their deaths. Without borrowing the power of the Dao Net, anyone capable of surviving a calamity of this magnitude, with the Dao Net collapsing around them, must possess cultivation and attainments that have reached a miraculous level. Cultivators of the Shuo Star Sea have been learning through the Dao Net since childhood. There is practically no possibility of them passing this trial..."

"If someone can persist until the very end, they are probably a villain secretly lurking from an external domain!"

"To die is actually to pass the trial. Anyone who survives until the end will probably be captured and subjected to severe interrogation."

As Li Fan pondered, he quickly understood the ingenuity behind this trial.

"Of course, dying too quickly probably will not work either. The first group of people should have genuinely died. However, having no ability to react at all when the calamity descended means their deaths were well deserved. Only those who die at neither the earliest nor the latest moment can be selected."

Li Fan considered the profound meaning of the trial from the perspective of its examiner rather than its examinee. Naturally, he quickly grasped the logic behind it.

Thus, he gradually pretended that he was running out of strength, allowing himself to fall into an increasingly perilous situation.

It had to be said that even if one could guess the truth behind this trial, when faced with the strands of the Dao Net collapsing downward, an ordinary person would still find it extremely difficult to give up resisting and calmly accept death.

There was great terror between life and death.

Moreover, the sight of the Dao Net crushing everything beneath it could instinctively provoke the desire to resist and survive within anyone's heart.

Even someone like Li Fan, who had spent countless years walking along the edge of life and death and had narrowly escaped death countless times, could barely suppress the urge to break free and flee when he sensed the silver-white strands of the Dao Net about to crush him.

Fortunately, he forcibly restrained himself.

He allowed the Dao strands to crush his body into pieces.

In an instant, endless silver radiance filled his vision.

Li Fan's divine sense seemed to lose consciousness.

In the midst of that state of neither awareness nor sensation, Li Fan vaguely sensed an enormous will sweeping across his mind.

Under his instinctive vigilance, Li Fan completely stilled his mind, returning it to infinite tranquility. In an instant, he relied upon the miniature Dao Net hidden within his divine sense and casually placed Ma Tiande's memories on its surface.

The miniature Dao Net and the Dao Net were, in essence, both imprints of the Great Dao. There was fundamentally no difference between them. Having perfectly merged into it at this moment, even that enormous will, after briefly examining him, failed to notice anything unusual.

The oppressive sensation of being watched by a terrifying monster hidden in the shadows disappeared.

Li Fan "came back to life," recovering both his body and consciousness.

He was no longer in the previous trial space. Instead, he had arrived on a circular floating landmass suspended within the void.

Outside the floating landmass stood numerous figures. Their features could not be seen clearly, but they were all gazing at the remaining participants, pointing at them and chatting and laughing among themselves. There was no malice in their expressions.

Li Fan glanced around.

He discovered that the other survivors seemed to have yet to recover from what had happened and were still somewhat dazed.

From time to time, figures flickered into existence and appeared on the circular floating landmass.

Only after the time it took to drink half a cup of tea had passed, when everyone had arrived, did that announcing voice sound once again.

This time, however, it no longer carried the coldness and solemnity from before.

Instead, it contained a hint of warmth.

"Final trial, battle!"

Li Fan understood.

"I am afraid that reaching this point means the trial has already been completed. The so-called battle is probably nothing more than a way to determine the rankings."

There was no doubt that those who had survived to this round were absolute prodigies of the Shuo Star Sea.

Although they had yet to fully recover, upon hearing the command, they instinctively launched surprise attacks against the "enemies" beside them.

Li Fan naturally came under attack as well.

His body flashed like lightning, effortlessly avoiding every attack.

At the same time, he shouted angrily, "Disarm!"

All the cultivators who had targeted Li Fan stiffened slightly. Almost in unison, they retreated rapidly.

Everyone present was intelligent. They all understood that this final trial was merely a formality. Losing during the battle was one thing.

Those watching from the surroundings were clearly fellow members of the Immortal Hunters. If someone were stripped naked in front of everyone, how could they face each other in the future?

Thus, under the deterrence of the "Disarm" technique, everyone tacitly chose not to take Li Fan as their opponent. They merely launched occasional sneak attacks from the shadows, all of which Li Fan easily evaded.

This battle was strictly limited to the point of defeat.

Before long, the outcome was clear.

A light screen descended above the circular floating landmass.

The names of everyone present were listed upon it.

There were twenty-eight names in total, arranged from first to last.

Their overall rankings were determined according to their performances in the four trials.

Ma Tiande's name was ranked fifth.

"It was probably his performance during the second trial, the operation to surround and capture the True Immortal, that raised his score."

Li Fan looked toward the person ranked first on the list.

The gazes of nearly everyone present were gathered upon him.

It was precisely the cultivator who had previously displayed a wind divine ability and blown the True Immortal's rain back against him.

His surname was Dao, and his given name was Yuan.

He had a slender figure and deep-set eyes. Facing the attention of everyone around him, he showed no trace of nervousness. Instead, he smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.

Recalling the information he had previously read, Li Fan remembered this person's background.

He came from the Shuo Star Sea, from the Myriad Dao Palace.

Since the Myriad Dao Palace dared to use the 'Dao' in its name, it naturally possessed the confidence to back it up.

It was originally a surviving faction from another shattered star sea. Despite being coveted by numerous forces, it had managed to establish a firm foothold.

It was said that it had also made an extremely outstanding contribution to the establishment of the Dao Net. It had now become an existence that could stand alongside the Sword Domain and Saber Island.

"Since all of you have already joined the Immortal Hunters, from this day onward, you must obey orders."

"Those who disobey orders will be executed without mercy."

"Next is the first mission you will have to face."

Everyone present wore somewhat peculiar expressions upon hearing this.

They had not expected to be sent on a mission immediately after joining the Immortal Hunters, without receiving any training whatsoever.

"Half a day ago, a True Immortal was attracted by the [Immortal Bait] we had set up. He crossed the Land of Annihilation and entered the area covered by the Dao Net."

"He is already not far from the Shuo Star Sea."

"This True Immortal has suffered severe injuries. The Dao he cultivates is the [Yi]. He is particularly suitable to serve as your first hunting target, allowing you to practice your skills..."

A figure stepped out from among the spectators outside the circular floating landmass.

Although he was short in stature, his body was covered in densely packed, well-tempered muscles. He wore a blood-red short shirt and carried a black stone pillar on his shoulder. His appearance was exceedingly strange.

"I hope your first hunt will be a complete success!" The man in blood-red clothes laughed sinisterly as he patted the stone pillar on his shoulder.

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[TL Note: Xi (希), Yi (夷) and Wei (微) are Daoist terms derived from the Tao Te Ching. Laozi describes three properties of the formless Dao: Yi (夷), that which cannot be seen; Xi (希), that which cannot be heard; and Wei (微), that which cannot be grasped.]