The world was not born in silence. It was born in the agonizing screams of a dying God and the shattering of a primordial void.
Li Xin felt his soul being shredded. One moment, he was crossing a busy street in Shanghai, clutching a limited-edition light novel. The next, he was caught in a gravitational maelstrom that defied every law of physics. His physical body was gone, evaporated in a flash of white light, leaving only his consciousness to drift in a sea of gray fog.
Then came the sound.
CRACK!
It was the sound of the universe breaking open. Through the haze of his fading mind, Li Xin saw it—a giant of impossible proportions. The giant's skin was like bronze, and his muscles were like shifting tectonic plates. He held a massive, jagged axe that leaked a light so bright it felt like it could erase existence itself.
Pangu, Li Xin's mind whispered in terror. The Creator.
With one final, world-shaking roar, the giant swung his axe. The gray fog—the Primordial Chaos—was sliced in two. The clear, light Qi rose to become the Heavens, and the murky, heavy Qi sank to become the Earth.
But as the world took shape, Pangu began to fall. His breath became the wind, his eyes became the sun and moon, and his blood became the roaring rivers.
Li Xin's soul was swept up in the shockwave of this creation. He was a speck of dust in a hurricane. He was about to be extinguished by the sheer pressure of the newly formed laws of physics when a cold, mechanical chime echoed in the void of his mind.
[Ding! Detecting a compatible soul... Binding to the 'Primordial Life Simulator'...]
[Host Soul stabilized. Current Era: The Opening of the Heavens.]
[Warning: The environment is extremely hostile. Your current soul strength is: 0.0001. Survival probability: 0%.]
"Simulator?" Li Xin's thoughts raced. "Wait! I'm dying! If you're a system, do something!"
[Ding! First Life Simulation is free of charge. Would you like to start?]
"Yes! Start! Now!"
[Simulation Beginning!]
[Year 1: You have been reborn as a 'Green Rock' at the foot of a nameless mountain in the Honghuang (Great Desolate) world. You are surrounded by rich Innate Spiritual Qi.]
[Year 5: You spend your days absorbing Qi. You have no cultivation technique, so your progress is slow. You are happy to be a rock.]
[Year 12: A wandering minor demon, a mutated Three-Eyed Wolf, passes by. It finds your rock shape 'annoying' and pisses on you. Your soul feels insulted, but you cannot move.]
[Year 30: Two minor immortals fight in the sky above your mountain. A stray sword-Qi falls from the clouds. You are shattered into a thousand pieces. You have died.]
[The Simulation has ended. Duration: 30 years.]
[Evaluation: A meaningless pebble in the tides of time.]
[You may choose one of the following rewards:]
[Cultivation Experience: 30 years of passive Qi absorption.]
[Memory Fragment: The Three-Eyed Wolf's location.]
[Physical Essence: A small piece of 'Innate Green Rock' hardness.]
Li Xin shivered—or rather, his soul-flicker did. "Thirty years? I died because of a stray sword? This world is insane! I choose Option 1!"
A rush of cool energy flooded his consciousness. Suddenly, he wasn't just a flickering thought; he had substance. He felt heavy.
[Ding! Rewriting Reality...]
The gray fog cleared. Li Xin opened his 'eyes'—though he didn't have eyes. He had a 360-degree spiritual perception. He looked down. He was no longer a human. He was a jagged, moss-covered rock embedded in the side of a towering cliff.
The air was heavy, thick with a primitive, intoxicating energy. This was the Innate Qi of the beginning of the world. Every breath—if he could breathe—felt like liquid gold. But the scale of the world was terrifying. The trees nearby were thousands of feet tall, their leaves shimmering like emeralds.
"I really am in the Honghuang," Li Xin realized, his heart (if he had one) sinking. "The era where even a stray dog could be an Immortal, and a rock like me is just... trash."
He looked at the sky. It was a deep, crystalline blue, but occasionally, massive shadows would cross it—creatures so large they blotted out the sun. The pressure they emitted even from miles away made his rock-body crack.
"System," he called out. "I need another simulation. I can't stay here. If those two immortals from the simulation show up in thirty years, I'm dead again."
[Ding! Next Simulation requires: 10 units of Spiritual Energy. Current Balance: 50 units (From Pangu's residual aura).]
"Do it. Run it again. I need to find a way to move!"
[Simulation Beginning!]
[Year 1: You are a Green Rock. Having learned from your previous life, you focus entirely on hiding your aura. You sink deeper into the dirt.]
[Year 10: You successfully avoid the Three-Eyed Wolf. It pisses on a nearby tree instead. You feel a sense of petty victory.]
[Year 30: The two immortals fight in the sky. Because you are buried deep in the earth, the stray sword-Qi misses you. You survive!]
[Year 100: You have spent a century absorbing Qi. You are now a 'Spirit Rock.' You begin to develop a rudimentary consciousness.]
[Year 150: A flood caused by the Dragon Clan's war with the Sea Monsters sweeps through the valley. The mountain collapses. You are washed into the Eastern Sea.]
[Year 151: You are swallowed by a Giant Deep-Sea Whale. The stomach acid of the beast, which contains the power of an Early-Stage True Immortal, dissolves you in seconds. You have died.]
[The Simulation has ended. Duration: 151 years.]
[Evaluation: A slightly more durable pebble, now part of a whale's digestive history.]
[You may choose one of the following rewards:]
[Cultivation Level: Peak of Qi Refining Stage.]
[Memory: The exact timing of the Dragon Clan's flood.]
[Bloodline: A trace of 'Spirit Rock' essence.]
"The Eastern Sea? The Dragon Clan?" Li Xin's mind was reeling. In the Honghuang legends, the Dragon Clan ruled the seas with an iron fist during this era. Being a rock in their territory was a death sentence.
"I choose Option 1. Give me the power!"
BOOM.
Li Xin's rock-body shuddered. Deep within his stony core, a vortex formed. The surrounding Innate Qi rushed toward him, forming a literal whirlwind of white mist. His gray, mossy surface began to turn a faint, translucent green. He could feel 'vessels' forming inside him—meridians made of stone.
He was no longer just a rock. He was a Spirit Rock. In the hierarchy of the Honghuang, he was still a bug, but at least he was a bug with a shell.
"The world has just started," Li Xin thought, his mind sharpening. "Hongjun hasn't even become a Saint yet. The Great Tribulation of the Three Ranks—Dragons, Phoenixes, and Qilins—is still in its early stages. If I can just survive long enough, if I can simulate enough paths... I won't just be a rock. I'll be the one holding the axe."
But then, he felt a vibration.
A heavy, rhythmic thumping. Thump. Thump. Thump.
From behind a giant fern, a creature emerged. It was a wolf, the size of a school bus, with fur like iron needles and a third, vertical eye in the center of its forehead. It smelled of blood and ancient musk.
The Three-Eyed Wolf.
It stopped right in front of Li Xin. It sniffed the air, its third eye glowing with a predatory yellow light. It sensed the Spirit Qi Li Xin had just absorbed.
"Oh, come on!" Li Xin screamed internally. "The simulation said Year 12! It's only been an hour!"
[Warning: Host's actions (Massive Qi Absorption) have altered the timeline. The Three-Eyed Wolf has detected a 'Spirit Treasure'—You.]
The wolf bared its fangs, thick saliva dripping onto Li Xin's stone surface. It didn't want to piss on him anymore. It wanted to eat him to steal his spiritual energy.
"System!" Li Xin roared. "Start the simulation! Find me a way out of this NOW!"
[Ding! Consuming 20 units of Spiritual Energy... Simulation Beginning!]
The world froze as the interface flooded his vision, the wolf's jaws just inches away. Li Xin's journey to the top of the Primordial World had begun, and his first enemy was a wolf with a bladder problem.