The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Chen Hao looked at the Martial Arts Pavilion. He hadn't used it in so long that he'd almost forgotten it even existed. "Okay, all we need to do is shatter the Flame Spirit Stone, dilute the energy, and then convert it into spiritual energy."

Then Chen Hao took out several high-quality Flame Spirit Stones and crushed them.

A surge of astonishing energy floated in front of Chen Hao along with the rubble. He stretched out his right hand and gently transformed the astonishing energy into spiritual energy through the gentle light emanating from it.

The spiritual energy, visibly floating in front of Chen Hao, was quickly and automatically absorbed by the Martial Arts Pavilion. Several characters appeared!

"Spirit Stones replenished"

The text disappeared.

New options emerge.

Please select the difficulty level... Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced/Extreme.

"Yay, Master, can we use it now?" Yang Wanqing exclaimed happily!

Chen Hao nodded calmly. Chen Siyao had been wanting to try it for a long time. "Brother, let's start the trial then."

After Chen Hao turned and left, Yang Wanqing asked, "Yaoyao, what difficulty level do you want?"

"The preliminary selection," Chen Siyao said.

Yang Wanqing counted "Chu".

The walls of the entire room lit up.

It's not that the light is on. It's that the wall has changed.

The dark gray metal panel disappeared. In its place was... a forest.

The four walls, the ceiling, and the floor—all became part of the scene. Lush green forests surrounded the area, with soil and fallen leaves underfoot and sunlight filtering through the tree canopy overhead.

Comprehensive.

No blind spots.

Yang Wanqing was stunned. She squatted down and touched the ground. Her fingers still touched the feel of the metal panel... but what she saw was soft soil.

"Holographic image..." Chen Siyao murmured.

Then... there was a commotion in the woods.

A beast emerged from the bushes. It had gray fur, exposed fangs, and was about the size of a cow.

The body formed by the cyclone is of the same nature as the spirit beasts in the Beast Garden.

But this one's posture was aggressive... it lowered its body, braced its limbs, and stared in the direction of the two women.

"A beginner-level illusion...one spirit beast." Chen Siyao quickly determined, "A simulated opponent for practicing combat."

Yang Wanqing had already drawn his flying sword.

"Come on! I've been needing some real combat practice lately!"

The spirit beast pounced.

Yang Wanqing dodged to the side, her flying sword slicing horizontally. The blade pierced through the spirit beast's body...

The spirit beast dissipated into gray mist.

Then, three seconds later, the mist condensed again, and the spirit beast reappeared.

"Can't be beaten to death?"

"A simulated opponent. Not a real creature," Chen Siyao said. "It will repeatedly regenerate until you finish the trial."

Yang Wanqing understood. "A training sandbag with infinite resurrections!"

She became interested. She retrieved her flying sword and switched to unarmed combat... She wanted to practice close-quarters fighting.

The spirit beast pounced. Yang Wanqing met it with his fist.

The feeling of punching a spirit beast is real... there is resistance and impact.

The weight and strength of the spirit beasts are simulated based on real animals.

Yang Wanqing's punch deflected the spirit beast's charging trajectory, and he himself was also pulled back two steps by the residual force.

"It feels so good! Yao Yao! It's just like playing for real!"

Chen Siyao stood by and observed for a while.

This martial arts training hall... is a truly powerful tool for them right now.

After the mysterious resurgence, what cultivators on Earth lack most is a real combat environment. In peaceful society, there is nowhere for them to fight freely.

Spiritual beasts and exotic creatures appear occasionally, but infrequently and with great risk. All cultivators can do on a daily basis is practice their techniques against thin air.

This martial arts training hall... can be activated and deactivated at any time. The difficulty is adjustable. It simulates opponents respawning infinitely. Zero risk.

She recited the message to the crystal camera in its entirety.

"The Martial Arts Training Hall has complete combat training capabilities. The simulated opponents within the illusion have realistic physical feedback. The difficulty is adjustable, with four levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and extreme. The beginner level is currently confirmed to be working properly. Wan Qing and I will try higher difficulties later."

Comment: "So envious it's heartbreaking."

"This is like opening a dungeon with unlimited runs!"

"If the two of them train here for ten days or half a month, their strength will definitely increase dramatically."

"This is a truly valuable discovery! It's far more useful than those materials!"

"Once the materials are used up, they're gone, but this can be reused!"

She turned to look at Yang Wanqing... who was already engrossed in the fight. The spirit beast had been scattered three times, and its attack pattern changed slightly each time it revived.

"clear."

"Hmm?" Yang Wanqing dodged the spirit beast's claw by sidestepping and retaliated with an elbow strike.

"That's all for today. We can practice here all day tomorrow."

Yang Wanqing, panting, kicked away the last spirit beast that pounced at him.

"Okay! I'll definitely come tomorrow!"

Chen Siyao explored the floating interface and found the "End" button.

The forest disappeared. The walls were restored to dark gray metallic panels.

The two stood in the empty room.

There was a two-second silence.

Yang Wanqing wiped away his sweat. "Yaoyao."

"Um."

"I've discovered something."

"What?"

"The ancient civilization of cultivating immortality... is not 'ancient' at all." Yang Wanqing gestured to indicate the name.

"The crane delivering mail is like the postal service, the round mirror is like a mobile phone video call, the automatic food delivery is like food delivery, and the spirit beast mount is like a taxi."

"The Martial Arts Pavilion is a VR fighting game... They have everything. It's just that the driving method isn't electricity, it's spiritual energy."

Chen Siyao nodded.

She was thinking about this too.

The cultivation civilization of ten thousand years ago... no, one hundred thousand years ago. It wasn't at the level of ancient Earth, with its slash-and-burn agriculture and iron and bronze artifacts.

It is a highly developed and fully functional civilization.

The only difference is the medium.

The foundation of electronic civilization consists of electromagnetic waves, chips, and code.

The foundation of spiritual civilization lies in spiritual power, formations, and divine consciousness.

Two completely different technology paths. But the functional levels they ultimately achieve...communication, transportation, entertainment, training, automation...are highly similar.

In some respects, the Reiki civilization has gone even further.

Spatial teleportation. Floating structures. Independent power sources that last for millennia. These are things that Earth's electronic civilization has yet to achieve.

Chen Siyao kept these thoughts to herself and didn't say them aloud.

She walked out of the martial arts pavilion and stood in the corridor outside the door.

The sea of ​​clouds continued to surge. Warm golden light enveloped the entire floating palace complex.

Ten thousand years ago... this was where thousands upon thousands of cultivators lived, worked, and practiced every day. Messenger cranes shuttled between the cloud bridges to deliver messages.

In the circular mirror, elders from various sects are discussing the day's affairs. In the martial arts pavilion, disciples are sparring and practicing.

Spiritual wines and fruits, delivered automatically in the banquet hall, were served one by one to the long table.

Prosperous. Orderly. Developed.

And then...it was all destroyed.

The Battle of Chan and Jie.

A war that lasted for ten thousand years led to the migration of the entire civilization, an interstellar migration. Ten thousand years ago, it was unimaginable how many years it would take for modern society to achieve interstellar migration.

Chen Siyao withdrew her gaze and turned to look in the direction of the Jade Void Palace.

The different emblems on the backs of the seven chairs in the main hall. A record of ten thousand years of rotation. The rise and fall of seven sects.

And that other question...

The Chan Sect ruled for 100,000 years. What about the Jie Sect? What did the Jie Sect do during those 100,000 years?

The answer is not here.