"Oh~no..."
Chen Yi outside the simulation couldn't help but pinch his nose.
"'Me' oh 'me', you're suffering again..."
[Year Sixteen, Age Thirty-Three.]
[Drawing a trait...]
[Draw successful!]
["Spider Sense" (Green): When danger approaches, your hair will stand on end, and you'll get goosebumps all over.]
[Adjust trait?]
[Yes/No]
"This is quite useful..."
Chen Yi thought about it. Since his cultivation realm was stuck at the peak of Body Refining, breaking through to the Spirit Gathering Realm on his own would be very difficult even with continuous cultivation.
It would be better to swap out "Effort Guarantees Reward" for now.
Using "Spider Sense" to enhance his survival ability was the way to go.
[You replaced "Effort Guarantees Reward" with "Spider Sense".]
[Relying on "Spider Sense" to perceive danger multiple times in advance, you and Old Liu managed to escape with your lives on the battlefield.]
[In this battle, the Suzhou Border Army was completely annihilated, and not a single commoner in Yan Pass survived.]
[After Sun Cheng'en fell, the Great Shi Kingdom's army faced no further obstacles, advancing deep into the territory unimpeded, capturing thirty-one cities in Suzhou in a row, completely occupying an entire province.]
[The ridiculous part was, the imperial court still believed it was due to Sun Cheng'en's border army failing to resist the enemy effectively, allowing mere Southern Borderlands barbarians to occupy a province of the Central Plains.]
[After learning all this, Old Liu told you that you would need to live under an assumed name from now on.]
[Although the border army was completely wiped out, what they received was not merit but blame, meaning your crimes were now piled on top of crimes.]
[He, Old Liu, was just a nobody, and people might not necessarily remember him.]
[But you were too famous within the border army. If the court found out you were still alive, they would definitely come to arrest you.]
[Hiding your identity in a feudal society wasn't too difficult; just change your name.]
["Boss Chen, where do you plan to go?"]
["I want to find a martial arts sect to join, see if they'll take me as an older disciple, and maybe reward me with a Spirit Gathering Pill."]
[You had heard from Sun Cheng'en that martial arts sects on the continent did not participate in wars or politics, so your status as a convict shouldn't have much impact on joining a sect.]
["You're still thinking about breaking through to the Spirit Gathering Realm?
Not to be harsh, but this also depends on luck. Some people with Low-Grade Bone Structure break through without pressure, while others never make it in their lifetime. Better not waste your energy on it.
Look at me, I've been stuck at the Ninth Stage of Body Refining for many years too. There's no hope."]
[You shook your head slightly, your gaze firm.]
[Year Seventeen, Age Thirty-Four.]
[On the road searching for martial arts sects everywhere, you and Old Liu made a detour to his hometown.]
[Seeing the dilapidated, ruined houses in his hometown, Old Liu learned that as the only able-bodied young man in the family, not long after he was conscripted, his parents were bullied and driven to ruin, and his sister was even sold to a brothel, dying a few years later.]
[That day, the usually carefree Old Liu disappeared for three days.]
[You knew he was deeply saddened and didn't disturb him, instead gathering information alone in a nearby town.]
[In a teahouse, you overheard some scholars and literati discussing how the foolish emperor of Great Qian still believed Sun Cheng'en wasn't dead, hiding somewhere to avoid battle.]
[For this, he even issued a nationwide arrest warrant, ordering the Dragon Protection Departments across the country to capture a dead man.]
[Furthermore, since the Great Shi Kingdom took Suzhou, various kingdoms in the Southern Borderlands had all raised armies.]
[They all thought, if Great Shi can do it, so can I, and they all wanted a piece of the prosperous Central Plains.]
[It wasn't just the Southern Borderlands; the three great dynasties of Xiliang and the various tribes of the Northern Frontier were also restless, eager to compete for the Central Plains.]
[The Eastern Wastes were quiet only because there were no countries there, just deep mountains, old forests, high peaks, and deep waters.]
[Seeing the situation turning sour, the Great Qian emperor panicked.]
[Although Great Qian was a unified imperial dynasty, it couldn't withstand opening battlefronts on three sides simultaneously.]
[Especially after General Sun Cheng'en's death, resentment in the military ran deep, to the point where soldiers wouldn't leave their barracks unless their full pay was issued.]
[Thus, the court decided to marry off the imperial princess, the Flower Princess, whose beauty was renowned across the five domains, to the king of the Great Shi Kingdom.]
[They would also cede some land in Suzhou.]
[Using the policies of marriage alliance and land cession to make the leading madman, Great Shi, stop, preventing the situation from spiraling out of control.]
["They're actually ceding land and arranging a marriage alliance! They've completely disgraced their ancestors!!"]
[You saw some people in the teahouse angrily smashing their cups when discussing this topic.]
["Smash it well! Your tea is on the house!!"]
[The teahouse owner was also a passionate man, offering free meals to any customer who smashed a bowl out of anger over the court's humiliating concessions.]
[That day, the sound of smashing cups echoed continuously in the teahouse.]
[You sighed with emotion: "This Great Qian is like these smashed bowls, rotten to the core..."]
[With the nation and families in such turmoil, where will you go from here?]
[1. Gather righteous men, raise the standard of rebellion; with your super memory, you are sure to accomplish great deeds.]
[2. Continue searching for martial arts sects, traveling far and wide.]
[3. Find a place to farm and settle down, living in obscurity until old age and death.]
"As mentioned before, rebellion in this world is doomed to fail, let alone for a small fry like me, so option 1 is out."
Chen Yi's gaze shifted to options 2 and 3.
"Option 3 is more stable, with a higher chance of living longer, but with option 2, there might be a chance to get a Spirit Gathering Pill?"
Although Chen Yi didn't believe he would never break through to the Spirit Gathering Realm in his lifetime.
But breaking through faster was always good, allowing more time to accumulate cultivation for the next realm.
"Without a spirit of adventure, how can one succeed? Choose 2!"
[You chose 2.]
[You suddenly realized you seemed to be living in the twilight years of a powerful dynasty, hence witnessing all these absurdities.]
[Sun Cheng'en's death had already made you completely lose faith in the court; they even owed you a Spirit Gathering Pill!]
[Therefore, you no longer cared where Great Qian was headed.]
[From now on, you only wanted to live as long as possible, draw more traits, and find a martial arts sect willing to take you in and give you a Spirit Gathering Pill.]
[Old Liu, who had disappeared for three days, returned. His hair began turning white from that day on.]
["Boss Chen, I have no home or family left. I want to follow you from now on, is that okay?"]
[When escaping from Yan Pass, you had brought a considerable amount of silver with you.]
[Low-level soldiers like Old Liu and the others had no savings at all. If he didn't follow you, even getting food would be a problem.]
[Given your years of camaraderie in the army, you certainly didn't mind taking him along.]
["Very well."]
[You and Old Liu continued your journey, visiting martial arts sects all over the Central Plains.]
[There were plenty of sects everywhere. For the famous major sects, a simple inquiry would reveal their location.]
[But such sects would definitely not accept a thirty-something-year-old, Spirit Gathering Realm-less, mediocre waste like you.]
[What you were looking for were those small-to-medium-sized, start-up sects. They needed manpower and had some resources on hand.]
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