In Baiyun County, near East Street, there was a small courtyard. This was the home of Chen Yi's Third Sister, Chen Yun.
"May Father and Mother protect him, let Fourth Brother escape death. Elder Brother and Second Sister are still missing without a trace. If Fourth Brother were also gone from this world, what would I do…"
Chen Yun was at home, burning incense and praying before her parents' memorial tablets.
Over three months had passed since the massacre of the entire Luoding Village.
The incident had caused a huge stir at the time, and to this day, it still made the people of Baiyun County uneasy and fearful.
The imperial court had strictly ordered the local authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly and had even arranged for the Dragon Protection Department to assist in the investigation. However, even now, they hadn't identified the group responsible for the village massacre.
When Chen Yun learned that the village she grew up in had been slaughtered, she rushed there immediately.
While collecting the bodies of her relatives, she didn't find the corpse of her Fourth Brother, Chen Yi.
So, to this day, she still held onto hope, praying that Chen Yi had managed to escape alive.
"Knock, knock, knock…"
A knocking sound came from outside.
"It must be my husband returning from duty…"
The door opened. Standing outside was not Shen Qingshan, but Chen Yi, dressed in young hero attire, with a red longsword strapped to his back.
"Third Sister."
"Fo… Fourth Brother? Is it really you?"
As soon as Chen Yun opened her mouth, tears began to fall.
She grabbed Chen Yi's hand, then touched his cheek, feeling the warmth. Only then was she convinced it wasn't like the usual dreams of reunion.
"Fourth Brother! That's wonderful! You're safe! You're back!"
The siblings reunited and embraced.
Chen Yi was a head taller than Chen Yun. Chen Yun buried her face in Chen Yi's chest, crying and wetting his clothes.
"Alright, Third Sister, you're a mother now. How can you still cry like a young girl?"
Chen Yi's eyes were also red.
But in front of his sister, he was stubborn about saving face, holding back his tears.
"No crying, no crying, let's not cry. Third Sister thought there were no more relatives from my maiden family left in this world. I never expected Heaven to take pity and let you survive, Fourth Brother…"
Chen Yi saw his niece toddling unsteadily in the courtyard.
"Shen… uh…"
Chen Yi almost blurted out 'Shen Siqin'. Fortunately, his brain reacted quickly, realizing that was the name from the simulation.
In reality, his Third Sister and her husband still hadn't given her a formal name, just calling her 'Nannan'.
"Is this my niece?"
"Come here, Nannan, call me Uncle."
The little girl was well-fed, her little face round and chubby, her small hands like sections of lotus root.
"Un… Uncle… candy…"
Chen Yun said with mock annoyance.
"This child, asking for candy the first time she meets her uncle! How clever of you!"
Chen Yi affectionately picked up Nannan.
"Wanting candy is easy! Uncle will take you to buy some right now. You can have as much as you want!"
"Yay!"
Hearing this, Chen Yun quickly said.
"Fourth Brother, don't spoil her like that. Besides, you just escaped death. Where would you get money to buy her such things?"
Where he had been for the past three months still needed to be explained clearly to his Third Sister.
But telling the complete truth would be too shocking and unbelievable.
Who could reach the fifth layer of the Spirit Gathering realm in just three months of cultivation?
No one, no matter how strong their bone structure, could progress that fast.
So, on the way back, Chen Yi had already prepared a story.
Da Chun pulling him into the water to avoid the massacre—that part could be told truthfully.
But for the later part, Chen Yi only said he encountered a kind-hearted old martial artist who fished him and Da Chun out of the water.
The old martial artist taught him an external technique, allowing Chen Yi to begin his martial path.
Not long ago, the old martial artist went traveling and couldn't conveniently take him and Da Chun along.
So the two of them returned to Baiyun County.
On the way, they saved a wealthy merchant who was attacked by wild beasts. The merchant thanked him and gave him some silver.
"So that's what happened… Don't waste that money recklessly. Save it for marrying a wife. For now, just stay at your Third Sister's house. I'll tidy up a small room for you."
While his Third Sister was busy, Chen Yi played with his little niece and collected the reward for the guidance quest.
[Guidance Quest Completed!]
[Reward Distributed!]
A bottle of pills appeared in Chen Yi's hand.
As soon as he opened it, a rich medicinal fragrance assailed his nostrils, refreshing and invigorating.
This felt completely different from the low-quality pills he ate in the military camp during the simulation.
"System products are indeed premium. Taking pills like these, as long as I don't consume too many at once, the pill toxins should be negligible."
The tangible reward from this guidance quest was a bottle containing ten Spirit-Attracting Pills.
This was a type of pill used to assist in spiritual energy cultivation, accelerating the gathering of spiritual energy.
In some martial arts sects, such pills were essential for disciple cultivation.
The trait light sphere appeared.
Just like last time, Chen Yi still had one chance to draw a premium trait.
Because he was now in the Spirit Gathering realm, the probability of white traits had dropped to 79%.
So this light sphere no longer looked completely white. The green and purple light dots no longer seemed as scarce as finding a needle in a haystack.
"Premium trait, you better live up to the name 'premium'! Give me a good one, buddy!"
Chen Yi slapped his hand down.
All the light dots vanished. Only a purple glow rapidly expanded, filling his vision!
[Treasure-Sniffing Nose (Purple Epic): Good news, your nose can now smell the scent of supreme treasures within a certain range (related to your cultivation realm)! Bad news, if it's not a supreme treasure, you can't smell it.]
The moment he saw the purple glow, Chen Yi thought to himself, "This is solid."
Looking at the effect, he almost lost it with excitement.
"A trait that lets me find treasure!"
Brothers, this is a fantasy world!
Here, not only is there fist-to-flesh martial arts, but treasures are also countless!
Even though Chen Yi had only simulated twice and hadn't deeply engaged with the martial artists' circle, he had already encountered one supreme treasure—the Ten Thousand Souls Banner!
If he could actively seek out treasures, how amazing would that be?
Chen Yi immediately equipped it, then sniffed the air.
"It seems… I don't smell anything?"
He figured his cultivation realm wasn't high enough, so the detection range wasn't large. He needed to be close enough to a treasure to smell it.
Or, as the effect description said, if it's not a supreme treasure, he couldn't smell it.
He just didn't know how "supreme" a treasure had to be to qualify.
With this trait, Chen Yi suddenly pointed a finger towards the sky as an idea popped into his head.
"Can I go look for the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?"
During the second simulation, Old Liu's hair started turning white after he returned to his hometown.
At the time, he thought it was due to excessive grief from learning about his family's death.
Now it seemed eighty percent likely that he obtained the Ten Thousand Souls Banner at that time, and it was draining his life force.
For now, Chen Yi only planned to acquire the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in simulations.
Of course, he wanted it in reality too, but he first needed to use simulations to understand the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's properties and have sufficient strength to support using it.
Otherwise, it would be easy to mess up.
Without strength, wielding the Ten Thousand Souls Banner would make him a demonic cultivator that everyone would want to eliminate.
With strength, what Ten Thousand Souls Banner? That's the Human Emperor Banner!
However, Chen Yi, whether in reality or simulations, didn't plan to become a murderous maniac.
Killing a few evil people, he could do with a clear conscience. But indiscriminately killing innocents crossed Chen Yi's bottom line.
Even the simulated Chen Yi felt the same.
Besides, truly relying on killing people to nourish the Ten Thousand Souls Banner like Old Liu did would easily attract pursuit from all sides. That didn't align with the basic guiding principle of trying to live as many years as possible in simulations.
But with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, without soul nourishment, what use is it?
Who said you have to kill people?
Kill demons!
Using demon souls to nourish the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, wouldn't that be more powerful than human souls?
With the "Monster Aura" trait, would he be afraid of not finding demons?
Chen Yi was already looking forward to the next simulation. A broad, smooth road seemed to be laid out before him!
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