Diligence Compensates for Lack of Talent's Special Feature

In the icy, bone-piercing river water, He Zhao rose and fell with the undercurrent, drifting downstream.

Through the haze of his consciousness, he seemed to hear a child's voice.

"Grandpa, we caught a big fish!"

On a dilapidated old fishing boat, an elderly man in coarse hemp clothes, his head full of white hair, took the fishing net from his grandson upon hearing this.

The moment he put in a little strength, his heart skipped a beat.

Having followed his parents fishing since childhood and been a fisherman for more than fifty years, the immensely experienced old man knew at once what the net beneath the water had caught.

Did we run into a floater?

Pulling up a corpse first thing in the morning, the old man could only curse his bad luck inwardly. He had wanted to throw it away together with the net, but this was the only thing in the household worth even a little money—and it was the tool that put food on the table.

"Alas!" With a sigh, he told his grandson to turn around. Straining with both arms, he hauled the net up in one go. Sure enough, a corpse covered in wounds and pierced by countless arrows lay quietly within the net, its hand clenching a broken saber with a death grip.

"Meeting you is fate between us. This old man will take you ashore and lay you to rest. Just don't harm my grandson and me." The older one got, the more strange tales one heard, and he naturally knew how to handle such things.

After placing the corpse on the boat and finding a scrap of cloth to cover it so as not to frighten his only grandson, he finally called out.

"Let's go!"

The old man rowed the boat toward the shore.

The little boy, around six or seven years old, curiously glanced at the stern covered by his grandfather's rag. Carefully looking back at the old man focused on rowing, he tiptoed over.

"Ah—"

"What's wrong?!"

The old man hurriedly threw down his oar and rushed to the stern.

His grandson was sprawled on the planks, his right hand trembling as it pointed at the rag.

"It moved-moved-moved-moved!"

"???"

He Zhao awoke amid chaos. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a face covered in age spots.

"Young man, you're awake? Have some rice soup first and catch your breath."

Before long, Ruthless He Zhao, warmth spreading through his stomach, asked weakly.

"Where is this?"

"A remote wooden hut on Green Mountain. Don't worry, my eldest son and I built it. No one knows about it except the two of us." The longer one lived, the shrewder one became. Seeing He Zhao covered in saber wounds and arrows, how could he possibly settle him in his own home?

Even if he did not consider himself, he had to think about the villagers' safety, didn't he?

No hunters came up the mountain this season, so he had simply brought him here to recuperate.

"Thank you, sir. I will repay you handsomely someday."

"These are the things we fished up with you. This old man hasn't touched any of them. No need for a handsome reward—it only took a little effort to carry you up the mountain. Just repay the food once your wounds heal."

The old man handed over a soaking wet bundle, then pointed toward the corner of the wooden hut.

He Zhao looked over and saw the Black Broken Blade standing to one side.

"Young man, your blade is brimming with baleful energy. You'd best find a time to throw it away."

Ruthless He Zhao shot the old man a surprised glance. Your eyesight is quite sharp, old sir.

The old man chuckled to himself. When he had carried him up the mountain, they had encountered a tiger. The broken saber had fallen to the ground, and the king of the forest had fled in a miserable panic with its tail tucked between its legs.

"There's a pot and firewood in the hut, along with enough grain to last you a month. Next month, I'll bring another month's worth of food up the mountain." With that, the old man left the wooden hut.

He Zhao understood. The man was not his father—why should he hover around and take care of him?

Besides, judging by his clothes, the old man's family was likely not well-off. Giving a stranger of unknown background a month's worth of food was practically saving his life once more.

"There are many bad people in this world, but plenty of good people too." Ruthless He Zhao opened the bundle and took out several soaked books. He had looted these from Hetu Dao Master's secluded cultivation chamber. After flipping through them and finding they were barely readable, he set them aside to dry.

He then pulled out the banknotes hidden in his clothes, along with some loose silver. The Sacrificial Bone Dagger, Wailing Bone, the Short Blade taken from the Spirit Realm, and a Jade Register were all there—nothing was missing.

Not to mention anything else, if the old man had slipped a few taels from the loose silver into his pocket, ordinary people would never have noticed.

Yet all forty-eight taels of loose silver in his possession remained, not a fraction short.

"How honest."

After sighing with emotion, He Zhao began examining his injuries.

His chest and abdomen had both been wrapped in clean cloth, and a numb, itchy sensation came from the wounds.

"It should be Hemp Leaf Grass, the most common herb on the mountain. It is highly effective for external injuries." Having read the medical book for half a month, he was not only capable of making poison. Some basic healing knowledge had long since been etched into his mind.

"The bleeding has finally stopped. If I rest quietly for a month, Death Resistance and High-Speed Regeneration should let me recover almost completely." He Zhao was immensely relieved. The little Spirit Power he had left had allowed him to kill his enemy with a single slash while minimizing the backlash he suffered.

Had he swung his blade like Hetu Dao Master, he would likely have already left the Simulation Scenario and returned to his bedroom at home.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Other than occasional pain, He Zhao could move normally again. Every day, he either chopped firewood or studied the books with enlarged text.

"To remove the Blood Veins from a Sacrificial Vessel, an Unusual Scholar in the Riding Light Realm must pour in Spirit Power with all their might. Only then will the Blood Veins covering it after each use gradually diminish."

Riding Light Realm!

Burning Rage Method (Incomplete): 4005/5000 (Great Accomplishment)

Unusual Scholar: 33.7%

Still a long way to go—at least another eleven months.

Secret Blood Warrior?

There was not enough food, so he could not continue cultivating.

He now ate to his heart's content every meal. Half a cow might be an exaggeration, but at minimum, he needed two sheep!

He Zhao suddenly remembered the list he had made before entering the Simulation Scenario. It seemed he had completed more than half of it?

①: Learn more secrets regarding Sacrificial Vessels, preferably obtain a method to expel the Blood Veins. (√)

②: Obtain information about methods for Secret Blood Warriors to rapidly transform Mutated Blood, and learn more about it. (√)

③: Keep a low profile and survive longer in the Simulation Scenario. On one hand, this is for the rating; on the other, it is to cultivate the Burning Rage Method to Great Accomplishment. (×)

④: If there is an opportunity, investigate information about Hetu Dao Master's Black Broken Blade. (√)

⑤: Figure out the effects of the Divine Concealment Ring. (√)

"For the remaining eleven months, I'll stay on this mountain. I refuse to believe trouble can still come knocking on my door."

At night, sleep-talking sounded from within the wooden hut.

"This is solid now."

"If I lie low for thirty or fifty years, won't my rating shoot through the heavens?"

Some small animals that had come out in the middle of the night to forage were so frightened by the noise that they fled in all directions.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was already the second year.

Burning Rage Method (Incomplete): 9005/10000 (Perfection)

Unusual Scholar: 94%

"Burn!"

"Boom—"

The Void Fire in his brow, which had long since grown many times stronger, immediately began burning the death scenes constantly emerging in his mind.

When the flames went out, the ashes transformed into Spirit Power.

Burning Rage Method (Incomplete): (Perfection)

Unusual Scholar (Riding Light Realm): 0%

All of the azure Spirit Power transformed into a radiant white, and streaks of pure white Spirit Power flashed across He Zhao's body from time to time.

Diligence Compensates for Lack of Talent. Burning Rage Method (Incomplete) is being completed. Completion finished. Please check it yourself.

"Hmm?"

There was an unexpected gain too!

Woohoo.

He Zhao focused his attention on the upper-left corner of his vision.

.