The Feeling of Power

As scene after scene flashed by, Wang Ping was deeply shaken.

When it finally ended, Wang Ping's consciousness withdrew. His face was filled with bewilderment as he looked around the wooden hut, feeling as though everything were a dream—surreal and unreal.

These intersecting timelines, these intersecting lives, were far too contradictory. It felt like Zhuang Zhou Dreaming of Butterfly—or perhaps the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou.

"Life Simulator..." It took Wang Ping a long while to recover. Muttering to himself, he said, "Are the lives simulated each time really just words? Are they simulated futures? Or is every simulated life truly real, split-off parallel worlds? That feeling of reality... it's truly unforgettable."

"I'm overthinking it. To actually think of things like parallel worlds in a Xianxia World... In the end, the simulated world was simply too real, to the point that I can no longer tell illusion from reality."

Coming back to his senses, Wang Ping patted his forehead and smiled wryly.

This experience had affected him far too deeply. So many scenes lingered in his mind, leaving him with the constant feeling that he could not distinguish the real world from the simulated one.

"The Wang Ping in the simulation was a miniature reflection of a simulated future life. He hated his own incompetence, hated his own weakness..." Wang Ping pushed open the door, looked up at the starry sky, and murmured, "In the end, what I need to do has not changed. I must become stronger. Only then will I not die, nor will I have to watch helplessly as old friends wither away."

At that moment, a vast force surged forth within Wang Ping's body, and his cultivation directly soared to the first level of the Spirit Origin Realm.

He was intoxicated by this feeling of power.

However, Wang Ping also knew perfectly well that his foundation was rather unstable.

After all, he had taken far too many pills. Ever since he had stepped onto the path of cultivation, he had never been separated from medicinal pills.

From this day onward, he could no longer take pills recklessly. Otherwise, with his foundation so unstable, he would sooner or later be stuck dead at a certain realm, unable to advance any further.

Take Bai Tianhong, for example. He was in a major power like the Sword Spirit Sect, and his Master was even the Supreme Grand Elder. What resources could he possibly lack?

Yet he had held firm to his heart, never taking pills, focusing wholeheartedly on cultivation and sword practice.

Even so, his cultivation progressed at lightning speed, and he could easily break through any bottleneck. Nothing could stop him.

That was Bai Tianhong's foundation. It might not have been flawless, but it was absolutely solid to the extreme.

For Bai Tianhong, breaking through bottlenecks was perhaps as natural as water flowing into a channel.

Wang Ping had a feeling that this Overseas Isolated Island was simply too small. Its martial arts inheritance was far too weak—perhaps even cut off for generations.

Geniuses from impoverished lands were not necessarily much weaker than the geniuses of great sects. What they lacked was merely opportunity.

If Bai Tianhong had been in the Eastern Wasteland Cai Yonglong spoke of, then with Bai Tianhong's talent and temperament, he would likely have risen with astonishing momentum.

"There are few people in this world like Brother Bai," Wang Ping sighed.

"Ha!"

The next day, Wang Ping walked through Chi Village. Watching the little children drink beast milk and laugh and play, watching older children like Chi Feng sweat profusely as they diligently trained in martial arts, his heart gradually calmed.

He liked the feeling of possessing profound cultivation and standing in a high position, but he also liked this sense of peace.

Yet now, he preferred this peace even more. It slowly dissolved his complicated emotions and left him tranquil.

"Hey, Wang Ping, stop wandering around aimlessly all the time. Sometimes, you should practice some moves with me or go hunting. That'd be better." Seeing Wang Ping approach, Chi Hu patted him on the shoulder and shouted in his trademark booming voice, "Otherwise, even if your physique is special and your cultivation advances by leaps and bounds, without solid martial arts fundamentals and real combat experience, something will definitely happen to you someday."

"My combat experience is plenty solid," Wang Ping said with a smile.

"Ever since you revealed that you can absorb Spirit Stones to raise your cultivation, you haven't come to train with me once, and you call that solid?" Chi Hu curled his lip and said disdainfully, "I'd say you're all bark and no bite—one gust of wind and you'll fall over."

"Then shall we trade a few moves?" Wang Ping said with a smile, unbothered by Chi Hu's taunt.

He knew very well that the men of Chi Village were all forthright, bold fellows. Chi Hu did not truly mean to mock him; he was simply trying to provoke him into practicing his fists more and gaining more combat experience.

"Fine." Chi Hu grinned, revealing clean, sturdy white teeth as he cracked his knuckles. "Heh heh, our cultivation may be the same, but I only need three moves to defeat you."

"Hehe." Wang Ping laughed. "Now I can't accept that. Want to make a bet? If you lose, all your meat and wine for today belong to me."

"Damn, you brat really are ruthless. If I go a day without meat or wine, I'll go crazy." Chi Hu's face twitched.

"Didn't you say you could beat me in three moves? Don't tell me you don't even have that much confidence?" Wang Ping turned the provocation back on him, eager to give it a try. "Don't tell me you're afraid of me."

"Who would be afraid of you, you skinny bamboo pole?" Chi Hu glared, cracking his knuckles again. "Since you've said that, don't blame me for hitting hard later. Today, I'll show you the gap in combat experience."

"Fight! Fight!"

The children began to cheer.

"Place your bets, place your bets!" Some of the older children shouted even louder.

"I bet a piece of meat that Uncle Chi Hu wins."

"I bet two pieces of meat that Uncle Chi Hu wins!"

"I bet a bowl of beast milk that Brother Wang Ping wins!"

Chi Feng raised his hand.

"Chi Feng, why are you betting on Brother Wang Ping? Brother Wang Ping has never fought before. It feels like, among people of the same realm, he might not even be able to beat us." A little girl from Chi Village with braided pigtails blinked her lively, beautiful eyes and muttered.

"Exactly, exactly." The other children chimed in, none of them believing Wang Ping would win.

"I believe in Brother Wang Ping." Chi Feng spoke firmly. "Using the stories Brother Wang Ping tells, Uncle Chi Hu looks like he has the template of a passerby—a character meant to serve as background scenery. But Brother Wang Ping has a mysterious origin. One look tells you he's no ordinary person."

"Uh..." Wang Ping was speechless.

"You brat, what kind of stories have you been telling Chi Feng every day? You actually called me a passerby template, some kind of background scenery." Chi Hu's forehead darkened with black lines as he glared at Wang Ping with eyes as wide as bronze bells.

"..." Wang Ping was speechless.

Chi Feng had been pestering him every day to tell him novel stories. He had picked up plenty of memes, so hearing him say something like that was surprising—but not unexpected.

"Forget it. Let's fight. Today, I'm going to see who's really the generic passerby template, playing the so-called background extra."

Chi Hu took a few steps back, assumed a stance, and snorted.

The children around them all stopped practicing martial arts, laughing and crowding around the two.

"I'm coming!" Seeing that Wang Ping was full of openings, Chi Hu felt he could probably defeat him in a single move and become the brightest star in the children's eyes. He couldn't help shouting as he sprang forward, charging at Wang Ping and throwing a punch.

The punch was heavy and powerful, wrapped in potent Acquired Fire True Qi that made it scorching hot.

At the critical moment, Wang Ping remained calm and merely shifted slightly to the side, dodging the punch.

Then, with a casual palm strike, he sent Chi Hu flying. Chi Hu crashed to the ground and lay there, unable to get up in one breath.

Chi Hu was dumbfounded.

When Wang Ping had stood completely still just now, Chi Hu had thought he'd been scared witless and had been about to hold back his strength. But who would have thought that Wang Ping would calmly sidestep his punch, then casually send him flying with a palm strike from such a tricky angle?

If this had been a Life and Death Battle, Wang Ping's palm strike just now would have been enough to take his life.

For a moment, Chi Hu began to question his entire life. Who exactly was the village's elite hunter, and who was the rookie who had only just begun practicing martial arts?