Now That It Has Come to This

Overnight, an entire city was wiped out?

It sounded like a joke. Even if several Supreme Grandmasters joined forces, they probably could not accomplish something like that, could they?

Most people did not believe it at all. Some even thought it was a joke, or, in the most extreme possibility, that some horrifying plague or poisonous gas had spread... But if that were truly the case, why could passing merchants still carry the news out?

On April 11, Geyuan City was slaughtered, and the corpses of over eighty thousand people were piled into a mountain of white bones.

The whole world was shaken with terror, while an ominous little tune began playing in your heart.

How the hell had this Wuxia World turned into a horror apocalypse? A city destroyed every few days—had some Thousand-Year Great Demon emerged?

You recalled the five-meter-long Fierce Tiger King you had once encountered, as well as Zhu Baowen, who could kill thousands with one slap... Fuck! Could that old man have gone mad?

Your whole body went numb. Even to your current self, Zhu Baowen's strength remained as untouchable and unimaginable as a fantasy from heaven.

He was practically a stat monster who had wandered over from a high-level map, like a Golden Immortal descending into the Lower Realm and flaunting his might before a crowd of Spirit Transformation and Void Returning cultivators.

On May 18, survivors finally saw a figure... To be precise, it was an inhuman creature with two horns growing from its head. It slaughtered freely within Baichuan City, flickering like a pale-red shadow. Each flicker meant the extinction of all life in an entire area...

On June 8, over the course of two months, nine cities and three sects were slaughtered clean by this unknown inhuman entity. You heard that the reclusive grandmasters of the surrounding Wu Kingdom, Qing Kingdom, and Ning Kingdom had all emerged from seclusion over this, gathering together to destroy that evil demon.

On June 14, before the Supreme Grandmasters had even assembled, you saw a figure over three meters tall appear before you.

It was naked from head to toe, with no skin. Its exposed muscles were crimson-black, as though steel had been fused into its flesh. Its body was lean, yet brimming with power.

It had hands and feet, nearly human in shape, but there were no fingers or toes on its palms and soles. Instead, pitch-black claw blades, three inches long, grew from them.

Its head was almost human, but from both temples grew two pitch-black, twisted spiral horns over a foot long.

In truth, the moment you first saw it, the familiar people in the martial arts hall had already been sliced into thousands upon thousands of pieces by attacks too fast for the eye to catch.

What you saw were merely the fragments that had not yet fallen, barely pieced together into human shapes in midair. Amid them, you could vaguely make out Fang Mingyue and Bai Liguang's shattered backs, as well as that demon-like being, which had just unleashed a round of attacks and paused slightly.

It was precisely because it paused after attacking that you had the chance to see its exact appearance, burning the image of that demonic shadow deep into your eyes...

"Demon?" The thought flashed through your mind, and then that figure vanished from your sight once more. In the next instant, you became countless times lighter... You died.

Yun Shou: "..."

He felt a little headache coming on, though he did not know whether it was from staying up all night or something else.

"Damn it, I thought I could live to a ripe old age. I found an organization, found a place where I could practice martial arts peacefully—where the hell did that demon come from?"

"According to the Simulator's description, that thing's whole style completely did not belong in a Wuxia World. Could it be some mysterious old devil who accidentally cultivated a demonic art and turned himself into a freak?"

"Whatever. Now that it has come to this, I should choose the reward first."

Please select one of the following rewards to inherit

1. Detailed memories of thirty-four years.

2. The Martial Dao progress of a First-rate Martial Artist, along with memories related to Martial Arts and Combat Techniques.

3. Increase Foundation by 34%.

"At the start of this simulation, I had planned to choose Foundation, since it represented the basis of everything—my martial arts training speed and so on..."

"But I changed my mind." Yun Shou slapped his finger onto option 2.

Advanced Martial Art + Primordial Chaos Technique + First-rate Martial Artist, and on top of that, the Fierce Tiger King's increase to basic Foundation—was that not far stronger than a 34% Foundation Amplification?

Advancing from his current trash-tier Second-rate Martial Artist level to a First-rate Martial Artist would increase his strength by far more than double!

After making his choice, Yun Shou closed his eyes and slowly waited for his Martial Dao Realm to surge forward by leaps and bounds.

He felt the blood within him race as it was renewed, while every muscle in his body slowly contracted and condensed into one.

Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation!

Then, his qi and blood became even more vigorous, his breath more enduring, and the essence of his life slowly improved—this was the Fierce Tiger King's gift!

His Foundation had clearly dropped to 128%, yet it felt comparable to his former 132% or higher. (Though his highest had only ever been 130%.)

Next, inner strength burst forth!

Azure Force Qi bloomed outward. With a casual wave of his hand, Yun Shou blasted a fist-sized hole through the wooden door in front of him. "The house I've lived in for two years... Forget it, forget it. You can retire soon."

The warmth within his viscera gradually faded. Yun Shou stretched his limbs, and a string of crackling sounds like popping beans erupted from all over his body.

"I, Yun Shou, am a First-rate Martial Artist!"

The Qing He Gang's leader was only at this level. At the peak state of today's simulation, Yun Shou could absolutely hang Xu Ruohai up and beat him.

But as for his current self... there was probably still a bit of a gap. They were about half a catty versus seven taels—he was not much weaker.

The main reason was his build. He was a fourteen-year-old boy. Even though the Foundation damage caused by malnutrition had been repaired, he still had a youth's body and weighed less than half of Xu Ruohai.

Yun Shou suppressed the swelling urge brought by his great increase in strength and silently warned himself.

"You still have top-tier First-rate Martial Artists with Bone-Reinforcing Vital Energy above you. Above First-rate are Martial Master-level figures like Army-Breaking. Above Martial Masters are grandmaster big shots. Above grandmasters are that malformed demon and the Supreme Grandmasters..."

He placed the demon and the grandmasters together because he did not know the city-slaughtering demon's exact strength. Though the simulation had mentioned that the demon's methods of slaughtering cities surpassed those of grandmasters many times over, that did not represent its actual combat power.

In the Simulator's shared perspective, grandmasters had only acted for the Wu Kingdom's army a few times. With a single strike, they could destroy city walls. Judging from the Simulator's description alone, the demon had not reached that level...

Or perhaps the instant deaths of Martial Masters and First-rate Martial Artists simply could not reveal its true strength. If they were replaced with grandmasters, perhaps it would still kill them in one strike.

"My head hurts..." Only then did Yun Shou remember that he had not slept for an entire day. With his current Martial Cultivation as a First-rate Martial Artist, he could endure staying up all night once.

But he had still been a Second-rate Martial Artist when he stayed up all night, and the Simulator did not restore his condition.

Moreover, the inhuman creature that had appeared from nowhere at the end of this simulation had also placed an invisible pressure on him:

Where had that creature come from? Would there be more of them?

Why had the mysterious big shot Zhu Baowen not acted? Was that monster related to him?

"Damn it, wouldn't humanity be finished in another thirty years at this rate?!"

"...Wait, don't I have a Simulator?"

"And it can be used once a day?"

Yun Shou wrapped himself in his blanket.

"Since that's the case, now that it has come to this, I should sleep first."

Note:

Simulation attempts: 3

Foundation Amplification: 128%

Martial Cultivation: First-rate? Extreme Viscera Enhancement (30%)

Core Martial Art: Flowing River Technique? Minor Accomplishment