Old Man's Wild Youth

[The Demon Slaying Alliance's headquarters was hidden deep, known only to the village grandmasters. You passed through a region wrapped in vines, then crossed a valley where strange creepers grew on both cliffs, their blossoms brilliant, before finally arriving before a waterfall a full ten zhang wide.]

[The waterfall dropped nearly a hundred meters—standing beneath it would be suicide for an ordinary person—but you didn't need to worry. Soon, following Grandmaster Li Tianbing's guidance, you leaped through a certain spot in the cascading curtain, and within lay a hidden paradise.]

["Well, well—Flower-Fruit Mountain Paradise, Water Curtain Cave..." You let out an old rascal's chuckle, murmuring to yourself. Gathering your qi, you leaped inside.]

[Behind the waterfall's curtain was indeed a secret mountain cavern, not carved by human hands but naturally formed. Inside, ten-thousand-year stalactites hung down like a forest—unfortunately, in this world's setting, stalactites weren't spiritual medicines.]

[Not long after entering the cavern, the village grandmasters gathered together, forming one faction led by a Great Grandmaster from Ning Kingdom... and on the other side, only three people.]

[A youth of fifteen or sixteen, sharp as a blade's edge, sword aura practically solidifying around him. The first time you laid eyes on him, you actually felt a sting—your pupils pricked like needles.]

["What a monster!" you roared inwardly. What kind of freak was this? His Martial Cultivation was definitely that of a Martial Master, and a peak Martial Master closing in on Grandmaster—he'd already condensed his own Martial Will!]

[Aside from that future cheater (the one using the Simulator's Main Body), in your sixty-plus years of experience, you'd never imagined the words "youth" and "Martial Master" could be strung together—and soon, "youth" and "Grandmaster" would follow.]

Yun Shou: "..."

He had no f*cking words.

Four simulations, over a century of time.

Yet he'd stumbled upon a talent freak—fifteen years old, peak Martial Master, strong as a monster, undefeatable.

"Wrong—not undefeatable!"

[Two others accompanied him: a cold, aloof woman around twenty, her first-rate Martial Cultivation equally astonishing, but not worth a single hair off that youth. The third was a grinning little old man—you sensed no martial cultivation in him, so he was likely a Grandmaster, an expert who could conceal and release his aura at will.]

[When you first saw these three, you thought the youth was a secret prodigy the Demon Slaying Alliance had raised in hiding, but the strange atmosphere made you realize that wasn't the case.]

[And the moment they spoke, their words demanded that all the powerful martial artists of the Demon Slaying Alliance leave this jungle, join their Resistance Army, stop hiding like rats in holes, and fight the Demon Country.]

[You all thought this was utterly insane.]

[Us, fight the Demon Country? For real?]

[The trio, led by the youth, laid out his plan in detail: to spark uprisings in every city and Breeding Farm under Demon Country control, letting the tide of humanity drown the Alien Demons.]

[When you refused again, he began to bitterly denounce you, calling you a bunch of cowards—hiding in these deep mountains for ten years, living it up, completely ignorant of the hell outside!]

[It was a despair never seen in human history: in the cages, men and women, young and old, stripped bare, their personalities ground away after years of domestication, staring blankly as Blood Demons outside picked their meals. Yet even in that utter despair, they hadn't given up hope. In the cities, Human Slaves defied orders to practice martial arts in secret; in the pens where they lived like pigs and sheep, fire flickered in the eyes of those crawling on the ground...]

[You fell into silence, momentarily speechless. The youth was right—you were indeed a bunch of cowards.]

[Though you said you were preserving the last embers of humanity, most of you were just afraid to die.]

[Fear of death wasn't a sin, but now there was a comparison.]

[You stood among the crowd, an unremarkable Martial Master. You clenched your fist, then released it, knuckles cracking in succession—not that it stood out, since the sound came from more than just you.]

[The crack of fists clenching, the grind of teeth gritting...]

[The youth left in fury. Just as he was about to exit the cave, the Great Grandmaster on your side asked his name. Only then did you realize you'd never known who these three were, what they were called.]

[The youth's distant voice drifted back.]

["Cowards don't deserve to know my name. I don't want to live in the mouths of cave rats!"]

Yun Shou took a deep breath. It was just a short line in the simulation, a time he'd never actually experienced, yet those words from decades in the future struck him right between the eyes.

Hot-blooded recklessness, a youth's drive... wasn't he also young, in the prime of his life, full of spirit?

No matter what the simulated version of himself did, he wouldn't hold it against him.

["Damn it, I can't take this!"]

[Over on the Main Body's side, there were still over thirty years until Demonfall Day. You had twelve thousand lives to burn—what was one more sacrifice?]

[Ignoring the stares of your companions and the other martial artists, you took a big step forward and followed the youth and his two companions.]

[You believed the Main Body outside the Simulator wouldn't blame you for this one reckless act. A short-lived assassin who dared to swing a sword at an emperor was far better than a waste who begged for a hundred years as someone's dog!]

[This time, you might have lost your head, but you... had no regrets!]

[Da Qing year 315, you met Bei Chenguang, Jiang Yueli, and Chu Heshang.]

[Your foundation had been nearly crippled since that battle three years ago, your Martial Cultivation stagnant for three years, but now, you felt something shift in your state of mind.]

[That same year, you crossed the border, traveling a thousand li, killing countless patrolling Demonized Soldiers along the way.]

[Through special means, you entered Baixian City, disguised as Slave Workers returning from mining outside. You lay low in Baixian City, waiting for the right moment.]

[In Baixian City, besides the four of you, there were more resistance fighters who'd been hidden here for years. You would act together, lighting the first spark on this land.]

[Following the old man's (though you were a little old man yourself) Chu Heshang's planning, you carried out secret operations one after another.]

[Among them were speeches to your fellow Slave Workers. You thought you could be like Xi'er—shout once, and the masses would answer.]

[But they were all numb. Ten long years could turn a child who knew nothing into a youth who understood reason, language, and order.]

[It could also grind a normal-minded, sane human into a numb beast of burden, their minds left with only obedience... After your speech, some even tried to sneak off to inform the Blood Demons, but others stopped them.]

[Until that day, the city lord who called himself a Holy Envoy—a Blood Demon—stood on a high platform to preach. Since its transformation, its thinking had synchronized with its master, the Alien Demon.]

[Its sermon was, "It is time to offer blood sacrifices to the Holy King." What it loved most was seeing the gratitude mixed with panic in the eyes of those Human Slaves below—because the blood sacrifices were mostly picked from the Breeding Farm, rarely from these Slave Workers.]

[The demonic might raged under the bright sky and broad daylight.]

[Rainbow Piercing the World, Demon Stab and Slash!]

[You vaguely glimpsed a phantom—a fleeting marvel that appears only when Martial Will condenses beyond its limits and one ascends to Grandmaster in that instant.]

[The Blood Demon was executed by Bei Chenguang before the eyes of over ten thousand Human Slaves, screaming as his flesh was sliced and bones stripped, until at last, his head rolled with a thud into the crowd.]

(Wrote this chapter listening to BGM, got a bit carried away.)