In a sense, Yun Shou had been "forced" to make a move today.
Although food had lately become increasingly unable to keep up with his body's consumption, making him secretly wonder whether Grandmasters spent all day stuffing themselves with food and drink, which was why they rarely showed themselves before others,
he was still far from starving to death. He had originally planned to wait until he reached the point where even Martial Masters would struggle to break his skin before going to crush Xu Ruohai.
Who would have thought Mu Jian was Er Shao's uncle and would set out because of this?
And once Mu Jian, the Qing He Gang's leader, had been beaten black and blue by him, it also meant Xu Ruohai would inevitably make a move.
So he might as well settle it in one stroke—beat them all up, then seize the moment and try being the gang leader for once.
In a head-on fight, there was no way the Qing He Gang could hurt Yun Shou. What worried him was that they might resort to dirty tricks.
A Martial Master was utterly defenseless while asleep. Perhaps that Old Yun in the simulation had precautions, but Yun Shou's main body did not.
He was worried that the Qing He Gang would only pretend to submit, then stab him a dozen times while he slept. Even if that did not kill him, he would be seriously injured.
Better to go to Qingcheng. By the time Yun Shou entered the city, the gates were nearly closed. He did not believe the Qing He Gang could pursue him this far.
As for the gang members stationed in Qingcheng... they might not even know that the sky above their heads had changed and their boss had been replaced by a youth.
"But just in case they really lose their minds and try to kill me, I left myself one layer of insurance."
In the morning, Yun Shou woke up and satisfactorily dismantled the warning device he had set up last night.
"It's time for the daily simulation again."
"Activate!"
Ding! Foundation -1%, current Foundation: 244% You woke up refreshed and full of energy, ready to spend the entire day wandering Qingcheng and experiencing its local customs. You still had over a dozen taels of silver on hand, enough for ordinary expenses. If it was not enough, that was fine. You could collect more from the Qing He Gang's branch within the city, or rob the rich to aid the poor and sweep away Qingcheng's criminal forces. While wandering... you went to Hundred Flowers Pavilion to listen to the young ladies sing. While wandering... you went to the snack street and indulged in delicious food. While wandering... your eyes lit up as you delightedly discovered the registration booth for the Martial Arts Tournament to Choose a Spouse. You learned registration closed the day after tomorrow. Good thing you found it early!
Yun Shou: "...No, am I really that petty?"
"It was only a tiny grudge in the simulation. I already entered once—how could I possibly cling to it so stubbornly?"
"Your Simulator isn't realistic at all. You've turned me into a petty little man!"
"..."
"Come to think of it, where exactly is the arena for that Martial Arts Tournament to Choose a Spouse? Registration closes in only two or three days."
Over the following days, you swept through all challengers and fought Zhang Xiaoran, the Chibi Guest—the sole First-rate Martial Artist in the entire tournament.
You remembered that Zhang Xiaoran had been described as extremely formidable in the previous simulation. Now that you had exchanged blows, you found that he truly was no slouch.
His combat strength was nearly that of a Martial Master, but you were a Martial Master. Even with your size holding you back, you were still quite a powerful Martial Master.
Zhang Xiaoran's defeat was without suspense. Afterward, you exchanged pointers and learned that Zhang Xiaoran indeed possessed a peculiar constitution. He had been born unusually tall, and his master had said it was a kind of Little Giant Talent.
Although it could not compare with the famous Dragon Elephant Strength, it was somewhat better than talents like Steel Muscles, Iron Bones. Below the Grandmaster Martial Dao Realm, it could grant almost half a realm's worth of additional combat strength.
"Talent..." Yun Shou sank into thought. What exactly was talent?
As far as he knew, there were several core elements related to Martial Arts.
Foundation/Talent Aptitude represented a martial artist's cultivation speed, the difficulty of breaking through realms, and combat strength among those of the same level.
And his cheat, Foundation Amplification, amplified not only Martial Dao Talent Aptitude, but also factors such as lifespan. It could almost be said that what it amplified were essential attributes on the level of one's Life Origin!
Then came martial studies/Martial Arts. Different martial studies could provide different proportional boosts to Talent Aptitude. They could transform one's Foundation into the form of that martial study and enhance it further, while the depth of one's mastery also provided additional bonuses.
After that came talents/divine abilities.
Most talents were similar to the bonuses granted by depth of mastery in martial studies, directly raising corresponding values in a single stroke. For instance, Steel Muscles, Iron Bones increased one's strength by a thousand jin, along with matching physical toughness.
Whether an ordinary person possessed the Steel Muscles, Iron Bones talent or a Grandmaster possessed it, both would gain a thousand jin of strength.
Generally, those who possessed talents and divine abilities did not have poor Talent Aptitude. But having such a talent only meant having a guaranteed baseline; their Talent Aptitude might not necessarily surpass that of someone with no talent at all.
"Back then, I wanted a talent too..." Yun Shou shook his head. "But the farther you go, the more useless they become!"
When he had first been an ordinary person, possessing Steel Muscles, Iron Bones would have made him comparable to a somewhat weaker Second-rate Martial Artist, greatly boosting his early combat strength.
But talents became more useless the further one advanced. For someone at Zhu Baowen's level, the ten-thousand-plus jin of strength added by Dragon Elephant Strength was practically a joke!
Zhang Xiaoran's Little Giant Talent seemed to grow proportionally, but it actually had a limit: the ratio became lower and lower, and it ceased to work after reaching the Grandmaster realm.
"As expected, it still can't compare to my Foundation Amplification."
You once again claimed the championship of the Martial Arts Tournament to Choose a Spouse. But before the Lin Family steward could lead you into Qingyu Tower, a young woman came jogging out and sized you up from head to toe.
"You're that young Qing He Gang leader? Word on the street says you rose to the position after beating up Xu Ruohai?" Her eyes brimmed with curiosity. "At your age, are you really a First-rate Martial Artist? Can you really beat a major gang leader like Xu Ruohai?"
You had already guessed her identity. This woman truly has eyes yet cannot recognize Mount Tai. What the hell is Xu Ruohai? Zhang Xiaoran, who fought me on the arena earlier, was far stronger than him. Yet this woman lacks the eye to recognize a true expert.
The woman did not notice your disdain and continued excitedly, "If you truly defeated Xu Ruohai, what would be wrong with marrying you?"
So all it takes is the identity of Qing He Gang leader for her to ignore the age gap and personally come out of the tower to greet me... You thought this was perfect.
"Why is she an old woman? Had I known, I wouldn't have come." You curled your lip in disgust and turned to leave.
Lin Youbai, who had just turned seventeen: "..."
You laughed loudly several times as you left, returning to the Qing He Gang to throw your weight around.
Under your orders, several of the Qing He Gang's rules were revised. It could be considered that you had secured some benefits for the fathers and elders of the fishing villages.
The benefits were not much—fish-buying merchants were forbidden from underpaying, and the purchase price of fish was raised slightly. By the standards of your modern perspective, it was still black-hearted.
But most of those fishermen had offered no help when you were suffering. Being able to do this much was already exceedingly generous of you. People like Uncle Ji no longer had to work every day to avoid going hungry.
Now you had a foundation of your own. Training Martial Arts was training Martial Arts wherever you went. Although your freedom was restricted, you received money for nothing every day, and life had become much easier.
As a Martial Master, you already had the ability to expand the Qing He Gang's sphere of influence. Following the edge of Green Lake, you even extended your reach into the neighboring Lihu City.
Lihu City was a medium-sized city. It had a martial hall located by the edge of Green Lake as well. After all, Green Lake stretched for eight hundred li, and there were quite a few cities around it.
Naturally, Lihu City also had fishing villages, and the force controlling those villages was the city's sole martial hall: Baishui Martial Hall.
Yun Shou: "Interesting. Is this life going to take a different path—the strategic route of conquest through power and territorial expansion?"
Before you continue