Opening Gate, Yangyao Gate!

[Baishui Martial Hall denounced your Qing He Gang for breaking the rules and encroaching on others' territory. Your loyal Right Protector, Xu Ruohai, sneered and said it was just a matter of order—whoever was stronger took more.]

[During the third simulation, you had joined a martial hall in Yangxue City. At that time, another martial hall moved into the city, and your Tianhe Martial Hall fought a best-of-five battle against the migrating Radiant Light Martial Hall.]

[The opponent won enough rounds to secure their entry.]

[In this life, though martial halls and gangs differ—martial halls are a kind of independent, more aloof semi-official organization, with half their standing above the authorities—]

[Gangs are the opposite. Even if a gang has stronger experts, it's still not considered legitimate. It's also a semi-official organization, but the other half sits below the authorities.]

[When it comes to vying for influence, it's not about the officials—it's about the jianghu, about martial force.]

[Baishui Martial Hall proposed a best-of-three duel. If your side won two rounds, they would cede the fishing village outside Lihu City by Green Lake. Otherwise, you would have to withdraw and not encroach for ten years.]

[First round: a Second-rate Martial Artist battle. Your third-in-command, Iron Thunderbolt, lost!]

[Second round: a First-rate Martial Artist battle. Your Right Protector, Xu Ruohai, lost!]

[Third... there was no third round. In a best-of-three, you had already lost two in a row. Without throwing a single move, your entire Qing He Gang was thoroughly defeated.]

Yun Shou: "A bunch of trash."

[Your face darkened. You should have realized it earlier—how could the martial artists in a gang compare to those in a martial hall? Even if Xu Ruohai was a martial prodigy you'd picked up by chance, his talent capped out at First-rate.]

[If Xu Ruohai had been a Second-rate Martial Artist who had completed Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation, you might have won the first round.]

[But he was only a First-rate Martial Artist, mediocre even among First-rate talents, and hadn't even achieved Extreme Viscera Enhancement. Of course he couldn't beat the elite First-rate fighters from a martial hall.]

[You refused to accept it and challenged Baishui Martial Hall's master, Martial Master Bai Jianghe, to a one-on-one duel!]

[This was a separate challenge, with no territory at stake.]

[The battle lasted a full three hundred exchanges. Bai Jianghe's foundation and talent, boosted by his technique, were at least one hundred and eighty, if not two hundred, and he had also reached a fairly advanced stage of Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony.]

[If the peak version of you from the simulation had fought, you could have taken him down in twenty or thirty moves. But now, though your foundation was higher, your body was still that of a youth. Your martial arts were at the Grandmaster level, but he had reached Perfection... With gains and losses balanced, you weren't that much stronger than him.]

[In the end, you gradually gained the upper hand by a narrow margin and forced Bai Jianghe to retreat, spitting blood.]

[Bai Jianghe gave you a strange look, finally said, "Truly, talent comes from youth," and led his disciples back into the city.]

[You also led your Qing He Gang underlings back.]

[You thought the days ahead would be simple—train daily, refine your Martial Cultivation, wait for the Young Talents Grand Competition a year and a half later to make a big splash, then slip out of the Three Kingdoms just before the Alien Demon arrived.]

[But trouble came faster than expected. Before even a year had passed, before you'd even recouped the cost of this simulation, an uninvited guest showed up.]

[A Martial Master. A Martial Master who had condensed his Martial Will, one foot already on the threshold of the Grandmaster realm!]

[With a single casual palm strike, light burst forth, and Xu Ruohai was sent flying, spitting blood.]

[A Martial Master... from Yangyao Gate!]

Yun Shou froze, then quickly realized what had happened.

Neither the simulated him nor the current him had paid attention to one thing: the inheritance of martial arts!

Various sects and martial halls guarded their exclusive techniques extremely, extremely heavily!

If someone was caught stealing a technique, the punishment was to "reclaim" the martial arts!

There were two ways to reclaim martial arts. The gentle way was to cripple one's Martial Cultivation. The simpler way was to eliminate the person entirely—then the leaked technique naturally ceased to exist.

Yun Shou's Sunday Art had legal authorization from Yangyao Gate, but that was from the last simulation, earned by placing second in the Grand Competition.

In reality... Yun Shou had actually been somewhat cautious. During the previous Young Talents Grand Competition, he had never used the exclusive Combat Technique of Flowing River Technique, so he hadn't been discovered then.

And this time, the reason for the exposure...

[The Yangyao Gate Martial Master, Zhao Yuan, said that Hall Master Bai of Baishui Martial Hall had reported to them that a teenager had mastered the Sunday Art, looking like a core disciple of Yangyao Gate.]

[But this "core disciple" happened to be the leader of a gang—too unusual. So Bai Jianghe had asked Yangyao Gate for clarification.]

"Damn it, it really was you!" Yun Shou was in a foul mood. "Baishui Martial Hall, huh? Bai Jianghe, huh?"

It seemed the blazing white Force Qi characteristic of the Sunday Art was too distinctive, unlike the common blue Force Qi of Flowing River Technique.

Or maybe Bai Jianghe was very familiar with Yangyao Gate, and the two sides had some exchange, allowing him to directly identify Yun Shou's foundational martial art and realize he had nothing to do with Yangyao Gate.

He fought face-to-face, said "Impressive, young master," then turned around and reported him to Yangyao Gate.

"I'll remember that, you old schemer!"

[You were silent for a moment, then told Zhao Yuan of Yangyao Gate: "Half a year ago, I met a mysterious old martial artist. It went like this and like that."]

[Zhao Yuan sneered: "Do you think I don't know which of my uncles is currently traveling the jianghu? Every disciple and elder's cultivation level and whereabouts are registered. The only Supreme Elder has been in seclusion for ten years. That lie of yours might fool yourself."]

[He took out a long staff made of Void Steel, its shaft blazing with white light: "Tell me the truth. Where did you get the Sunday Art?"]

[You were silent for a long moment. "What if I said I found it?"]

[Zhao Yuan laughed derisively, then struck without warning: "Then I'll reclaim the martial arts from your body!"]

[You were no match for him.]

[Of course you weren't. Zhao Yuan looked to be in his thirties or forties, his real age no more than forty-five, yet he had already condensed his Martial Will, only a step away from merging Essence, Qi, and Spirit to break through to Grandmaster.]

[His displayed talent was more than just a "Grandmaster seed"—he was a top-tier genius destined to become a Grandmaster, with hopes of even reaching Grandmaster Supreme. His Martial Talent might even rival your current self!]

[His Martial Talent might only be comparable, but his Martial Cultivation had already far surpassed yours! The gap between you was too great. The moment you clashed, you fell into absolute disadvantage!]

[In just over a dozen moves, you were sent staggering back dozens of steps by a single staff strike, your Vital Energy Circulation nearly shattered. At the brink of death, you chose to be pragmatic and shouted that you could join Yangyao Gate—you were a fourteen-year-old Martial Master, destined to become a Supreme Grandmaster.]

[Zhao Yuan: "A petty thief who stole my sect's martial art, and you still dare to ask for more?!"]

[You couldn't hold it together anymore. This Yangyao Gate Martial Master was too rigid, too inflexible. Didn't he know rules were dead, but people were alive?]