Why Is It You Again?

"Burning Cloud Hand!"

It was a mid-tier martial art among the four cultivation methods Shen Qingshan had gifted Chen Yi in the simulation.

Using this martial art required mobilizing Spiritual Qi and gathering one's own Spiritual Qi into a giant void hand in midair.

However Chen Yi moved his hand, the void hand moved the same way, replicated one-to-one.

When his Internal Cultivation was the fire-aligned Fervent Heart Art, the two cultivation methods could also work in tandem, and the Burning Cloud Hand would blaze with roaring flames!

The two-zhang-long hand slapped through the air and seized Shi San in a single grasp.

Chen Yi circulated his External Cultivation and erupted with Blood Qi, boosting his strength. He raised his right hand high in a grabbing motion.

The flaming hand mirrored Chen Yi's movements, clutching Shi San and lifting him into the air.

"Aah!! I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Brother Chen Yi! Spare me! I'll be your laborer! Your slave!!"

Chen Yi gave a cold snort, without the slightest hesitation in his eyes.

"I don't have a habit of oppressing others! If you'd let us brothers go when you discovered us that day, you wouldn't have met with today's disaster!"

Shi San, suffering unspeakable agony in the flames, regretted it so deeply his intestines had turned green.

Until his death, he could not understand how, in merely one day, Chen Yi—the man who had only been fit to work as his dock laborer—could so casually hold his life and death in his hands, and even destroy his Black Stone Gang.

How could Shi San have known the might of the "Simulator" entry? He knew even less that Chen Yi possessed the Entry System.

Once Chen Yi finished speaking, Shi San had been burned almost enough.

Dachun sniffed the air.

"It smells so good, Brother Yi."

Chen Yi was speechless.

"You can't eat this... Let's go home. I'll treat you to a grand feast at Yuelai Inn in the county town!"

Chen Yi casually tossed aside Shi San's charred-black corpse and led Dachun toward Qing River.

When they reached Qing River, Chen Yi's gaze swept over the river's surface, where he saw wisps of demonic aura, dark and dense in color.

"It's that River Demon. Traveling by boat isn't safe—we'll follow the riverbank."

A Qing River ran through Qingzhou, which was how Qingzhou got its name.

The Qing River County they were currently in and their home, White Cloud County, both belonged to Baling Commandery in Qingzhou.

The two counties lay side by side, one upstream and the other downstream.

There was no navigation system in this world, so it was easy to lose one's way.

Following the river's course solved that problem.

"Dachun, I still don't know your real name."

"My name is Dachun!"

"Who has the surname 'Da'...?"

"People in the village used to call me 'Big Dummy! Big Dummy!' After calling me that for so long, it became Dachun."

"Uh... Come to think of it, I owe you an apology too. When I was little, I bullied you just like the other children did."

"Did you? I don't remember at all!"

"A person can't go without a proper name. You're from our village, so you should be surnamed Chen too. How about Chen Dachun?"

"But doesn't Dachun mean 'Big Dummy'? Can I be called Xiaochun instead? It sounds a little cuter!"

"Fine, Chen Xiaochun!"

Chen Yi and Dachun—one tall and slender, the other round as a ball—walked along the lush green riverbank toward their hometown.

After enduring three months of oppression and bullying, the two had finally escaped the Black Stone Gang and exacted their revenge to the fullest.

When they passed through Qing River County City, they entered the city to eat, drink, and rest for a while.

The diners at the inn were discussing the destruction of the Black Stone Gang.

"Have you heard? The Black Stone Gang that occupied the Ten Mile Pavilion dock outside the city was wiped out in one fell swoop! Not even a plank of wood was left at their headquarters—it was all carried away!"

"Which gang was it? Who had the nerve to touch our County Magistrate's brother-in-law?"

"It wasn't a gang, nor was it any Lineage from our county. I heard there was only one person!"

"One person?! Good heavens, could it have been one of those martial arts grandmasters from the storytellers' tales, passing through by chance?"

"The Black Stone Gang was truly unlucky, provoking such a great figure. I heard that even when the County Magistrate flew into a rage, he only dared to rage once!"

That was how rumors were born.

Some Black Stone Gang members had survived. After scattering and fleeing, they boasted extravagantly about Chen Yi's prowess—otherwise, would it not make them seem utterly incompetent for failing to protect their own gang?

After the dock laborers escaped, they went everywhere telling people about how the hero named "Chen Yi" had saved their lives. Naturally, they embellished things as well, saying Chen Yi had the speed of a leopard, the strength of a bear, the agility of a monkey, and so on.

One spread to ten, ten spread to a hundred, and the tale grew more outrageous with every retelling.

Now everyone in Qing River County believed—

The one who had destroyed the Black Stone Gang was a great martial arts powerhouse flying through the heavens.

Seeing the laborers enslaved by the Black Stone Gang, he had felt great sympathy for them.

So he struck down with a single palm, and the Black Stone Gang vanished into ashes and smoke.

When Chen Yi heard that Shi San had some connection to Qing River County's County Magistrate, he had been a little worried.

Unexpectedly, the County Magistrate had also believed the rumors and was unwilling to offend a martial arts grandmaster for the sake of a brother-in-law who ran a criminal gang.

Although he had never heard of anyone named Chen Yi.

But the Five Domains were so vast. What if he truly was some great expert wandering through this place?

After understanding the situation, Chen Yi was relieved.

He had also worried that the exposure of his real name might bring trouble.

But since Qing River County had made the rumors about him so exaggerated, no one would connect him with that "great expert."

A homophone or identical name was hardly unusual.

After resting for two days, Chen Yi bought a carriage in the county city. He drove the horses himself and had Dachun sit inside as they continued their journey.

White Cloud County was named for the ring of White Cloud Ridge surrounding its borders.

The mountain ridges rose and fell in rugged waves, with peak upon peak stacked in the denser areas. Whenever mountain rains approached, mist blanketed the surrounding mountains, making them seem like an immortal realm.

The scenery was beautiful, but this world had no concept of tourism.

Thus, White Cloud County was merely an ordinary, impoverished place.

Half a month after leaving the Black Stone Gang's dock, Chen Yi and Dachun had traveled at a leisurely pace, eating and drinking along the way. They were now nearly at White Cloud County Town.

Under the effect of the Has Demonic Aura entry, Chen Yi occasionally saw traces of demonic aura along the way.

However, demonic aura in a certain place did not mean that a demon was necessarily there at that very moment.

If a demon passed nearby, its demonic aura would remain where it had traveled even ten days or half a month later, and Chen Yi's Has Demonic Aura entry could detect it.

Demon Race could be found everywhere throughout the Five Domains. Rumor had it that they raised their cultivation by eating humans and were the mortal enemies of the Human Race.

That was why Dagan had established Monster Slaying Divisions everywhere to deal specifically with demonic calamities.

After entering White Cloud County's territory, Chen Yi discovered that traces of demonic aura were even more numerous here.

Combined with what he had learned in the second simulation, this was because White Cloud County's Monster Slaying Division and County Yamen were simply the Demon Race's umbrella of protection in this region.

The good news was that under such protection, Demon Race crimes were organized. They had to be "reported" and could not casually attack passersby.

Because if they did, it would be inconvenient for the County Magistrate to find someone to take the blame.

Therefore, Chen Yi was actually safer after entering White Cloud County.

But there were bandits.

"This mountain was planted by me! This tree was opened by me..."

Seeing Xu Linglong, whose figure resembled the character for "convex," appear before him once more with her bandit lackeys, Chen Yi speechlessly reined in the carriage.

"Why is it you again..."

Xu Linglong scratched her head with the Great Hammer and asked in confusion.

"Why did you say 'again'?"