Return to White Cloud County!

Chen Yi laughed it off.

"Not important, not important. You can't beat me, so you'd better move aside."

Xu Linglong sneered.

"The twenty of us brothers can't beat one of you? Don't tell me there are two hundred people packed inside that carriage? Hahaha!"

Hearing this, Dachun poked his head out of the carriage.

"What? There are two hundred people in the carriage? Brother Yi! Where are they?! Why can't I see them?!"

Xu Linglong laughed even harder at the sight.

"Hahaha! There's only one idiot in that carriage!"

A massive hand wreathed in flames slapped down, toppling an entire row of old trees.

Xu Linglong's laughter cut off abruptly.

She tossed her two hammers to the ground and, with a thud, dropped to her knees before Chen Yi.

"Greetings, Big Brother! This little sister has offended you! Just treat us like a fart and let us go!"

The bandit lackeys were also adept at reading the situation. They knelt together with Xu Linglong.

"Spare us, Big Brother!!"

"I have an eighty-year-old mother above me and wives and concubines in droves below me. I truly couldn't support such a large family anymore, so I came out to rob travelers!"

"Big Brother, this really is my first time!"

These bandits were far too practiced at this.

Chen Yi had no intention of making things difficult for them. Officials would soon come to surround and suppress them anyway, so why should he go out of his way?

Suddenly, Chen Yi noticed that among the bandits was a fellow with a tuft of red hair sticking up from his forehead!

"You! Come here!"

Chen Yi's expression immediately turned stern. Pointing at the little lackey, he shouted sharply.

Xu Linglong's heart leaped into her throat.

Could one of her brothers be an enemy of this great master? Had he recognized him?

Xu Linglong made a swift decision to abandon the cart and save the commander!

She was the first to dash over, grabbing the little redhead by the ear and dragging him before Chen Yi. She loudly warned him.

"Get over here! Tell the truth! If you dare speak a single lie, I'll chop off your head!"

The lackey was terrified. Trembling all over, he said, "B-Big Brother, y-you called me over because... because..."

"Why is your hair red?"

"M-My hair?"

Xu Linglong froze. He had made such a huge display just to ask about a hairstyle?

The lackey did not dare lie and told him everything plainly.

"I-I used to be a disciple of the Chixin Sect. The External Cultivation practiced by our Chixin Sect is called the Heart Fire Technique. The deeper one's cultivation of this Cultivation Method, the more red hair grows on one's head.

"I heard that the Elders in the sect have all cultivated it to Perfection. Every one of them has a head full of flowing red hair!"

The realms of Martial Dao Cultivation Methods—or rather, Cultivation Method Proficiency—were divided into six levels: Entry Level, Proficient, Mastery, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Perfection.

This was information Chen Yi had learned through the simulations.

"You were a disciple of the Chixin Sect. How did you end up becoming a bandit?"

"When cultivating the Heart Fire Technique, you have to carefully control the heat of the burning Blood Qi. I failed to control it properly, and the Cultivation Method went berserk, burning my Dantian beyond repair. I could no longer cultivate Martial Dao, so I was expelled from the sect.

"Later, a locust plague struck my hometown. The officials embezzled the relief grain, and my parents starved to death. With nowhere else to turn, I could only become a bandit."

Chen Yi gave a slight nod, signaling that he could leave.

The lackey felt as though he had been granted a pardon.

He had spent time in a Martial Dao sect and knew full well just how powerful Martial Dao experts were.

"Chixin Sect..."

That counted as uncovering another clue.

He could go investigate the Chixin Sect thoroughly in a simulation later.

By following the vine to find the melon, he would sooner or later uncover the true culprit behind the Village Massacre Case.

Chen Yi wanted to investigate the Village Massacre Case not only to avenge his family, but also to consider his own safety.

He did not know who these people were, nor did he know their purpose in massacring the village.

He just did not know whether they would come looking for him again, or how he should guard against them.

Chen Yi disliked this situation where the enemy was hidden while he stood in the open.

Fortunately, he had the Simulator, giving him plenty of chances to make mistakes and investigate.

Chen Yi urged his horse onward.

Before leaving, considering that these people had provided him with a small clue regarding the Village Massacre Case, Chen Yi casually mentioned that the Second Leader in their mountain stronghold might be a traitor.

Only after watching the carriage gradually vanish from sight did Xu Linglong and the others finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"What rotten luck. How did we run into a Martial Artist above the Spirit Gathering Realm? I know every Spirit Gathering Realm Martial Artist in White Cloud County..."

A martial art like the Burning Cloud Hand could not be unleashed without Spiritual Qi.

Thus, Xu Linglong concluded that Chen Yi's cultivation was at least at the Spirit Gathering Realm.

"Be careful of the Second Leader? What's wrong with the Second Leader?"

Xu Linglong could not make sense of it.

But she committed the matter to memory.

The leisurely carriage rumbled and jolted its way into White Cloud County Town.

Since crossing into this world, Chen Yi had visited the county town many times while growing up.

Setting foot in this familiar place again, especially after enduring three months of inhuman hardship, filled Chen Yi with boundless emotion.

Only Dachun remained carefree. Sitting in the carriage, he pointed at an old man selling candied hawthorns by the roadside, drooling all over the place.

Chen Yi smiled and shook his head. He stopped the horse and bought all of the old man's candied hawthorns.

"Keep the change."

Looking at the silver ingot in his hand, the old man was so moved that tears streamed down his aged face.

"I've met a living Bodhisattva today!"

Chen Yi brought Dachun to the entrance of Yuelai Inn.

"Dachun, I'm going to visit my Third Sister first. You stay at this inn for now. Remember, you're a guest, not here to work. If they ask you to do chores, don't stupidly help them."

Dachun stuffed his mouth full of candied hawthorns, his face smeared with red sugar.

"Mm! I know!"

Things were different from the simulation now.

In the simulation, Chen Yi had no money and could only have Dachun work at the inn in exchange for a bite to eat.

But the current Chen Yi had seized a whole chest of gold, silver, and treasures from the Black Stone Gang. In the blink of an eye, he had become a wealthy man.

Naturally, there was no need for Dachun to work anymore.

Chen Yi could even easily buy any residence in the county town.

He simply did not know whose courtyard was for sale at the moment, so he had Dachun stay at the inn first. It was not as though he lacked money.

Chen Yi led Dachun into Yuelai Inn.

"Welcome, honored guests! Are you stopping for a meal or staying the night?"

The one greeting them was still an old acquaintance—the enthusiastic proprietress.

"A room. Three meals a day, four dishes and a soup, served on time."

"Certainly! Upstairs, please! Hmm... little guest, why are you looking at Third Sister like that?"

Chen Yi asked tentatively.

"Proprietress, don't you think we look somehow familiar?"

The proprietress covered her mouth and laughed, her body swaying like a flower branch in the wind.

"Sir, do you ask every woman you meet that? I, Mei Sanniang, don't like men younger than me."

Chen Yi laughed it off as though nothing had happened.

Good. A simulation was just a simulation, not some parallel timeline or the like.

If simulations were regarded as another parallel timeline, then counterparts in parallel worlds could sometimes experience memories crossing over.

Chen Yi had seen such a setting in science fiction films.

That was why he had wanted to test it just now.

His romantic entanglement with the proprietress remained only in the first simulation. In reality, Chen Yi did not wish to have too much involvement with her.

After settling Dachun in, Chen Yi headed straight for Third Sister's home.

Once he arrived at Third Sister's home, the guidance mission would be complete.

He wondered whether this premium entry would yield something useful this time.