If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them—Then Beat Them Up First!

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them—Then Beat Them Up First! Advancing from an ordinary person to the Body Refining Realm was also an advancement in Martial Dao cultivation.

The number of terms Chen Yi could equip, as well as the odds for terms of every quality, increased along with it!

[Name: Chen Yi]

[Realm: Third Stage of Body Refining]

[Cultivation Method: Reckless Bull Strength (Low-Grade, Entry Level)]

[Equipped Terms (3/5): Simulator [Prismatic], Developed Deltoid [White], Hunger Resistance [White]]

[Acquired Terms (80): Serious Punch [Green], Effort Will Be Rewarded [Green], The Older the More Fortunate [Green], Low-Grade Bone Structure [Green]...]

[Current odds for terms of each quality:]

[White Common 89%, Green Rare 9%, Purple Epic 1%, Golden Legend 0.99%, Prismatic Myth 0.01%]

A huge pile of new terms had appeared all at once.

At first glance, the White Terms that made up the vast majority seemed useless.

In truth, they really were useless.

Still, each had its own unique effect. Under certain specific circumstances, they might prove useful.

Chen Yi could now equip five terms.

He arranged the terms according to quality.

Then he equipped the five terms: "Simulator," "Low-Grade Bone Structure," "Serious Punch," "Effort Will Be Rewarded," and "Super Beast Pain Perception."

Chen Yi now desperately wanted to know how to activate the next simulation.

With a thought, the Simulator term displayed a prompt before him.

[Simulation on cooldown. Time remaining: one year.]

[You may choose to complete the following guidance task to directly gain a simulation opportunity.]

[Guidance Task: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them!]

[Reveal your Martial Artist cultivation, infiltrate the Black Stone Gang, and seek an opportunity to escape!]

[Rewards:]

[1. Simulation attempts +1;]

[2. Premium term draw attempts *1 (a premium term's quality may not necessarily be high, but it will definitely have a positive effect);]

[3. Low-Grade Spiritual Artifact: Flame Iron Heavy Sword.]

"A Myth term really is a cheat. Getting a new simulation also comes with some extra rewards."

The cooldown was far too long. Chen Yi did not want to wait.

Besides, the guidance task suited his current situation.

There were Martial Artists in the Black Stone Gang as well.

If he jumped into the river and fled now, those Martial Artists could pursue him by boat. Chen Yi might not be able to escape.

Unless he sacrificed Dachun again.

What was more, Chen Yi had already decided to leave with Dachun.

This was his lifesaver.

Counting what had happened in the simulations, Dachun had saved him twice already.

To simply abandon him would be far too cold-blooded.

"I'll pretend to join the Black Stone Gang, then find the right moment to leave with Dachun. That's settled!"

With that thought, Chen Yi immediately sprang into action.

Smash!!

He swung his hand back and hurled the dirty bowl of watery porridge onto the ground.

"Damn it! Steamed buns and watery porridge every day! We can't even get full! A scholar can't survive on this, much less laborers like us!"

Chen Yi began loudly venting his grievances.

The laborers around him were all stunned, their eyes wide as saucers.

"Has Chen Yi gone mad?"

"Does he want to be whipped to death?"

"Could it be he likes getting whipped and is deliberately making trouble?"

"Oh... I heard some people are that perverted."

The commotion Chen Yi caused drew the overseers' attention.

"Chen Yi! What are you trying to do?!"

Before the words had even faded, Dachun smashed his bowl too.

Smash!!

"Dachun! What are you trying to do now?!"

Dachun bared his teeth.

"I don't know what I'm trying to do!! I just really want to smash a bowl!!"

"You idiot!"

The overseer lashed Dachun aside with one whip.

Then he strode quickly toward Chen Yi and viciously cracked his whip.

"You dare make trouble! Haven't you had enough of the whip? Looking for a beating!"

The leather whip whistled through the air.

The laborers had been beaten into submission long ago. The moment they saw the whip rise, even though it was not aimed at them, fear surfaced on every face, and their bodies instinctively shrank back.

Yet Chen Yi, the one being whipped, neither dodged nor flinched. His eyes remained fixed on that bully who preyed on the weak.

Supervising a group of laborers who could barely fill their stomachs did not require Martial Artists.

These overseers wielding whips were merely ruffians with a little strength.

Smack!!

Chen Yi raised a hand and firmly caught the incoming whip.

The overseer assumed Chen Yi had merely been a blind cat catching a dead mouse and grabbed it by chance.

Just as he was about to yank the whip back, he was shocked to discover that Chen Yi had already pulled it away.

"Give me back my whip! Are you trying to rebel?!"

Chen Yi sneered and lashed the whip against the ground. The force behind it was clearly far greater than the overseer's!

The sound of leather striking wood pierced everyone's eardrums, and the sturdy planks of the dock shattered on the spot!

Everyone on the dock snapped awake and turned to look.

"Rebel? Are you even worthy of using that word? Do you really think you're some local emperor?!"

Chen Yi showed no mercy. With the strength of a Third Stage Body Refining Martial Artist, he whipped the overseer.

The man's flesh split open on the spot, the wound deep enough to expose bone!

Pfft!!

The whip's force tore through his torso and injured his internal organs. The overseer spat blood as he flew backward, plunging into the rushing Qing River.

The other overseers immediately surrounded him.

"Chen Yi! You dare attack an overseer? You don't want to live! Grab him!"

These people were all ordinary people.

Their only advantage was numbers.

When their whips struck Chen Yi, he barely felt any pain.

On one hand, his Blood Qi was high, and his physical body was far stronger than an ordinary person's.

On the other, the "Super Beast Pain Perception" term weakened his sense of pain.

Enduring their assault, Chen Yi charged forward in a single bound. No one could stop him!

He used a whip as a rope, cinched it around one overseer's neck, then threw him over his shoulder into the river.

Immediately after, he performed a sliding tackle, knocking down three or four men. Using the whip as a rope, he bound them together and tossed the whole bundle into the river!

The last remaining overseer's hands were shaking.

"Y-you're so skilled?"

What skill was there?

His stats were simply high!

Fast enough!

Strong enough!

Tough enough!

Taking on many opponents alone was as easy as taking something from a bag!

Besides, the overseers only had whips, not bladed weapons like swords.

Chen Yi stomped hard on the floorboards, sending the other end flying up.

Like a child on a seesaw, the final overseer was launched into the air, then splashed miserably into the river.

The laborers were completely dumbfounded, their mouths wide enough to swallow an egg.

The overseers who usually beat them until they cried for their fathers and mothers had been dealt with by Chen Yi alone in the blink of an eye, all sent tumbling into the water!

Now they were all flailing in the river, shouting for help!

Foreman Wang Qiang glanced at the overseers in the river and gave a cold laugh.

"Well, Chen Yi, so you do have a few tricks up your sleeve. If I don't make you suffer today, I'm afraid you won't learn to obey!"

He was a Martial Artist.

But Chen Yi knew he was only at the First Stage of Body Refining.

With every stage advanced in the Body Refining Realm, one's Blood Qi doubled from the previous stage.

Even if Wang Qiang knew martial arts, how much power could he wield at the First Stage of Body Refining?

In low-tier fights, it was all about stats. All that fancy nonsense was useless!

Wang Qiang switched his whip for a pair of small hammers.

If those things struck someone, they could easily break bones.

Wang Qiang thought that as a Martial Artist, dealing with a frail, weak laborer would be effortless.

Yet the moment the fight began, the pair of hammers ended up in Chen Yi's hands.

"What is going on..."

He had not even seen what happened!

Seeing Chen Yi right before him, holding both hammers with an ambiguous half-smile on his face—

Wang Qiang panicked!