Beyond Hua Jin?

[In the fiftieth year, after more than three years of assassinations and confiscations, you and your Assassination Squad had almost purged the entire country, allowing Sun W's policies to be carried out without obstruction.]

[However, this also made countless warlords hate you to the bone, and you and your Assassination Squad suffered grievous losses in the process.]

[In the end, only seven of the thirty-six men under your command survived, and every one of them was badly wounded.]

[You yourself were assassinated many times. Though your strength was formidable, those attempts still left you on the verge of death once, severely wounded three times, and lightly injured more times than you could count.]

[As long as they failed to kill you, they would only make you stronger.]

[After enduring countless assassination attempts, not only had your experience against enemies increased more than tenfold, but your strength had also become completely integrated. Every move came at your fingertips, effortless and natural.]

[You felt as though you had reached a limit, yet an invisible, intangible barrier seemed to stand before you, blocking you completely and preventing you from advancing even an inch.]

[You had a feeling that if you could break through that invisible barrier, your strength would undergo a qualitative leap!]

[Yet you had no idea how to break that invisible barrier, and it left even the state of mind you had kept calm for decades somewhat restless.]

[This was something that had never happened even when you had been grievously wounded and near death from assassination attempts.]

"A bottleneck? What lies beyond Hua Jin? See God Not Bad? Internal Energy Self-Generation? That probably can't be achieved in a Martial World..."

In the death row prison, Zheng Qian looked at the subtitles before him, a strange glint flashing through his eyes.

After all, Hua Jin was already a legendary realm. Anything beyond it could probably only be imagined.

[Several years passed, and the nation gradually got back on track. Covered in old wounds and ailments, you decided to retire into the mountains and forests to pursue your martial path.]

[Sun W was naturally reluctant to accept your resignation in every possible way, but your mind was made up. After leaving behind a letter of resignation, you drifted away.]

[Half a month later, you returned to Songshan Shaolin.]

[More than twenty years had passed. The abbot from back then had long since passed away, and the current abbot was one of your martial uncles.]

[Buddhism preached laying down the butcher's knife and attaining Buddhahood on the spot.]

[Although you had killed countless people over the years and were even called the "Blood Hand Demon Buddha,"]

[when your abbot martial uncle saw that your eyes were clear and your expression peaceful, he still accepted you back into the Shaolin fold.]

[You had returned to Shaolin because you had already experienced the turmoil of the mortal world. It was time to return from motion to stillness.]

[In the fifty-first year, after a year of chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha, your state of mind became calm as still water once more, without a ripple.]

[Even though most Shaolin monks treated you with respect but kept their distance, even though you were made to live alone in the back mountain, even though you handled all your daily needs by yourself...]

[In the fifty-second year, you continued chanting sutras, worshipping Buddha, and contemplating the martial path.]

[In the fifty-third year, you were still chanting sutras, worshipping Buddha, and contemplating the martial path.]

[In the fifty-fourth year, your abbot martial uncle passed away. You went to recite the Rebirth Sutra three times, then returned to the back mountain to chant sutras, worship Buddha, and contemplate the martial path.]

[The new abbot was one of your martial brothers, but you were not familiar with him.]

[In the fifty-fifth year, as time passed, the injuries you had suffered in previous years gradually flared up again, leaving your body worse by the day.]

[In the fifty-eighth year, your body deteriorated further, and even living alone became somewhat difficult. Yet your vitality and spirit became increasingly extraordinary, and you still lived alone in the back mountain.]

[However, after your abbot martial brother visited you once at the beginning of that year, someone began delivering two vegetarian meals to you every day.]

[In the sixty-third year, your body had become as thin as dry bones, and even walking had become exceedingly difficult.]

[In contrast, your vitality and spirit became even more extraordinary, while your eyes remained as bright and clear as an infant's.]

[In the sixty-fifth year, you felt that your end was near, so you called your abbot martial brother over and gave him all the martial arts and insights into the martial path that you had created over the years, repaying him for his care.]

[Three days later, you passed away with a trace of regret, for until your death, you had failed to comprehend what realm lay beyond Hua Jin.]

[You died. The simulation ended.]

"Didn't break through, huh? What a pity..." Zheng Qian murmured regretfully as he looked at the outcome of this simulation.

[Ding! Simulation ended.]

[The host's evaluation for this simulation: 86 points, perfect.]

[Based on the host's score,]

[you may select five of the following options as rewards:]

1. White Talent: Doubled Strength.

2. Peak Body Tempering Realm strength.

3. Combat Experience.

4. Life Experience.

5. Huo Family Fist (Perfection Level).

6. Flying Swallow Skill (Perfection Level).

7. Golden Bell Shield (Perfection Level).

8. Iron Shirt (Perfection Level).

9. Marble Skill (Perfection Level).

10. ...

79. Mantis Fist (Perfection Level).

80. Ten gold bars (fifty taels each).]

"So many martial arts..." Looking at the more than seventy Perfection Level martial arts, even though he had expected it, Zheng Qian could not help voicing his surprise.

But after only a brief moment of surprise, he made his choice without hesitation. "I choose 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9!"

Option 1 was a talent, and option 2 was a realm. There was nothing to hesitate over; both were mandatory choices.

As for option 3, Combat Experience would likewise greatly improve his strength. This time, he had fought many masters in succession and survived repeated assassinations.

Such abundant Combat Experience would probably be difficult to encounter again in the future.

As for why he chose 8 and 9 rather than the others?

The reason was simple. Once he extracted his cultivation, he could very easily deduce the Huo Family Fist and Flying Swallow Skill he had already learned to the Perfection Level.

That way, he would have both a fist technique and a movement technique. All he would lack would be defense, hidden weapons, and weapon techniques.

Fist techniques could extend into spear techniques, so what he lacked most were defense and hidden weapons.

As Zheng Qian made his selection, countless streams of heat suddenly appeared from nowhere within his body.

Wherever the heat flowed, the strength of his flesh, bones, and tendons immediately began to rise rapidly, while his blood swiftly grew thicker and more vigorous.

However, in merely a few seconds, it was all over.

Before Zheng Qian could carefully sense the changes in his body, countless scenes rapidly surfaced in his mind.

They were scenes of his simulated self fighting others: mountain bandits, foreigners, Yan Zhendong, Wong Fei Hung, True Man Jiugong, Nalan Yuanshu, hidden arrows, cannons, machine guns...

All kinds of scenes flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, yet they were miraculously branded deeply into his memories, impossible to forget even if he wanted to.

As those scenes faded, a complicated body-tempering method and hidden-weapon method appeared in Zheng Qian's mind immediately afterward.

In an instant, he felt as though he had practiced both for decades. Every move came effortlessly, as natural as moving his own limbs.