Hua Jin!

[Year 30: Your strength stabilized at the Hidden Force stage, but unfortunately, your progress had slowed to a crawl.

Your talent, Eating is a Blessing, seemed to have reached its limit and no longer worked on you.

After defeating Zhao Jian, his childhood rival who had likewise mastered Zhao Family Fist to Great Accomplishment, your friend Huo Yuanjia's fame nearly reached its peak. Only the veteran martial artist Master Qin could still hold him down.

Huo Yuanjia was deeply unwilling to accept this and sought an opportunity to fight Master Qin.]

"Finally, this part... I wonder whether the me in the simulation will prevent this tragedy from happening..."

Zheng Qian narrowed his eyes as he looked at the words before him.

As far as he knew, the later plot of the film went like this: Huo Yuanjia first lost by a move to Master Qin on the street, then was set up by his own disciple, before finally coming to blows with Master Qin on the latter's birthday.

In the end, it turned into a tragedy. Not only did Master Qin's birthday become his death anniversary, but Huo Yuanjia's own mother and daughter were also killed by Master Qin's disciples.

It was a mutual destruction too horrible to bear.

And the cause of it all was merely that Huo Yuanjia's disciple had been caught having an affair with Master Qin's concubine. Master Qin then gave that disciple a brutal beating.

Already displeased with Master Qin, Huo Yuanjia never bothered asking why. He went straight to Master Qin's door to demand an explanation, with an extremely hostile attitude, ultimately causing the tragedy.

Honestly, in Zheng Qian's view, Master Qin had an exceptionally good temper.

If it had been anyone else, they would probably have beaten Huo Yuanjia's disciple to death on the spot, or even gone directly to Huo Yuanjia's door and ruined his reputation.

While Zheng Qian's thoughts ran wild, the words before him continued scrolling rapidly.

[Year 31: Your strength had nearly stopped improving, so you began practicing other martial arts in hopes of drawing parallels and achieving a breakthrough.

While you cultivated diligently, Huo Yuanjia challenged Master Qin in the street and lost by a move, leaving him resentful.

Upon hearing the news, you knew what you had to do.

After all, Huo Yuanjia's mother had practically watched you grow up, and she had always treated you well. You did not want the old madam to lose her good name in her later years.]

[Half a month later, one evening, you were visiting the Huo residence.

You had chosen this time because today was Master Qin's fiftieth birthday.

And according to what you knew, today was the day Huo Yuanjia's disciple would be brutally beaten by Master Qin.

That was indeed what happened. While you chatted with the old madam, waves of shouting came from the front courtyard, and you immediately went out to investigate.

Then, you saw the familiar scenes unfold before your eyes:

First, one of Huo Yuanjia's disciples was carried in by others, covered in wounds.

Then those disciples told Huo Yuanjia that Master Qin had done it.

Already filled with resentment toward Master Qin, Huo Yuanjia did not ask for the reason. He immediately produced a Life-and-Death Contract and prepared to demand an explanation from Master Qin.

Seeing this, you immediately stepped forward to stop Huo Yuanjia and asked his disciple why Master Qin had beaten him.

Faced with your questioning—especially with your ox-like build before them—Huo Yuanjia's disciples all wore ugly expressions, stammering and unable to speak.

Seeing this, the naturally intelligent Huo Yuanjia immediately realized there was more to the matter.

Although it was already the late Qing Dynasty, the belief that a teacher was like a father for life remained deeply rooted in people's hearts. Deceiving one's master was a grave crime of betraying both teacher and lineage, and a master had the right to beat, or even beat to death, his disciple.

Thus, under Huo Yuanjia's forceful interrogation, everyone could only tell the truth from beginning to end.

Upon hearing the whole story, Huo Yuanjia seemed to age twenty years in an instant. He collapsed to the ground and did not rise for a long time.]

[The disciples' concealment left Huo Yuanjia utterly disheartened, and he sank into despair.

Only then did he realize that while he was nearly unbeatable throughout Tianjin in martial arts, he still had far to go in judging people and conducting himself.

That night, Huo Yuanjia thought for a long time. In the end, he punched to death the bastard disciple who had nearly dragged him into disgrace and dishonor. As for the other disciples who knew of the matter but chose to conceal it with him, he broke one limb of each and expelled them all from his school.

After doing all this, Huo Yuanjia seemed to pass from his prime into old age in an instant, his heart reduced to ashes.]

[Beginning the next day, Huo Yuanjia shut himself indoors, and the Huo Family Martial Arts School went from dozens of disciples to only five.

What had happened at the Huo residence the previous night also quickly spread through every street and alley of Tianjin.

There was no helping it. Too many people had been expelled from Huo Yuanjia's school; there was no way to keep it hidden.]

[Year 32: Your strength improved somewhat as you practiced other martial arts, but Huo Yuanjia still shut himself away. Even you could only see him once in a long while.

From the few times you met, you discovered that Huo Yuanjia's state of mind was becoming increasingly peaceful. The aura around him was as still as a deep abyss, giving others an unfathomable impression.

That same year, a major event occurred in Tianjin: the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded!

Facing the great powers, you were utterly helpless. You could only rely on connections you had made while studying in Japan to protect yourself and the Huo family.

Of course, that was only on the surface. In secret, you supported the Boxer Rebellion with money and supplies.

Unfortunately, the great powers were too strong, and all your efforts ultimately ended in failure.]

[Year 39: After years of hard cultivation, you finally accumulated enough strength for a breakthrough and successfully raised your power to the peak of the late Body Tempering Realm.

That same year, Huo Yuanjia, who had remained shut indoors, appeared before the public for the first time. Yet he no longer bore any trace of his former high spirits or sharp brilliance. Instead, he was like an ordinary middle-aged man—calm and peaceful.

The reason for such a drastic change was that his strength had already broken through to the peak of the Body Tempering Realm—the Hua Jin realm.

In the Hua Jin realm, one's blood was tempered like mercury, rendering one immune to all poisons. One's martial arts also reached an uncanny level, returning to simplicity and attaining true mastery. It was the highest realm pursued by countless martial artists in this world.]

"Hua Jin? It looks like Huo Yuanjia's strength has already surpassed the original course of events..."

A sharp gleam flashed through Zheng Qian's eyes as he looked at the words before him.

In the original story, Huo Yuanjia had been poisoned to death. Yet now he was immune to all poisons, so his final fate would likely be different from this point onward.

Zheng Qian had always been considering one question: What did the simulator use to judge his performance and give him a final rating?

After thinking it over, he could only come up with three aspects:

First, how much strength he had gained in the simulation;

Second, how greatly he had affected and altered the direction of the simulated world's plot;

Third, how greatly he had changed the fates of important figures in the simulated world.

He had thought of three aspects in such a short time. The simulated version of himself had spent decades thinking about it, so he surely would have considered things far more comprehensively.

Perhaps that was the main reason why the simulated version of himself kept stepping in to dissuade Huo Yuanjia.

After all, this world was named after the other man.

If he could completely rewrite his fate, then the rating he would receive...