Since he couldn't cultivate, he might as well wash up and sleep.
It was within expectations. After all, the original owner had already been worked to death.
If this body could still cultivate, that would be a miracle.
Yu Ke lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
Moonlight flowed like water as the tranquil night descended once more.
Yet at that moment, the [Kun Void Cauldron] in his mind suddenly glimmered and trembled faintly.
[Cooldown complete. Begin simulation?]
[Twenty years saved. Continue?]
Seeing the flickering light screen on the cauldron, Yu Ke immediately perked up.
Work had arrived!
He chose to continue the simulation.
With his response, the [Kun Void Cauldron] shone ever more brilliantly. Its patterns seemed to have been granted life, gleaming with radiance.
[This year, you had just turned twenty. Looking at the letter in your hand, you fell into deep thought. Your father had encountered a crisis.]
[Thus, you decided:]
1. Remain in the mountains and continue cultivating.
2. Descend the mountain.
3. Participate personally (0/3)
Yu Ke was somewhat conflicted. Based on the previous progress, even if he simulated ten more years in the mountains, progress would most likely be slow.
He might as well open a new instance.
After all, as long as he changed the course of the Kun Void World, he would receive rewards.
As for participating personally, there was no need.
Having made up his mind,
Yu Ke chose option 2, descending the mountain.
[You resolutely decided to descend the mountain and go support your father. This decision caused no small shock within the sect. Some were utterly astonished, while others scoffed, believing you were merely putting on a show of false affection.]
[For five years, you had lived in seclusion and rarely gone out, never dealing with anyone in the sect. The disciples who had entered the sect said that you had an eccentric temper and knew only cultivation.]
[Unlike Lu Yu, who had extensive connections and was accompanied by a group of like-minded Three Truths disciples when he left the mountain.]
[The others regarded you with amusement and held no expectations whatsoever for your future.]
[No one thought you would accomplish anything after descending the mountain.]
[You were alone. Only your master came personally to see you off.]
[The Daoist smiled. "Disciple, you should have descended the mountain long ago to gain experience. Now is precisely the time."]
[Under your master's guidance, you learned where your father was.]
[Hulao Pass—the greatest pass under heaven.]
[Lu Chen bid farewell and began heading north alone.]
[The northern journey was long and arduous.]
[Along the way, refugees surged down from the north like a tide, their eyes filled with terror and despair.]
[Starved bones lay by the roadside, and for a thousand miles there was no crow of a rooster. The horrific sight of people exchanging children to eat shook you to the core.]
[Those words were no longer mere writing. They had become scenes before your eyes, making you deeply understand the suffering and brutality of the human world.]
[One day, you encountered an old man. He was utterly exhausted and ravenous, his face sallow and body emaciated, his eyes filled with the grief of losing his family.]
[Moved by pity, you shared some of your rations with him. The old man thanked you profusely.]
[Yet you had not expected that the old man would try to kill you that night. Fortunately, you possessed the talent Insight into People and had long been on guard.]
[You had practiced martial arts for years and possessed a strong physique. The old man was no match for you. After you subdued him, he begged for mercy.]
[You still retained a trace of compassion. Looking at the old man's aged face, you ultimately chose to spare him.]
[The next morning, the old man entered your sight once more. Several farmers followed behind him, dressed in ragged clothes and gripping hoes and other farm tools tightly in their hands. Green light flickered in their eyes, like a pack of hungry wolves.]
[The old man pointed at you and shouted hoarsely, "He has wheat on him!"]
[The moment those words were spoken, unprecedented light flashed in the eyes of the several farmers.]
[Someone suggested with a vicious snarl, "Kill him and take back the grain!"]
[Another cruelly echoed, "Why not put him in the pot? The few of us could have a full meal too!"]
[Several of them carried a bloody aura. Clearly, every one of them had human lives on their hands.]
[The old man had originally been from the same village as them, but now even he was somewhat afraid of the four.]
[They had been fleeing south due to the war for twenty-seven days. They could only fill their bellies with straw and bran, and their food had long since run out.]
[From their tone, you could roughly guess their intentions. When they had first begun fleeing, everyone still had some food and could preserve their morals. Later, when all the food was gone, even the tree bark had been gnawed clean.]
[After starving for three days, people began to harbor evil intentions—let alone after more than twenty days.]
[The refugees also did not dare slow their pace, for Yizhou of Great Qing was still half a month's journey away. Once the cavalry of the North Wind Profound Kingdom broke through Hulao Pass, they would have only a dead end before them.]
[As for whether Hulao Pass could be held, they had long since ceased to hope.]
[The court's foolishness and incompetence had long scattered the people's loyalty throughout the Northern Region. They could only pray that they might barely cling to life in this chaotic age.]
[The five men advanced toward you step by step. Farming tools had become weapons for murder, and they watched you eagerly.]
[At the same time, you keenly noticed several more people skulking in the grass not far away. Those pairs of hungry, thirsty eyes seemed to belong to another group that ate people.]
[Facing the five people surrounding you...]
[Thus, you decided.]
1. Beg for mercy. Perhaps they would let you off.
2. Let them off.
3. Kill the five men.
4. Participate personally (0/3)
Yu Ke looked at the three options that had appeared.
Thinking of how the old man had repaid kindness with resentment, he realized that in troubled times, one needed a heart for slaughter.
Moreover, if he spared them again, it might invite an even greater calamity.
Killing the five men could also deter those other people trailing behind them—kill the chicken to warn the monkeys.
Yu Ke chose option 3: kill the five men.
[The five were all farmers who had never learned martial arts. On top of that, they had not rested well throughout their journey and were no match for you at all.]
[You expended only a little effort to kill the five men. The old man begged for mercy again, but this time, you did not show mercy.]
[This was your first time killing someone, yet you did not react much. Perhaps it was because you had seen too much death along the way.]
[In troubled times, one must possess a heart for slaughter, you warned yourself.]
[The people in the grass were frightened by you and slowly retreated. You paid them no further heed and turned to leave. No one dared follow.]
[Not long after you left, the bodies of the five men had already vanished.]
[You continued north.]
[More and more bad news arrived.]
[Early spring had now passed. The great army of the North Wind Profound Kingdom swept forth, and in barely half a month, six cities fell in succession. The defending generals of Ziyang and Lu City fled at the mere sight of the enemy.]
[Countless disaster victims filled the roads like a long dragon, while white bones carpeted the ground.]
[Whenever the North Wind Profound Kingdom breached a city, its killings and plundering were beyond count. Able-bodied men were immediately slaughtered, while infants were impaled upon spears and spun about as playthings.]
[In every commandery and county they passed through, not an inch of land remained untouched by devastation. When spring swallows returned, they nested in the forest trees.]
[Those few lines of text could hardly depict the cruelty of reality. As you journeyed north, you witnessed countless human tragedies.]
[Now, the last righteous armies under heaven had gathered at Hulao Pass.]
[The great army of the North Wind Profound Kingdom had assembled outside Hulao Pass, forming a standoff.]
[Once Hulao Pass fell, and Mountain Sea Pass beyond it was crossed, the North Wind Profound Kingdom would face no further obstacles as it pressed into the Central Plains and swept south to devour all.]
[This battle of Hulao Pass tugged at the heartstrings of all living beings under heaven.]
[It took you a full month before you finally saw Hulao Pass.]
Before you continue