【Year Twenty-Three, Age Forty.】
【A demonic path martial artist broke into Baiyun County. Wielding a banner billowing with black energy, he killed everyone he saw.】
【The martial artists and government officers in the county were no match for him. They were all killed, their souls absorbed into his banner.】
【The Demon Slaying Division's Demon Slayer was alerted and fought him for several days. In the end, he managed to gravely wound the demonic martial artist at the cost of his own life.】
【As the demonic path martial artist fled, he casually killed your daughter, taking all of her vital essence and blood.】
【The Proprietress, overcome with grief and sorrow, fell gravely ill and passed away with hatred in her heart.】
【You buried your daughter first, then your wife.】
【The thought that your daughter was only seven years old, just a few days ago still calling out "Daddy" with her innocent, lively voice, and then the image of her horrific death...】
【It cut your heart like a knife. You woke up screaming every night.】
【But you still had your son. You knew you couldn't collapse.】
【Year Thirty-Three, Age Fifty.】
【A stunningly talented female emperor emerged in the Southern Borderlands. She unified the various Southern Border nations, binding the scattered Hundred Kingdoms of the South into a single force, and launched a counter-offensive against the Central Plains.】
【The battlefront advanced relentlessly from south to north. Baiyun County was on the verge of becoming a frontline.】
【Your son decided to head for the battlefield to defend his home and country.】
【"My son, can't you not go? The battlefield is too dangerous..."】
【"Father, if the country does not survive, what home can there be? Since I was little, you've always liked to tell outsiders, 'My son, Chen Dong, will surely amount to something in the future!' Now is the time for me to achieve merit and establish my career!"】
【You saw your son off outside the city, watching his figure recede into the distance.】
【In that moment, you seemed to age many years at once.】
【Year Thirty-Five, Age Fifty-Two.】
【You received your son's ashes and his last letter.】
【Two years of constant dread and anxiety had ultimately yielded this result.】
【You buried him beside his mother and sister.】
【You sat withered before the graves for three months. Your hair turned completely white.】
【The Great Qian Imperial Dynasty suffered consecutive defeats year after year. Baiyun County was captured by the female emperor, becoming territory of the Southern Border Hundred Kingdoms Alliance.】
【Bandits comb through a place, but soldiers comb it even finer.】
【When the Southern Border army passed through Baiyun County town, they went door to door demanding money and grain.】
【They called it a 'loan', but everyone knew it was a loan with no return.】
【Your inn could not escape this fate. Nearly all the visible wealth was carted away.】
【Fortunately, the Proprietress had once told you she had hidden some silver under the old tree at home.】
【You used it carefully, managing to scrape by.】
【After this calamity, everyone in Baiyun County town became paupers. The inn business grew increasingly difficult.】
【A tiger demon emerged from the wilderness, broke into Baiyun County, and wreaked havoc.】
【The Demon Slaying Division mobilized its entire force, engaging in a life-and-death struggle with it within the county town.】
【You weren't clear if the tiger demon was killed or not, but during its fight with the Demon Slaying Division members, your three-story inn was utterly destroyed, smashed to pieces.】
【This was your most important fixed asset. Destroyed just like that, you wanted an explanation, compensation.】
【You went to the Demon Slaying Division to demand reparations. The result, of course, was being thrown out on your ear.】
【Looking at the ruins of your inn, you laughed at yourself.】
【You didn't know if you were laughing at your own naivety, or at the ways of this world.】
【The silver in hand was running low. Rebuilding the inn was impossible.】
【You dismissed the cook, the waiters, and the handymen.】
【Over the years, you had treated them like family. When they left, they only took the wages they were owed, refusing the severance pay you offered.】
【You chose to leave Baiyun County town. Beside the family graves outside the city, you repaired a thatched hut and settled there.】
【Year Forty-Two, Age Fifty-Nine.】
But Chen Yi equipped "Luckier with Age".
"Almost sixty. 'My' life has been too bitter. Hold on, don't break down! The dawn of victory might be tomorrow!"
It showed just how difficult it was for ordinary people to survive in this world.
This also made Chen Yi more determined than ever to step onto the martial path.
【Beside the thatched hut outside the city.】
【You rose with the sun to work, plowing fields and growing vegetables.】
【After sunset, you would talk to your family, then fall into a deep sleep under the moonlight.】
【Though lonely, you found a brief period of peace.】
【Year Forty-Three, Age Sixty.】
【Triggered the safety net of "Luckier with Age"!】
【Draw successful!】
【「Low-Grade Bone Structure」(Green): Gain low-grade bone structure. Young man, with this trait, you can stage a comeback from being a waste!】
【Adjust traits?】
【Yes/No】
Chen Yi ran his hands over the top of his head, like Sun Wukong in *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* after finally tricking Tang Sanzang.
"Finally..."
Perhaps the simulated version of himself had suffered too much, and even the system couldn't bear to watch, finally granting him the trait he most desired!
【You replaced "Luckier with Age" with "Low-Grade Bone Structure".】
(Seeing many readers didn't understand, thinking replaced traits disappear—they don't disappear!)
(Note the earlier panel: one is called Equipped Traits, the other is Trait Library. There's a limit to equipped traits, so you often need to swap them based on the situation. Later, the number of slots will increase.)
(In reality, the protagonist can swap traits freely, but in the simulation, there's only one chance per year—during the trait draw.)
【Your heart, long stilled by the loss of your loved ones, finally began to beat with excitement.】
【You hadn't forgotten the mission of this simulation.】
【Taking all your savings, you arrived at the county town's Thundering Fist Martial Arts School.】
【The school's instructor, Niu Dagan, dressed in training clothes with his hands clasped behind his back, looked at you with amusement.】
【"Old man, don't joke around. What are you learning martial arts for at sixty?"】
【"Sixty! It's precisely the age to strive!"】
【You poured a pile of silver ingots at the school's entrance.】
【"I'll pay. You just teach. Whether I learn or not is my own business!"】
【Accepting someone old enough to be his father as a disciple was a huge challenge for Niu Dagan.】
【But... you were offering far too much.】
【"The martial path is the cultivation of the Three Energies!
Vitality Energy! Spiritual Energy! Essence Energy!
As they say, you eat rice one mouthful at a time, and you cultivate the Three Energies one by one!
To start, you first master external techniques. Practicing external techniques can enhance your Vitality Energy. The stronger your Vitality Energy, the greater your strength, speed, and physical body will become!
When you sense a stream of heat appearing in your dantian, that means your Vitality Energy has surpassed the limits of a mortal and can be stored in the dantian.
Those who don't know the trade like to call this heat stream 'internal energy', but we martial artists must understand—it's Vitality Energy grown powerful enough to be controlled!
This is the first realm of the martial path, the Body Refining Realm!
The Body Refining Realm has nine stages. Each stage requires doubling your Vitality Energy to break through..."】
Watching his simulated self learning about the martial path from the school master, a thirst for knowledge also shone in Chen Yi's eyes.
No matter.
Once the simulation ended, he would inherit all these memories.
"Starting cultivation at sixty, I imagine 'I' won't be able to advance many realms. Regardless, the Bone Structure trait is obtained. The next simulation will be much easier!"
【Year Forty-Three, Age Sixty-One.】
【Cultivated for one year. Made no progress whatsoever.】
【Niu Dagan tried to persuade you.】
【"Elder Chen, give it up. An aged body suffers severe loss of Vitality Energy. How can there be any logic in practicing martial arts?"】
【Your fellow martial brothers at the school, and people in the county town who knew you, all pointed fingers behind your back.】
【They said you were unrealistic, restless even in old age.】
【You never paid attention to the gossip of outsiders, focusing solely on studying and experimenting.】
【"Don't look down on the old and poor! I, Chen Dong, will definitely step onto the martial path!"】

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