Chapter 5: Don't Bully the Elderly for Being Poor!
[Year 23, Age 40.]
[A Demonic Martial Artist breaks into Baiyun County. Holding a banner billowing with black mist, he kills everyone on sight.]
[Neither the Martial Artists nor the government officers in the county are his match; all are killed by him, their souls absorbed into the banner.]
[The Demon Slayer Envoy from the Demon Slaying Department is alerted. He battles him for several days, finally heavily injuring him at the cost of perishing together.]
[When the Demonic Martial Artist flees, he kills your daughter in passing, draining all her blood essence.]
[The proprietress, overcome with grief, falls ill and never recovers, passing away with regret.]
[You bury your daughter first, then your wife.]
[Thinking about how your daughter was only seven years old, calling out "Daddy" energetically just a few days ago, and then thinking of her tragic state at death...]
[Your heart feels like it's being cut by knives, and you wake up startled every night.]
[But you still have a son; you know you cannot collapse.]
[Year 33, Age 50.]
[A brilliantly talented Empress emerges in the Southern Borders. She unifies the various nations of the Southern Borders, twisting the scattered hundred nations into a single rope to counterattack the Central Plains.]
[The battle line advances from south to north, and Baiyun County is about to become the frontline.]
[Your son decides to rush to the battlefield to protect the country.]
["Son, can you not go? The battlefield is too dangerous..."]
["Father, if the country does not exist, what is the use of a home! Since I was young, you liked to tell outsiders 'My, Chen Dong's, son will surely have a promising future.' Now is the time for me to make contributions and build a career!"]
[You send your son out of the city, watching him leave until he disappears.]
[In this moment, you seem to have aged significantly.]
[Year 35, Age 52.]
[You receive your son's ashes and a posthumous letter.]
[Two years of living in fear finally result in this.]
[You bury him beside his mother and sister.]
[You sit withered in front of the graves for three months, your hair turning completely white.]
[Year 37, Age 54.]
[The Great Qian Dynasty suffers defeat after defeat. Baiyun County is captured by the Empress and becomes the territory of the Southern Borders Hundred Nations Alliance.]
[Bandits pass like a comb; soldiers pass like a fine-toothed grate.]
[When the Southern Borders army passes through Baiyun County Town, they demand money and grain from every household.]
[They say "borrow," but everyone knows there is no returning what is borrowed.]
[Your inn is not spared; almost all visible wealth is taken away.]
[Fortunately, the proprietress once told you she had hidden some silver under the old tree at home.]
[You use it carefully, managing to get by.]
[After this calamity, everyone in Baiyun County Town has become poor, and the inn business becomes increasingly difficult to run.]
[Year 40, Age 57.]
[A Tiger Demon charges out of the wilderness, breaking into Baiyun County and wreaking havoc.]
[The Demon Slaying Department turns out in full force, engaging in a desperate battle with it inside the county town.]
[You aren't sure if the Tiger Demon was killed, but during its fight with the Demon Slaying Department, your three-story inn was smashed to smithereens.]
[This was your most important fixed asset. Seeing it destroyed like this, you want an explanation.]
[You go to the Demon Slaying Department to claim compensation, but naturally, you are swept out the door.]
[Looking at the ruins of the inn, you laugh at yourself mockingly.]
[You don't know if you are laughing at your own naivety or at this world.]
[The silver on hand is running low; rebuilding the inn is impossible.]
[You dismiss the chef, waiters, and odd-job workers.]
[You treated them like family all these years. When they left, they only took the wages due to them and did not accept your severance pay.]
[You choose to leave Baiyun County Town. Beside your family's graveyard outside the city, you build a thatched cottage and settle down.]
[Year 42, Age 59.]
[Extracting Trait...]
The trait this year is still useless.
But Chen Yi swaps in [The Older the Luckier].
"Almost sixty. 'My' life has been too bitter. Hold on, don't collapse! The dawn of victory might be tomorrow!"
It was evident how difficult it was for a mortal to survive in this world.
This made Chen Yi even more determined to enter the Martial Path.
[Beside the thatched cottage outside the city.]
[You work at sunrise, tilling fields and planting vegetables.]
[After sunset, you talk to your family members, then fall into a deep sleep under the moonlight.]
[Although lonely, you have found a brief peace.]
[Year 43, Age 60.]
[Beginning Trait Extraction...]
[Triggered the pity guarantee of "The Older the Luckier"!]
[Extraction Successful!]
["Low-Grade Root Bone" (Green): Gain a low-grade Root Bone. Young man, with this trait, you can rise from a loser to a winner!]
[Do you wish to adjust your traits?]
[Yes/No]
Chen Yi brushed his hands over his head, like Sun Wukong finally tricking Tang Monk in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.
"Finally..."
Perhaps because his simulated self had suffered too much, even the System couldn't stand it anymore and finally gave him the trait he wanted most!
[You replaced "The Older the Luckier" with "Low-Grade Root Bone".]
[Your heart, which had long fallen silent due to the passing of your loved ones, finally begins to beat again at this moment.]
[You haven't forgotten the mission of this simulation.]
[Taking all your savings, you arrive at the Running Thunder Martial Arts Hall in the county town.]
[The martial arts instructor, Niu Dadan, wearing training clothes with his hands behind his back, looks at you with amusement.]
["Grandpa, stop joking. What martial arts are you learning at sixty?"]
["Sixty! It is exactly the age to strive!"]
[You pour a pile of silver ingots at the entrance of the martial arts hall.]
["I pay the money, you just teach. Whether I can learn or not is my own business!"]
[Accepting a disciple old enough to be his father is a huge challenge for Niu Dadan too.]
[But, you simply gave too much.]
["Martial Arts is the cultivation of the Three Qis!]
[Blood Qi! Spiritual Qi! Essence Qi!]
[As the saying goes, rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and the Three Qis must be practiced one by one!]
[To enter the gate, one must first master External Kung Fu. Practicing External Kung Fu can enhance Blood Qi. The stronger the Blood Qi, the more your strength, speed, and physical body will improve correspondingly!]
[When you sense a stream of heat appearing in your dantian, that means your Blood Qi has surpassed the limit of a mortal and can be stored in the dantian.]
[People outside the trade like to call this heat stream "Internal Force," but we Martial Artists must know that it is Blood Qi powerful enough to be controlled!]
[This is the first realm of Martial Arts, the Body Refining Realm!]
[There are nine stages in the Body Refining Realm. Each stage requires doubling the Blood Qi to break through...]
Watching his simulated self learning about Martial Arts from the instructor, Chen Yi's eyes also revealed a thirst for knowledge.
No worries.
Once the simulation ended, he would inherit all these memories.
"Starting cultivation only at sixty, 'I' probably won't be able to raise my realm much. Regardless, I got the Root Bone trait, so the next simulation will be convenient!"
[Year 43, Age 61.]
[Cultivating for a year, not an inch of progress made.]
[Niu Dadan advises you.]
["Grandpa Chen, forget it. An elderly body loses Blood Qi severely; how can there be any logic in practicing martial arts?"]
[The fellow disciples in the martial arts hall, and those in the county town who know you, all point fingers behind your back.]
[They say you are unrealistic, refusing to settle down even in old age.]
[You pay no heed to the gossip of outsiders, focusing wholeheartedly on study and experimentation.]
["Don't bully the elderly for being poor! I, Chen Dong, will definitely step into the Martial Path!"]