Man, You've Successfully Caught My Attention

Two months later.

Chen Yi arrived at his destination, Wu'an Commandery in Qian Province.

It was a faster journey than he had anticipated.

This was all thanks to that black horse with a trace of demonic beast bloodline, which proved to be incredibly useful.

As long as it rested once or twice a day and had its fill of fodder, it could maintain a steady cruising speed. It ran fast and steady; scaling mountains and crossing ridges was a piece of cake for it.

"I really bought myself a treasure horse!"

During the journey, Chen Yi did not neglect his cultivation.

In the Body Refining Realm, martial artists only needed to cultivate their blood qi.

Although the Golden Body Realm was a stage corresponding to the Body Refining Realm, the intensity of one's blood qi was no longer what it used to be. While primarily cultivating blood qi, one also had to account for spiritual qi and essence qi.

The three forms of qi had to complement each other to achieve any breakthrough.

Therefore, external arts, internal arts, and mental cultivation methods all had to be practiced simultaneously.

Just from this explanation alone, one could feel how tedious cultivation became after reaching the Golden Body Realm.

Let alone those with poor innate root bones, even those with excellent root bones would only see negligible improvements in their cultivation base if they relied solely on natural daily practice.

If one also wanted to improve their actual combat ability, they had to refine their martial techniques, which would siphon away even more cultivation time.

This was why, in his third simulation, Chen Yi failed to continue advancing after breaking through to the Golden Body Realm.

He had been too busy fighting wars and managing the army; where would he find the energy to cultivate?

Chen Yi's advantage lay in his Proficiency trait.

The time he needed to spend on martial techniques was drastically reduced.

The realms of his cultivation methods were also pushed very high through the Proficiency trait, compensating to a certain extent for the slow cultivation speed of his low-grade root bone.

Normal martial artists with low-grade root bones almost never cultivated to the Golden Body Realm.

Even if they obtained a massive fortuitous encounter and were blessed with immense karmic luck, allowing them to luckily break through, they would most likely remain stuck in the Golden Body Realm for the rest of their lives.

Feng Yucheng was a prime example. He was over a hundred years old when he died, yet he was only at the third level of the Golden Body Realm, precisely because he had a low-grade root bone.

He engaged in a bunch of crooked and evil practices, but within the grand framework of destiny, he merely struggled a few more times than others.

Chen Yi had the trait system and a Dao Heart as resolute as Old Demon Han, so he wasn't at the point of seeing no hope.

It was just that, to continue advancing, he still had to rely on the power of the simulations. Practicing while traveling was purely because he had nothing better to do.

After arriving in Wu'an Commandery, Chen Yi recalled the words of the Myriad Soul Banner.

At this point in time, the Myriad Soul Banner should have just sucked its previous master dry and was currently scouting for its next one.

"It said it found its next master near Goose City."

Chen Yi asked around for the direction of Goose City and rushed over at full speed.

A few days later.

Chen Yi's nose twitched; he sensed something.

"Jiejiejie... Ah Fan, I get you!"

...

Zhao Long and Zhao Hu were blood brothers.

The Zhao family was originally an obscure little family in Goose City, with no more than six martial artists in the entire clan.

A year ago, Old Master Zhao's cultivation suddenly surged, and he became a Soul Quenching Realm martial artist.

This instantly changed the power dynamic among the several families in the city.

The Zhao family leaped to the top, becoming the shot-callers among the local gentry. For a time, their various businesses blossomed everywhere, and in just a short year, they made fortunes.

But before the Zhao family could even finish celebrating, Old Master Zhao suddenly kicked the bucket not long ago.

Without a Soul Quenching Realm martial artist, the Zhao family was like a toddler parading through the streets holding gold, drawing the covetous eyes of the other families.

Today, Zhao Long and Zhao Hu arrived at a graveyard outside Goose City by coincidence. Their old man's new grave was located here.

"Big brother, are you here to visit Dad's grave?"

"Uh... yeah, you too?"

"You came to visit the grave but didn't even bring joss paper?"

"Didn't you come empty-handed too?"

The two brothers kept a bit of distance from each other, exchanged glances, and knelt before the grave with a thud.

Then, the two of them began to cry and complain to their old man's grave about the various crises the family was currently facing. It was a tearful, painstakingly dramatic performance.

"Dad! Didn't you tell me in a dream that as long as I came to your grave, all these family problems would be easily solved? I'm here today, so what's the solution? Sigh!"

Upon hearing his younger brother say this, Zhao Long was immediately confused.

"Dad visited you in a dream too?"

"What kind of question is that? Dad trusted me so much when he was alive, of course he would visit me in a dream. Why would he visit you?"

"Nonsense! If Dad didn't visit me in a dream, would I have come to this desolate wilderness?"

Just as the two brothers were looking at each other with disdain, their old man's grave exploded!

"Boom!!!"

Billows of black smoke poured out from the exploded grave mound.

The brothers, Zhao Long and Zhao Hu, were dumbfounded.

They heard people talk about ancestral graves emitting green smoke every day, but today they actually saw it for real!

Soon, the two discovered that from within the black smoke, a tattered white banner flag was rising up.

"Yo, two filial sons. Do you desire to rebuild the Zhao family's prestige and trample your competitors in Goose City?"

The voice of the Myriad Soul Banner rang out.

This terrified the dragon and tiger brothers so much that they fell flat on their butts.

"The b-b-b-banner is talking?"

Amidst the rolling black smoke, that voice was filled with a bizarre, demonic charm.

"I am an immortal artifact forged by an ancient mighty figure, possessing terrifying, world-shaking power. Above, I can recreate the karmic luck of heaven and earth; below, I can stop a child's crying. For thousands of years, all those I have followed have enjoyed prosperous karmic luck and smooth sailing in their martial arts..."

Although the two brothers were scared, they inexplicably listened to it finish speaking.

"So the reason Dad suddenly broke through his realm was because he obtained this immortal artifact!"

Indeed, as long as someone in the family had a high enough cultivation realm, what family crisis could there be?

The two brothers exchanged a glance and saw the excitement in each other's eyes.

A fortuitous encounter!

"Yo, but why did two of you come today? What should I do? Surely if I follow either of you, the other will be heartbroken. This is truly a headache..."

Zhao Long took a step back.

"Second brother, Dad trusted you the most normally. This banner can be considered Dad's relic. As your older brother, I yield it to you."

Joy appeared on Zhao Hu's face.

"Big brother, do you really mean it?"

"It's only right and proper for an older brother to yield to his younger brother!"

"Big brother!"

Zhao Hu's eyes reddened with emotion. Just as he was about to go take the banner, he suddenly felt a threatening chill behind him.

A short sword slid out from Zhao Long's sleeve, thrusting toward Zhao Hu's back!

Zhao Hu coldly snorted, directly whipping his hand back and firing a hidden arrow from under his wrist!

"Using hidden weapons? Despicable!"

"And big brother launching a sneak attack from behind isn't despicable?"

Between the two brothers, there were eight hundred hidden schemes going on.

For the sake of the Myriad Soul Banner, they began to slaughter each other.

The Myriad Soul Banner bobbed up and down on the side, emitting bursts of black mist, watching the show with great interest.

"Interesting, interesting..."

Out of nowhere, the figure of a young man appeared beside the Myriad Soul Banner.

"You really are a sick pervert, bewitching brothers into slaughtering each other."

The Myriad Soul Banner was startled.

It had no idea when Chen Yi had appeared; it hadn't sensed him at all!

This was actually because Chen Yi had equipped the traits Silent Step and Three Musketeers of the Bush, and then sneaked over by sticking close to the tall grass.

As long as no one specifically scanned him with divine sense or looked directly at him, it was very difficult to discover him.

"Young man, if you want to obtain me, you have to get in line. One at a time."

"Heh, Myriad Soul Banner, I don't have time to watch you fool around here. Hurry up and come with me. The most suitable person in this world to be your master is none other than me!"

The Myriad Soul Banner released some black mist, attempting to erode Chen Yi's mind.

The black mist entered Chen Yi's body.

The black mist came out.

The Myriad Soul Banner was completely dumbfounded.

Its proudest bewitching ability actually had no effect?

"Oho~ Man, you have successfully caught my attention!"