[In this world, there is no such thing as "energy leakage" in martial arts. Even if you don't practice martial arts every day, your martial arts cultivation will hardly decline.]
[But there is indeed a problem with your foundation. Your lack of foundational potential will not cause you to be demoted, but it will greatly reduce your martial arts training speed!]
If you returned with Grandmaster-level cultivation at the end of the previous simulation, then during the first sixty or seventy years of this simulation, you won't have the slightest room for improvement! You must wait until your foundation catches up over time.
[It's okay now, you're making some progress, and it will gradually get faster and faster as time goes by. You know you're a typical warrior who achieves greatness late in life.]
In the 273rd year of the Daqing era, the depth of "Tianhe River Flow" has reached the Great Perfection stage. Aptitude affects your leveling speed, but it does not affect your martial arts progress. The two are completely on different tracks.
[Your combat power has been increased. You think you can move up two places in the ranking if you participate in that competition again.]
[Well, defeat those two second-rate warriors standing above you.]
In the 274th year of the Daqing era, the Red Leaf Gang in Donglin City wants to recognize you as their leader and protect you. To this end, they are willing to pay you a monthly tribute, without requiring you to work.
[After you inquired about their activities, you broke the legs of several of the newcomers on the spot, then broke into their newly established base camp and disrupted dozens more legs.]
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name.]
[Seven or eight children who had been kidnapped from somewhere were released.]
In the 275th year of Daqing, you were thrilled to discover that your martial arts training speed had finally increased significantly, and your internal organs' progress had reached 40%.
In the 276th year of the Daqing era, another youth talent competition took place. You were 21 years old and headed to Baishilin to participate.
[This competition is being held by the Yangyao Sect, a powerful sect with not only Grandmasters but also, I heard, a Supreme Grandmaster. However, that Grandmaster hasn't appeared in over twenty years.]
[After reaching the Grandmaster level, warriors rarely walk in the world, and each of them is in seclusion. However, Grandmasters are still better, and they will show up in public.]
You saw a few familiar faces in this competition, and quite a few still remembered you. They were looking forward to your performance.
[You won 13th place! ]
[Because there are only thirteen first-class warriors in this competition, one of them was seriously injured in a previous battle, so he was defeated by you...]
[There's another incredible second-rate warrior. Besides the seriously injured one and you, the fake one, he's actually defeated another first-rate expert. He's ranked eleventh.]
You've certainly improved since five years ago, but the extent of your progress has caused some to sigh: "It's too slow!" They all think that by achieving a first-rate martial artist at the age of sixteen, you've significantly undermined your potential.
[You don't care what they think. The next simulation will prove everything.]
[If it doesn't work, let's prove it in the next simulation! ]
[You received the reward, but what you secretly complained about was that the Yangyao Sect was even more stingy than the Liuxing Sect. They only selected one high-level martial artist from the eleventh to twentieth place, missing one martial art.]
You returned to Donglin City and continued your leisurely life of martial arts training.
[In the 278th year of Daqing, you are 23 years old, your foundation is 137%, and your internal organs are close to 50% advanced.]
[That same year, you heard that a new Grandmaster had emerged from the Meteoric Sect. You recalled meeting him seven years ago. Back then, he seemed to be a powerful martial artist who maintained order in the Grand Competition.]
In the 281st year of the Daqing era, the gangs that had sprung up in Donglin City over the years were all wiped out one by one by a "mysterious master," causing a significant drop in the city's crime rate. However, this also reduced your pocket money.
"Fortunately, ever since word of your participation in the Young Talent Competition spread ten years ago, the City Lord has been inviting you to banquets from time to time. Now, you're a prominent figure in Donglin City, someone who can have a say with everyone."
In the 282nd year of the Daqing reign, a group of bandits arrived from outside Donglin City. They settled in the mountains dozens of miles outside the city and robbed passing merchants.
The Lord of Donglin City sent hundreds of soldiers into the mountains, but they were no match for the bandit gang. They weren't just ordinary bandits, they were kings... bandits with martial arts skills!
[On the vast plains, if you spread out your troops and horses head-on and ignore morale, five hundred second-rate warriors might not be able to defeat an army of ten thousand.]
[But if it is in complex terrain, in a city, or in the mountains and forests, then a second-rate warrior can slowly kill hundreds of soldiers, or even hundreds of third-rate soldiers, step by step!]
[That group of bandits are all third-rate warriors, with a total number of nearly a hundred, including several second-rate warriors. Their leader is very likely a first-rate warrior!]
This force is still roaming the mountains and forests, and has already exceeded Donglin City's ability to deal with it. After the city lord realized that he was unable to defeat them, he chose to seek help from the martial arts masters in the city.
[The first person I looked for was you, then the head of a martial arts school in the city (first-rate), but he rejected me, so I only sent a second-rate disciple, and then I searched everywhere.]
[In the end, there were only two first-rate warriors willing to take action (including you), fourteen second-rate warriors, and thirty third-rate warriors. They were responsible for assisting the first-rate and second-rate warriors, sharing the pressure of the siege, searching for the bandit's lair, etc.]
[Your internal organs are currently over 60% advanced. While this has no direct impact on your combat power, it has subtly improved all aspects of your abilities.]
[Also, your Qi is constantly growing. This is the most direct way to increase your combat power besides your foundation. Since you first started the simulation thirteen years ago, your total Qi has increased by over 30%, and the strength of your Qi has also increased slightly.]
(The growth of Qi is very slow because during the "Zang Fu Extremely Victorious" stage of martial arts, Qi does not grow. This is achieved through hard training.)
(Just like ordinary people in reality cannot practice martial arts and will not increase their strength, but they can go to the gym, but this fitness is much slower than martial arts training and the upper limit is also lower.)
(And if one reaches the final stage of a first-rate warrior: Strength penetrates the bones, the warrior's energy will increase at a rate several times that of strengthening the internal organs.)
[With the healthy physique of an adult, you are confident that you can easily beat the Qinghe Gang's leader Xu Ruohai into a pulp.]
[Adding to this your 141% foundation and the bonus from the advanced martial art "Mianhe Zhuan", you are confident that unless you encounter a top-tier genius from the "Young Talent Competition", an ordinary top-tier warrior who has only just achieved a breakthrough in his thirties or forties will not be your opponent.]
[So you have to show your strength and defeat those bandits (if you can't, you can just run away)]
Yun Shou sighed, "This has so many additional conditions. It's so humble."
The simulated self is desperately trying to prove that he is invincible in his realm (not a genius).
But in fact, it is just neither good nor bad. In the world of first-class warriors, it can only be regarded as mid-level, or even lower.
"It won't happen next time, but I can't promise that, because it all depends on you."