Chapter 13: I Have a Panel Now

Shi Shifu did not pay her much attention, so Ruan Xing hid the dried chili peppers and flour in her small room. After the afternoon practice and the evening meal, she carefully used a stone to grind the dried chili peppers into a fine powder. It took her nearly half an hour to succeed. Thanks to the feedback from the Body Refining technique she gained in yesterday's Simulation, her physical strength, endurance, and power had increased significantly, currently on par with an adult man; otherwise, she truly wouldn't have had the strength for this task.

After mixing the chili powder with the flour and wrapping it in a handkerchief, Ruan Xing counted the time, waiting for the Simulator update to finish. As soon as the full twelve hours passed, familiar characters appeared in Ruan Xing's mind.

【This update is complete】

Ruan Xing first looked at the changes in this Simulator update. First, a panel function was added; she could open it in her mind by silently reciting "character information."

Name: Ruan Xing

Age: Six years old

Skills: Gambling Entry, Dance Basics, Weaving Basics. Technique: Wuming Body Refining Method. Realm: External Strength Small Success.

Points: 11.3. This panel looked quite intuitive, and Ruan Xing could even get descriptions by focusing her intent on it. Skills are divided from shallow to deep into Entry, Basics, Proficient, Mastery, and Grandmaster. Realms are External Strength, Internal Strength, Transformation Strength, Acquired Realm, and Innate.

She was currently at the External Strength level, which meant she had just entered the path of martial arts. However, this already created a significant gap compared to ordinary people. The gang members at the hall were almost all at the External Strength level, and one person could easily handle three adults who had never learned martial arts. Ruan Xing was limited by her physique and age, as the muscle groups she could use for training and exerting force were inferior to those of an adult, but it would be a piece of cake for her now to pin her scumbag father to the ground and beat him up before he broke his legs.

Thinking of this scene: Shocking! A six-year-old girl beats up a middle-aged man in the street!

Ruan Xing shook her head and quickly cast this sense of déjà vu out of her mind.

Next was the reward after the Simulation ended; a fixed option for the realm was added. This way, if a realm was gained in future simulations, it could be selected directly without participating in the random options, although she had always felt that the word "random" was useless anyway.

Finally, there was the price increase issue that Ruan Xing had always been concerned about. As everyone knows, the simulators in most simulator novels are money-grubbers; as the realm and cultivation grow, the price increases become more severe. They call it "higher cultivation requires more computing power," but some are fair prices while others are black-hearted. Ruan Xing could only pray to the heavens that her simulator was a good one.

With a light tap of her intent, she saw the point ratio. It was still 10 wen for 1 point, but each simulation consumed 10 points.

It had increased tenfold.

That is to say, from now on, each simulation would cost one hundred wen. This price wasn't much, but the magnitude of the increase was hard for Ruan Xing to accept. By the time she reached Internal Strength, it would double ten times to one thousand wen, Transformation Strength would be ten thousand wen, and Innate would be one hundred thousand wen.

Ruan Mu couldn't even earn ten thousand wen after working diligently at the Weaving Workshop for a year. It seemed she had to find a way to make money soon. Qiye only provided her with food, housing, and learning, but he wouldn't give her a single wen.

The remaining points were only enough for one simulation, but Ruan Xing couldn't afford not to simulate. She had to see if the chili flour would work against the masked person.

【Simulating...】

At six years old, you gain Qiye's appreciation and join the Red Head Gang, following Shi Shifu to learn gambling. You progress extremely quickly, mastering Gambling Entry in less than two months.

One month later, Qiye takes you away from Jiangning City. On the road, you are attacked. You remain cautious and on guard against a masked person who can use True Qi. Under Qiye's protection, you are temporarily unharmed until Qiye's True Qi is mostly exhausted and the masked person finally appears. As he rushes toward you, you wave your hand and scatter the chili flour mixture. The opponent is caught off guard, his face covered and his eyes damaged. In his panic, his True Qi-infused sword only scratches your clothes. Qiye reacts in time to wound him, and the opponent eventually flees, defeated and injured.

Before nightfall, you finally reach a desolate path in front of the mountains. A Daoist boy is waiting there; he prepares some magic tricks for you to contemplate. You pass the level easily with your Gambling Entry. The Daoist boy clears the path, letting you enter the forest alone for the second test. After walking for a while, you suddenly feel difficulty breathing. You die.

【Simulation ended】

Please select the rewards for this simulation:

1. Memories at six years old. 2. A random item on your person at six years old.

3. A random skill mastered at six years old.

4. The realm cultivation achieved at six years old.

It seems that this move of the Stone Lime Martial Saint, while despicable and low, is unexpectedly useful. Ruan Xing thought for a moment and chose option one. She predicted that this death was highly likely due to poison, but she didn't know if it was poison encountered upon entering the forest or on the road.

She scanned through the previous memories. After repelling the masked person, they rested on the spot for a while. During this time, Ruan Xing had eaten food and drunk water, but she quickly ruled that out because Qiye ate the same thing as her. Since the masked person didn't want to kill Qiye, he wouldn't be stupid enough to poison the shared food.

Fast-forwarding to after entering the forest, after walking about thirty steps on the initial narrow path, different forks began to appear, separated by trees and bushes, winding and twisting, making it almost impossible to see the other paths. Each small path had five or six, or as few as two or three, branches; the entire dense forest was like a labyrinth.

The small path under her feet showed traces of being trodden and maintained by humans. Each path looked the same, with no discernible difference. She walked all the way through without encountering any poisonous insects or fierce beasts, so how could she have been poisoned?

Ruan Xing was completely baffled and could only set her doubts aside for now. She hid the handkerchief containing the chili flour mixture under her bedding and prepared to sleep.

Tomorrow, she had to find a way to earn enough money for one simulation. One hundred wen wasn't a small amount, but she still had the forty-some wen that Ruan Tao had stuffed into her hands earlier; she only needed to earn half more.

The next morning, it was the familiar three bowls and three eggs again. This time, Ruan Xing didn't want to waste time hiding her skills. Before Shi Shifu could speak, she said, "When I was practicing yesterday, I discovered that besides the two techniques you mentioned, wouldn't this also work?"

After a flashy demonstration, Ruan Xing flipped over the three bowls one by one; they were empty. Under Shi Shifu's surprised gaze, the egg reappeared from Ruan Xing's sleeve.

Shi Shifu clicked his tongue in wonder, "Drawing inferences from one instance, self-taught—I've learned something new today. With such aptitude, you will surely achieve something no matter what you learn in the future. Since you have mastered the Three Immortals Return to Cave, I will teach you the next step—"

"Hey! Wait a moment."

Ruan Xing hurriedly interrupted, smiling sheepishly, "I've only just learned this. Didn't you say the day before yesterday that just learning this Three Immortals Return to Cave is enough to make a living? I want to go to the street and try it out; do you think it's okay?"

Shi Shifu had done his fair share of street performing and magic tricks when he was young, so he didn't think it was a big deal. However, Ruan Xing was too young, and there were many people in this world who didn't follow the rules. If she went like this, she might get both herself and her bowls smashed. "That's fine, I'll go with you."

"That's not necessary. If I mess up and don't earn money, that's a small thing, but I can't have you losing face along with me."

Shi Shifu thought about it, and that made sense. He had taught many men in the hall, and it would be embarrassing to be laughed at for no reason.

Moreover, there wasn't much foul play on Qiye's turf, and even if she encountered someone who didn't follow the rules, the girl wouldn't suffer a major loss. She could just treat it as buying a lesson and gaining experience, so he agreed.

Ruan Xing was naturally not afraid. She had just attained the Body Refining realm and hadn't fought anyone yet. If someone refused to pay up after losing a few wen, she could just use it to warm up.

Shi Shifu finally gave a worried instruction, "Don't run too far. Just stay on these few streets under Qiye's protection. If you go too far and get bullied, no one will look after you."

"Don't you worry!"

Thanks to Yong Nan for the tip~ Thanks to book friend 20231002145930421 for the tip~ (End of chapter)