Chapter 22: Fighting Time

Please select the reward for this Simulation: 1, memories from when you were six years old.

2, a random item you had on you when you were six years old.

3, a random skill you mastered when you were six years old.

4, the cultivation realm you reached when you were six years old.

Ruan Xing chose 4. Her body, which had been unbearably hot and dry, suddenly felt much more comfortable. The meridians throughout her body opened up, a warm current flowed through them, and her tolerance for the Medicinal Bath also increased.

It was just that when Ruan Xing checked her personal panel, her realm was still External Strength Small Success.

It must be because the time spent cultivating was too short. In any case, quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes; she still had many Simulation attempts left and could accumulate them multiple times.

However, this time in the Simulation, she tried to defeat the masked person using her own strength, but she failed.

It seems that practicing Internal Energy is not as simple as just being able to use True Qi.

Ruan Xing began the "nesting doll" process, repeatedly running the Simulation and choosing option four. After seven or eight times, the text on the panel finally changed to External Strength Great Success.

Ruan Xing felt there was still room for improvement, so she went for it in one breath, continuing the Simulation more than twenty times before finally reaching a bottleneck. She opened the panel and glanced at it: External Strength Perfection.

Letting out a long breath, Ruan Xing contentedly submerged her whole body into the wooden barrel and sighed comfortably.

The scent of medicinal herbs filled her nostrils—a fragrance slightly mixed with bitterness that was not only not unpleasant but also somewhat refreshing. The water was still warm, and since she hadn't bathed in four or five days, she decided to soak a while longer so as not to waste the hot water the neighbor auntie had worked so hard to boil.

It felt so good. As long as she had Silver, raising her realm was almost effortless. Ruan Xing finally understood why "pay-to-win" made people happy; she was very happy right now.

After scrubbing for less than a quarter of an hour, Ruan Xing stood up, wiped the water off her body, put on her clothes, and came out.

Hu San had not come out yet. In the past, every set of ingredients for a Medicinal Bath was hard-won, so he cherished it very much and would always stay until the medicinal power was completely exhausted before getting up.

Since there was no one else around, Ruan Xing simply started practicing her moves in the room. She needed to get more familiar with them, and ideally, gain some actual combat experience, so she would have the ability to fight the masked person.

Her small hand clenched slightly into a fist, and she punched forward with lightning speed. The force of the punch stirred up the fallen leaves on the ground into a swirl, and the fist struck the wooden stake Hu San used for martial arts practice, leaving four small indentations where her knuckles hit.

Yet her hand remained as fair and clean as before, without a single scratch.

It seems that with the Body Refining technique at External Strength Perfection, items like wooden sticks or thorns could no longer break her defense, though she didn't know if she could withstand blades or spears.

Ruan Xing estimated she couldn't. There should be some people at External Strength Perfection in Qiye's guard team, but they still got injured in the Simulations. Perhaps only by learning Internal Energy could one achieve True Qi Body Protection.

After these few days of good food and drink to replenish nutrients, combined with the Simulator's modification of her body, Ruan Xing's skin was fair and tender, looking as if it would break at a touch. Her muscles were hidden beneath her skin, almost invisible when not tensed. Her palm-sized face had dark, black eyes and a small, pink mouth; she was clearly a budding beauty.

One could never tell she was someone who could kill an adult with a single punch.

With such an appearance, almost no one would have their guard up against her.

"You look like you've been practicing martial arts for a long time; I hadn't even noticed before." Hu San came out of the room, his clothes loosely tied, revealing a large expanse of his wheat-colored chest. Perhaps because the heat from the medicinal power had nowhere to dissipate, it was flushed with patches of redness.

Ruan Xing scanned his solid pectoral muscles with a look of pure appreciation and said casually, "Of course. If you weren't one of my own, I wouldn't have let you notice."

Anyway, Hu San was already on her pirate ship; Ruan Xing didn't feel it was necessary to hide some things from him, as she still needed him to do work.

Besides, with Hu San's personality, he wouldn't get to the bottom of things.

"What about you? How is your practice going?" Ruan Xing asked. "It feels alright. If I could soak in the Medicinal Bath without restriction, I could probably reach External Strength Great Success in about a month, and then I could apply to join Qiye's guard team."

Hu San had been practicing martial arts for over two years. His previous master said he had a very good foundation; if it weren't for the lack of conditions for Medicinal Baths, he would probably have reached External Strength Perfection long ago. Now, it was just a matter of accumulation leading to a breakthrough.

Ruan Xing did the math: over a month of Medicinal Baths would cost more than thirty taels of Silver. That was fine; the consumption wasn't too high. She was already feeling "high" now, thinking she could afford it.

However, she felt she wouldn't need more than a month. She had a new idea; today, while simulating the Medicinal Bath, she had tried and failed over thirty times in the Dense Forest Labyrinth without finding a safe path.

She was a bit annoyed, so she decided to change direction.

Ruan Xing crooked her finger at Hu San, "Come, spar with me."

Hu San had just finished his Medicinal Bath and was full of energy with nowhere to use it. Hearing this, he nodded and rushed over.

Three seconds later.

Ruan Xing lay on the ground, feeling hopeless. "I'm two small realms higher than you, why!? How could this happen!?"

Hu San scratched his head somewhat honestly and answered tentatively, "Maybe, because you didn't hit me?"

Although both were at the External Strength realm, the gap between Small Success and Perfection wasn't particularly huge, and it shouldn't have been an instant kill. It was just the difference in physique, and the fact that Hu San had much richer actual combat experience than Ruan Xing, which caught her off guard for a moment.

That was why she had been swept down by Hu San's whip kick.

Fortunately, although Ruan Xing's External Strength Perfection body hadn't reached the level of "copper skin and iron bones," it wasn't far off. The fall didn't hurt too much, so she stood up and patted the dust off her clothes.

"Again."

Five seconds later.

"Again!!"

"Phew—that's enough, let's stop here for today." Ruan Xing was covered in sweat, lying exhausted on the ground and giving up.

Hu San had sparred with her for nearly an hour and was now also physically drained. He sat on the ground, rubbing his chest, which had been bruised by Ruan Xing, and said helplessly, "You can hold back a bit next time. I know you're two small realms higher than me; you don't have to use your full strength every time."

Ruan Xing rolled her eyes. "Just bear with it, I can't control it. At most, I'll go to the kitchen and steal some pot-bottom ash to compensate you."

"That won't be necessary..."

"Alright, I've rested enough." Ruan Xing caught her breath, stood up, and looked at the mud and dust on her clothes and the smell of sweat all over her body. Great, the bath was for nothing.

But since she had a lackey, she might as well use him. Ruan Xing ordered, "Go boil some more hot water. I want to take a bath. You can use all the remaining medicinal herbs; I don't need them anymore. However, I still need actual combat experience. Come over every morning and spar with me for a few more days."

"Alright." Hu San agreed and went to find the neighbor auntie to boil water.

Anyway, he also needed a vigorous, sweat-drenched practice after soaking in the Medicinal Bath, so Ruan Xing's request didn't conflict with that.

It was just that these little fists were a bit too powerful. From not being able to touch the corner of his clothes at the beginning, Ruan Xing had already been able to land several punches on him after getting used to it and relying on her more agile body.

(End of chapter)