The old woman stopped walking and turned to look at you.

Her wrinkled face wore a kindly smile.

"A strangely shaped flower? Young man, what a strange thing to say. How can a flower be strangely shaped? What exactly does it look like? If you don't tell me, how would I know?"

"It's... uh..."

You were speechless. In the last simulation, the Female Emperor's letter hadn't described what the strange flower looked like, only calling it a strange flower.

Just as you couldn't come up with a description.

A black flower appeared out of thin air in the old woman's hand, emitting a bizarre yet alluring fragrance.

"Is it this one?"

Your "Treasure-Sniffing Nose" went wild.

This black flower before you was something the trait system judged as a Supreme Treasure!

You replaced "Husband Material Vibe" with "Galloping Steed".

You replaced "Ageless Male God" with "Alchemy Sage".

You replaced "Dragon Plays with Phoenix" with "Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles".

You whipped your horse and sped up, returning to Baiyun County in Qingzhou.

Phoenix Mountain was located in the northern part of the Southern Borderlands, not far from the Central Plains territory to begin with.

With the "Galloping Steed" trait's boost, and traveling alone, the return journey was much faster than the trip there.

Along the way, relying on the ability to recognize spiritual plants granted by the "Alchemy Sage" trait, you picked quite a few useful spiritual plants in some deep, remote mountains and old forests, places rarely visited by people.

After handing them over to Da Chun, he concocted some new medicines.

Thanks to the effect of "Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles", you accepted them all without hesitation, swallowing them down, with absolutely no worry about Pill Toxins.

Some of the pills were indeed quite effective, and your martial realm consequently rose to Golden Body Fifth Layer.

Year Nineteen, age thirty-seven.

Drawing a trait...

Draw successful!

"Zhengbang!" (White Common): You have exceptional intelligence and can easily recognize radishes, tissues, and Mickey Mouse.

Adjust traits?

Yes/No

You replaced "Galloping Steed" with "Effort Guarantees Reward".

This time, Chen Yi performed a crucial micro-adjustment.

He equipped "Effort Guarantees Reward", a trait he hadn't used in a long time.

In the first and second simulations, Shen Qingshan hadn't lived to the year Chen Yi turned thirty-seven.

In the third simulation, he finally lived to this year.

So Chen Yi learned he would be taken away by the Shen Family of the Starry Sky, and they indicated that returning with them to the Shen Family would bring a huge opportunity.

Regardless of whether the opportunity was real or not, since this was a simulation, any possibility, however small, was worth checking out. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

If it was fake, he could just restart.

If it was real, then profit!

The Shen Family of the Starry Sky's method for identifying their scattered clansmen was to see if the person could cultivate the "Righteous Sun Formula".

Chen Yi wasn't a member of the Shen Family. In previous simulations, why had he also managed to master this Mid-Grade external technique?

After much thought, there was only one possibility.

Effort Guarantees Reward (Green): When you persevere in doing something, you will definitely gain something, though not necessarily a lot.

This was actually a bug.

I keep doing one thing, but this thing is impossible for me to succeed at.

But "Effort Guarantees Reward" has to guarantee a minimum baseline; there has to be *some* gain.

For cultivating a technique, what's the minimum possible gain?

Initial Mastery!

My "Effort Guarantees Reward" might not let you achieve Great Achievement in a technique, but it will fight tooth and nail to get you to Initial Mastery!

With "Proficiency", it seemed he might not need to equip "Effort Guarantees Reward".

But the Shen Family's technique recognized Bloodline and was very special. To guard against any unexpected issues, Chen Yi decided to equip both traits for double insurance.

You switched your external technique practice, changing back to the "Righteous Sun Formula".

This time, you still mastered it, and it seemed even faster than the first time.

"Then it's all correct! I'm a pure competition-grade Shen Family member! Elders, come pick me up!"

On this day, above Baiyun County town, two elders flew horizontally across the sky, drawing the curious gazes of all the commoners in the city...