376: Chapter 376 The Flower Thief, Chu Sheng's Perverse Pleasures

Chu Sheng sat by the window, looking over the [Simulation Event] function on the panel back and forth several times.

He pondered what this function could actually do, and after thinking about it for a while, he decided to test it out first.

He originally wanted to simulate the route of Tianmo Mountain or the background of the Twelve Giants.

But those matters were simply too big. In case the simulation revealed something unexpected, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to help himself and would rush over right then and there.

It was better to pick a minor matter first to test the waters and see how this function actually operated.

Chu Sheng stood by the window, staring intently at the line of text on the simulator panel for a long while.

He originally wanted to try something serious to test where the limits of a minor simulation lay, such as exploring a certain Secret Realm, or simulating a direct showdown with a certain Dao Palace Cultivator.

But the moment his hand hovered above the "Confirm" button, an extremely boring thought suddenly popped into his mind.

What would happen if he wreaked havoc in Tianfeng Kingdom just once?

For instance, acting as a flower-picking bandit at the Divine Ability level?

The simulator seemed to have sensed Chu Sheng's thought and immediately responded.

[Consumed 200 simulation points. Current balance: 28800. Whether to activate the Simulation Event.]

Chu Sheng was amused by his own thought.

As a dignified Cultivator at the Early Stage of Tongxuan, he was actually pondering such a ridiculous matter.

But upon second thought, this simulation only required 200 points, indicating that the simulator judged this matter posed no threat to him whatsoever.

With his Early Stage of Tongxuan cultivation base, he could walk sideways in Tianfeng Kingdom, and no one could stop him. The reason the flower-picking bandit matter was so cheap was because his strength completely crushed the entire storyline.

He hesitated for a split second, then clicked confirm.

[Simulation Event activated.]

[The first year.]

[A strange event occurred in Tianfeng Kingdom that shocked the entire imperial capital.]

[Commandery Governor Xia Nihuang, with a cultivation base at the Spirit Spring Peak, was a top-tier female Cultivator among the younger generation of Tianfeng Kingdom. She was subdued inside her own boudoir.]

[After waking up, nothing was missing, except for an unknown wild flower by her bed. The news was suppressed for three days, but it still leaked out.]

[Fengxian Prefecture was shaken, and Commandery Governor Xia Nihuang flew into a rage, dispatching a large number of personnel to investigate. After searching for three months, they gained nothing.]

[Looking at this brief summary, Chu Sheng was stunned for a moment.]

Xia Nihuang?

He remembered that commandery governor of Fengxian Prefecture, whose cultivation base was at the Spirit Sea Realm. In a simulation, she had led a group of people to hunt him down, and later they even crossed paths on the battlefield.

He in the simulation was far stronger than her, so subduing her probably didn't take much effort.

Looking at those words, an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart—it felt a bit satisfying, yet also a bit guilty.

[The second year.]

[Yunmeng Prefecture.]

[The Commandery Governor of Yunmeng Prefecture and her daughter were subdued on the same night by someone using the exact same method. Nothing was lost, except for a wild flower by the bed.]

[With the mother and daughter suffering such a misfortune simultaneously, the defensive forces of Yunmeng Prefecture multiplied several times over. Patrols were added, and even Cultivators at the Spirit Sea Realm stood watch overnight.]

[But it was useless. The bandit came and went like the wind, not even leaving a shadow behind.]

[Rumors began to spread that the entity was not human, but rather some ancient grand demon skilled in this path.]

Chu Sheng touched his chin, thinking that this simulation was quite detailed.

Between the second year and the fifth year, he flipped through the records. There wasn't much content, basically repeating the same pattern.

Infiltrate, subdue, leave a flower, evacuate.

[More and more women who were "cared for" increased, ranging from imperial relatives and ordinary Loose Cultivators to famous daughters of noble families and secluded Cultivators, as long as they possessed a bit of beauty and some slight fame, they all suffered the same fate.]

This turned Tianfeng Kingdom upside down. Female Cultivators either didn't dare to go out, or they had to bring bodyguards with them whenever they went out, following in squads.

[The fifth year.]

[Inside a teahouse in a small town on the border of Tianfeng Kingdom, two female Cultivators were chatting idly.]

[One said, "Have you heard? That flower-picking bandit has appeared again. This time it's the daughter of the Beiming Prefecture Governor, and it is said that her cultivation base broke through by a small Realm the next day."]

[The other lowered her voice, "That's not all. I heard that after that bandit makes a move, the female Cultivators' cultivation bases all skyrocket, though I don't know what kind of method it is. It's a pity that the two of us sisters have always been stuck at a Bottleneck. Anyway, I don't care much about this aspect; the flower-picking bandit might as well help the two of us make a Breakthrough."]

[The two looked at each other, each picked up their teacup to take a sip, and stopped continuing this topic.]

[In the corner of the teahouse, a man wearing a bamboo hat tightly gripped the cup in his hand, a slight smile curving the corners of his mouth. That was none other than Chu Sheng.]

[The tenth year.]

[The imperial capital, the imperial palace of Tianfeng Kingdom.]

[Grandmaster Jiang sat in the side hall with several imperial guards standing before him. He reached out to massage his temples, his voice carrying an unspeakable exhaustion, "Still didn't catch him?"]

[The guards lowered their heads, not daring to look at him. Grandmaster Jiang waved his hand to dismiss them, leaning back in his chair alone.]

[Over these years, he had used almost every method he could think of: setting up formations, laying ambushes, sending secret guards to keep watch, using imperial women as bait, and even inviting an Elder from Wendao Palace to hold down the fort.]

[Yet every time he thought victory was certain, the next morning he would find that the bandit had already finished what he was supposed to do.]

[That bandit even intentionally left clues, but chasing along the clues always led to empty space.]

[The women in the city no longer dared to go out alone, nor did they dare to light their lamps too brightly, for fear of being targeted by that figure that came from who-knows-where.]

[The twentieth year.]

[Tianfeng Kingdom had completely accepted the existence of the flower-picking bandit.]

[Various bizarre versions even spread among the common folk: some said he was actually a Disciple of a certain secluded Old Ancestor, some said the Cultivation Technique he cultivated required the harmonization of Yin and Yang, and others said he was actually a good person, because any female Cultivator he visited would see an increase in her cultivation base.]

[The imperial family's bounty order was still hanging at the city gate, but no one took it seriously anymore.]

[Grandmaster Jiang wrote two characters on the memorial — "Let it be". That bandit was never caught again, and no one ever saw his true face again.]

[Yet every once in a while, news of a certain female Cultivator's cultivation base surging would still emerge from somewhere, as if reminding everyone.]

[That bandit was still around, he just didn't want to keep a high profile anymore.]

[Simulation Event ended.]

[Settling —]

[Simulation duration: Twenty years.]

[Comprehensive impact: The average cultivation base of Cultivators throughout Tianfeng Kingdom rose slightly, and the Breakthrough rate of female Cultivators' Bottlenecks increased significantly.]

[Various factions' attitudes toward the flower-picking bandit shifted from hunting him down to tacit acquiescence.]

Chu Sheng smiled and was about to close the settlement panel when the simulator's voice rang out again.

[Detected that the host's behavior during the simulation event had a brief resonance with the traits of "Many Children, Many Blessings", Ancestral Devil Body, and Devil Heart.]

[Reward added —]

[Ancestral Devil Body: Extremely minor improvement. Infatuation Devilish Qi refinement degree + 0.3%.]

[Devil Heart: Extremely minor improvement. lust sensing range + 1%.]

["Many Children, Many Blessings": Extremely minor improvement. Dao Companion Bloodline feedback efficiency + 0.2%.]

Chu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing out loud again. Just this?

Extremely minor improvements, each item increased by less than a fraction of a percent, and "Many Children, Many Blessings" only increased by 0.2%.

But upon second thought, this was after all just an entertainment-oriented simulation costing 200 simulation points.

It wasn't a serious, life-or-death major simulation, so getting any harvest at all was already not bad.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat.

He closed the settlement panel, leaned against the windowsill, and gazed at the undulating outline of Qingshi Town's rooftops in the night scenery.

Although those twenty years of a flower-picking bandit career in the simulator were interesting, he knew clearly in his heart.

That kind of thing was fine to play around with in the simulation, but in reality, he had no interest in actually becoming any sort of flower-picking bandit.

He still had too many serious matters to attend to.

Chu Sheng looked at the settlement panel and couldn't help laughing out loud.

He leaned against the windowsill, recalling the scenes from the simulation just now: twenty years of a flower-picking bandit career, from Xia Nihuang to the Yunmeng Prefecture commandery governor and her daughter, and finally to the entire Tianfeng Kingdom being forced to accept his existence.

Aside from telling him that he could indeed walk sideways in Tianfeng Kingdom without anyone being able to stop him, this simulation didn't give him any substantial gains.

But it was quite interesting nonetheless.

He put away his smile and cleared his throat.

He had already reached Tongxuan. When it came to Dao Companions, quality mattered over quantity, so he should just drop such thoughts.