[No matter how stormy the outside world was, you continued your cultivation in the small courtyard as usual]

[One day, while you were cultivating, Wei Xia, whom you hadn't seen for years, entered your courtyard again]

["Young Master He, could you spare me some food?"]

[The 21-year-old Wei Xia had fully matured into an adult]

[You could vaguely recognize traces of her 13-14 year old self]

[Without asking questions, you simply let her eat her fill]

[After the meal, she voluntarily shared her experiences over the past few years]

[It turned out that because she couldn't conceive, the elderly couple often abused Wei Xia when Miao Jiayao was working in the fields, denying her food]

[You took Wei Xia back to Miao Jiayao's house and warned the elderly couple against mistreating her]

[The old couple hastily agreed—they didn't dare disobey you since you'd recently dealt with Zhang the Butcher, the influential figure from the neighboring village]

[They knew if you wanted, you could easily become Willow Tree Village's de facto leader]

[But you weren't Slow Sheep—you had no interest in being village chief]

[You only wanted to cultivate]

[After you left, Wei Xia leaned against the doorway gazing at your courtyard for a long time]

[But she knew the social gap between you was too wide to harbor any hopes]

[Miao Jiayao later learned about the abuse too and scolded his parents, forbidding them from bullying Wei Xia]

[Though Miao Jiayao often sighed while staring at Wei Xia's flat belly]

[The elderly couple constantly lamented about the Miao family line ending with them]

[You returned to your courtyard to continue cultivation]

[After reaching mid-stage Skin Refining, you felt your progress slowing down]

[You reminded yourself to avoid arrogance and impatience—only through steady accumulation could you reach the peak]

[The ninth year, you accumulated...]

[The tenth year, you accumulated...]

[The eleventh year, you were still accumulating...]

[The twelfth year, you couldn't take it anymore because your cultivation speed had become unbearably slow]

[Frustrated, you knew you needed higher-level cultivation resources and more money]

[You put on your black clothes and hat again to rob the wealthy]

[You returned to your old profession]

[This time you made a bold decision—to steal from the Linjiang County magistrate's residence]

[Landlords and rich merchants were small fry—the real money was with the magistrate]

[At night, you stealthily infiltrated the magistrate's mansion]

[With auto-loot activated, you rummaged through the place]

[The haul was substantial]

[Over 10,000 taels of silver and 3,000 taels of gold were just bonuses—the real prize was three bottles of Blood Qi Pills]

["Pills? Now that's rare!"]

[Pills were extremely expensive, only affordable by high-level martial artists]

[A single Blood Qi Pill could replace half a month of cultivation]

[These three bottles contained sixty pills total, saving you two and a half years of cultivation time]

[Compared to the grueling daily routine of herbal baths and massive nutritional supplements]

[Now just swallow a pill and you could climb six flights of stairs without getting winded!]

[You stored the pills in your simulation space]

[As you prepared to leave, you discovered the magistrate's son having an affair with the magistrate's young concubine]

[The passionate noises they made forced you to readjust your "egg alignment"]

[To enhance their immersive experience, you helpfully locked their door with a dozen locks]

[Then you jumped onto the wall and shouted: "Fire! The magistrate's son's room is on fire! Everyone come quick!"]

[The mansion immediately erupted into chaos]

[Soon you heard the magistrate's furious curses and the lovers' pleas for mercy]

["Magistrate bro, this is all I can do for you!"]

["Don't ask my name—I never leave one when doing good deeds!"]

[You vanished into the night]

[The next day in your courtyard, you swallowed a Blood Qi Pill and meditated under the peach tree]

[Your cultivation speed returned to normal, even better than before]

["It's back! Everything's back!"]

[You saw hope of breaking through to late-stage Skin Refining]

[While you cultivated peacefully, Linjiang County descended into chaos]

[The county government launched an unprecedented crackdown on thieves and bandits]

[Many seasoned outlaws were captured]

[As the instigator, you offered exactly one second of sympathy for your fallen colleagues]

[Most of those arrested weren't serious bandits though—the majority were actually rapists]

[These rapists lacked real martial prowess—they spent all their energy on women, making them easy arrests]

[Since rapists technically counted as thieves, the arrests weren't wrong]

[Another year of monotonous cultivation passed]

[The thirteenth year, with the pills' assistance, your cultivation progressed rapidly]

[You clearly felt your internal energy growing more robust—a major step toward late-stage]

[Your strength reached 800 jin—you could now play with the 400-jin millstone like a yo-yo]

[At 28 years old, most commoners would have had three or four children by now, but you remained alone]

[Coincidentally, Miao Jiayao seemed to realize this too]

[That night, he came to you]

[The 45-year-old Miao Jiayao was hunched and graying, while martial cultivation kept you in your prime]

["Young Master He, please sleep with my wife tonight!" Miao Jiayao's opening line was explosive]

[You never expected the seemingly simple Miao couple to be into this lifestyle]

[Though engaging in extreme self-cuckolding, Miao Jiayao's eyes were full of pain and pleading]

[He said he knew Wei Xia liked you—he just wanted her to conceive]

[He wanted a child, even if not biologically his—he couldn't bear the Miao line ending]

[Turns out Wei Xia's infertility wasn't her fault—it was Miao Jiayao's]

[Though Miao Jiayao was strict about cuckolding himself, you weren't like Chancellor Cao]

[You refused]

[Miao Jiayao left dejected]

[You continued your accumulation—focused cultivation made time fly]

[Another year passed]

[The fourteenth year, without pills, your progress slowed again, but your strength reached 900+ jin]

[You could feel you were on the verge of breaking through to late-stage]

[Your Cloud Treading Steps mastery reached advanced level—just needing a catalyst for perfection]

[Over the years, using Cloud Treading Steps, you'd robbed every wealthy household within a hundred li]

[Several families moved away in fear, even exhuming their ancestors' graves to relocate them]

[That year, a severe drought struck the region—no crops survived]

[Willow Tree Village was no exception]