Chapter 9

"] "9!" With the five-second bind duration active, Xiao Yu used his basic attack to strike his opponent five times. Each hit dealt around 10 damage, barely even scratching the defense. The opponent still had at least fifty health points left, but the bind duration had already expired! Finally able to move, Wuji Feilong threw any remaining shred of his pride to the wind, spun around, and sprinted away. "Wind-Breaking Claw!" "Critical Hit 48!" Unfortunately, Wuji Feilong managed to dodge two of the three Wind-Breaking Claw strikes. The remaining hit did land a critical strike, but it still wasn't enough to finish him off. Wuji Feilong let out a silent breath of relief. Seeing that the debuff preventing health regeneration had only two seconds left, the corners of his mouth curled up into a near-laugh. *That was close. Almost got blindsided. Who would've thought this kid had a trick like that up his sleeve...* Just as the thought crossed his mind, the system prompt rang out. *Ding!* System Prompt: Unfortunately, you have entered the [Self-Harm] state! Immediately afterward, Wuji Feilong found his hands moving of their own accord, lifting the spear he held. The shaft flipped over, and the tip drove straight into his own throat... "Splat!" "Critical Hit 47!" Dammit, even a [Self-Harm] attack could land a critical hit? That defied all reason! From the start of his duel with Ceng Jing Shu Guang up to this moment, the very first critical hit Wuji Feilong landed was committed while killing himself! "Damn it, what the fu—" The colorful world before his eyes instantly turned into a black-and-white photograph. Wuji Feilong didn't even have time to finish cursing before he was sent away from this world. "Darling!" Wuji Yanyan could not fathom how her husband had ended up committing suicide. With a shrill cry, she lunged forward. Fast as she was, Xiao Yu was faster. With Wuji Feilong down, the dropped loot was quite substantial. By the time Wuji Yanyan rushed to the spot, the ground had already been picked completely clean. Even Wuji Feilong's corpse, unable to bear the continued trampling of Ceng Jing Shu Guang, had already teleported back to the city. "You turtle bastard, how dare you kill my husband! I'll fight you to the death!" Seeing her husband dead, Wuji Yanyan stamped her feet in rage. Her fingers brushed the strings, and she unleashed a String Pluck directly at Ceng Jing Shu Guang. Xiao Yu frowned deeply at the cursing. Why was this chick so thoroughly devoid of class? He countered with a Wind-Breaking Claw and followed up unhesitatingly with a Mad Gu. Wuji Yanyan didn't bother dodging; she stood her ground and took the hits head-on. After just a few blows, her health bar hit rock bottom. "Look, dying in this game costs you experience points. Your husband wasn't a match for me, so do us both a favor and stop throwing your life away, alright?" A gentleman doesn't fight with women. Although Xiao Yu was annoyed by Wuji Yanyan's abysmal manners, he still didn't want to kill her. By this point, Wuji Yanyan had also calmed down a little. "Do you dare give your name? What kind of coward hides their name? If you're a real man, tell me who you are! The Wuji Temple guild will never let you get away with this!" Xiao Yu smiled faintly and disabled the name-hiding function, instantly revealing the four characters 'Ceng Jing Shu Guang' glowing above his head. "Ah! You're Ceng Jing Shu Guang!" Wuji Yanyan turned pale with shock. In her wildest dreams, she hadn't expected the fellow standing before her to be none of than Ceng Jing Shu Guang, the very focal point of discussion currently sweeping the guild! Now that she knew who he was, Wuji Yanyan had achieved her immediate purpose. A woman takes her revenge ten years later, as the saying goes. But at the same time, she felt even more depressed—this was a lunatic who wouldn't hesitate to offend an entire sect just for a woman; could she ever hope to avenge her husband? Without uttering another word, Wuji Yanyan turned and walked toward the edge of the forest. She hadn't gone far when a wild boar spawned right beside her. Promptly venting all her resentment toward Ceng Jing Shu Guang onto the beast, she flicked her fingers and released a String Pluck. The wild boar had no idea it was suffering collateral damage. Seeing someone attack it, it charged right in and began to gore her. Standing face-to-face, the human and the pig traded blow for blow. Much like poison masters, zither masters were low-defense, low-health internal attack classes. Wuji Yanyan was only level 6, while the wild boar was level 10. Facing a four-level suppression, going toe-to-toe like this meant even chugging health potions couldn't save her. In no time at all, Wuji Yanyan's health bar was bottoming out. Just then, Xiao Yu walked over with Li Yunlong in tow. He was just about to remind the girl to watch her footwork when, to his utter astonishment, she started playing the Ballad of the Will. Before learning the skill-interrupting technique [Water-Severing Flow], all zither master melodies shared a single drawback: once played, they had to be seen through to the end before the player could move. They could not be halted midway. The Ballad of the Will lasted for five seconds, and Wuji Yanyan's remaining health could take at most two hits from the boar... "Son of a bitch, Ceng Jing Shu Guang!" Wuji Yanyan blurted out that parting curse just as the wild boar gored her to death. "I..." Xiao Yu felt smoke practically pouring out of his nostrils. *You got gored to death by a pig, what the hell does that have to do with me? Why are you cursing me? Besides, cursing me is one thing, what does my mother have to do with this? You crazy bitch...*

Deep in the Wild Boar Forest, Hunted Down

Wuji Yanyan's corpse vanished in a flash of white light, leaving behind a single green-tier weapon: the Fallen Leaf Zither. "That's karma for cursing me!" Xiao Yu walked over to the zither, bent down, and picked it up. [Fallen Leaf Zither] (Green Equipment) Level: 5 Class: Imperial Music Bureau Zither Master External Attack: 15-30 Internal Attack: 30-60 Weight: 5 Durability: 90/90 Bonus Attribute: Internal Attack: +4 Item Description: A common instrument of the Imperial Music Bureau Zither Master. Plucking the strings carries the sound three miles away. Infused with internal energy, it can send flower petals and falling leaves flying to injure foes invisibly. Wuji Yanyan's luck was truly atrocious. She had only this one good item on her, and she dropped it upon dying. When she revived back in the city and discovered she was completely empty-handed, with the zither missing from her grasp, she went absolutely ballistic and immediately sent a message to Wuji Feilong... Xiao Yu tucked the Fallen Leaf Zither into his inventory, and his mood instantly improved. Games were meant to be played for enjoyment; if playing made you miserable, you might as well not play at all. "See that? Protecting you is no problem at all, right?" Now that he had some free time, Xiao Yu intended to settle accounts properly with Li Yunlong. Seeing Ceng Jing Shu Guang stride over, Li Yunlong shrank back in fright, his face plastered with a ingratiating smile. "The young hero is truly fierce! Unmatched in martial arts and peerless under heaven, you don't even have to lift a finger to kill people. I am deeply impressed!" Seeing Li Yunlong put on this act, Ceng Jing Shu Guang couldn't be bothered to argue with him. He said, "See that? Good character brings good luck—even the pigs help me out. Don't worry, I'll guarantee your safe passage all the way to Stagnant Water Pool. If we run into any more assassins, I kindly ask you to shut your crow's mouth!" "Yes, yes, yes..." Li Yunlong nodded repeatedly. Having laid down the law, Xiao Yu led Li Yunlong toward the edge of the forest, killing wild boars along the way to gain experience. There were very few people in this part of the forest, and he wasn't worried about Wuji Yanyan's threats. He had seen plenty of show-offs in games. Ten years ago, he used to boast about wiping out entire families, only to nearly get wiped out himself in the end. When you couldn't win, hurling a few curses to vent your frustration was the only thing left for those tragic players to do. With every wild boar that fell, Ceng Jing Shu Guang's experience steadily accumulated. The experience bar had already passed the halfway mark. Barring any accidents, he would likely level up by the time they fought their way out of the Wild Boar Forest. Just as Ceng Jing Shu Guang struck down a wild boar and bent down to pick up the loot, an eye-catching line of text appeared high in the air. [Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission] Wuji Zhanshen: Finally hit level 10, gotta shout it out first! Also, the [Wuji Temple] guild is recruiting heroes and champions from all walks of life to forge the number one guild in "God Tribulation." Anyone interested, please add QQ: 1233211234567. Join us and become brothers, where loyalty comes first. 24-hour female receptionist at your service, waiting anytime! *Someone hit level 10 already?* Xiao Yu thought his own leveling speed was fast enough—killing the Pig King had instantly boosted him by 4 levels, and aside from the brief delay during the PK, he had hardly stopped grinding. This Wuji Zhanshen seemed to be a heavy hitter. Besides, did this kid have money burning a hole in his pocket? A [Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission] was equivalent to a server-wide announcement, which players could only use after reaching level 10. The pricing was similar to a taxi: a base fare of 500 RMB per transmission, plus character-count fees. Wuji Zhanshen must have dumped at least two grand into that single sentence. Talk about extravagant! No sooner had Wuji Zhanshen's broadcast ended than another Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission appeared. [Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission] East Sea Dragon King: What are you yelling about? Just hit level 10 and you're already barking. Is Wuji Temple completely empty? Zhanshen, why don't you check the rankings—how many players in the top hundred belong to Wuji? Cool your jets and keep quiet, you're making a fool of yourself... As soon as East Sea Dragon King finished his shout, Xiao Yu casually opened the in-game rankings, and the sight gave him quite a start. He only ranked 997 on the level leaderboard, barely squeezing past the threshold of the top thousand. Meanwhile, the ID holding the number one spot was Falling Feather Dancing Queen, a level 15 dancer from the East Continent's Immortal Faction, Charming Immortal Garden. East Sea Dragon King was ranked 78th at level 12, belonging to the East Continent's Great Spear Sect. Wuji Zhanshen was at 894, and Xiao Yu had to search for a long time before spotting his name. Closing the dismal level leaderboard, Xiao Yu opened the divine weapons and legendary gear ranking. This finally restored some balance to his heart: the [Flying Cloud Sword] he had given to Xiao Yueya not long ago was actually ranked number one! And his own [Black Iron Claw] ranked 8999. Although the ranking wasn't high, among tens of millions of players, it still qualified as one in ten thousand. The rankings didn't hold much significance right now. After all, the game had just launched, and the names on the board could change at any moment. Wasting time lingering here was far less productive than killing a few more monsters. Xiao Yu closed the leaderboard and took a few steps forward when yet another Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission popped up. [Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission] Wuji Zhanshen: Dragon King, don't celebrate too soon. The battles in "Heaven's Secret" aren't over yet; let's settle the score in "God Tribulation" and see whether your East Sea Dragon Palace is tougher or our Wuji Temple is more dominant! Furthermore, all guild brothers currently in the Tier 2 Small Fishing Village, head to the [Wild Boar Forest] immediately and hunt down a Witchcraft Poison Master named [Ceng Jing Shu Guang]. Execute on sight! He has a white-robed NPC following behind him. Move fast! Xiao Yu had been reading the first half of Wuji Zhanshen's broadcast with great relish, but upon reading the second half, he caught his breath and almost choked to death. Since the server opened, this was the third time he had made a server-wide announcement. The first two times were system notices, and this time it was player-initiated. Why did these three announcements get more miserable every time? He didn't dare waste any more time. He was wanted now; if the people from Wuji Temple rushed over, no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't stand against sheer numbers. More importantly, he still had an active escort quest—why did this Li Yunlong walk so damn slow? Dammit. Xiao Yu turned and wanted to bolt toward the exit of the forest, but Li Yunlong was pacing unhurriedly behind him with a measured stride, his speed completely unable to keep up. "Can you please run a little faster?" Xiao Yu was growing anxious. Li Yunlong looked deeply aggrieved. "I've suffered severe internal injuries; it's already a mercy that I'm not asking you to carry me on your back, and you want me to run? I'm pushing myself to walk this far just to give you face..." Xiao Yu wore an expression of utter helplessness. Against these pre-set game scenarios and content, there was nothing he could do. He had no choice but to run ahead for a bit, then stroll back, not daring to let Li Yunlong out of his sight—if he left the NPC's field of view, Li Yunlong would lag behind, forcing him to walk all the way back. Keeping one eye on the surroundings as he walked, he dove into cover whenever a shadow appeared. After five or six minutes of this agonizing crawl, Xiao Yu finally caught a glimmer of dawn through the gaps in the trees. Just a little further and they'd be out of the forest! Right at that moment, a voice suddenly rang out from behind. "U-um, bro, h-how come the monsters aren't attacking you?" Hearing the voice, Xiao Yu whipped around. It wasn't Li Yunlong's voice, yet he had just checked his surroundings and seen no one. Where on earth had this guy popped out from? *Could he be from Wuji Temple?* Xiao Yu secretly clenched a Gu Insect in his hand, ready for combat at a moment's notice. He spun back around and saw a swaying, staggering fellow standing next to Li Yunlong, inspecting him up and down. This guy was quite tall and wore bizarre clothing with the character for "Wine" printed on both the chest and back. In his arms, he clutched a jar of wine, occasionally lifting it to take large, greedy gulps. The liquor spilled from the corners of his mouth, soaking his clothes and leaving him drenched all over. Then he checked the guy's ID: Wine God Huahua. At the sight of this outfit, Xiao Yu immediately understood. This fellow was playing a Wine God Huahua of the Clear Water Workshop: Drunkard. Seeing that the opponent did not bear the "Wuji" prefix, Xiao Yu stepped up to him and struck up a conversation. "Brother Huahua, your level is pretty high—already level 9." Unless purposely hidden, player levels in the game were visible to everyone. Xiao Yu, naturally, had hidden both his name and level—leaving those exposed out in the open was unsafe. Wine God Huahua looked at him through hazy, intoxicated eyes. "Heh, what, what level are you? H-how come I can't see it? W-what's your name?" Xiao Yu felt a headache coming on. Although the Drunkard class featured a somewhat slovenly character model with a swaying, stumbling walk akin to someone thoroughly sloshed, did he really have to commit this hard to the role? Why was he even stuttering? Did he actually think he was drunk? "I'm level 9 too. Are you here to level up, or looking for someone?" Xiao Yu didn't dare lower his guard. Who knew if this guy was an operative for Wuji Temple? He had made this huge detour and was finally about to exit the forest; if he got targeted by this kid now, wouldn't all his previous efforts go to waste? "L-leveling, yeah. H-how about you?" "I'm heading back to the Novice Village. Well, you go on with your leveling, I won't disturb you." Xiao Yu said, turning to leave. "W-wait, wait up. Y-you still haven't told me, how come this wild boar isn't biting this dude?" Wild boars were active-aggression monsters. Xiao Yu had been winding his way through the forest, dodging them whenever possible, but Li Yunlong paid no heed to such tactics, walking in a straight line and refusing to turn unless he physically collided with a pig. No wonder this guy found it suspicious. Xiao Yu muttered inwardly: *Is this kid missing a few screws, or is he genuinely sloshed? How is anyone supposed to answer that? Even a blind idiot can tell this is an NPC, why is he acting so idiotic?* Just then, Xiao Yu spotted movement in the distance. Two figures were sprinting toward them at top speed, and the first two characters of the IDs floating above their heads clearly displayed the word "Wuji"! The ones who were bound to come had finally arrived. It was all this drunk's fault for wasting his time! Without time to exchange further nonsense with this idiot, Xiao Yu locked his eyes on the two approaching figures and made a split-second decision: strike first to gain the upper hand! One of them was a level 6 Doctor, and the other was a level 7 Spear user. Upon seeing the guild broadcast, they had answered their leaders' call and rushed into the Wild Boar Forest to join the fun. Little did they know, the moment they stepped inside, they'd realize the monsters here were far too ferocious. Level 10 wild boars were simply beyond their ability to handle; the Doctor couldn't heal the Spear user fast enough, prompting them to turn tail and run. As they fled, they ended up aggroing several wild boars behind them. Terrified, the pair didn't dare stop, running so hard they almost lost their shoes. Seeing someone up ahead at long last, they desperately rushed over to beg for rescue, never expecting to run into Ceng Jing Shu Guang, who was far more vicious than any wild boar! Chased by pigs, the two had completely forgotten about the mission to hunt down Ceng Jing Shu Guang, but Xiao Yu hadn't forgotten a thing. Seeing that they were from Wuji Temple, killing intent flared in his heart instantly. Strike first to gain the upper hand—only a fool would give them time to rally reinforcements. With a flash of his body, Xiao Yu ducked behind a large tree. As the level 6 Doctor sped past him, Xiao Yu lunged out from behind the trunk, raised a hand to deliver a Wind-Breaking Claw, and followed up without even looking with a Mad Gu. "Critical Hit 44!" "Critical Hit 51!" "38!" "38!" "33!" "33!" Two of the three Wind-Breaking Claw strikes landed on the target, both triggering critical hits as well as the bleeding status. That poor bastard hadn't even figured out who attacked him before he collapsed flat onto the ground. The moment he died, the aggro value of the wild boars chasing behind him reset to zero, and they scurried back to their spawn points in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the remaining companion seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that his teammate had just kicked the bucket. Hurriedly, he shouted toward Wine God Huahua, "Bro, help me!" Wine God Huahua was already feeling exasperated—this white-robed guy was far too good at putting on airs, ignoring him no matter how he questioned him. Up until now, Wine God Huahua still couldn't figure out why the wild boar wasn't attacking him. Hearing someone shout for help from behind startled him out of his wits. "Crap, y-y-you scared the hell out of me!" "Bro, help me kill this pig! Ah... who's there?" The spear-wielding fellow suddenly noticed blood spurting from his body, followed by a system prompt stating he had entered the bleeding state. In the space of a breath, his health dropped below half. Without a word, seeing that all three strikes of his Wind-Breaking Claw had landed squarely on the opponent and triggered the bleeding effect, Xiao Yu raised his hand, preparing to chain into a Mad Gu. But just as he did, a bright red number popped up above the spear user's head! "Critical Hit 109!" Dead? Accompanied by the fellow's collapse, a wild boar vanished into thin air with a whoosh. The idiot had actually been gored to death by the pig! "Huh? W-where'd he go?" The moment Wine God Huahua turned his head back, his vision blurred, and the guy who had yelled at him had miraculously vanished! That left him thoroughly baffled once more. "D-did I see things?" he muttered, turning his head back to fix his gaze on Li Yunlong. "B-bro, c-come on, tell me your secret move..." Taking in Wine God Huahua's condition, Xiao Yu finally realized two things. First, this guy wasn't from Wuji Temple. Second, this kid belonged in a psychiatric ward!

Wine God Huahua Assists Ceng Jing

In "God Tribulation," slaughtering players in PK mode accumulated villain points. Once those points reached a certain threshold, the player's name and level could no longer be hidden—serving as the system's way of protecting peace-loving players. These villain points varied based on level disparities. For instance, in Xiao Yu's case, killing players 5 or more levels below him meant that once he hit two such kills, his name could no longer be concealed. Whether his name could be hidden no longer mattered, however. What mattered was how to avoid running into anyone from Wuji Temple for the next five minutes. Only by doing so would he have a chance to escape the Wild Boar Forest. Once outside in the populated zones, even if Wuji Temple members tracked him down, they wouldn't dare launch a reckless attack for fear of collateral damage. Dreams were always wonderful, but when Xiao Yu saw another pair of figures sprinting toward them from the distance, he couldn't help but wonder why reality and his dreams were separated by such a damnably vast chasm. With no time to overthink, Xiao Yu flashed sideways and hid behind a tree.