Martial Arts Prodigy

Lu Xun's words of comfort clearly had no effect. The moment Ji Li heard it was a ghost, she became even more flustered.

Though she was merely a member of the Martial World, she had heard plenty of such tales. As a child, she especially loved visiting teahouses to listen to storytellers recount all sorts of interesting things, and she had always longed for these miraculous phenomena.

But now that she had truly encountered one, she was instantly at a loss.

A ghost! This was a ghost!

It was not that Ji Li was timid. She simply knew that she was no match for the people pursuing her, yet this Phantom had effortlessly killed every one of them!

Unfortunately, she could no longer stop Lu Xun, because the Phantom seemed to have sensed something and began drifting toward them.

It moved faster and faster, its expression becoming increasingly savage, changing from ╭(°A°`)╮ to (;′??Д??`).

Wasn't that terrifying?

Large amounts of black mist streamed from its hollow eye sockets, like pitch-black tears.

Ji Li gritted her teeth, drew the Wedding Dress Sword in her hand, and turned sideways to shield Lu Xun behind her.

She was descended from a righteous Martial World family. Since childhood, her parents had taught her to become a proper heroine, and protecting the weak was the most basic tenet of chivalry. Of course, Lu Xun was good-looking, and protecting beautiful things was also human instinct.

The Phantom drew closer and closer. Seeing that the distance was about right, Lu Xun suddenly shouted, "Hold your breath!"

Ji Li had already been nervous. Lu Xun's sudden shout startled her, making her feel even more wronged.

Still, she obediently held her breath. Earlier, after listening to Lu Xun, the Phantom had drifted right past them without anything happening.

The instant Lu Xun and Ji Li held their breath, the Phantom stopped.

It had already looked confused, but now it looked even more confused.

Clueless Blackie was just like that. As long as you did not breathe, you could dance right in front of it and nothing would happen.

And once you found the right method, this thing was especially easy to kill!

Holding his breath, Lu Xun quickly approached. Then he raised both hands, extended two slender fingers, and jabbed them toward its hollow eye sockets!

That was where its essence lay.

As long as he struck it, it would be injured.

If he stabbed deeply enough, he could very well kill it in one blow!

"Whoosh—!" He had nearly missed.

The black mist around the Phantom began spreading in all directions, making it look rather terrifying.

With Lu Xun's movements, its figure began to twist.

The degree of twisting was immense. Not even a yoga master could twist like that.

"It didn't die?" Lu Xun paused, pulled out his fingers, and stabbed again.

This time, he finally got it right.

The black mist rapidly spread, then exploded outward like a burst of black fireworks.

The exploded black mist slowly dissipated. It was dead.

"Ding! You killed Mountain Ghost and obtained 666 Experience Points!"

Lu Xun was overjoyed. Just as in the game, he could kill monsters and level up!

This thing players jokingly called Clueless Blackie was known as Mountain Ghost in "Heavenly Dust." But looking at the Experience Points it gave, with such an auspicious number, what else could it be but a mobile experience gift pack for lucky players?

Looking at his Character Panel again, the Experience Points entry had become 666/100, marked as available to level up.

Although it said so, Lu Xun was unwilling to level up directly.

The reason was simple: he did not know any cultivation methods yet.

As mentioned before, "Heavenly Dust" did not feel like a game to players. It felt more like a world that truly existed.

Players cultivated here as if they were genuinely cultivating. So-called leveling up was merely improving the cultivation method they practiced.

To give the simplest example, if Lu Xun had a Qi Refining Art now, reaching Level 1 would mean the first layer of Qi Refinement, while Level 9 would mean the ninth layer.

That was why Lu Xun cared so much about his starting point. Since he would be leveling up either way, the cultivation method he learned was especially important!

Though the effects could not be seen early on, the difference would become obvious in the middle and later stages.

If he leveled up directly without a cultivation method, it would truly be a waste.

After dealing with Clueless Blackie, Lu Xun patted his hands and even held his fingers near his nose for a sniff. "Mm, good. No strange smell."

Ji Li watched him kill a Mountain Ghost with her own eyes, and her feelings were extremely complicated.

She even began to wonder whether this man was really an ordinary person.

But when she had kidnapped him, he had shown no intention of resisting?

Come to think of it, he had wiped out a Mountain Ghost with a flick of his fingers just now. He really had looked rather dashing...

Lu Xun had no intention of explaining. He was merely surprised to discover that Ji Li's Affection Points seemed to have risen by several more points.

"Is this little girl's Affection Points really that easy to farm?" Lu Xun was somewhat dumbfounded.

Anyone unaware of the truth might think "Heavenly Dust" was a rather inappropriate game.

Lu Xun stood there for a moment. After thinking it over, he walked east.

Ji Li quickly followed. The appearance of the Mountain Ghost had still left lingering fear in her heart, and she could not help asking, "Y-you... where are you going?"

"To pick up equipment." Lu Xun smiled.

Ji Li had not understood at first, but after looking in the direction Lu Xun was heading, she realized he was going to loot the corpses.

The people pursuing her were all dead, lying right there.

Counting them, there were seven in total: six men and one woman.

Their expressions were all twisted in agony. It seemed they had suffered greatly when they died.

Their faces were pale, and both their skin and muscles had shriveled somewhat.

Ji Li could not help shuddering. If Lu Xun had not been here, she might have become one of them.

As for why Lu Xun had watched them die... it was because he had casually glanced over earlier and found that several of the seven had red names, indicating they were utterly wicked people.

Lu Xun had no qualms about corpses. With a sweep of his eyes, information about quite a few items appeared.

"97 taels of silver in total."

"An utterly ordinary longsword."

"A robe imitating one from the Rainbow Dress Workshop."

"A short spear with low durability."

Lu Xun could not help thinking, Tsk, tsk. It's short enough already, and its durability is low too.

The equipment was all the lowest-grade Mortal Iron, though it was at least sharp.

In the end, he took all the silver, then picked up a convenient-to-carry dagger and the most expensive-looking longsword.

He could sell the other items for some money once he reached a city, but they would be inconvenient for him to carry.

Heavy hammers and iron staffs used by Martial World folk could easily weigh dozens of jin. How could a Level 0 newbie account like him handle that?

He could swing them around a couple of times, but he still had a long journey ahead.

So, he turned to glance at Ji Li and said, "Help yourself."

Sure enough, Ji Li happily picked up the heavy hammer and iron staff. She really was strong!

Though her veil covered half her face, the eyes exposed above it had already curved into crescents, and her expression practically radiated the words: "I'm rich, I'm rich!"

She had no designs on the silver. Without Lu Xun, she would have died as well, so naturally the silver belonged to him.

But since Lu Xun did not want these weapons, she eagerly accepted every last one!

It was rather pitiful that a former young lady had fallen into such straits.

What delighted Lu Xun even more was that one man's bag contained a secret manual. It was a finger technique called "Eagle Finger."

Lu Xun picked it up and flipped through it a few times. A prompt appeared, asking whether he wished to learn it.

Cultivation methods could not be practiced carelessly, but there was no harm in learning more skills. There was no limit to that, so Lu Xun chose yes.

"You have learned Eagle Finger (Beginner)."

He stretched out his fingers and moved them through the air twice at high speed. It actually looked somewhat convincing.

"Oh-ho! My fingers are pretty impressive!" Lu Xun played around enthusiastically.

Ji Li saw all of this, and her small mouth fell slightly open.

"This man only looked at the secret manual two or three times. How did he already get the hang of it!?"

Could this be the martial arts prodigy her parents had described, one who appeared only once in a century?

"Affection Points +1... +1... +1..."

Lu Xun: "???"

The contract has been signed successfully, so rewards can now be sent. Everyone, no need to hold back~