Clearing the Level

"Senior Brother, you can modify techniques?"

Jiang Lingsu's eyes carried a smile, adding a touch of charm to her delicate face.

Cultivation techniques weren't so easy to modify, were they?

Especially for a Qi Refining cultivator.

Those qualified to modify techniques were at least Core Formation Cultivators.

So, she didn't take Senior Brother Qi Yuan's words seriously.

She took the Technique Jade Slip and, remembering something, warned him: "Big Senior Brother, cultivation techniques are very important—don't recklessly modify or practice them. That could easily lead to Qi Deviation!"

She had only just met Senior Brother Qi Yuan, and it was unwise to speak too deeply too soon, so she just offered that one reminder.

Qi Yuan looked at her and said faintly, "Do you think leaving the technique unmodified solves everything?"

Jiang Lingsu was left speechless.

It seemed her senior brother's mind really was troubled—and deeply so.

A cultivator from the Obsession Lineage!

She said no more and took the Technique Jade Slip back to her room.

"The Seven Colors Flame Refining Art?"

"A Jade Rank technique?"

"Looks pretty ordinary."

She had originally hoped to use this technique to investigate the Seven Colors Peak Lord's background.

But it seemed unremarkable.

A Jade Rank technique, while decent in grade, didn't impress her.

After all, her family had a pile of Jade Rank techniques.

She examined the technique's content.

"The latter part... did Senior Brother modify it?"

"It looks convincing enough."

"At least it fooled me."

"The Ascension Pavilion records all techniques—I wonder if Ya Ya Jie has any annotations on this one. She's best at adapting techniques; if I have time, I'll ask her to evaluate the changes. That way, if Big Senior Brother practices it, he'll avoid detours."

Jiang Lingsu murmured to herself.

Inside the Thatched Cottage.

Qi Yuan's focus was entirely on the Game Jade Slip.

He had obtained this Game Jade Slip a year ago.

He had been playing this game for about a year too—it was just an ordinary boss-fighting game.

The game map showed that this place was called the Moon Gazing Continent.

On the Moon Gazing Continent, there were Four Great Forbidden Areas and Two Great Deathlands.

The map Qi Yuan was currently on was called the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area.

In the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area, there were many monsters.

These monsters were fierce and brutal.

There were snakes as thick as buckets, carnivorous flowers full of sharp teeth, and beetles as massive as tanks.

To Qi Yuan, these monsters were all Experience Packs.

But one monster in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area annoyed him and ruined his gaming experience.

That monster was a fox tail shaped like a brush, with a loud name: Mad Pen.

In the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area, Qi Yuan's game character, clad in Golden Armor, was slaughtering everything in sight.

Those powerful monsters had no resistance against Qi Yuan's hands.

"A mere Level 50 Monster dares to show off in front of me?"

"Die!"

Qi Yuan swept his sword across.

At level eighty, he could massacre freely in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area.

These past few days, Qi Yuan had been doing just that—massacring.

When he first entered the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area, he was just an ordinary Level 1 Newbie.

The game he played was Survive the Deathland.

In one year, he had leveled up to Level 80, enough to strut unopposed through the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area.

What he was playing now was a rampaging thug.

The monsters in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area trembled in fear at the mere sight of him.

And slaying monsters on the Moon Gazing Continent also gave Qi Yuan a huge boost in the real world.

Otherwise, how could he have reached Qi Refining Completion in just one year?

Even a true prodigy would need at least three years to cultivate to Qi Refining Completion.

The cultivation from the game could affect his real body.

Of course, only a portion of it.

After all, in the game right now, he was incredibly strong.

How strong?

Qi Yuan had no concept of it.

But cutting down the Shinguang Sect's leader with one sword strike? No big deal.

Yet in reality, he was just a fledgling at the Qi Refining stage.

"Once I take down the final boss, the Mad Pen, this dungeon will be cleared."

Thinking this, Qi Yuan felt even more motivated.

Today, he was going to clear the dungeon.

"I wonder what reward I'll get."

"Maybe a harmless cultivation technique?"

"Or at the very least, a simple Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object would do."

At the thought of the Mad Pen, a fierce fighting spirit blazed in Qi Yuan's eyes.

By day, these pens were just pens in form, but by night, they transformed into stunning Fox Demons, taking human shape and oozing seduction.

Their favorite pastime was night raids.

If you fell for their tricks, at the height of your passion, they would bare their fangs.

They'd turn into sharp pens and stab into... the holes... of their enchanted victim's body.

Qi Yuan had seen many monsters in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area fall victim to the Mad Pen—it was a miserable sight.

Qi Yuan couldn't be seduced by the Mad Pen, but... he had to go offline at night.

Once he logged off, he had to guard against them.

Back then, he almost copied a certain anime protagonist from his past life and made himself a golden crotch guard.

In the end, he just dug a hole and buried himself in the dirt before logging off, avoiding the Mad Pen's night raids.

"The final Mad Pen boss is only Level 70—easy."

"I need to clear it quickly; I still have to take my little Pet out for a walk this evening."

Qi Yuan gripped his longsword, draped in Golden Armor, his body radiating a dazzling array of colors. Every swing of his sword was packed with flashy special effects, looking utterly ostentatious.

In any other game, you'd know at a glance—this was a whale, and a flashy one at that.

Half an hour later, Qi Yuan stormed into the Xuanyuan Hall.

He raised his Great Treasure Sword and bellowed with cringey bravado: "Where do you think you're running, fiend!"

A coward in real life, a heavy hitter in the game.

In response, the Mad Pen let out a shriek of terror.

He charged forward with his sword, unstoppable.

One by one, the Mad Pens snapped apart.

His experience bar kept climbing.

"Come out, fiend!" Qi Yuan shouted, trying to summon the biggest boss in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Area.

But no one answered.

All the Mad Pens were fleeing in panic.

Qi Yuan was having a blast slaughtering them.

Just then, a burst of golden light erupted.

The Xuanyuan Hall shook.

A pen shaped like a fox's tail burst out of the ground.

Its sharp tip, like a razor-edged sword, thirsted for a worthy opponent and stabbed straight at Qi Yuan.

"Good thing I was prepared." Qi Yuan remained calm.

Before coming, he had already prepared a contingency plan.

And even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been afraid.

His strength spoke for itself.

"Summer Eight Slashes!"

Qi Yuan unleashed his strongest blade technique.

That's right—he wielded a sword but used a blade style.

In an instant, the Mad Pen snapped cleanly in two.

Qi Yuan shrugged. "It could only take one slash from me. Too weak.

Seven slashes left, and I wonder who can withstand them. Lonely, truly lonely."

The Mad Pen fell, and the Xuanyuan Hall collapsed at that moment.

Just then, a notification rang in Qi Yuan's ears.

The Xuanyuan Forbidden Area dungeon has been cleared. Rewards issued.

Reward 1: Fragment of Heavenly Dao x10.

Reward 2: Divine Brush.