A Warm Current

Before the words faded, Qiu Chan had already charged out.

The Tang Saber spun in her hand, tracing arcs.

For some reason, Qiu Chan felt something was off with the blade.

Maybe it was nerves or something else, but the Tang Saber seemed to be heating up, and a warm current flowed through her body.

Probably just an illusion?

She pushed the thought aside, becoming one with the blade, focusing entirely on the zombie before her.

Now that she knew the weak spot was the head, dispatching ordinary zombies came easily.

After all, these zombies were still level zero—slow, weak in speed and strength, sluggish in reaction. Anyone with even a bit of National Martial Arts training could cut them down.

The only real concern was the zombie virus.

Zombies felt no pain; they just bit whatever they caught.

After clearing the common zombies, Qiu Chan engaged the Long-Necked Zombie.

In the art of slaughter, the future Sword Saintess, the peerless powerhouse, was already finding her rhythm.

Over at Taiji Lake, Jiang Yang stood before the Secret Realm Gate.

"Bro Jiang, you're really going in?"

"Bro Jiang, it's too dangerous in there. Several people went in and never came out. Be careful..."

Li Shun and his girlfriend Zhang Yao stood nearby, trying to talk Jiang Yang out of it, but remembering the strength he'd just shown, they swallowed their words.

Killing nine Thugs in half a minute—that wasn't something a normal person could do.

"Of course. You guard the entrance. You're coming with me later!"

Jiang Yang patted Li Shun on the shoulder, and the man's info appeared before him.

Name: Li Shun. Physique: 7. Spirit: 10. Agility: 6. Class: None. Level: Zero. Ability: None. Skill: None. Loyalty: 79.

Jiang Yang only focused on two things: loyalty and spirit.

Li Shun's loyalty to him was seventy-nine—a trustworthy man worth taking along.

When building a team, the first thing to check wasn't talent or combat power, but loyalty.

Clearly, Li Shun wasn't like those fair-weather friends. This was a true brother.

But his spirit stat was actually ten.

The maximum spirit for an ordinary person was ten. How did this guy reach it?

Jiang Yang thought for a moment and recalled a scene from his memory.

It was Li Shun bragging to the original owner about how many girls he'd nailed in one night, pushing through exhaustion with sheer willpower to finish the last one.

But after meeting Zhang Yao, Li Shun never went looking for girls again.

The original owner used to laugh at him for it.

Li Shun replied, "I've had my fill of beauties, but this one's for life. I've already won."

"I won't explain more. Just guard the entrance!"

Jiang Yang glanced at the others. Besides Li Shun and Zhang Yao, there were four guys and five women.

To prevent any trouble for Li Shun, Jiang Yang sighed and broke the legs of those four guys.

But as he acted, he said sternly, "You cowards. Four of you together couldn't even scrape together a pair of balls. A female schoolmate gets treated like that, and not one of you stepped up except my brother?"

For a moment, the air was filled with screams.

One shouldn't have a harmful heart, but one must have a guarding heart.

In the Apocalypse, the first half of that saying could be ignored.

Anyone who posed a threat should be eliminated if possible. After all, he was going up against a Son of Destiny.

Jiang Yang drew the Black Gold Ancient Blade and stepped into the Secret Realm Gate.

A wave of dizziness hit him, and the surroundings shifted violently.

After the golden radiance came endless darkness, and within that darkness, a massive vertical pupil loomed.

Jiang Yang stood before the pupil, feeling utterly insignificant.

Not far from him, a woman lay on the ground—along with Gu Tao and the woman he had just pushed in.

Jiang Yang walked over to check. Neither bore any scars; they had simply lost their vital signs.

In the original story, those who failed died without injury—their souls were sacrificed.

A strange pushing force now acted on Jiang Yang's body.

This was the detection mechanism of the Secret Realm Gate. The force would push people out, and those who wished to undergo the trial only needed to take a step forward, resisting the push, to signal the start.

Jiang Yang stepped forward. In an instant, the scene before him changed again.

He found himself in a stretch of ruins, and beyond the ruins, a horde of zombies stared fixedly at him.

"First level—I know this too well!"

Jiang Yang was very familiar with this part of the original story, where Ye Fan cleared the levels. This was the first one.

The zombies were all level zero, but there were a lot of them.

To pass, he had to kill them all.

In the original, Ye Fan used the surrounding ruins to take them out.

Jiang Yang didn't need to bother with that. He grabbed the Black Gold Ancient Blade and went straight in!

With a Crescent Slash, he cleaved six zombies in one go.

The Black Gold Ancient Blade was top-tier, he had been injected with the Captain America Serum, and he wore a suit of Chainmail.

The first level posed no challenge at all—it was almost too easy.

Jiang Yang swung the Black Gold Ancient Blade with reckless abandon, a pure stat monster. No technique needed—just brute force with his gear!

The first level was cleared safely. The second began, and the surroundings turned into a barren wasteland.

This time, the enemy was a Mutated Beast—a Mutated Roc.

Seven hundred meters from Taiji Lake, inside the Kendo Club, the battle had reached a fever pitch.

Qiu Chan's gaze was icy. Her Tang Saber slashed out fiercely, leaving a gash across the Long-Necked Zombie's face.

Anyone who'd watched movies or shows knew that zombies carried the zombie virus, so Qiu Chan had been avoiding a direct confrontation with this one.

But after several exchanges, her stamina was running low. Meanwhile, the zombie, despite being cut several times, showed no damage.

Relying on her agility, Qiu Chan had struck its head and neck more than once, but none of the blows were fatal.

The zombie's neck was covered in a layer of highly resilient skin, and its head was armored with bone plates—extremely tough.

"This ugly thing sure can take a hit!"

Qiu Chan's eyes held caution.

But more than that, they gleamed with excited battle lust.

Ordinary zombies only gave her the novelty of "cutting things."

This one, however, let her fully savor the thrill of combat.

Still, dragging it out like this wasn't a solution. How could she beat it...

Suddenly, a warm current flowed from the Tang Saber in her hand, traveling through her arm, circulating through her delicate body, and finally gathering in her eyes.

"What's this?"

Qiu Chan felt heat in her eyes. At the same time, red dots appeared on the Long-Necked Zombie—one on its chin, one on its back.

"Is this the saber's effect?"

Qiu Chan murmured. Her figure shifted, and she struck!

The blade tip hit the zombie's chin—exactly where the red dot was.

A cracking sound of bone plates breaking rang out. The bone armor on the zombie's face shattered completely, revealing a hideous, flesh-bare face beneath.

"So that's it. These red dots are the weak points."

"Its flaws!"

Qiu Chan's lips curled slightly. If zombies could exist, it was no surprise that the saber in her hand had such extraordinary power!

"I'll kill you!"

Qiu Chan lunged at the zombie in a single stride, her movements like a dancing butterfly, her steps graceful. One slash after another, she struck at the zombie's weak points.

"This Tang Saber... is no ordinary weapon!"

Qiu Chan's eyes lit up. Zombies had appeared, and this blade had a long history—was it really so strange for it to show some extraordinary traits?

"More and more interesting..."

Qiu Chan's lips curled slightly upward as she wielded the Tang Saber in wide, sweeping arcs. The warmth inside her body dispelled her fatigue, and her stamina recovered rapidly.

"Interesting. Let me see what other wonders this blade holds!"

Qiu Chan moved like a phantom, sidestepping the claws of the surrounding zombies and striking the Tang Saber's tip into their openings.

In an instant, a scorching aura burst forth from Qiu Chan, and countless streams of heat surged into her body like swimming dragons.

As for the zombie that had been stabbed, its entire upper body exploded as if crushed by a truck, while its lower half crumpled to the ground.

Qiu Chan held the saber behind her back with one hand, standing proudly.

"So this is all a zombie amounts to. I'd like to see what monster is worth me swinging my blade seriously..."