Chu Huai Xu put on the gaming helmet, then opened his eyes.
The environment before him changed in an instant, and the scene looked somewhat dim.
It was a night of pouring rain.
At that moment, he wore a short blade at his waist, held an oil-paper umbrella, and stood on a narrow path through the forest.
The smell of rainwater mixed with earth rushed into his nostrils, making him even more clear-headed.
Dark clouds blanketed the night sky, and there was barely any moonlight to be seen.
Chu Huai Xu frowned, raised his right hand—the one not holding the umbrella—and pressed his index and middle fingers together. Then he slashed upward through the air.
In the next moment, the entire world suddenly brightened!
Everything before him became much clearer.
Just as Chu Huai Xu was about to look around, a figure sprang out beside the Dense Forest ahead.
The other man also held an oil-paper umbrella and wore a black outfit suited for combat. The only difference was that he carried a long blade at his waist.
Oh, right. He was also holding his umbrella very low, so from Chu Huai Xu's angle, only most of his face was visible, just like a close-up in a movie.
Therefore, Chu Huai Xu silently lowered the oil-paper umbrella in his own hand a little as well.
The man who had sprung from the Dense Forest had already placed his right hand on the hilt of his long blade.
His voice was slightly hoarse, and it sounded as though he had phlegm stuck in his throat:
"I advise you not to do anything. Come back with me now and be thrown into the Heavenly Prison."
After the Stubbled Man finished speaking, he added:
"Of course, you have a second choice."
"Give me fifty taels of silver."
With that, he turned sideways to indicate that Chu Huai Xu could pass.
Upon hearing this, Chu Huai Xu raised his oil-paper umbrella a little lower.
The night rain poured down, beating against the umbrella's surface. In the darkness, his expression could not be seen clearly.
Fifty taels has roughly the purchasing power of more than fifty thousand yuan on Earth. Chu Huai Xu silently converted the amount in his head.
More than fifty thousand to avoid prison—or even to buy his life—didn't seem too expensive.
But he wasn't sure whether the "himself" of this era could actually produce such a fortune.
So he began searching all over his body for money.
To his surprise, he really did find a one-hundred-tael banknote in his robes.
Huh? Looks like this start isn't simple, he thought.
Chu Huai Xu raised his oil-paper umbrella, arched a brow at the other man, took out the one-hundred-tael banknote, and asked seriously:
"Wait. You can give me change, right?"
The Stubbled Man across from him also raised his umbrella, and his gaze suddenly sharpened.
According to his original plan, he had wanted to see how much wealth this kid had.
Most people wouldn't carry their entire fortune with them.
What fun would it be to take only the money on his person?
It was basically like robbing not only his wallet, but also wanting the balance in his bank account.
But who would have thought that this kid would actually be carrying a banknote of such a large denomination?
The Stubbled Man licked his slightly dry lips and said in that phlegm-choked, awful voice, "At first, I was still suspicious of your identity. But now..."
"Clang—!" The Stubbled Man drew the long blade from his waist!
He looked at Chu Huai Xu with a savage grin, holding the umbrella in his left hand and the blade in his right as he took two steps forward.
"I just don't understand. What's the point of sending an ordinary person with a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus like you here?"
The situation was unusual now. With the great calamity approaching, the era of universal cultivation had long since begun.
Anyone with even a little Spirit Fetus aptitude could step through the gates of cultivation and become a cultivator.
This man looked no longer young, yet he still had not entered the gates of cultivation. He was undoubtedly a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus.
Listening to the Stubbled Man, Chu Huai Xu tilted his head slightly and looked at him askance:
"Aren't you the same, buddy?"
What a joke. You're a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus too, yet you're looking down on me?
The Stubbled Man's gaze grew even more vicious, and anger spread across his face.
In the early years, the right to cultivate had been controlled by sects, dynasties, noble families, and other powers to ensure that the class system remained in place.
Unless commoners possessed truly outstanding talent, they did not even have the opportunity to cultivate.
Only now, with the great calamity approaching, had the era of universal cultivation begun.
And under these circumstances, life was especially cruel for people like him with a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus.
Apart from Body Tempering, they had no other choice.
But trying to break through the first threshold of cultivation through Body Tempering was as difficult as reaching the heavens!
The effort required was a hundred times, or even a thousand or ten thousand times, that of someone with a Spirit Fetus!
Therefore, to the Stubbled Man, a Spirit Fetus was the thing he envied most.
He dreamed of becoming a cultivator.
His anger surged at that moment, and his right hand tightened around the blade.
But before cutting him down, the Stubbled Man wanted to continue mocking him.
After all, killing was killing, and trash talk was trash talk.
"Yeah, I'm a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus too."
"But I never planned to use that mere Pseudo-Spirit Fetus to sneak into the Dao Sect."
"You useless piece of trash really don't know your own limits! Don't tell me you're counting on that tender skin of yours to get in through the back door?" He licked his upper lip.
Listening to him, Chu Huai Xu digested the information in his words.
"Get into the Dao Sect?" He caught that key phrase.
Strictly speaking, a Pseudo-Spirit Fetus truly could not be accepted by the Dao Sect.
However, a smile appeared on Chu Huai Xu's face, and he said something the Stubbled Man could not understand at all:
"Don't ask."
"I'm a physical education specialty student."
The rain continued to fall.
The Stubbled Man wondered whether water had gotten into his brain—or perhaps into the other man's.
He was utterly confused.
But then the other man moved!
Chu Huai Xu removed the short blade from his waist as well.
"Rainy night, blade, umbrella?" he murmured.
Immediately afterward, he threw away the umbrella.
The short blade left its sheath!
The heavy rain pelted his body. Chu Huai Xu drew his blade and advanced, his first step splashing into a puddle and sending muddy water flying.
"Good nerve!" the Stubbled Man shouted angrily, tossing aside his own oil-paper umbrella as well.
The long blade swung forward in a fierce slash, following a broad and forceful style.
When the two blades clashed, Chu Huai Xu felt a shock run through the web between his thumb and forefinger.
Clearly, the other man was much stronger than him!
If nothing unexpected happened, this Stubbled Man had undergone Body Tempering.
He simply had not broken through the first threshold of cultivation.
An interesting opening, Chu Huai Xu thought.
But at your age, with that foul mouth, this is all you got from Body Tempering?
"That's it?"
The short blade suddenly flicked upward!
The Stubbled Man was secretly shocked.
No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand why this young man was not particularly strong, fast, or physically powerful, yet somehow he could never land a blow.
If the other man had narrowly avoided him just once, he would have assumed it was good luck.
But what if it happened every time?
Moreover, the angles of his strikes and his control of distance had reached an utterly terrifying level.
It was as if his control over his own body had reached an almost abnormal degree!
"Why?" The Stubbled Man was utterly baffled.
A terrible premonition began to surface in his heart.
Once. I only need to be hit by him once. It'll definitely be a vital spot, and I'll definitely die!
As it turned out, he was right.
Because just as that thought arose, the short blade drew a line of blood across his neck.
—You were right. Happy now?
After slitting the Stubbled Man's throat, Chu Huai Xu suddenly kicked him in the lower abdomen, sending him flying into the distance and keeping a safe distance between them in case he suffered some close-range accident before dying completely.
The other man lay facedown on the ground, his body twitching as both hands clutched his neck. Even so, the blood would not stop flowing.
—The situation is settled.
Rainwater washed over his body. Chu Huai Xu lowered his head slightly, sheathed his blade, and said calmly:
"If you're weak, train more."
Chu Huai Xu walked forward a few steps and picked up the oil-paper umbrella he had thrown away. Then he shook it, flinging off the water that had collected on it.
He felt that he had looked incredibly cool just now.
However, it wasn't long before he fell into a dazed state, followed by a jumble of emotions: irritation, confusion, suspicion, and more.
"Wait! Where the hell is the button for quitting the game?"
(PS: New book launch—please vote monthly~)
Before you continue