Reversal

Reversal

But with that "0.1" increase, Ning Xuan felt his strength, stamina, and even reaction speed had all improved slightly.

Combining this with the panel floating before his eyes, he made a natural deduction.

His life—his constitution and spirit—were both only 1 point. During his fight to the death with the bear demon, he had wounded it and thus plundered some of its strength. Since that strength came from outside him, that explained the words "Heavenly Demon Scroll extra increase" and the notation "1 (1.1)."

His true life stat was 1.

After adding the Mountain Crashing Bear's strength, it became 1.1.

Ning Xuan recalled his earlier battle with the Mountain Crashing Bear Demon.

As wounds appeared on the demon, black smoke flowed over to him. He grew stronger, while the Mountain Crashing Bear Demon grew weaker.

He didn't understand how it worked, but it had to be related to the Heavenly Demon Scroll.

So the key is to find a way to inflict more damage on the Mountain Crashing Bear Demon, more efficiently.

A thoughtful look crossed Ning Xuan's eyes.

In a head-on clash, the enraged Mountain Crashing Bear Demon will send me flying in an instant. It'll shatter the bones in my hands, too.

He recalled the scene from [Four of Ten].

He had given it everything he had, using all the skills he'd learned in his life and summoning every ounce of courage he possessed. With his heart set on death, he'd unleashed the fiercest, most savage saber strike he could muster.

That strike had landed on a black hill charging toward him with a thunderous roar.

He'd been sent flying, both arms shattered. Even his suicide had only succeeded by crawling over and dragging his neck across the upturned blade beside him.

The memory flashed past, and Ning Xuan reached a conclusion.

Avoid a head-on clash as much as possible.

He leaped to his feet and pulled on his boots. He remembered there being an armory in the mountain estate's storeroom.

He had no idea what his father did, but the armory even contained repeating crossbows, which the dynasty strictly forbade.

Along with armor, these were banned goods. Just keeping them in private was punishable by beheading.

Yet his father had hidden plenty of them.

Before dawn, Ning Xuan appeared in the hanging basket once more.

He turned his head toward the narrow gap between the peaks, watching the mountain fog roil into shifting shades of gray.

Apart from the days when he'd risen early to train with Martial Master Zhang, he'd never gotten up this early.

At this hour, he was usually cuddling some great beauty beneath warm, fragrant quilts, wondering what he ought to do that day.

Should he feast? Visit courtesans? Go hunting? Watch beasts fight? Go riding? Admire paintings? Appraise jade? Or visit the Wealthy Merchant Guild, which had been trying to curry favor with him every few days, and see if they had any novelties from out of town—especially the Western Regions?

He'd never imagined that one day he'd have to fight for his life like this.

He didn't know how.

He was a pretty-faced young master, the only son of Old Master Ning. Why would he have to risk his life? How could he even do it?

All he had to do was toss out a handful of silver, and plenty of people would risk their lives for him.

But now, he could do it himself.

Alone, he faced this terrifying demon. Alone, in this endless hell, he went round and round, "enjoying" it.

He stood quietly in the hanging basket, eyes half-closed and body relaxed. He conserved his strength to avoid wasting it pointlessly, hoping to give everything he had in the battle ahead.

His heartbeat should have been racing, but a kind of calm held it firmly in check, keeping it steady and rhythmic.

At last, a thread of light appeared between his eyelids.

A deathly pale light.

At last, the sound of dripping water came from above his head.

The bear demon's drool.

Ning Xuan suddenly sensed that the bear demon seemed a little weaker. It was an unexpected boon, because it meant that during the "ten cycles," if he plundered the bear demon's strength, he would grow stronger permanently, while the demon would grow permanently weaker.

In the next instant, time seemed to speed up.

The bear demon grabbed the hemp rope, trying to haul up its prey.

Ning Xuan jumped from the basket, clutched a dagger in one hand, and dangled from the sheer cliff.

The bear demon crawled down like a gecko.

Ning Xuan let go.

The bear demon swiped at him.

The black metal tube in Ning Xuan's left hand blasted out hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of Pear Blossom Needles. They stabbed into the bear demon's eyes, while its two claws caught Ning Xuan around the waist and sank into his flesh.

Ning Xuan swung his saber, using Flying Swallow Chasing Wind to press his advantage.

The bear demon released him in pain.

Ning Xuan fell, then suddenly drew another dagger and, with all his strength, drove it into a crack in the rock. There was the remnant root of a dead pine in the fissure; he'd been watching it for a long time.

Blood dripped from both sides of his waist. He drove his long saber into the same crack, then turned and stood, lifted his head, and once more faced the bear demon from afar.

The bear demon roared furiously and stopped holding back. It swiped its claws, each blow splitting rock, and crawled toward him. But it wasn't as fast as it was on the ground.

He drew two repeating crossbows from behind his back and repeatedly squeezed their triggers, firing upward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The bolts tore through the air with shrill whistles.

Faint wisps of black smoke appeared on the bear demon's body, while a force seemed to draw them toward Ning Xuan, sucking them all in.

He grew stronger, and the bear demon grew weaker.

In the blink of an eye, the bear demon reached him. He stopped attacking, leaped into the cliff, and appeared in his bedroom.

He took a few gasping breaths. Then, from far away, came the sound of everything being smashed to pieces, like rolling thunder and pounding war drums drawing closer.

He took the repeating crossbow he'd prepared earlier in the bedroom and aimed it at the door.

Boom!

The door shattered!

Dust billowed. He squeezed the trigger.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The bolts flew into the dust, but did little damage.

Thud!

He felt himself struck by an immense force that seemed to shatter everything it touched.

He drew his spare dagger and swiftly slashed at his neck.

[Six of Ten]

[Heavenly Demon Scroll: Mountain Crashing Bear (17/100)]

[Seven of Ten]

[Heavenly Demon Scroll: Mountain Crashing Bear (30/100)]

[Eight of Ten]

[Heavenly Demon Scroll: Mountain Crashing Bear (46/100)]

[Nine of Ten]

Cliff, just before dawn, hanging baskets.

But there was no longer just one hanging basket. Countless baskets dangled in midair.

During [Eight of Ten], Ning Xuan discovered that his constitution had become comparable to the Mountain Crashing Bear's, even slightly surpassing it. So he'd decided to fight it head-on. But he was still left numb all over by the bear's first charge, his muscles engorged with blood by the second, and his bones shattered by the third.

He understood one thing: this Mountain Crashing Bear Demon not only had a powerful constitution and a powerful life stat, it very likely had a demonic art of its own.

Even if his constitution matched the Mountain Crashing Bear Demon's, he still couldn't beat it as long as it used its demonic art.

The increase in his constitution had already made his previous work much easier. Before, it had taken him most of the night to build one hanging basket. Now, at least ten baskets hung from the cliff.

The increase in his constitution meant more than just stamina. It also gave him greater strength and speed, including running speed, reaction speed, and all the rest.

When he'd practiced the Swallow Chasing Wind Saber, he'd also trained in footwork.

The first form, Flying Swallow Chasing Wind, required footwork.

Now, with his constitution enhanced, his movements had grown even lighter.

At last, the sky brightened.

Ning Xuan mechanically raised his head and met the bear demon's vicious face, fear showing in his eyes.

The familiar scene played out again.

But this time, when one hanging basket was ruined, Ning Xuan used his daggers to race across the rock crevices like a mountain spirit ape, reaching another basket in a flash.

Two repeating crossbows had been placed in each basket.

The bear crawled like a gecko; the man moved like an ape.

The hanging baskets swung back and forth, while bolts tore through the air with shrill whistles.

As they fought back and forth, the bear demon suddenly seized an opportunity. It leaped at Ning Xuan as he ran toward the next basket.

"Got you!"

Ning Xuan looked up in fear, then drew the long saber from his back.

A saber strike in midair.

Its gleam scattered like snow!

Splatter!

A deep gash, more than an inch wide, split open the bear demon's left arm. Black smoke poured from the wound and was drawn toward Ning Xuan.

For that instant, the bear demon's mind went almost completely blank. Its head buzzed.

In its eyes, that nimble prey still looked terrified—terrified out of its wits. Yet after striking with the saber, the prey had deftly leaped away with the momentum, grabbed a hanging hemp rope, and swung toward it again like someone on a swing.

Ning Xuan's eyes still brimmed with fear.

But the bear demon understood. Its prey was bluffing.

That prey's strength was no less than its own.

It stopped charging at the prey and turned to climb back up the cliff.

Its demonic art could only be used on flat ground, and it needed to "build up speed" before it could unleash it.

Just then, a pain that tore through its heart and lungs came from behind. It turned to look and saw that its prey had driven the long saber deep into the most vulnerable place behind its rump.

"GRAAAAH!!!"

The bear demon let out an unimaginable scream.

It poured everything into the leap, using all the skills it had learned in its life and summoning every ounce of courage it possessed. With its heart set on death, it made the fiercest, most savage jump it could muster.

It leaped onto the cliff, still shaken, and looked down.

In its eyes, its prey seemed to have inflated all over, growing a whole size bigger, while it had become weak and scrawny, like a deflated ball.

Fear appeared in the bear demon's eyes. It turned and ran.

Ning Xuan glanced at the panel:

[Heavenly Demon Scroll: Mountain Crashing Bear (65/100)]

[Life (Constitution): 1 (2.7)]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He gripped a black outcropping on the cliff with one hand and pushed off. His body leaped several yards, landing steadily atop the cliff.

He rolled his neck and flicked his saber into a flourish, filled with boundless strength.

He'd originally arranged a repeating-crossbow trap in his bedroom. Pulling one trigger would have sent several crossbows firing at once, but it looked like he wouldn't need it after all.

He entered the mountain estate.

The estate was quiet now, so quiet that the scrawny bear demon seemed to have vanished.

Ning Xuan focused his mind and listened.

His senses had grown much sharper.

He heard an extremely stifled sound of breathing.

It came from the side courtyard.

Dragging his saber, he went over.

He saw an ornamental rockery. The faint sound of breathing came from inside it.

He approached quietly.

The bear demon was hiding within. It had no idea what was happening. It only felt sweat breaking out all over its body. It was afraid.

Suddenly, it sensed something was wrong. Mechanically, it turned its head, ever so slowly, and met a fierce blade of light.

With the bear demon's death, the mountain estate beneath the pale sunlight shattered.

Ning Xuan suddenly felt a light pressure on his left arm, while a warm, sticky presence pressed against his body.

He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful maid lying across his left arm.

When he looked again, his pupils slowly contracted.

[Ning Xuan]

[Heavenly Demon Scroll]

[Life-Bound Gate 1: Mountain Crashing Bear] (Not summoned)

[Life (Constitution): 1]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He looked more closely, and some new information appeared.

[Mountain Crashing Bear]

[Heavenly Demon Life-Bound Gate, Bear Class, Common Order, Mountain Crashing Species (Constitution): 3.2] (Only the primary attribute is displayed) (After summoning, it can additionally provide 2.7 life attribute)

[Innate Demonic Art: Bear Prowess Mountain Collapse: Its speed is like the wind; the faster it goes, the greater its force. A single charge can shatter the human body.]

He looked again.

Another piece of information appeared.

[Heavenly Demon Scroll: Sense the coming of the Heavenly Demon; observe the roots of its nature and life. Forcefully refine the scroll. Failure in refining means death and the destruction of the soul; success means the power becomes one's own.]

Ning Xuan froze for a moment.

Did this mean the Mountain Crashing Bear would come back again before long?