First Battle, Victory (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"Hahaha, exhilarating!"

A moment later, Meng Qingshan suddenly burst into loud laughter. Though his body was already riddled with several cuts, waves of stabbing pain flooding his senses like a tide, his momentum remained undiminished.

The bold, heroic aura radiating from within made him a fearsome sight to behold.

Chen Sandao stared at the blood-soaked man before him, a flicker of shock and confusion crossing his face.

He remembered that Meng Qingshan, just a few months ago, hadn't possessed this level of strength.

How, after being gravely wounded, had this kid actually grown stronger? It was utterly baffling!

Though he had killed many, he had never encountered someone as ferocious as Meng Qingshan. A thought crossed his mind: "Is this kid really not afraid of death?"

Now, the strength Meng Qingshan displayed was enough to make him wary.

But Meng Qingshan was still injured. A vicious lone wolf—he might be cautious of that;

But an injured lone wolf, in his eyes, was no better than a dying dog barely clinging to life.

Picking up a blade, a vicious sneer twisted across Chen Sandao's face as he spat out three words: "Time to die!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he swung the blade forward.

A fierce wind howled as it came. Meng Qingshan was still laughing, his voice growing louder.

Just as Chen Sandao's blade tip was only three steps away from Meng Qingshan—

A dull "thud" sounded.

Meng Qingshan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood sprayed, instantly blurring Chen Sandao's vision.

Caught off guard by this sudden "Blood Spit Person" move, Chen Sandao's steps faltered, and his originally fierce blade momentum slowed.

But in that brief pause, Meng Qingshan's blade had already swung out.

The cold gleam of the blade echoed the moonlight.

A fine head leaped up, tumbling to the ground with a dull thud.

[You have successfully killed Black Wind Stockade minor leader Chen Sandao, gaining 1000 points of cultivation!]

The night fell into deathly silence once more.

That single slash had drained nearly all of Meng Qingshan's strength.

He collapsed weakly into the pile of corpses.

After this battle, Meng Qingshan gained a new understanding of the brutal struggles of the martial world.

Real combat wasn't like a game of comparing stats and spamming skills—it hurt, it exhausted.

If he hadn't thought on his feet in that critical moment and cleverly used the "Blood Spit Person" trick, Then the one lying headless here would likely be him.

This experience left Meng Qingshan deeply alert. He silently resolved that, when traveling the martial world in the future, he must always carry a reliable weapon.

Moreover, he needed to prepare some emergency items like chili powder, poison powder, or lime powder. When his raw strength fell short, these tools could hinder an opponent's attack and create a chance to turn defeat into victory.

After catching his breath, he sat up cross-legged to regulate his breath and began recovering his state.

The moment he entered the breathing state, he suddenly recalled that he had only grasped this Regulate Breath skill last night, and now it had already proven useful. He couldn't help but feel it was Heaven's Will, a wry smile tugging at his lips.

After recovering some strength, Meng Qingshan opened his eyes. The waning moon had just risen, hanging over the peak of Great Green Mountain, its light spreading across the sky.

Having just killed several men, he looked at the picturesque beauty before him, and the restlessness and killing intent within him gradually calmed.

Suddenly, a line of translucent blue text appeared before his eyes:

[At the hour of You, three quarters, you gazed into the distance from Great Green Mountain, sharing the rare sight of the dawn breeze and waning moon with the mountain pines. Your heart wandered, and you gained a new insight into the Martial Dao, earning 13,000 points of cultivation!]

Seeing the sudden blue text, Meng Qingshan was startled at first, then recalled that the Wulin Qixia Zhuan had a feature called "Lingxi Points."

In the game, the "Lingxi Points" mechanic was quite unique. It required players to witness some rare natural wonder under specific weather, time, or season conditions to earn cultivation points.

Now, stumbling into a gain of 13,000 cultivation points was an unexpected delight for Meng Qingshan.

Having encountered such a Mysterious Encounter, Meng Qingshan was in high spirits.

It was a pity that when he had played Wulin Qixia Zhuan, his heart hadn't been in it, and he hadn't studied Lingxi Points much. Otherwise, just memorizing the corresponding Lingxi Points to leech cultivation would probably have been faster than meditating.

Shaking off the many thoughts in his mind, Meng Qingshan gently lifted the long blade he had taken from Chen Sandao, examining it closely under the bright moonlight.

The blade was straight, with an elegant upward curve at the tip. It was slightly longer than an ordinary steel blade by an inch, with a reverse edge, making it particularly distinctive.

Both sides of the blade were cleverly carved with blood grooves, both beautiful and practical.

The edge had been carefully treated with clay tempering, leaving the blade pattern clear and sharp.

The guard was engraved with a delicate auspicious cloud pattern. Beneath these clouds, Meng Qingshan faintly glimpsed a character: 'Yuan', as if it held some special meaning.

Seeing this, Meng Qingshan had a feeling that this blade had an extraordinary origin.

With a thought, the blade's Attribute Panel immediately appeared before his eyes: