The Flowing Water Does Not Rot

Su Li, covered by the Cursed Gray Mist, was ready to face his first death in the game. However...

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Nothing happened?

"Huh? What's going on? Did it misfire?"

Su Li froze for a second, then slapped his thigh hard.

"Right! I'm a skeleton now!"

What is Curse Death? It's a rule-based kill targeting living beings, forcibly stripping away vitality and returning creatures to death.

But the problem was, Su Li was already dead!

"Since I'm immune to Curse Death..."

Su Li, who had been as timid as a quail moments ago, straightened his back instantly.

His panicked soulfire gradually morphed into the shape of a smug dragon king.

"Heh heh heh... Little frogs, you had fun spitting just now, right? Now, it's hunting time!"

Su Li, carrying the Revered Corrupted Dragon Sword, strode into the depths of the mist like a demon god crawling from hell.

"Croak?"

In the mist, a curse frog, puffing out its cheeks to spit a second time, was stunned.

Its huge fake eyes swiveled in confusion, seemingly unable to comprehend why this prey hadn't died yet.

The next second, a dark red sword light tore through the gray mist.

"Squelch!" The sound of a sharp blade cutting into soft flesh.

Su Li's long sword accurately pierced the curse frog's real eye beneath its fake ones. Before the curse frog could even scream, it was defeated.

[Killed Curse Frog, EXP +100]

"Too weak." Su Li flicked the slime off his sword with disdain.

This thing was generally weak. What made it disgusting was that they tended to appear in groups, spat Cursed Gray Mist, and were ugly. But now that Su Li was immune to Curse Death, then...

"Croak! Croak!" Several more curse frogs hopped out from the surroundings, attempting to overwhelm the invader with sheer numbers.

"Showy."

Su Li flicked his body, like a silver phantom, tracing a "Z" shaped afterimage in the narrow passage.

Sidestep, slide, uppercut, horizontal slash.

Every movement was extremely concise, a textbook example of killing efficiency.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!" Wherever the sword light passed, it was accompanied by a "squelch" of flesh.

In just half a minute, ten curse frog corpses lay on the ground. The nauseating croaking sounds completely disappeared, and the world became quiet.

[Killed a total of 10 Curse Frogs, EXP +1000]

[Congratulations on leveling up! Lv8 → Lv9 (500/12400)]

[Received 3 Free Attribute Points]

"Already level 9? This leveling speed is like riding a rocket."

Su Li happily opened his status panel, wanting to admire his stats.

[Race: Revered Corrupted Skeleton Soldier]
[Level: Lv9 (500/12400)]
[Attributes: Strength: 50+15, Constitution: 50, Spirit: 41, Agility: 24+13, Faith: 18+12]

"Holy crap..." Looking at the string of data, Su Li himself gasped.

"Is this the joy of pay-to-win... no, of hardcore players?"

Su Li's mind conjured images of his future evolution.

Him wearing magnificent godly equipment, riding a majestic great dragon, with an army of undead following behind him...

"Not thinking about that now, let's focus on the task at hand." Su Li closed the panel and continued deeper into the cave.

The deeper he went, the more confined the surroundings became.

The originally spacious passage began to narrow, and the rocks overhead pressed down.

Su Li chose to recall Pipi Dragon and continued deeper alone.

Sticky, rotten liquid coated the ground, making a strange sound with every step.

The sound echoed in the dead silent cave, making one's heart creep.

Gradually, a strange sound began to echo in Su Li's ears.

"..."

The sound wasn't like wind or water, but more like the friction of some soft-bodied creature, or countless people whispering.

It wasn't heard through the ears, but drilled directly into the mind.

The soulfire in Su Li's eye sockets flickered violently a few times, his vision began to overlap, and the surrounding rock walls seemed to turn into writhing flesh and blood.

"What's going on? Mental pollution?"

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author, maybe they just changed their name!

"Ssssh--"

As Su Li reacted, the babbling voice in his mind instantly receded, and his vision cleared again.

"Phew... that was close." Su Li shook his head, still feeling lingering fear. "This place is a bit weird."

Snapping back to reality, Su Li quickly looked ahead. The passage had reached its end.

What appeared before him was a wide underground platform.

The platform hung in mid-air, surrounded by bottomless darkness.

And at the end of the platform, facing that darkness, sat a figure in a cross-legged position.

The figure wore a tattered blue cloth robe, bandages wrapped around its head obscuring its eyes, and a rusted, broken longsword lay across its lap.

It sat there motionless, as if it had merged with the ancient darkness.

"What is that..." Su Li tightened his grip on the Revered Corrupted Dragon Sword and cautiously approached.

"Bro? Lend me a light?"

There was no response. Su Li walked up and poked the person's shoulder tentatively with the tip of his sword.

"Pfft."

As if weathered by countless years, the figure instantly turned to dust the moment the sword tip touched it.

And on top of the pile of ashes, a sapphire-blue crystal remained.

Su Li picked up the crystal.

[Obtained: Memory Crystal of the Flowing Water Swordsman]

[Description: "Flowing water does not rot, a door pivot does not get worm-eaten." This is the last lingering obsession of a blind swordsman. Legend has it that he, with mortal flesh, sealed a corrupt outer god. But to fight against an even more terrifying existence named "Abyss," he chose to personally break the seal, releasing her, hoping to fight poison with poison...]

[Effect: Can be used for weapon enhancement or attribute attachment. Upon fusion, you can obtain the swordsmanship inheritance of the Flowing Water Swordsman.]

"Flowing Water Swordsman?" Su Li looked at the description, and the soulfire in his eye sockets suddenly brightened.

As a seasoned soul scholar, he was familiar with this plot!

In the background story of Elden Ring, the blind swordsman who taught the Valkyrie Malenia swordsmanship was the big shot who sealed the corrupt outer god!

"This is a real big shot! Even the Valkyrie's Waterfowl Dance was learned from him!"

Su Li recalled the fear of being dominated by the Waterfowl Dance in the game.

"If I could learn this move, wouldn't I just take off?"

Moreover, the system prompt said this thing could also enhance weapons?

Su Li glanced at the Revered Corrupted Dragon Sword, then at the blue crystal.

"Although my sword is power-oriented, who says a greatsword can't use flowing water sword techniques? Don't you understand 'greatswords are unadorned, great skill is unpretentious'?"

"Enhance! Must enhance!" Su Li unhesitatingly slammed the crystal onto the sword body.

"Weng--!!!" A blinding blue light intertwined with the original red light of the sword.

The blue energy, like flowing water, seeped into every line of the sword body, neutralizing the original violent corruption and dragon's breath, making it more restrained and profound.

The sword body became heavier. The originally rough dragon bone exterior became more slender and dense. The blade gained water-wave-like patterns, and the dragon head at the hilt seemed to come alive, its eyes gaining a hint of blue vitality.

[Enhancement successful! Revered Corrupted Dragon Sword (Excellent Lv2) → Revered Corrupted Dragon Sword (Excellent Lv90)]

[Attack power greatly increased! Armor Break +30, Magic Break +20]

[New attribute: Waterfowl Dance (Activating Waterfowl Dance can trigger multi-hit combos, and 10% of the damage dealt is converted into your own HP)]

Su Li looked at the brand-new longsword, somewhat surprised.

"It didn't directly advance to Excellent quality? It seems the equipment enhancement mechanism in this game really gets harder the further you go."

However, although the quality didn't change, the attribute bonuses and new features were an epic upgrade!

Especially the newly acquired Waterfowl Dance, wasn't this the life-steal he had always dreamed of?

"As long as I slash fast enough, I'll never die!"

At the same time, Su Li felt a profound memory appear in his mind.

It was the figure of a blind swordsman swinging his sword under a waterfall, the sword moving with the water, the water flowing with the sword, ceaseless.

The system panel refreshed:

[Class Change: Swordsman → Flowing Water Swordsman]

[Skill Change: Basic Swordsmanship → Flowing Water Swordsmanship]

[Flowing Water Swordsmanship: Every attack you make will be continuous like flowing water, extremely difficult to parry, and more likely to trigger combos.]

"Woohoo! Time to fly!" Su Li gripped his sword, casually twirling it.

The sense of effortless control, like an extension of his own arm, made him feel like he could take on a Valkyrie right now.

Just as he was reveling in the joy of becoming stronger, preparing to admire his status panel further.

Suddenly, a strange fluctuation caught his attention.

He raised his head, looking towards the originally pitch-black Abyss in front of the platform.

As the blind swordsman's obsession dissipated, the darkness there had also faded somewhat.

The moment Su Li finally saw the scene before him, his entire body froze.

"That's..."

If you find this book good, remember to add it to your bookshelf to avoid losing it next time.