The Curved Sword

The moment the land deed was in his hands, there was no way the other party would be allowed to live. Just kidding—he wasn't stupid enough to spare someone's life and wait for them to come back for revenge later.

A cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining? If they died, they died. Within these thousands of miles around the Jinshi Sect, cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining died every single day.

As the middle-aged man walked up to Mu Ye, his other hand reached out to grab something.

The next moment, a golden light flashed across Mu Ye's legs. His body stood up in an instant, his Divine Aperture burst wide open, and he threw a punch like a shooting star toward the man.

It was a punch of extreme speed.

The middle-aged man only felt a gust of wind flash by, and his body suddenly stiffened. Subconsciously, he looked down at his chest.

A hole had already appeared, and scorching flames were devouring and spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"You... you..." He opened his mouth wide, his eyes filled with disbelief. "You are... a body cultivator..."

"I'm not, don't talk nonsense," Mu Ye said with a straight face. "Once you're dead, I won't be anymore."

"..."

If you die, no one will know.

At such close range, it was impossible for him to react unless he was a body cultivator himself.

Clearly, he was not.

Boom!

The middle-aged man collapsed to the ground with a thud. Mu Ye was quick-eyed and nimble; he deftly flicked the man's Storage Bag off his waist, then delivered a few more punches until the body was completely incinerated into a pile of ash.

In truth, the bodies of cultivators were quite valuable and could fetch a high price on the black market.

But Mu Ye wasn't stupid enough to go sell them. Right now, burning everything clean and destroying the evidence was the best course of action.

"Crimson Flame Fist is still useful. It's an essential martial art for killing, arson, and destroying evidence."

"The cultivation world is truly treacherous. All this for just a few dozen Spirit Stones..."

Mu Ye sighed, weighed the man's Storage Bag in his hand, and inspected it, feeling quite pleasantly surprised.

"Half a set of Green Bee Needle magic tools? Although there are only nine left..."

This was a magic tool!

A full set of Green Bee Needles could sell for over a hundred Spirit Stones in the market; they were incredibly expensive.

And that was just for the most common low-grade magic tool!

A set of Green Bee Needles consisted of eighteen extremely sharp, hair-thin silver needles. The main material was refined from the tails of first-rank demonic Green Bees. They possessed potent toxicity and emitted a faint cyan glow.

After learning the Object Manipulation Technique, using this magical tool would be as fast as lightning, killing without a trace!

There were only nine Green Bee Needles left now; this guy must have used up quite a few.

If he had unleashed this magical tool earlier... I would have surely died...

But before I died, I definitely would have destroyed the land deed...

Mu Ye knew that if he saw this guy dare to unleash a magical tool, he wouldn't survive, so he would just destroy the deed. That way, the guy wouldn't have an easy time either.

Besides the magical tool, there were some daily clothes, over a dozen Spirit Stones, and some dry rations in the Storage Bag.

"A huge profit... damn, killing people and looting their goods really is the fastest way to make money..."

Mu Ye sighed.

Judging by the contents of the Storage Bag, this guy never intended to let him go from the very beginning.

He only wanted to get his hands on the land deed.

"The harvest is bountiful. I have to be careful using this half-set of magical tools..."

Mu Ye knew the Object Manipulation Technique too, but he was only average at it; he could only manipulate simple objects.

"To manipulate a magical tool, I need to be at least at the second level of Qi Refining, otherwise my spiritual power won't be enough. I need to practice the Object Manipulation Technique more in my daily life..."

After tidying up, Mu Ye returned to the stone house and calmed his nerves.

It seems the bottleneck has loosened a bit... It looks like learning the Divine Aperture Secret Martial Art is also helpful for my cultivation.

Mu Ye toyed with the half-set of Green Bee Needles.

The nine needles, emitting a cyan glow, lay quietly in the treasure box. Only one was slowly drifting around Mu Ye's body under the influence of the Object Manipulation Technique.

One was already the limit of what Mu Ye could control for now.

Using a magical tool for the first time, Mu Ye felt quite excited.

He could clearly feel that the power of this magical tool was truly impressive. Against low-level cultivators, it would be like cutting through melons and vegetables!

After playing with it for a while, Mu Ye carefully put it away.

"Time to enter the game..."

Slowly waking up from a coma, his body status indicated he was poisoned, though it was in a state of slow recovery.

It seems I'm in a cave...

Mu Ye looked around.

Jumping down the well was the only way he could think of to save Shen Qingchan, and as it turned out, it had worked.

As for the reasons, they were actually quite simple; there were two.

First, there was a strange, unusual fragrance coming from the bottom of the well.

Second, the bottom of the well connected to the Chishui River. If one wanted to escape, they could swim through the water into the Chishui River and leave Chishui Village.

"You're awake..."

A faint voice sounded from his side.

Mu Ye turned to look. Shen Qingchan was hiding on the other side of a large rock, with only her head peeking out. A faint glow of firelight came from that direction.

"Where is this..."

"This is beneath the well where the Dragon Demon Fish reside..." Shen Qingchan replied. "After we fell down the well, I was afraid the person who ambushed us would follow, so I carried you while you were unconscious and swam through the water for a long time. I reached the edge of a cavern, and seeing that you hadn't woken up, I was worried something might happen to you, so I rested for half a day first."

"I didn't expect there to be such a hidden world down here..."

Shen Qingchan seemed eager to talk at this moment, her little mouth chattering away incessantly. "This place beneath the well is huge; it's like a maze underwater... It should connect to the Chishui River."

Mu Ye nodded.

"By the way..." Shen Qingchan suddenly asked, "Why... why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"That..." Shen Qingchan suddenly lowered her head. "Why you risked your life to save me... and it seemed like you knew someone was going to ambush us... you just happened to block that strike for me."

How could I not know?

I don't even know how many times I died in that exact spot yesterday, Mu Ye thought to himself.

[1. If I said it was a telepathic connection, would you believe me?]

[2. I gave someone my word that I would protect you, so naturally, I keep my promises.]

[3. I really wasn't trying to save you; I just happened to trip and we fell into the well together. Don't overthink it.]

[4. ...]

Mu Ye thought for a moment and chose 2.

"Then aren't you afraid of death?" Shen Qingchan asked.

"I am," Mu Ye nodded.

"So, the moment I held you and turned around, I actually regretted it," Mu Ye said. "At that time, I was terrified. I wanted to take it back, but it was too late."

Shen Qingchan was stunned for a moment, then burst into a giggle.

"Serves you right. It's too late for regrets now!" Shen Qingchan huffed. "You're just lucky that it missed your heart by a few inches. Otherwise, even the Hundred Flower Life-Prolonging Pill of my Yunhai Sword Sect wouldn't have been able to save you!"

Mu Ye watched the notification showing his favorability had increased by 3 points and smiled without a word.

"Right, you still haven't told me how you seemed to know someone was going to ambush us..."

"Cough, cough, cough..." Mu Ye began to cough repeatedly, pretending his breathing was unstable.

"What's wrong? Don't talk for now..." Shen Qingchan's expression turned anxious, and she hurriedly stood up.

As she stood, Mu Ye realized that she was actually only wearing... a dudou?

Presumably, her robes were off to the side, drying by the fire.

This dudou is really nice... Mu Ye's eyes twitched as he watched.

It was a light cyan dudou, and what was embroidered on it wasn't some animal, but a sword.

That's right, a sword was embroidered on the dudou... it was a long, sharp blade, only... it was bent quite severely, almost into an S-shape.

This isn't scientific. This little swordswoman is only sixteen...

Mu Ye looked at the snow-white skin indented by the straps under her arms, sighing repeatedly in his heart that something felt off.

"What... what are you looking at?" As a martial artist, her senses were naturally extremely sharp. Shen Qingchan immediately felt that Mu Ye's gaze was off. She hurriedly crouched back down, biting a few strands of hair between her lips, looking both angry and shy.

"Checking to see if you're hurt," Mu Ye said.

"..."

Shen Qingchan let out an "oh" and replied, "I'm not..."

The two chatted for a while. Once Mu Ye had recovered a bit of his strength, he took the opportunity to check the hidden ability of the Ranger he had just unlocked.

Sacrifice Life for Righteousness (Hidden Ability): To sacrifice one's life for a righteous cause, disregarding personal survival. When sacrificing oneself for the sake of others while upholding justice, there is a certain probability of surviving.

"This ability is quite powerful... exclusive to the Ranger."

Mu Ye pondered.

This kind of ability was like a unique personal talent, quite extraordinary.

Currently, the only way to obtain these abilities was by opening character treasure chests, making them extremely precious.

"I'll go scout the path ahead..." Mu Ye said.

"Your body is still recovering, let me go..."

What use is it for you to go? I can reload my save.

Mu Ye waved his hand, "Your clothes just dried off, and I feel like I've recovered well enough..."

The main thing is, where exactly is the source of that strange fragrance?

I have a feeling there's a treasure down here.

Without giving Shen Qingchan a chance to react, Mu Ye jumped straight into the water.

Several forks soon appeared underwater. Mu Ye tested them one by one, from the first to the seventh.

By constantly reloading and trying again, he discovered that the second led to the Chishui River, while the fifth led to another cave. This cave was overgrown with red aquatic plants, and in the center grew a strange medicinal herb emitting a refreshing scent.

The herb seemed to be wriggling; it was blood-red all over, with several umbrella-like fleshy leaves, and it gave off that familiar fragrance.

"Found it..."

Mu Ye was overjoyed. Sure enough, there really was a good item where the demon had been residing.

Returning to the spot, Mu Ye quickly brought Shen Qingchan to this special cave.

"This is... a Blood Lingzhi..." Shen Qingchan stared blankly at the strange herb before her. "It's a treasure nurtured by that demon using flesh and blood as nutrients... Consuming it can replenish vitality and improve physical fitness, which is of great benefit to martial arts practitioners. No wonder that demon stayed in this well and lurked in Chishui Village; it must have been waiting for this treasure to mature..."

"Then let's split it!" It was rare to find a treasure in the game, and Mu Ye was quite happy.

"Split... split it?" Shen Qingchan turned around, looking at Mu Ye with a complex expression. "Are you sure?"

Mu Ye looked at her, puzzled. Could this little heroine be thinking of keeping it all for herself?

"You were the one who found it..." Shen Qingchan said softly. "Do you really want to share it with me? You could actually keep it all to yourself; you didn't need to tell me about this place..."

"Don't talk nonsense. Without you, I might not even be alive right now," Mu Ye said, looking at her strangely. "Naturally, we should split it. Do you have any objections?"

"No... no objections."

[Shen Qingchan's favorability increased 49/100]

"..."

This little heroine seems quite easy... Mu Ye felt a bit subtle about it; it was all just standard procedure.