Evil Cultivators Attack

"His favorability went up this much before I even got the real treasure?"

Mu Ye was a little surprised.

But he couldn't make sense of it either. After all, this woman was far too complicated.

After logging out, Mu Ye looked at the game interface and saw that the third level had appeared in the shop as well.

[Ride Out in Peace]

Unlocking this level required purchasing it for 800 Paradise Coins.

"I have two Character Ability Treasure Chests now..."

"I can use one first."

The chest was precious. Mu Ye had kept one in reserve, planning to use it if he ever got stuck in the game or ran into a tough challenge, just in case.

Now that he had an extra one, he could use one.

"Which one should I choose?"

"The Demon Sealer's Demon Subduing Body, the Ranger's Sacrifice Life for Righteousness, the Brothel Patron's Cloud and Rain, the Ruthless Flower Destroyer..."

Actually, the Thief's stealing ability was useful too, and quite powerful, especially in Sword and Blade Demon Sealing.

But in the Cultivation World, stealing like that would be easily detected. Any Cultivator with even a little strength could spot it without difficulty.

As for Wall-Walking... it was all right, actually.

The Cultivation World's Light Body Technique was far more powerful.

"If I want to increase my combat strength, Demon Subduing Body is the best... This thing is a purely supernatural power... It can temporarily boost my strength... But does the principle work the same way in the Cultivation World? Could it mutate?"

"Sacrifice Life for Righteousness is practically a concept-level talent. When you give your life to uphold justice and protect others, there's a chance you'll survive... In the Cultivation World, that's an incredibly powerful life-saving talent too. The only problem is that sacrificing yourself for someone else is hard to trigger... Better to keep my head down in the Cultivation World..."

"Cloud and Rain... That means I'd get the Brothel Patron's deep pockets and ridiculously powerful talent, right? If the Female Cultivators of the Hehuan Sect found out, I'd probably become a natural male cauldron... It wouldn't do me any good for now."

"The Ruthless Flower Destroyer is great... My strength would skyrocket when facing Female Cultivators..."

Keeping one chest in reserve was actually pretty good. Unlocking the other characters' talents gave him more options; it was great value for the money, a huge win.

After thinking for a long while, Mu Ye decided to exchange for the Ruthless Flower Destroyer.

The Female Cultivators in this Cultivation World were no easy opponents.

Just look at Chen the Lame...

"The moonlight's lovely tonight..."

Mu Ye looked out the window and sighed. He closed his eyes, about to fall asleep.

Suddenly.

Mu Ye snapped his eyes open and sat up. A strange pressure, like water, spread in from every direction.

"The Spiritual Power fluctuations around me are abnormal... It's a Water Prison Talisman... A second-tier Water Prison Talisman!"

"Someone's trapped my Stone House with a second-tier Water Prison Talisman!!"

Mu Ye got up and looked out the window. A ghostly figure appeared in his field of vision.

A hoarse voice slowly came from outside:

"Mu Ye, I didn't expect you to have reached the second layer of Qi Refining."

Mu Ye walked out of the Stone House. A faint, watery-blue barrier shrouded the area around it.

A second-tier Water Prison Talisman was formidable. It covered a wider area and could trap more Cultivators. Anyone below the sixth layer of Qi Refining would struggle to move normally under the water pressure. A high-quality Water Prison Talisman could even affect Cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

"Who are you?"

Mu Ye warily watched the black-robed man in the distance.

His eyes were bloodred. A black robe covered his entire body, and he wore an eerie ghost mask.

"You don't recognize me?"

The black-robed man sneered. "I'm Chen Li. You used to call me Chen the Lame... If you've forgotten that, surely you've at least heard of the evil Cultivator who's been spreading terror lately—the 'Blood Lust Butcher'?"

Mu Ye froze. Chen the Lame?

The man's figure did look rather like Chen the Lame.

"What do you want with me?" Mu Ye asked coolly.

"What do you think?" The black-robed man's cold eyes swept over him. "Back then, someone broke my leg and threw me out of Qinghe Mine. Not a single person from Qinghe Mine lifted a finger to help me. And you, my best friend, just stood by and did nothing."

"Now I've not only returned, I've grown stronger. Every one of you is going to die!"

"As for you..."

The black-robed man cackled. "I'll refine you into a ghost! You'll go into my Ten Thousand Soul Banner, where you'll never be reincarnated!"

"..." Mu Ye.

As he spoke, the black-robed man raised one hand. A giant blood-red hand hurtled through the air toward Mu Ye.

Mu Ye frowned. This was one of the evil Cultivators' essential arts: the Blood Hand Great Compassion Mantra.

They said it had once been an entry-level art of an evil sect. It incorporated incantations from Buddhist Cultivators. To practice it, one had to soak the hand in the heart's blood of a newborn, absorbing its innate blood energy, then condense a spell seal in the palm. When used, it required no preparation, cast extremely quickly, and dealt tremendous damage.

Any first-tier defensive art would struggle to withstand a single blow from it.

Evil Cultivators loved this kind of art: simple, fast, brutal, and lethal in one strike, letting them flee at will afterward.

It was an art that many evil Cultivators knew.

Especially when the hand came hurtling toward him, Mu Ye could faintly hear the cries and wails of a baby within the blood-red palm. It could inflict a degree of mental torment on Cultivators, another effect of its incantations.

At the Qi Refining stage, this kind of evil art was extremely powerful.

The blow could probably tear a Cultivator at the fourth or fifth layer of Qi Refining to pieces in an instant.

Mu Ye took a deep breath and immediately cast the Light Body Technique. He lightly pushed off with one foot and dodged sideways, skimming past the blood-red hand.

"Hmm..." The man seemed somewhat surprised.

Mu Ye stayed perfectly calm. He formed a hand seal, flicked his fingers, and unleashed the Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword.

For some reason, when he cast this art, it felt smoother than ever before. Even the Spiritual Power in his body seemed to flow more freely.

The golden Sword Light shot forward at tremendous speed.

"Hmph, a menial laborer is still a menial laborer..." The black-robed man jeered. "Still using this garbage art... Do you think it can break through my defenses?"

As he spoke, the black-robed man casually raised his arm and didn't even try to dodge. The blood-red hand caught the art, which was meant for nothing more than cutting weeds and stalks.

But in the next instant, the Sword Light sliced clean through the blood-red hand before vanishing.

The black-robed man had expected it to crush the Sword Light with a single grasp. Instead, he stood stunned for a long moment.

Mu Ye was stunned too.

The black-robed man's cultivation was at least above the sixth layer of Qi Refining!

"Something's wrong..."

The Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword shouldn't have that kind of power... Mu Ye had only been testing the waters.

The Blood Hand Great Compassion Mantra was an evil Cultivator's art, nothing like an ordinary spell in terms of power, especially when it came to attacking...

"Wait..."

Mu Ye's expression turned strange. He stared at the man and narrowed his eyes. "You're not Chen the Lame..."

"Oh?" The black-robed man gave a cold laugh. "Then who am I?"

"I don't know, but I do know..." Mu Ye said calmly. "You're a Female Cultivator. There's no way you're Chen the Lame."

That was right. This person was a Female Cultivator, without a doubt.

Because the Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword he had just used had been far too powerful.

Mu Ye's deduction was that the only possible explanation was the Ruthless Flower Destroyer's ability.

The black-robed person fell silent.

He simply waved a hand.

Suddenly, a terrifying wave of water pressure swept down from every direction.

Mu Ye's expression changed. The true power of a second-tier Water Prison Talisman was nowhere near comparable to a first-tier one!

Low-level Cultivators inside could even be crushed into a puddle of flesh and blood by the pressure.

Mu Ye couldn't move. He slowly circulated the Sea-Covering Supreme Art, adapting to the pressure.

Even with the Sea-Covering Supreme Art, he would need some time to adjust to a second-tier Water Prison Talisman before he could move freely.

But this person...

Mu Ye's heart sank. The dangers of the Cultivation World were far beyond anything he'd imagined.

Still, one question nagged at him. This person didn't seem to want to kill him, because... if she had really wanted to strike, she would have done so from the start, instead of this...

That left only one possible motive...

Just then.

A figure limped into the Water Prison.

"Let him go. I'm the one you're after." The man's voice was cold and unusually steady.

Mu Ye's gaze shifted.

It was Chen Li—Chen the Lame!