Killing the Game

Wang Xuan did not travel far; with a few leaps and bounds, he silently slipped into a long-abandoned district of dilapidated houses on the west side of Jingzhou City.

Here, walls had collapsed and roofs had caved in, with weeds growing as tall as a person. Even in broad daylight, the area was rarely visited, and now, as dusk gathered and the light faded, it was deathly silent, save for the sound of the wind and the rustling of grass—an excellent place to hide.

He scanned his surroundings and headed straight for a corner tucked deep inside, surrounded by broken walls on three sides. He sat down cross-legged, his aura instantly retracted, leaving only a lingering chill in his eyes.

The hole in his chest left by the Blood Blade Ancestor no longer throbbed with sharp pain; the formidable self-healing ability of the Lesser Vajra Indestructible Body was truly well-deserved. However, deep within his meridians, the cold, sinister internal energy left behind by the Blood Blade Ancestor was still wreaking havoc, pricking his meridians like tiny ice needles from time to time, causing a dull ache.

No time to waste. Wang Xuan knew this clearly. The commotion at the Death Prison was massive, and the news of the Blood Blade Ancestor's demise must have already spread through the entire city like wildfire.

Once the two members of the Royal Clan, Yu Qingtian and Shen Chenzhou, finished dealing with Ling Tuisi, their next step would inevitably be to hunt him down. He had to seize every moment to improve his strength to face the coming slaughter.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his distracting thoughts, and with a flick of his mind, a pale blue light screen suddenly unfolded before his eyes. It was his personal attribute panel, the text clear and easy to read:

[Player Name]: Wang Xuan

[Age]: 18

[Talent]: One-Click Max (Unique Rank)

[Realm]: Post-Heaven Eighth Layer

[Cultivation Method]: - Divine Illumination Scripture (Not Learned)

(Extreme cultivation methods are not displayed)

Wang Xuan's gaze landed precisely on the last line. Without a hint of hesitation, his tone was as firm as iron: "Talent, let me see your limit! Give me a One-Click Max!"

An indescribable warm current erupted without warning from his Dantian, instantly sweeping through his entire body!

This feeling was completely different from when he had maxed out the Iron Cloth Shirt and the Great Monument-Breaking Hand. The previous times had been a scouring of heat at the physical level, accompanied by the cracking and tempering of muscles and bones. But this time, the moment the warm current exploded, Wang Xuan felt a deafening roar in his mind, as if a shackle had been shattered, and his consciousness instantly became several times clearer.

His vision went black for a moment, followed by countless tiny specks of light appearing out of thin air, rotating, gathering, and then suddenly dispersing. A profound and mysterious "internal vision" ability appeared in his perception out of nowhere. He could clearly "see" his own meridians and muscle fibers, and could even discern every strand of stagnant Post-Heaven internal energy.

Within his meridians, the Post-Heaven internal energy, which had become sluggish due to repeated battles and lingering injuries, was instantly whipped into a frenzy by the warm current of the Divine Illumination Scripture, boiling like water in a pot as it surged along its established path.

The bottleneck between the Post-Heaven Eighth and Ninth Layers was as fragile as thin paper in the face of this majestic warm current, and with a "pop," it was completely broken through, his internal energy climbing to the Post-Heaven peak without obstruction.

But this was not the end.

The warm current carried his peak internal energy forward without stopping, heading straight for the Ren and Du meridians—the two meridians revered by the martial arts world as the chasm for any martial artist. Wang Xuan felt not a shred of resistance.

Ever since he had pushed the Iron Cloth Shirt to its limit and achieved the realm of the Lesser Vajra Indestructible Body, his meridians had been repeatedly scoured and nourished by the rigid and masculine hard-style internal energy, leaving them completely unobstructed. Now, as the Divine Illumination Scripture's warm current poured in, it was like diverting water into a canal—a natural progression.

"Boom!"

A thunderous sound, audible only to Wang Xuan, exploded within his body. The Heaven and Earth Bridges were opened in response!

A cool, pure, and vibrant energy of heaven and earth surged into his body through the newly opened Heaven and Earth Bridges, instantly merging with his original scorching and fierce Post-Heaven internal energy. A world-shaking qualitative change occurred in an instant.

Xiantian!

The warm current gradually shed its ferocity, becoming gentle and long-lasting, circulating through his meridians according to the complex path recorded in the Divine Illumination Scripture.

With every cycle, Wang Xuan's mind grew clearer, his body lighter, and his internal energy more solid. He had truly stepped into the realm of "Sitting in Divine Illumination."

His consciousness seemed to drift away from his body, "looking down" from above at his own cross-legged figure. Under the guidance of the Divine Illumination Scripture, the three fundamental sources of essence, energy, and spirit slowly gathered at the Baihui point on the crown of his head, achieving the "Three Flowers Gather at the Crown" in an instant.

Following that, within his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, a unique aura was born in each. The five auras swirled and merged, finally returning to the Dantian to form a perfect whole—the phenomenon of "Five Energies Converge at the Origin."

This process, which seemed long, actually took place in the blink of an eye, just like a martial artist defying fate to cross the chasm between the mundane and the Xiantian, achieving a realm unreachable by ordinary martial artists.

Wang Xuan slowly opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance passing through them before settling into a calm, deep focus.

The last ray of sunset slanted through the gap in the broken wall, falling upon him and causing his body to shimmer with a faint, lustrous glow.

He looked down at his palms; the faint yellow jade luster from the perfected Iron Cloth Shirt remained, but beneath it, a lustrous flow was subtly circulating. The gruesome wound on his chest had long since vanished, his skin as smooth as before, not even a trace of a scar left behind.

The cold, stinging pain deep in his meridians and the exhaustion from the repeated battles had been completely washed away by the Pure Yang True Qi of the Divine Illumination Scripture.

He felt as light as a feather, and the internal energy in his meridians had transformed. It was no longer the rushing, surging river of before, but had become a bottomless ocean, calm and waveless yet containing terrifying power. With a single thought, his Xiantian True Qi moved as if it were an extension of his own arm, instantly circulating throughout his body.

He summoned his attribute panel again. The [Realm] column had changed to: Xiantian First Layer! In the [Cultivation Method] section, the description of the Divine Illumination Scripture had also been updated: Divine Illumination Scripture (Extreme Realm, Traits: Pure Yang and Upright, Endless Vitality, Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, Five Energies Converge at the Origin).

"It's done, and it has four traits." Wang Xuan exhaled a long breath. The breath was steady and strong, forming a clear white streak in the dim air that shot out over three feet before slowly dissipating.

His gaze fixed on the panel, checking the specific effects of each trait one by one. [Pure Yang and Upright] went without saying; it could suppress most cold, sinister true qi in the world, and the true qi was so pure that he had never faced the risk of Qi Deviation since he began practicing. [Endless Vitality] was the core of the Divine Illumination Art's "resurrection" ability; the Divine Illumination True Qi could forcibly stimulate the hidden vitality deep within the human body, allowing one to be saved even shortly after death.

But the true power of the Divine Illumination Scripture lay in [Three Flowers Gather at the Crown] and [Five Energies Converge at the Origin]. The former made him a rare powerhouse who had entered the Xiantian realm in essence, energy, and spirit simultaneously. In contrast, ordinary martial artists, even if they broke through to the Xiantian realm, usually achieved it through Qi-refining first, then gradually refined their spirit or essence. Those who refined spirit perceived the laws of heaven and earth, turning the outer world into an inner world and drawing upon the power of the sun, moon, wind, and frost to forge their martial intent. Those who refined essence focused on tempering their physical bodies, polishing them step by step in pursuit of the ultimate realm of Indestructible Vajra.

The latter, by connecting the five internal organs with the five energies, continuously stimulated the body's fundamental vitality and could passively temper the physical body, polishing it constantly until it reached the legendary, truly indestructible state of the Vajra Body.

Almost the moment his breakthrough was complete, a grand, cold, and emotionless voice suddenly echoed in the minds of every player in the Secret of the Linked Cities world, making their minds roar:

[World Announcement!]

[Player 'Wang Xuan' has become the first to meet the conditions for 'Ascent to the Martial Peak', entering the Xiantian realm and completing the Main Quest 'Ascent to the Martial Peak'!]

[Reward Issued: Randomly drawing a Divine Art/Ultimate Art...]

[Draw Complete! Congratulations to player 'Wang Xuan' for obtaining the Divine Art/Ultimate Art—Divine Blade Slash manual!]

[World Announcement: The Main Quest 'Ascent to the Martial Peak' has been completed by player 'Wang Xuan'. Remaining time in this world: 29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes. After the time ends, all players will be forcibly logged out.]

The series of announcements rang out like thunder, instantly throwing the entire Secret of the Linked Cities world into an uproar. Countless players were panicked and jealous, yet no one could change the established fact.

Wang Xuan listened to the announcements echoing in his mind, his gaze sweeping over the information about the Divine Blade Slash that had automatically appeared in his consciousness, a strange expression on his face. This Divine Blade Slash originated from the Full Moon Scimitar world and was the supreme blade technique of the Demonic Sect, known as the Eight Linked Styles of the Wish-Fulfilling Heavenly Demon. Each style contained thirty-six moves and one hundred and eight variations, totaling over thirty thousand changes. The supreme realm required simplifying the complex, melting it all into one furnace to forge a single, unique blade. It was rumored that once this blade was drawn, man and blade became one, the new moon turned into a rainbow, and it was Indestructible—blocking it meant certain death, shaking the heavens and earth, and causing both gods and ghosts to tremble!

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