Ning Rongrong: Don't Cultivate Techniques Recklessly!

"Phase transition? The first boss has a second phase? Not bad, not bad!"

Lu Ma praised, reviewing his recent maneuvers.

In truth, his logic was simple:

The weapon was parried because the opponent was "attacking."

Since it was an attack, it could be dodged. Thus, the moment he saw the needles appear, he controlled Ning Rongrong to dodge to the side and continued his assault.

He hadn't expected to force the opponent directly into a second phase.

Looking at the opponent's long health bar, Lu Ma felt his entire body brimming with motivation.

Smoke?

Sorry, he could adjust the game's brightness, or even use the game filters from his NVIDIA driver.

Under the filter, the opponent's silhouette was incredibly distinct.

As for Ning Rongrong, she had only felt her vision blur when the opponent released a Soul Skill, only for his movements to suddenly become clear again.

Before she could dwell on it, she had already charged forward with the iron rod, striking the opponent's head with precision.

The health bar dropped by about a tenth.

"Ugh."

Donald clutched his face, stumbling back three steps.

"Second Soul Skill, Toxic Dust!"

The white smoke turned green in an instant. Ning Rongrong found the smell unpleasant, and Lu Ma noticed his own health bar beginning to tick down, so he decided to go all in and landed two more hits.

"Ugh! You brat!"

Donald caught the third strike, lunged forward, and looked down at the Ning Rongrong before him.

"Third Soul Skill, Shaping Powder!"

The smoke returned to the hand that had caught the iron rod, gradually enveloping it.

Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth, trying to pull the iron rod back, but it wouldn't budge.

"Heh, you can even disarm me!"

Sitting in front of his computer, Lu Ma grew more excited and pleasantly surprised with every exchange.

Instead of stubbornly fighting for the iron rod, he controlled his character to deliver a direct punch to the opponent.

The punch connected solidly; while it only had half the power of the iron rod, it was enough to throw the opponent off balance. His hand loosened, and the iron rod was released.

He already saw the QTE prompt light up over the opponent's head—another execution window.

Ning Rongrong lunged forward, knocking Donald to the ground, and then kicked him into the pile of firewood.

The last of the purple flames were extinguished by Donald's body.

Ning Rongrong turned, pulled a massive nail from the crucifix, and drove it into the back of Donald's head.

Donald, this Soul Elder, struggled on the ground for a few moments before falling silent.

"Done."

Ning Rongrong brushed the dust off her hands and looked at the unconscious girl nearby.

Above the head of the girl, who seemed to be coming to, was a yellow dot.

Lu Ma was all too familiar with this; it was a quest marker. But he wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he controlled Ning Rongrong to crouch down, flipped Donald's body over, and her small hands began to rummage through his pockets.

Before long, she retrieved a round object, a scroll, and ten Gold Soul Coins.

So poor.

Ning Rongrong thought as she tucked these items into her spatial Soul Tool.

Although she didn't know what the first two were, she knew exactly what ten Gold Soul Coins meant...

Wait, why did time stop again?

Lu Ma opened the inventory to inspect the attributes of the new items, then stared blankly at the two objects.

[Holy Spirit Pill (Cannot be consumed): A pill developed by the Holy God that combines the effects of various herbs. After consumption, it will be digested within one hour, significantly increasing Soul Power upon completion. However, this Holy Spirit Pill is defective; its medicinal properties have been altered.]

[Holy Spirit Scroll (Part 3): Records a one-time secret technique of the Holy Spirit Sect. Once activated, it can increase Soul Power and Martial Soul quality. Only effective once per person. Automatically destroyed after uses are exhausted: 2/3]

In short, they seemed to be experience boosters, one of which was broken—likely a plot item that couldn't be used.

As for the other one... might as well use it!

Ning Rongrong snapped back to reality to find herself sitting cross-legged with a scroll spread out before her. Inside her body, a mixture of cold and warmth flowed through her limbs, a tingling sensation that was strange yet incredibly comfortable.

Hey, hey, is this kind of thing meant to be used so casually? What if it's poisonous?

She struggled with the thought, but the next second, she sank into the sensation of her strength growing. Her Soul Power was surging rapidly, and even her Martial Soul seemed to be undergoing some changes. The very bottom layer began to emit a purple glow, becoming more solid.

Level 27, breakthrough!

Level 28, breakthrough!

Level 29, breakthrough!

Level 30...

The soul power rose to halfway through level 30 and then stalled.

It didn't feel like a bottleneck; it felt more like a simple "lack of experience."

She could certainly absorb a third soul ring now. Ning Rongrong was confident about at least that much.

This increase in strength didn't make Ning Rongrong feel happy; on the contrary, she felt a wave of sorrow.

First, this wasn't her own achievement, but the achievement of the person controlling her; second, it had taken her six years of bitter cultivation to go from level 9 to level 26, while the other party had gone from level 26 to level 30 in less than two hours; finally, she didn't know if this method would leave behind any hidden dangers.

Although there hadn't been that disgusting black aura around her body while she was cultivating just now, this scroll had, after all, been obtained from such a person.

Ning Rongrong didn't know how to react for a moment. Fortunately, she didn't need to consider these things right now. Lu Ma watched the usage count on the scroll change from 2 to 1, controlled her to put the scroll away, stand up, and walk toward the remaining twelve soul masters.

It was a pity they had nothing on them; forget about experience potions, he couldn't even find a single Gold Soul Coin.

"So poor!"

Lu Ma grumbled, feeling that his actions were a waste of time.

He then looked toward the young girl.

For some reason, Ning Rongrong actually began to feel a sense of kinship with this girl.

She watched as she stepped forward, released the girl from the cross, and then, the girl's purple pupils snapped open, giving her a fright.

Lu Ma, however, became excited again.

Test Subject No. 2, Codename: Saintess, Level 30

The screen dimmed, and a close-up of the boss's name appeared.

This girl, it seemed, was also a boss.

And a boss meant that she would drop rewards.

Unfortunately, Lu Ma was disappointed; sounds from outside the cave came through his headphones, and all the function bars on the game interface disappeared, leaving only a SKIP option.

In other words, a cutscene had started. The girl before him could not be killed, at least not right now.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin finally shattered the barrier, broke through, and flew over to find Ning Rongrong, holding his sword against the girl's throat.

"Rongrong, are you alright?"

Chen Xin asked with concern, shielding Ning Rongrong behind him. He looked at the panicked, fainting girl, then at the people strewn about in disarray, and froze.

"These are... Evil Soul Masters? Rongrong, did you take them all out?"

Chen Xin was somewhat surprised. He knew Ning Rongrong's own combat power was very weak, and he knew her protective artifacts probably wouldn't last long, so he had been outside frantically researching ways to break the barrier. After notifying the others, he had launched a fierce assault on the barrier, only managing to break through and enter after five minutes, expecting to see Ning Rongrong being held hostage—yet it turned out his Rongrong was the one who had won?

Looking at the 12 soul masters, 1 Soul Grand Master, and 1 Soul Elder, he frowned.

"Rongrong, let's return to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect first. We'll talk about this later; I'll have others come to clean this up."

After a long while, Chen Xin spoke, carrying Ning Rongrong on his back as he returned to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

As for Lu Ma, he took advantage of this cutscene to make a bowl of noodles.

He didn't have the habit of watching cutscenes, but as a game tester hired by someone else, Lu Ma felt he had an obligation to listen to what the story was about.