Nothing Else, Only Skilled Hands

Li Muyang's Time Stop lasted only seven seconds, but he had chances to reload.

So when he saw the monster's head, Li Muyang did not rush to attack. Instead, he leaped into the air and landed beside the monster's head, first gathering information about it.

In a dungeon-crawling game, information was more important than simply killing monsters.

From the side, he finally saw the monster's full appearance.

—It had truly emerged from thin air.

More precisely, it had emerged from the fog blanketing Loushan City. It had only a head; its body behind that head seemed to remain hidden within the mist.

Beyond this strange fog seemed to lie an equally strange world. Now, the monster's head had poked out from within it to attack Li Muyang's carriage.

After seeing the monster's full form, Li Muyang drew his blade again and slashed at it.

This time, he broke through its defenses, but that was all. He left only a wound several inches deep. For a monster of that size, it was little more than a scrape.

The imperial waist saber that came with the game character had killing power that was truly hard to put into words.

Li Muyang tried to return to the carriage and take Glaze Fairy's immortal sword, but the instant he entered the cabin, Time Stop ended.

A tremendous shock swept through the carriage, and Li Muyang's vision went black.

"...This game character's damage output is a little lacking."

Li Muyang sat gloomily atop the hard thatched cottage, lamenting how weak the game character was.

He closed his eyes again and restarted the beginner tutorial.

Reload save!

When Li Muyang opened his eyes again, he found himself seated in the moving carriage. Before him, Glaze Fairy was speaking with the Guide.

Li Muyang rose directly to his feet. "Fairy, may I borrow your immortal sword? Something is wrong."

Li Muyang kept it brief, while unapologetically extending his hand toward Glaze Fairy for her sword.

Such abrupt and rude behavior left the Guide, who had been speaking, staring at him in astonishment.

He clearly could not understand why Li Muyang, who had remained silent the entire way like some attendant, had suddenly made such an outrageous request.

That was a spirit sword bound to a Mystic Sword Sect cultivator's life and soul. How could it be lent out so casually?

But before the Guide could speak, Glaze Fairy had already risen solemnly.

"Is there danger again?"

The fairy's gaze hesitated for an instant, but she ultimately formed a sword seal decisively. The immortal sword on her back rang sharply and flew into Li Muyang's hand.

"Please, Lord Wuming..."

Glaze Fairy had barely begun to speak when a tremendous vibration struck the carriage.

In that instant, Li Muyang activated Time Stop.

This time, with the immortal sword in hand, he shoved open the carriage door and rushed outside.

In the pale black-and-white world, the incomparably sharp immortal sword swung in his hand. Li Muyang effortlessly split the huge monster head blocking the way in two.

The monster head that had been incredibly difficult to cut with the imperial waist saber was as fragile as tofu beneath the immortal sword's edge, severed with ease.

Only after watching the monster's head split into two pieces did Li Muyang release Time Stop.

In an instant, a cloud of bloody mist burst before the carriage.

The monster's split head vanished into the blood mist at once, while the carriage on the street passed straight through the mist without obstruction.

The Guide's eyes widened instantly.

"Just now... just now..."

He stared dumbfoundedly at Glaze Fairy, then looked incredulously at Li Muyang by the carriage door, as though questioning his entire existence.

The blood mist had appeared and vanished abruptly, accompanied by a terrifying monster... The scene had been like a nightmare.

Glaze Fairy looked solemnly at the vanished cloud of blood mist behind them. "That seemed to be a Blood Demon Beast... a ghostly monster said to lurk in the Nine Nether Hells, wandering within the River of Blood."

"It descended from the void and attempted to ambush us. Fortunately, Lord Wuming dealt with it in time."

After explaining the situation, Glaze Fairy looked at Li Muyang, surprise flickering in her eyes.

"Lord Wuming, how did you detect that the Blood Demon Beast was about to appear?"

The instant the Blood Demon Beast appeared, Li Muyang had easily slain it... Such terrifying movement techniques and perception shocked Glaze Fairy once again.

Just as Li Muyang was about to answer, a tremendous force suddenly struck his body from behind the moment he opened his mouth.

He watched helplessly as a black claw pierced through his chest...

"Fuck! Does this never end?"

Li Muyang opened his eyes within the dark thatched cottage. This time, he took a breath and directly closed them again.

Reload!

Reload!

Reload!!!

The instant Glaze Fairy spoke after he shattered the monster's head, Li Muyang turned and slashed with his sword.

The sharp immortal sword descended, slicing a mantis-like monster emerging from the air diagonally into two halves.

The monster had only just appeared. Its black, razor-sharp claws had not even had time to strike before Li Muyang cut it apart.

The Guide stared in disbelief. "Do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

Li Muyang's turning slash just now had come so abruptly that it surpassed everyone's expectations.

Even until the moment he swung his sword, the air behind him had been completely empty. Yet the instant the blade descended, a Blood Demon Beast happened to emerge from the air.

The scene looked as though the monster had deliberately thrown itself onto his blade. It was indescribably strange and chilling.

Facing the Guide's uncertain, suspicious gaze, Li Muyang said calmly, "Nothing else, only skilled hands."

I've died to these monsters' sneak attacks dozens of times. I could predict every direction they'd strike from with my eyes closed!

As Li Muyang spoke, he casually threw another sword slash.

The sharp immortal sword flew past the Guide's ear and slew a Blood Demon Beast that had just appeared in the air behind him.

These strange Blood Demon Beasts that suddenly emerged from the air also vanished abruptly upon death, not even leaving corpses behind.

In the brief span of a few sentences, several strange Blood Demon Beasts had appeared around the carriage.

Their elusive, unpredictable positions made Glaze Fairy frown deeply.

"It seems the Blood Demon Path demonic cultivators in this city do not want us to meet Commander Wu."

As Glaze Fairy spoke, she looked at Li Muyang. "This method of summoning Nine Nether Blood Beasts is a forbidden art within the Blood Demon Path, and the price of the sacrifice is immense."

"If they had other methods, they definitely would not summon Blood Demon Beasts."

"Now, the Blood Demon Path demonic cultivators only summon Blood Demon Beasts to attack us, yet refuse to show themselves. It seems the Blood Demon Path demonic cultivators in this city are not very powerful themselves, or perhaps they are unable to act directly."

At this point, Glaze Fairy's gaze turned slightly cold. "The seven demonic cultivators who ambushed me outside the city were likely the only force the mastermind could command."

"Now that it has lost its claws and fangs, it can only use the forbidden secret art of summoning Blood Demon Beasts. Yet it still uses this secret art to stop us... Could the mastermind be hiding beside Commander Wu? Does it not want us to meet Commander Wu?"

From the changing situation, Glaze Fairy had keenly discerned the crucial information.