Staying Up Late Was the True Path to Immortality

This time, loading a save was much easier.

Li Muyang directly chose the final save.

[Final Act: Audience with the Commander of Loushan City]

After the save finished loading, Li Muyang opened his eyes to see fully armed soldiers blocking the way ahead.

Glaze Fairy stood beside him, sorrow in her eyes.

"Lord Zhao..."

This Glaze Fairy was grieving for the death of an old friend.

And what followed was the same as last time. There was not a moment to mourn the Guide's death; next, they would arrive at the Commander's Residence of Loushan City, where the Mastermind lay in wait!

After being surrounded by the soldiers, Glaze Fairy announced her identity, and someone immediately came to lead the way.

Li Muyang and Glaze Fairy followed the Guide through the heavily guarded Commander's Residence of Loushan City. Deep within the residence, they met Commander Wu, who was drenched in sweat and frantic with worry.

Glaze Fairy had Commander Wu bring out his family members one by one and gather them in the courtyard.

This time, when Commander Wu's most favored concubine was helped out by her maidservants, Li Muyang struck at the same moment Glaze Fairy confirmed that she was the demonic cultivator's true form.

The instant the demonic cultivator turned to flee, Li Muyang activated Time Stop.

He then rushed over with his blade and, with two swift slashes, severed the woman's feet below the knees.

When Time Stop ended, the shrieking woman collapsed in a spray of blood, having lost her best chance to escape.

Glaze Fairy instantly leaped over and effortlessly subdued the demonic cultivator, binding her with special ropes.

The entire attack had taken barely the time of a blink.

Glaze Fairy was no longer surprised by Li Muyang's movement technique, which seemed like Teleportation.

The two of them worked together with flawless tacit understanding.

Before Commander Wu, drenched in sweat, could figure out what had happened, he saw his favored concubine collapse to the ground, screaming as she revealed her true form as a demonic cultivator and transformed into a half-human, half-demon monster.

"Yu Niang... Yu Niang was actually a monster?"

Commander Wu's face turned deathly pale. Clearly, the ape-like monster covered in monkey fur had terrified him.

Even as Commander Wu recoiled in horror at the monster who had shared his pillow, a clear-screen rating interface popped up in Li Muyang's field of vision.

As expected, the clearance rating had indeed changed this time.

[Beginner Tutorial—The Mystery of Loushan City cleared]

[Guide: Dead]

[Glaze Fairy: Lightly injured]

[Mastermind: Captured]

[Clearance Rating: A (Flaw in the Jade)]

[With your sharp reactions, formidable strength, and invincible talent, you successfully slew the source of unrest within Loushan City, saving the lives of an entire city. Your merit is immeasurable. You also successfully captured the Mastermind, allowing the imperial court to uncover the truth hidden behind the mist shrouding Loushan City. All shall sing praises of your great name.]

[Would you like to claim your clearance reward?]

[Current available rewards (choose one of three): Blood Demon Heart Refining Art, low-grade spirit artifact flying sword, five bottles of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid]

[Host, please note: after claiming the reward, this tutorial stage will end completely and cannot be entered again.]

The clearance rating floating in his vision made Li Muyang let out a sigh of relief.

After the rating rose, the clearance rewards had improved as well.

The words [Incomplete Volume] had vanished from the Blood Demon Heart Refining Art, meaning he could obtain the complete cultivation manual.

And the artifact reward had changed from the most worthless ordinary flying sword into a low-grade spirit artifact flying sword.

The classification of magical artifacts in this world was simple. At the bottom were ordinary items, blank slate mass-produced goods meant for small fry. Above them were low-, mid-, and high-grade spirit artifacts.

But magical artifacts of the spirit artifact grade—even the lowest low-grade spirit artifacts—were not something outer sect disciples of the Demon Refining Sect could easily possess.

Their steward held no lowly status in the outer sect and wielded considerable authority, yet even he possessed only an ordinary flying sword.

If Li Muyang could obtain a low-grade spirit artifact flying sword, he could be said to be invincible among the outer sect.

After all, with the tremendous boost to combat power granted by a spirit artifact, crushing those Qi Refinement disciples without spirit artifacts for protection would simply be a blow from an entirely higher dimension.

As for the third reward, Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid, Li Muyang had heard of it too. It was a heavenly treasure akin to spirit rice. The Demon Refining Sect's very best direct disciples were said to receive half a bottle of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid every month to aid their cultivation.

This stuff was far more potent than spirit rice. Even in the inner sect, five bottles of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid would count as a windfall fortune.

Li Muyang's eyes burned with desire.

The rewards had improved this much from a B rating to an A... then what if the rating improved further?

Li Muyang looked toward the clearance evaluation interface.

[Guide: Dead]

[Glaze Fairy: Lightly injured]

Those two notices, along with the [A (Flaw in the Jade)] beneath them, were clearly reminding Li Muyang that if he wanted the highest possible rating, he had to ensure that the Guide survived and that Glaze Fairy was not injured.

If he fulfilled both conditions at once, he should be able to obtain the highest rating.

Having had his interest stirred by the A-rank rewards, Li Muyang had no intention of claiming his rewards now—though the current rewards were already exceedingly generous.

Instead, Li Muyang planned to keep challenging it.

This beginner tutorial had no time limit anyway, so why not keep going?

He would continue until he rolled a perfect rating!

This time, Li Muyang chose to load the third act, [Interlude—Crisis Within Loushan City].

When the darkness around him faded, Li Muyang found himself inside that carriage rolling down an empty street.

This was the hardest stage in the entire beginner tutorial, and the key to Li Muyang obtaining a perfect rating.

The instant he entered the stage, Li Muyang rose to his feet and said to Glaze Fairy.

"Fairy, may I borrow your immortal sword?"

Then came another round of slaughter...

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!!"

At dawn, when a rooster's crow pierced the stillness between the mountains, movement gradually began stirring within the thatched huts at the foot of the mountains surrounding the Demon Refining Sect.

Guan Xiaoshun, already washed and dressed, was carrying a huge water bucket toward the spirit fields when he saw Li Muyang crouched outside his door, washing his face with an enormous pair of dark circles beneath his exhausted eyes.

Seeing this, Guan Xiaoshun asked curiously, "Brother Li, you didn't sleep last night?"

In the Demon Refining Sect's outer sect, where entertainment was unimaginably scarce, most people passed the long nights by sleeping.

A small number would spend the night at the brothels in the marketplace, but even those who went to brothels still had to sleep.

Someone like Li Muyang, with massive dark circles and exhaustion written all over his face, clearly having stayed awake all night, was practically a rare beast.

Guan Xiaoshun looked full of curiosity. Li Muyang merely sighed and said, "Don't mention it. I had insomnia last night."

Fuck, I died all night long. Even with two bug skills, Time Stop and Sword Hidden in Belly, I still couldn't keep the Guide alive against the endless attacks of the Blood Demon Beasts.

I even had trouble protecting Glaze Fairy from getting hurt.

The overall clearance difficulty of this beginner tutorial was very low, but achieving a perfect rating truly was somewhat difficult.

Li Muyang had been tormented by the tower defense in the third act all night. After pulling a complete all-nighter, he truly felt like he had returned to his past life playing Soulslike games.

He was hacked to death by monsters again and again. Once battle began, he had to keep his mind focused to the utmost degree; he could not afford even the slightest lapse or mistake, or it was GG.

The sheer difficulty of attaining a perfect rating had instead ignited Li Muyang's competitive spirit.

—I refuse to believe I can't keep that damned Guide alive!