A Brilliant Plan to Clear the Stage

Chapter 3: A Brilliant Plan to Clear the Stage

Outside the village, a dozen or so men in black hurried along. A closer look revealed that their clothes were completely unlike those of the Central Plains; they were all dressed as Miao tribesmen. When the burly Miao man leading them spotted the village in the night, he stopped.

"This is the place. Let's find an inn to rest first, then we'll go to Fairy Spirit Island and look for that traitor. Listen up: the Cult Leader personally assigned this mission. You all know what will happen if anything goes wrong, don't you?"

His voice was hoarse and steady, with a hint of menace. The dozen or so people behind the burly Miao man all paled, apparently thinking of those so-called "consequences." Then they answered in unison, "We pledge our lives to serve you!"

After speaking, the burly Miao man seemed to sense something. His gaze swept around, but everything was silent. Apart from the rustling of weeds in the wind, there wasn't a sound.

Chalking it up to his imagination, the burly Miao man waved his hand and strode into the village. The dozen or so Black Miao Tribesmen followed in single file.

Once the figures of the black-clad Miao men had been swallowed by the night, the area around the village entrance fell silent again. That was hardly surprising: it was already dusk, and ordinary villagers wouldn't leave the village at this hour.

Just then, someone suddenly emerged from the grass by the village entrance.

Dressed in rags like a beggar, it was Li Wei.

He had clearly been holding his breath too long. Li Wei gasped for air. That burly Miao man's senses had been far too sharp. It had felt as though he were trapped in a thicket of thorns, unable to move or make a sound—not even breathe.

Li Wei was sure that if he had let out even the slightest gasp, the other man would have noticed him. He had no idea how strong these Black Miao Tribesmen were, but they were clearly more than he could handle right now.

"It looks like these Black Miao Tribesmen just arrived, so I still have plenty of time!"

After thinking it over, Li Wei decided not to return to the village. Instead, he headed toward Ten Mile Slope.

Li Wei knew the game Xianjian very well. The protagonist, Li Xiaoyao, learned the Shushan Sword Technique from the Wine Sword Immortal at the Mountain God Temple on Ten Mile Slope. There was nothing particularly dangerous about that part of the story.

The problem, however, lay in the mission rating on the Yellow Paper.

Helping Li Xiaoyao learn the Shushan Sword Technique was rated D-Rank, while killing the Black Miao Tribesmen was only E-Rank.

This mission was actually harder than killing the Black Miao Tribesmen. It was difficult to make sense of that. The only explanation was that some hidden danger was lurking in the shadows.

Now that he knew the mission was dangerous, the best thing to do was avoid that hidden danger. Given Li Wei's current condition, the only—and most effective—way was to change the story.

Having been here that afternoon, Li Wei easily found the run-down Mountain God Temple. Then he took a fire striker and a jar of lamp oil from his clothes.

He had taken them from a farmhouse without the owner's permission, but at a time like this, Li Wei couldn't afford to worry about that.

The Mountain God Temple had fallen into disrepair, and weeds grew everywhere. A large plaque hung crookedly over the door, its characters now completely illegible. The surroundings were pitch-black. Out here in the wilderness, the darkness made the place even more frightening.

The last time Li Wei had come here, some plant hidden in the grass had cut his arm. This time, he didn't dare get too close. From five or six meters away, he poured the lamp oil over the piles of dry grass around the Mountain God Temple.

That's right!

Li Wei was going to burn down the Mountain God Temple.

There was a good chance this would change the original story. Perhaps when Li Xiaoyao met the Wine Sword Immortal, he would be able to learn the Shushan Sword Control Technique.

Even if he couldn't learn it, the mission would change because the Mountain God Temple was gone. The difficulty of the revised mission could go either way, but for Li Wei, the risk was worth taking.

Besides, he also wanted to prove one thing: whether an outsider like him could change the missions on the Yellow Paper.

The jar of lamp oil was soon empty. Li Wei simply threw the jar into the ruined temple, then picked up the fire striker.

Just then, a sense of danger rose in his heart.

He could feel a chill behind him.

Without hesitation, Li Wei's body instinctively swayed, and he sprang to the side. Almost at the same moment, a pale hand swiped past his back. If he had been a second slower, those white claws would certainly have caught him.

Once he had steadied himself, Li Wei took a closer look and broke out in a cold sweat.

A lantern the size of a washbasin floated in midair. The pale arm he had just seen had reached out from beneath its lid.

The arm was slender, clearly belonging to a woman, but it had none of a normal person's color. Its skin was a strange, deathly white, as if it had been soaking in water for more than ten days. Its five fingers were smooth and delicate, but nails several inches long completely ruined their beauty. Seeing an arm like that in the dead of night could only inspire terror.

Li Wei swallowed. His heart pounded uncontrollably. This was the first time he had encountered anything like this, but he had already expected to meet some kind of ghost at night, so he quickly calmed down.

Li Wei's mind raced as he tried to think of a plan.

Plan one: use the fire striker in his hand to set the lantern on fire.

It seemed feasible, but putting it into practice would be difficult. He might not be able to get close to the thing, and even if he could touch the lantern, there was no telling whether this ghostly creature feared fire.

Too dangerous. Plan rejected.

Plan two: fight it head-on. Maybe this Lantern Monster would be just as weak as it was in the game. Li Wei remembered that even Li Xiaoyao, an ordinary person in the game, could kill one of these ghosts with a few hits.

But this wasn't a game. If something went wrong, he wouldn't get a chance to regret it.

Too dangerous. Plan rejected.

Plan three: run.

That was the safest option Li Wei could think of, and the best way to keep himself out of danger.

He struck the fire striker behind him and tossed it onto the oil-soaked dry grass. Oil caught fire instantly, and with the dry grass as fuel, the flames spread almost at once.

During this time, Li Wei stole a glance at the Lantern Monster—and nearly died of fright.

The arm inside the lantern began to reach farther out. Soon, a pitch-black head emerged as well. Looking closely, he saw that the dark mass was all hair.

Dense black strands covered the creature's face. The less he could see, the more terrifying it felt. Seeing that the Mountain God Temple had become a sea of fire, Li Wei turned and ran without another thought.

He had memorized the way back, so he didn't run blindly. But after only a few steps, he suddenly felt a chill around his ankle. Caught completely off guard, Li Wei stumbled and fell.

When he looked down, Li Wei felt his scalp crawl.