Martial Virtue

No matter how much Lu Xiu regretted it.

The dungeons are all finished.

soon.

The completion screen for the dungeon begins to play.

And then, after the final, CG-like scene finishes playing...

The instance scene seemed to have been paused, and the rain suddenly stopped in mid-air.

at the same time.

The familiar system settlement window popped up.

He appeared before Lu Xiu.

[Dear Architect! You have successfully completed the dungeon you constructed. Congratulations!]

[System is generating clearance rating -]

[Evaluation: A person with superb martial arts skills and abundant martial virtue will make the enemy retreat in the face of difficulties.]

His attack was swift as lightning, subduing the enemy without a fight.

The process of becoming a grandmaster.

It's not just about improving skills, but also about elevating one's spirit.

This was supposed to be an evaluation of your performance in completing the game.

But now.

Fart!

You only have superb martial arts skills—you have absolutely no martial ethics whatsoever!

This was originally a story of revenge, but it is also a story about the true meaning of kung fu and martial ethics, training and inheritance, and choices between humanity and morality.

You were supposed to fall time and time again under the siege of powerful enemies, only to rise again and again with the help of that mysterious string of copper coins.

Then, with their fleeting youth, their aging faces and deep wrinkles, they bitterly exchanged their skills for unparalleled mastery.

Over the long years, as his hair turned white, he finally realized that killing could not end the Effect and Cause of hatred. Thus, in the final battle, he chose to lay down his sword, only breaking the opponent's stance without taking his life, winning people over with virtue, and achieving the highest realm of martial arts.

What a beautiful philosophical core this is!

But your journey to victory has absolutely nothing to do with any of the above!

You haven't experienced even one death!

The string of mysterious copper coins, which is the core mechanism of the dungeon and symbolizes rebirth and the price, has become a completely useless decoration on you.

From the first second you step into the dungeon to the last second you defeat your final enemy.

You didn't struggle for even a moment.

Your copy has the best theme—yourself is the biggest anti-theme pioneer.

Until the very end.

You haven't grasped the concepts of forgiveness and martial virtue.

All you want to do is kill them.

Finally, standing before Yang was a Shura.

A fully-fledged, twenty-year-old grandmaster!

----A reconciliation has been reached.

[Evaluation Summary:]

[You set the theme as the Mortal Martial Arts, yet you chose the most barbaric path of Shura.]

[You used your most exquisite skills to perfectly shatter all the spiritual essence of the dungeon.]

[As it turns out, when you're strong enough to physically kill your enemy by pinning them against a wall without taking damage, you really don't need to know anything about martial ethics.]

[Thank you so much for clearing the level, you living devil!]

After a brief pause.

A new window pops up.

[Instance Completion: 100%]

[Overall Customs Clearance Rating: SSS]

[Please check the settlement page for related rewards]

[Start Teleportation]

this time.

The 60-second countdown is over.

Lu Xiu was thrown back into the Construction Space.

"I'm playing the revenge route!"

Lu Xiu was taken aback, then looked at the evaluation in front of her and argued.

There was no response.

Lu Xiu quickly realized that arguing with the system was a really stupid thing to do.

This was clearly the most normal time yet.

Even that couldn't change the system's situation.

Garbage system!

Lu Xiu sighed, then, in a fit of desperation, straightened her back and declared confidently, "Just tell me whether the enemy has surrendered or not!!"

[----]

An ellipsis appeared in the pop-up window.

Lu Xiu's beautiful eyes widened. "You can reply?! Then speak! Why are you slandering me?!"

But the next second...

The settlement window then popped up.

[Copy verified!]

[System Rating Generation -]

[Instance Name: Sifu]

[Instance Rating: SS]

[Instance Type: Action/Hand-to-Hand Combat/Role-Playing]

[Ticket Price: 700 Survival Points]

[Instance Description: A young kung fu apprentice embarks on a path of revenge, tracking down the murderer of his family. Alone, he faces countless enemies and no allies. He must rely on his unique understanding of kung fu and a mysterious pendant to achieve victory and protect his family's legacy.]

[Dungeon Feature Tag: Mortal Martial Arts]

[Potential rewards: Mortal Martial Arts - Every Inch of Time; Fake Copper Coin; Attribute Points.]

[Construction rewards are being settled--]

[Dungeon rating SS, Dungeon completion score SSS--]

[Construction Experience +1180]

[Spirit attribute points +5]

[You have been promoted to Level 8 Architect!]

[Special reward settlement in progress----Congratulations! Based on your performance during the verification dungeon, you have obtained the special skill - Extraordinary·Remnant!]

Lu Xiu saw this.

He immediately forgot to breathe on his face.

The main issue is the names of the skills.

It was actually extraordinary.

She immediately activated the special skill reward.

[Skill Name: Extraordinary - Crippled]

[Rating: SS]

[Type: Body Enhancement/Status Switching]

[Ability Description: When the skills of a mortal are honed to an incredible level, one can also gain extraordinary power. After activating this skill, you can bestow different extraordinary attributes upon your limbs.]

Fire and Lightning Enchantment: This enchants your limbs with the power of fire and lightning, granting each of your limb attacks additional elemental damage.

Metal Aspect: Grants the corresponding limb extremely high defensive power, comparable to a top-grade divine weapon, allowing one to withstand sharp blades with bare hands without injury.

Earth Aspect: Can only be granted to the feet. As long as both feet are on the ground, it grants extremely high stability and immunity to most knockback, knock-up, and forced displacement effects.

[Restriction: Limited by the physical body's capacity, only one attribute can be bestowed upon the entire body at any given time.]

[Duration: None]

[Cooldown: None]

[Consumable: None]

[Note: Mortal Martial Arts? Mortal Martial Arts!]

Lu Xiu was stunned when she saw this skill, then suddenly realized what it meant and immediately raised her fair hand, clenching her five fingers into a fist!

Sizzle.

Thin, dark blue arcs of electricity suddenly flickered and danced on her fair fist.

The violent arcs of electricity danced between her fingers, radiating an aura of destruction, yet they did not harm her in the slightest.

Switch.

Lu Xiu's mind raced.

The electric arc disappeared instantly.

Boom!

Take Their Place, a ball of crimson flame suddenly rose out of thin air and completely enveloped her small fist.

Even though the air itself was distorted by the heat, she still felt no burning pain.

Now I can use my Flame Fist on others.

Lu Xiu looked at the flames clinging to her fist—that was her first thought.

It's such a pity.

There was no frost.

All I can do is put on a show of fire and joy.

Overall, though, this skill is really good.

Just looking at it, you can feel a kind of beauty in the coexistence of mechanics and numerical values.

Lu Xiu hadn't expected to acquire such a skill in a dungeon like her Sifu's, where she had to fight bare-handed.

She was somewhat excited.

Keep reading.

[You have cleared the "Sifu" instance!]

[Instance Completion: 100%]

[Overall Customs Clearance Rating: SSS]

[Experience Points Gained: 1780, Survival Points: 4600]

[Item/Equipment Obtained: True Copper Coin]

[Special Rewards: Strength +4, Agility +3]

[First clear of the dungeon, obtained SSS rating reward: Neutralize]

"Is the Neutralize... the one I'm imagining?"

Lu Xiu saw the rewards listed after the SSS rating and clicked on it with some anticipation.

[Special Skill: Neutralize]

[Rating: SSS]

[Type: Passive/Rule-based]

[Ability Description: When unarmed, the user can ignore the difference in strength between the two parties and has the ability to deflect incoming unarmed strikes (including physical transformations, glove protection, and other limb extensions) by following their momentum. With just a very small movement to contact the point of force of the incoming limb, the user can deflect its kinetic energy along the deflection path, causing the attack to miss completely. At the same time, the opponent will lose their center of gravity due to the loss of full force, exposing their weakness.]

The stronger the incoming force, the greater the loss of balance the opponent will lose after being deflected.

For attacks carrying elemental energy, upon successful Neutralize, the elemental energy is deflected along with the kinetic energy and does not affect the user or any resulting aftereffect damage.

[Triggering conditions: You must be in an unarmed state (if you are holding a weapon in only one hand, the other hand can still perfectly trigger this judgment), and there must be a clear physical contact point that can be used for contact guidance. This skill will not work if the size of the incoming attack is far beyond the range that the human body can contact and guide, or if it is an area attack without a clear contact point.]

[Cooling: None]

[Consumable: None]

[Note: ----I can't touch her, I can't touch her at all.]

66

Looking at this newly created skill, which can be described as Perfect Deflect in unarmed combat, Lu Xiu immediately smiled.

I actually got a custom skill!

As expected.

The potential of Architect is far greater than we imagine!

Now, she has the ability to protect herself even when she's unarmed—even if an enemy activates some kind of "stop-warning zone" and prevents her from using weapons.

With her extraordinary abilities and Neutralize, she is now capable of putting up a fight.

What surprised Lu Xiu even more was that the event could be triggered even without a weapon in her other hand.

That's getting interesting.

You can absolutely use both hands!

The only downside is that the first skill cannot be attached to a weapon.

Otherwise, she would have to show Jian Li and Shen Nian what true joy in fire really is.

pity.

However, Lu Xiu was already very satisfied.

Next up are area-of-effect attacks and ranged attacks!

But there's no rush.

Lu Xiu summoned the System Panel, directly leaving the Construction Space and returning to her apartment.

At this time.

Most importantly, of course, is to try out the newly acquired Neutralize.

Lu Xiu stood in the living room of the apartment, looked around, then summoned the System Panel again. After thinking for a moment, she sent a message to Jian Li.

I also sent a message to Shen Nian.

Ask them if they have time.

While waiting for their reply...

Lu Xiu picked up the water glass on the coffee table, took a sip, and casually opened the forum.

The forum was exceptionally lively.

[I'm still reeling from that scene. Really fighting a superpowered enemy bare-handed? Roleplay Instance? How am I supposed to get through this?!]

[I don't know either.]

[What's even more intriguing is how Lu Xiu managed to do it—why was it so smooth, when it clearly seemed completely illogical?]

[Yeah, I even thought the dungeon was a bit too easy after watching it.]

[This is genius! What kind of person is Lu Xiu in real life? Why was she unknown before?]

[I'm going in to check! At worst, I'll die—I think Lu Xiu's fight was so easy, it couldn't possibly be that difficult. I really don't believe the dungeon has no safety net! Just brute force it with skill.]

[I think so too, but I don't dare to try. Let the warriors go first and see the rewards. If the rewards aren't good, then forget it—although I always say this, I can't help myself every time I see the rewards.]

[----Remembering the performance of the guild Strategy Group members from the last Outlast dungeon, I heard many of them are still struggling in the Outlast dungeon. Now there's a new dungeon, and it's the combat dungeon they're most familiar with, they must be very happy, right?]

[I'm so happy! At least I don't have to be helpless and crawl like a maggot in the Outlast room dungeon anymore. Even the hardest dungeons aren't as torturous as the Outlast!]

[No, can this kind of dungeon really be fun? I'd better check out the rewards first.]

[----]

Lu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief as she read the discussions on the forum.

It seems that no bad scenes were broadcast this time.

Oh, right.

award.

I was so focused on looking at my reward.

What do players get?

Lu Xiu looked at the posts on the forum, then reopened the results page to see the rewards players could get for clearing the dungeon.

Then he paused for a moment.

The reward was much better than she had expected.

Whether it's items or skills.

only----

When she Constructed Instance, she got so engrossed in playing it that she stopped paying much attention to the players' dungeon experience.

Of course, tutorials and guides are available.

The difficulty of the dungeons increases gradually overall.

Well, she actually felt that many of the enemy stats and siege battle sequences were a bit too intense after she designed them.

But in the end, almost nothing was adjusted.

Because her thinking at the time was very simple: with a little more practice, she was sure she could beat them, so she just kept practicing! She refused to believe it!

So this instance.

This should be a little difficult for players.

----never mind.

Lu Xiu thought about it for a moment, then decided not to bother making any changes.

----If it's modified, this reward might not be available anymore.

I have to re-verify my entry, which is troublesome.

She immediately brought up the System Panel, then found the instance management page and clicked on her Sifu's online option.

That's all for now.

With such good rewards, top players will figure out how to complete the game on their own.