Teaming Up with Lin Ruoxue, Slaying Demons One After Another

No more than a few breaths after Lu Yuan finished speaking, the two followed the heavy scent of blood and found their way to the ruins of a collapsed hunter's hut.

Before the grass lay the somewhat decayed corpse of a martial artist, being gnawed on by three or four gray rats.

"These beasts truly deserve to die."

Lin Ruoxue frowned.

"They're Phosphor Rats, First-Order Low-Grade. They live in groups, and their fangs carry corpse rot poison."

Lu Yuan had previously read the bestiary, so he knew something about such demons.

"Kill!"

The soft sword in Lin Ruoxue's hand gave a soft hum, and she charged straight at the Phosphor Rats.

"Squeak, squeak!!!"

Lin Ruoxue's movements alerted the Phosphor Rats as well.

The foremost Phosphor Rat had already raised its head at the sound. A vicious gleam flashed in its mung-bean-sized eyes. With a squeak, it led the other three in a fan-shaped charge at the pair.

This woman...

Lu Yuan had not expected Lin Ruoxue to be so impulsive.

However, judging from the behavior of this pack of Phosphor Rats,

they clearly had not developed intelligence. They had become First-Order Low-Grade demons purely through the growth of their fleshly bodies.

Unlike the Gray-Skinned Rat Demon Lu Yuan had killed before, which had already developed intelligence and could learn human speech.

Their future potential was as different as heaven and earth from these Phosphor Rats that cultivated on instinct alone.

"Watch out for their fangs."

The rat pack was incredibly fast, leaving several phosphorescent afterimages.

Lu Yuan hurriedly warned her.

"Ha!"

Lin Ruoxue gave a low shout, and her soft sword darted forth like a nimble serpent.

The sword light was fine, dense, and continuous.

It stabbed toward the eye socket of the Phosphor Rat on the far left.

Clang!!!

The Phosphor Rat reacted with astonishing speed, suddenly drawing back its neck. The blade skimmed past its scalp, shearing off several strands of rat fur glowing with phosphorescence.

The other two took the chance to circle around to Lin Ruoxue's side and rear, opening their mouths to bite at her calves.

"Left!"

Lu Yuan barked out a warning, the rusty blade in his hand slashing upward at an angle.

He deliberately restrained his Blood Baleful Blade Qi, using only the force of the Withered Wood Fist together with basic blade techniques.

His blade stance was steady. It did not seem fast, yet it struck after and arrived first, the back of the blade smashing heavily into the waists and bellies of the two Phosphor Rats.

Squeak!

With two piercing cries, the Phosphor Rats flew out as though struck by heavy hammers, crashing into broken logs. Their bones shattered, and they died on the spot.

A wisp of nearly imperceptible Blood Baleful Qi

was absorbed into the rusty blade.

In that brief delay, Lin Ruoxue had already entangled the remaining two.

With a flick of her soft sword, she formed a flower of sword light, instantly sealing off the Phosphor Rats' room to maneuver.

Two soft pops sounded. Her sword tip precisely pierced through the throats of the two rat demons, and foul-smelling black blood sprayed out, but she nimbly turned aside and avoided it all.

The four rat corpses lay sprawled across the ground, their phosphorescence gradually fading.

Lin Ruoxue picked out the Demon Cores.

Two for each of them.

[ Ding! Killed First-Order Low-Grade Phosphor Rat *2. Obtained 100 experience points. ]

The system prompt rang out.

Lu Yuan felt somewhat vexed.

Originally, all four had been his. He had wasted the experience from two Phosphor Rats for nothing.

"Senior Brother Lu, your reactions are so quick. Could it be that before becoming Master Chen's disciple,"

"you had another inheritance and began cultivating long ago?"

Lin Ruoxue's cool eyes turned toward Lu Yuan.

She felt that her martial talent was already outstanding enough.

But that was only with the support of her Lineage's great quantities of silver and medicinal herbs.

Moreover, she had deliberately refrained from breaking through too quickly, laying a solid foundation.

Only then could she, with the strength of the First-Rank Lower Realm,

slay Phosphor Rats so easily.

Yet Lu Yuan had previously withstood Xiang Cang, a Second-Rank Lower Martial Artist, head-on without losing.

And now, he was killing First-Order Low-Grade demons with such ease as well.

Lin Ruoxue was now beginning to suspect that Lu Yuan might be some prodigy cultivated by a major force within the Great Harvest Dynasty.

"Junior Sister Lin, don't joke around. My studies are simply broad and mixed, and I've learned many cultivation methods and martial techniques."

"I have some advantages in the early stages, but later on, I definitely won't be able to compare with people like you."

Lu Yuan did not want to explain too much.

Could he possibly say that his former master was the system?

"Junior Sister, do you want this rat meat?"

Lu Yuan used his blade to poke at the corpses of the four slain Phosphor Rats.

"Senior Brother Lu, if you like it, keep it and eat it yourself!"

Lin Ruoxue wrinkled her delicate nose and cast a somewhat disgusted glance at the demon corpses.

Then she looked Lu Yuan up and down.

Her expression seemed to say that his tastes were truly heavy.

"Forget it. I'm not hungry right now!"

These Phosphor Rats had eaten rotting corpses.

Lu Yuan was afraid of being poisoned.

Otherwise, roasted rat meat should taste quite good.

Lu Yuan cut off the tails of the four Phosphor Rats as proof.

Then he and Lin Ruoxue continued deeper into the dense forest.

Hiss!

Just as they passed through a patch of low-lying grass, an extremely faint sound of scales rubbing together came from within.

Lu Yuan halted.

"Don't step on it!!!"

"It's a Venom-Pattern Viper."

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened as he warned her.

The moment his words fell,

a purple-black shadow shot out of the grass like lightning. Its forked tongue was crimson as blood, and its venomous fangs gleamed coldly.

It lunged directly at the spot where Lin Ruoxue had just placed her foot.

"Ah!"

Lin Ruoxue cried out softly.

She quickly sprang back, the snake's fangs brushing past the edge of her foot.

"Senior Brother Lu, why didn't you pull me back?"

Lin Ruoxue stood still, her face pale.

A trace of anger showed in her cool eyes.

"This... Junior Sister Lin, didn't I tell you before?"

"My strange illness means I can't touch women."

Lu Yuan explained.

And at that very moment, the First-Order Low-Grade Venom-Pattern Viper

lunged at the two of them, snapping its jaws.

"Beast!"

Lin Ruoxue was both furious and annoyed.

She twisted her wrist, lashing her soft sword out like a whip.

But the Venom-Pattern Viper was nimble. It made an eerie twist in midair, actually evading the blade, then opened its mouth and spat a stream of inky green venom straight at Lin Ruoxue's face.

Lin Ruoxue hurriedly held her sword horizontally before herself.

The venom splashed across the blade.

It gave off a sizzling corrosive sound, sending up a puff of white smoke.

Just as the Venom-Pattern Viper had exhausted its old force and had yet to generate new force,

Lin Ruoxue prepared to cut off its head with a single strike.

"Watch out, Junior Sister."

How could Lu Yuan let Lin Ruoxue take this opportunity from him?

The rusty blade flashed.

Cold light fell along the Venom-Pattern Viper's vital point, seven inches from its head.

With a plop, the snake's head rolled away.

Its body twisted and convulsed a few times before falling still.

"Senior Brother Lu, you really do care about me quite a lot!"

"Of course. As your senior brother, naturally I must protect my junior sister."

"But why do I feel that Senior Brother Lu is rushing to steal demon kills?"

Lin Ruoxue did not quite understand this.

Rushing to kill demons—could it somehow earn an extra share of credit?

That made no sense!

"Junior Sister, you jest. If you want this Demon Core, you may have it."

Lu Yuan flicked out the Venom-Pattern Viper's Demon Core with the tip of his blade and tossed it to Lin Ruoxue.

This sort of low-grade Demon Core was better than nothing to him.

It was not very useful.

What mattered most was the experience gained from slaying demons.

[ Ding! Killed First-Order Low-Grade demon Venom-Pattern Viper. Obtained 50 experience points. ]

The system's voice rang out.

Looking at the panel, where his experience had risen to 560 points,

Lu Yuan was somewhat dissatisfied.

"This is still far too slow!"

Lu Yuan muttered.

"We need to pick up the pace. Otherwise, once night falls, the mountains will become even more dangerous."

After saying that, Lu Yuan quickened his pace and headed deeper within.