Sword Heart Clarity

Xu Nian: [Sure! Once I finish this job, I'll come hang out with you.]

Lin Feng: Why did she remind me of an old general onstage, with death flags sticking out all over her back?

Lin Feng: [Don't say stuff like that, sis.]

He held his phone sideways, photographed the hotpot, and sent it.

[Come to Fog City and I'll treat you to hotpot.]

Xu Nian: [Now I'm hungry.]

Xu Nian: [All right, you're dismissed. Daddy needs to rest.]

She tossed aside her phone and enjoyed a lovely sleep.

It had been a while since she'd had a soft mattress to sleep on. If not for Lin Feng, she would have fallen asleep long ago.

"King of lame jokes."

She muttered that just before falling asleep.

With their conversation over, Lin Feng put down his phone. He had no intention of immediately catching a flight to Western Hunan.

He knew the limits of his strength.

From what Xu Nian had revealed, this was a salvage excavation, with local officials, guides, and security personnel involved, not to mention the importance the relevant authorities attached to it.

Unless a Blood God really had appeared deep in the mountains of Western Hunan, things should be fine.

It wasn't as though he truly had strength approaching the eighth rank.

He was still a noob struggling to improve!

He might look strong now, but deep in the wilderness, he still wouldn't cut it.

Never mind whether he could take down a tiger with a sliding tackle.

Whether he could kill two wild boars was still an open question.

After finishing his hotpot, Lin Feng went home, picked up his game console, and booked a room at a nearby hotel.

Nighttime was when cockroaches were most active.

He placed gel bait in every corner of his room and took away all the household trash.

Now he just had to wait for it to work.

The instructions said the cockroach poison would take effect in about a week.

He planned to sleep elsewhere at night and return during the day.

Lin Feng set an alarm and went straight to sleep. At six the next morning, he wolfed down a bite of breakfast and entered the game right on time.

He'd never been this eager to attend class.

Three lives, a one-hour cooldown, and no reward for clearing the game.

Lin Feng opened his eyes and felt a breeze brush his face.

He entered the room with the shrine, waiting for Peng Tianli to mock him.

But after he walked in, Peng Tianli remained silent for a long time, studying the young Daoist whose presence was as sharp as an awl piercing through a pouch.

His face was full of wariness.

This man would be difficult to deal with.

The sallow-faced Hundred-Household Officer Zhu also stared in surprise at Daoist Lin as he entered.

Even in the army, he had never seen a man with such a keen edge.

A veteran of a hundred battles was not the same as a swordsman.

"What fierce sword intent."

Liao Chi was even more astonished. Three qualities now mingled in Lin Feng: the sharpness of sword intent, the uncanny aura of Wild Fox Zen, and the righteous air of Dragon-Tiger Qi.

He looked like a sinister Daoist.

Now Liao Chi had even more to ponder.

Even Third Lady gave Lin Feng an extra glance.

"Hey, Daoist from the Central Plains."

Only after a while did Peng Tianli speak. "Everyone's here. Could you bring out the map?"

His tone was quite polite, almost a request.

Lin Feng raised a hand and gestured toward the mountain behind the village.

"Come with me to get it."

He felt as though he was about to grasp something through actual combat. During his first three lives, he had defended, but the sword was not merely for defense.

Sabers and swords were different. A saber was an instrument of slaughter; a sword was both a weapon and a ceremonial implement.

A person's fighting style reflected who they were.

Lin Feng chose the path of advance.

He had never been someone who liked admitting defeat.

Press forward!

Attack in place of defense.

Peng Tianli and Liao Chi exchanged a glance. Hundred-Household Officer Zhu looked as though he wanted to say something, but when Lin Feng walked out, he followed.

Lin Feng had already stepped through the Shrine's doorway. Before leaving, he told the guide to check the surrounding stilt houses for lamp oil.

The guide's mouth went dry. My dear Daoist, do you think this is your capital?

Where would lamp oil come from in this impoverished backwater?

But he didn't dare say it aloud and went off to look.

After a delay of just over five minutes, Hundred-Household Officer Zhu caught Lin Feng by the arm.

"Something inside is watching us."

Lin Feng vaguely sensed it too. It was a strange sensation, like a fine layer of prickling pain across his skin. This was the first time he had ever experienced anything so uncanny.

He raised his arm and examined the fine hairs on it.

They weren't standing on end. This sensation existed on another level.

Was this Danger Perception?

During the previous fights, danger had surrounded him on every side, so he hadn't noticed anything like this.

When his whole body tingled, it was as good as not tingling at all.

"I know. Let's go in first.

"There are Worm Thralls inside. They spew bugs when you kill them, so keep your distance.

"You can also wait outside the village while I fetch the map.

"If I make it back alive, I'll give it to you."

Peng Tianli's brow knitted tightly at those words. He stirred his blood and qi, a Striped Tiger appearing on his chest, and held his saber ready, putting on a show.

"Hey, how could we let you go in alone?"

Apparently, he didn't trust Lin Feng and wanted to go in with him.

Third Lady released her venomous insects. Liao Chi said nothing either, taking out his Prayer Wheel.

Their intentions were clear.

It wasn't simply a case of good advice failing to save those bent on getting themselves killed.

Everyone had their own mission. Lin Feng understood.

"Then let's go in together. Watch out for the Worm Thralls. It's best not to pierce them directly with a sharp weapon. Gu Worms will emerge from the wounds."

With that final warning, Lin Feng entered. Worm Thralls lunged out of the deep pool.

His gaze remained as still as an ancient well.

His sword shot out like a dragon. He dodged left and right, his feet swift as the wind—thrusting, flicking upward, evading. His heart was the sword's heart, his eyes the sword's eyes.

He paid no attention to the people behind him or anything else. Lin Feng's sword was just like him: though he couldn't see behind himself, he always evaded the dangers there with ease, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. Though he hadn't seen the gu insects spraying out, he still dodged them calmly.

It was rather like passing through a field of flowers without a single leaf clinging to him. He didn't stay in place. There was far more room here than on the second floor of the stilt house, and far more space to maneuver. Lin Feng moved like a nimble cat, so swiftly that he stirred a gust of wind.

Like a wisp of smoke.

Like an assassin.

He didn't count how many Worm Thralls he killed. Fighting as he moved, he headed up the mountain, extending his sword, delivering one strike, then another.

There were no stray thoughts. The sword in his hand seemed to breathe.

His own breathing pulsed in time with the sword.

In his mind, internal sword arts and external sword arts no longer mattered.

For one instant, Lin Feng felt as though he had entered the Inner Breath Realm. He wasn't breathing through his nose or mouth. His breath seemed to circulate within him, like a baby in amniotic fluid. With this breathing, even the exhaustion from his earlier fighting was swept away.

As he noticed this, Lin Feng's thoughts briefly faltered, and distractions arose.

His heart lost its composure, and his sword fell into disorder. Exhaustion surged back, leaving his entire body sore and weak.

In a moment of carelessness, his leg buckled and his sword moved a beat too slowly. A Worm Thrall pounced on him, opened its mouth, and spat out a mass of Red-Line Worms, covering his head and face. The Red-Line Worms engulfed Lin Feng.

[Player has died. Game over.]

[You have two lives remaining. Please choose:]

[Revive in place and continue playing.]

[Restart from the beginning.]

[Player has independently comprehended a passive skill.]

[Reinforcing skill.]

[Passive skill: Sword Heart Clarity]

[Sword Heart Clarity: The person is the sword's heart, and the sword is the person's eyes. Your combat skills have become part of your daily life. You can sense danger more clearly, as well as information ordinary people cannot perceive.]

[Sword Heart Clarity: Perception-type passive skill. Independently comprehended by the player. Permanently fixed.]

[This skill cannot be upgraded using Fortune.]