This Was Easier Than the Game

Ying Huaixu had run this dungeon with newbies more times than he could count, so he finished setting up the formation in no time.

The instant the formation took shape, Ying Huaixu fixed his gaze on its center.

He was a little nervous now.

Ying Huaixu was terrified of unexpected changes, of this real world turning out to be different from the world of the game he had played.

Fortunately, his worries proved unfounded.

Once he had positioned the formation stones, the formation began to operate.

Streams of light flowed from the stones, converging at the center like snakes winding through the veins of the earth.

Finally, once enough light had gathered, the ground began to tremble.

Then a gateway rose straight out of the earth.

"It's the same!"

Excitement flashed in Ying Huaixu's eyes. Without another thought, he stepped through the gateway.

The hidden disciple of the Divine Firmament Sword Sect panicked.

"That guy is way too reckless!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly flew toward the gateway.

But just as he was about to enter, the gateway abruptly vanished, leaving the Divine Firmament Sword Sect disciple lunging into empty air!

"Huh?"

The Divine Firmament Sword Sect disciple was dumbfounded.

Then anxiety set in.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed. This was a task Senior Sister gave me. If anything happens to Ying Huaixu, she'll skin me alive when I get back..."

"Ying Huaixu, Ying Huaixu, how could you be so reckless!"

The disciple hurried to rearrange the stones Ying Huaixu had been fiddling with.

But no matter what he did, nothing happened.

The Divine Firmament Sword Sect disciple was utterly at a loss.

"Th-this... what am I supposed to do!"

The disciple paced in frantic circles.

Helpless, he could only send Lü Qingyi a full account of the situation.

Ying Huaixu hadn't given any of that much thought.

Having just entered the Yin Soul Secret Realm, he looked at the familiar, chilling courtyard and couldn't help laughing aloud.

"Yes, this is the scene! This is exactly how it felt! Nothing's changed, none of it! Hahahaha..."

Ying Huaixu's laughter naturally drew the attention of the servants in the courtyard.

All the servants turned, their eyes gleaming with an icy chill as they looked at him.

Ying Huaixu wasn't afraid of them at all.

This was familiar territory.

Without a word, Ying Huaixu drew his longsword.

Shhk, shhk, shhk...

Facing the servants, he unsheathed his sword and slaughtered them before they could fight back.

Although this was no longer a game, their reactions were still slow.

These ghosts still had sluggish reflexes.

To Ying Huaixu, killing trash mobs like these was as easy as slaughtering chickens!

As the longsword in his hand kept hacking away, the fight continued.

The vengeful souls were soon annihilated.

And Ying Huaixu was thoroughly enjoying himself now.

He really was gaining experience.

Each vengeful soul gave him 10 experience points.

In that short time, he had gained over a hundred.

Ying Huaixu charged onward, cutting down everything in his path.

At last, he fought his way to the main courtyard.

But then his heart began to flutter with dread.

It pounded wildly in his chest.

"What the fuck? This isn't right. I'm not scared!"

Ying Huaixu was a little speechless.

Then he finally understood why.

A cutscene!

"What the hell? Isn't this the real world? Why are there still cutscenes?"

Ying Huaixu felt rather helpless.

In the end, his feet slowly came to a halt three steps inside the main courtyard.

Immediately afterward, billows of thick red fog poured out of the main hall.

Then came a woman's shrill laughter.

"Ahahahaha... the scent of the living. I can sense the scent of the living!"

"After so many years, someone living has finally come here again! Ahahaha..."

The dense fog surged out again. Then Ying Huaixu saw a barefoot woman over two meters tall emerge from the red mist, dressed entirely in red, with a blood-burning red bridal veil over her head.

The woman held a sword in her left hand and a severed head in her right.

The head was perfectly preserved, as though its owner had only just died.

But its face was frozen in terror, and bloody tears still streamed from its eyes.

"Oh my, what a handsome young man. Husband, I can hardly resist making a cuckold of you!"

Tilting her head, the woman looked at Ying Huaixu and spoke with a wide grin.

After speaking, she lifted the head in her right hand.

At that moment, Ying Huaixu could finally move again.

He stretched his body a little and couldn't help muttering.

"Was that the game's influence, or a person's instinct to protect themselves from approaching danger?"

After all, logically speaking, a cutscene like this shouldn't have happened.

This wasn't a game anymore.

Yet everything he had just experienced felt as though he had genuinely sensed danger and become afraid, too scared to move forward.

It was like the human instinctive response to fear.

Of course, none of that mattered.

Now that he could move, there was only one thing to do.

He had to kill this boss as quickly as possible.

Ying Huaixu drew his longsword and charged straight at the woman towering over two meters tall.

"Hmm? You actually dare charge at me?"

The woman swung the longsword in her left hand at Ying Huaixu.

But a moment later, her eyes went blank.

A metallic clang rang out.

Her longsword nearly flew out of her hand, and her body lurched backward.

"What... the hell?"

A question mark appeared above the woman's head.

Then, immediately afterward, she felt pain shoot through her thigh.

After parrying the woman's attack, Ying Huaixu began unleashing a frenzied barrage of sword strikes.

He simply hacked away wildly.

He had to admit, this felt very different from playing the game.

In the game, the sensation of hitting monsters came entirely from the controller's vibrations.

Now, striking this boss with his longsword felt like chopping stone.

Although she was extremely hard, the boss could still be wounded.

By now, Ying Huaixu had left numerous small cuts on the female ghost, all oozing pitch-black blood.

"You dare! Die!"

The woman went berserk.

She swept her longsword horizontally at Ying Huaixu.

But Ying Huaixu dodged with a backflip. The instant he evaded the blow, a flash of blue light appeared around him, and his sword thrust into the woman's waist with blinding speed.

Bang!

The woman felt as though something had suddenly shattered.

Then she felt all her strength abruptly drain away, and she sank to her knees, still holding her sword.

Now Ying Huaixu was dumbfounded too.

"Holy shit, dodge counters work too! And judging by that, they deal pretty high damage!"

Ying Huaixu seized the opportunity again, charging forward and unleashing Flying Snow Sword over and over.

With no cooldown restriction, his repeated Flying Snow Sword attacks looked like streaks of white light darting through the female ghost's body.

He had to admit, it was pretty impressive to watch.

Meanwhile, the female ghost's eyes turned scarlet.

"Aah..."

The female ghost roared wildly.

Ying Huaixu swiftly retreated, backing away again and again to put more distance between them.

As a result, the female ghost's sonic attack didn't hurt him at all.

When the female ghost rose to her feet, her bridal veil had already flown off.

She swallowed the head in her right hand.

"Huh? Phase two already?"

Ying Huaixu frowned.

This seemed a little easier than it had been in the game!