This Wasn't Right

Ying Huaixu was utterly dumbfounded.

Bro, you were the NPC who died for this quest. You even unleashed your hidden power to take the boss head-on.

What the hell were you doing now?

A bunch of random mobs nearly smacked you to death?

He Xiuyuan looked rather embarrassed, too.

"Ahem... well, I saw you getting knocked around without taking a scratch, so I wanted to give it a try!"

Ying Huaixu stared at He Xiuyuan, speechless. "Have you ever heard of something called a talisman?"

He Xiuyuan froze.

When realization dawned, his face flushed red. "You tricked me!"

Ying Huaixu rolled his eyes. "I tricked you? Did I tell you to take those things head-on?"

He Xiuyuan blinked. "Oh, right!"

"Ah!"

Just then, a wolf suddenly charged toward them.

In their panic, the two Divine Firmament Sword Sect disciples shoved Ye Ningshuang out in front of them.

Ye Ningshuang screamed as she went flying toward the wolf.

The wolf, over five meters tall, had already opened its bloodstained maw.

Despair washed over Ye Ningshuang.

"Fuck!"

Ying Huaixu swore furiously.

Then he darted forward, a burst of icy energy erupting from the sword in his hand.

A flash of sword light swept across the wolf's neck.

Slash!

The wolf's head went flying.

With one arm around Ye Ningshuang's waist, Ying Huaixu landed off to the side.

He Xiuyuan was furious now, too.

"You two bastards!"

He Xiuyuan drew his sword and charged at the wolves pursuing them.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Ying Huaixu had to admit that this was exactly what he would expect from someone at the ninth layer of body tempering.

He Xiuyuan slaughtered those elite mobs like chickens.

His swordsmanship was impressive, too.

Almost every stroke beheaded a wolf.

And he was fast.

Ying Huaixu could barely make out his movements.

If this guy were a boss, could I really fucking beat him?

Ying Huaixu couldn't help asking himself.

At the same time, he noticed golden patterns appearing on He Xiuyuan's arms whenever he swung his sword.

The light those golden patterns gave off strengthened his sword strikes.

The game had never mentioned this.

With a god of war like He Xiuyuan here, the elite mobs were soon dealt with.

Of course, Ying Huaixu reaped a pretty good haul, too.

This time, he gained another 30,000 experience points.

It was dangerous, but the rewards really were good.

Yet their situation did not improve.

Thud!

With a heavy crash, a giant wolf ten meters tall suddenly landed, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The ruined temple around them shattered completely.

Even He Xiuyuan was sent flying by the terrifying shock wave.

But he drove his sword into the ground, carving a long furrow before finally coming to a stop.

Ying Huaixu fled backward with Ye Ningshuang in his arms, looking thoroughly bedraggled.

He stopped only after the shock wave subsided.

Ye Ningshuang's face had gone deathly pale.

She simply clung tightly to Ying Huaixu's collar.

He Xiuyuan stood up and laughed.

"Looks like a big one showed up! Perfect. We've spent so much time traveling lately that I was starting to feel rusty!"

He Xiuyuan looked at Ying Huaixu and Ye Ningshuang. "Junior brother, junior sister, stand back. Leave the rest to me!"

Ying Huaixu nodded.

Still carrying Ye Ningshuang, he retreated farther.

In the distant dust, a pair of scarlet eyes lit up first.

Then the enormous, snow-white wolf slowly emerged.

It was still chewing on something.

The other two Divine Firmament Sword Sect disciples assigned to this quest.

They had already met their end in the demon wolf's jaws.

Ying Huaixu felt nothing at the sight.

Neither did He Xiuyuan.

He had wanted to kill those two himself for shoving a fellow disciple into danger, but sect rules had kept him from acting. Their deaths suited him just fine.

He Xiuyuan wasted no words.

He raised his sword and charged.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

His sword clashed repeatedly with the demon wolf's claws, man and wolf locked in a fierce stalemate.

But the longer Ying Huaixu watched, the more wrong it seemed.

This wasn't right!

That demon wolf was an open-world boss. Ying Huaixu had fought it more times than he could count.

Its size might be different, but he still recognized its appearance.

That was a fucking Phantom Night Wolf.

With its fur still snow-white, it was only in its first phase.

The Phantom Night Wolf's first phase was easy to kill. Its second form was the difficult part.

Once it switched to Phantom Night Form, it could use divine abilities.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that He Xiuyuan was fighting its first phase to a standstill. How did that make sense?

He Xiuyuan, you were supposed to be the god of war for this stage of the quest!

He probably wasn't using his full strength yet!

That was the only reassurance Ying Huaixu could offer himself.

But as he kept watching, he went numb.

He Xiuyuan stopped holding back.

He unleashed his strongest sword technique, the Rainbow Sword, which he had trained to great accomplishment.

His sword blazed with golden light as he slashed relentlessly at the Phantom Night Wolf.

Although the Phantom Night Wolf was wounded, its injuries were only superficial.

Meanwhile, He Xiuyuan was visibly weakening.

Everything was wrong. Completely wrong!

Ying Huaixu's head buzzed.

The situation had strayed completely beyond anything he knew.

And He Xiuyuan had enraged the Phantom Night Wolf.

"Awoooo!"

The Phantom Night Wolf suddenly threw back its head and roared.

Waves of sound rippled outward from it in every direction.

He Xiuyuan was sent flying again.

He retreated to Ying Huaixu's side, his expression grim.

"Junior brother, get ready to run. I'm afraid this big fellow is beyond us!"

Ying Huaixu shook his head.

"We can't escape. Once it targets its prey, it won't stop until one side is dead. And in Phantom Night Form, it's faster than we are!"

He Xiuyuan had no time to ask how Ying Huaixu knew so much.

All he could do now was trust him.

"Then we'll have to call for reinforcements!"

With that, He Xiuyuan took out a Communication Talisman!

Ying Huaixu sighed.

"It's no use. Before reinforcements arrive, it'll have enough time to kill us many times over!"

He Xiuyuan was at a loss. "Then what do we do?"

Ying Huaixu looked at Ye Ningshuang, who was still in his arms. "Get down!"

"Oh, right!" Ye Ningshuang said.

Once she was down, Ying Huaixu took out his sword again. "We'll kill it together!"

He Xiuyuan froze.

"Can you handle it?"

Ying Huaixu shook his head. "Whether I can or not, this is our only option!"

Meanwhile, Ying Huaixu silently called up his panel and frantically clicked the + next to his cultivation with his mind.

"Ding, body tempering sixth layer (5000/37800), Heavenly Dipper Body Tempering Art reduces the experience cost by 1000 +"

"Ding, body tempering seventh layer (10000/32800), Bone-Strengthening Pill (100/300) +"

"Ding, body tempering eighth layer (20000/22800), Bone-Strengthening Pill (200/200) +"

"Ding, body tempering ninth layer (30000/2800), Meridian Opening Pill (10/0) +"

He Xiuyuan stared at Ying Huaixu as if he had seen a ghost.

The speed at which Ying Huaixu's cultivation rose was simply terrifying!

At that moment, he felt that Ying Huaixu was even more frightening than the Phantom Night Wolf before them!