The next day...
Ying Huaixu got up early, just as the sky began to brighten.
That was something Ying Huaixu hadn't expected.
After coming to this game world, his sleep schedule had actually become normal.
What surprised Ying Huaixu even more was that Ye Ningshuang had gotten up earlier than he had.
She had already prepared breakfast.
Lean pork congee and two salted duck eggs.
In this era, that was an exceedingly luxurious breakfast.
Ying Huaixu didn't stand on ceremony and dug right in.
He had to admit-
Ye Ningshuang really could cook. Her lean pork congee was delicious.
And her character model was gorgeous, too.
Even dressed as a village girl, she couldn't hide her beauty or her figure.
Ying Huaixu couldn't help mentally cursing the game designers and eighteen generations of their ancestors.
Such a gentle, virtuous heroine, and they had fucking paired her off with that Pure Yang Sword Immortal in the end. It had disgusted the players so badly that nearly all of them had quit.
If the game hadn't become more than just a game in its later stages-a business as well-it probably wouldn't have stayed afloat.
Still, although this was the game world he knew, he wasn't actually playing a game.
Could some supposedly irreversible events be changed?
But Ying Huaixu quickly dismissed that thought.
If I really try to change Ye Ningshuang's fate now, or even win her over ahead of time...
What if the main storyline never triggers?
Or what if I think I've already won her over, only for everything to turn around again once the Pure Yang Sword Immortal appears?
Wouldn't that mean swallowing the same shit all over again?
Forget it. I'll stick to my original plan.
I'll just skirt the edges, gain experience, get stronger, and stay alive. That's what really matters.
With that in mind, Ying Huaixu took out a banknote worth a hundred taels of silver.
"Take this. For one thing, I can't let you pay for my breakfast. For another, I'm rather particular about food, so I'll probably be troubling you quite a bit from now on. If you won't accept it, I won't feel right staying here any longer!"
Ying Huaixu left no room for refusal.
Ye Ningshuang awkwardly accepted the banknote, at a loss for what to do.
Once Ying Huaixu finished eating, he got up and left.
"I'm going out for a stroll!"
Ye Ningshuang nodded. "Mm..."
After Ying Huaixu left, Ye Ningshuang stared at the banknote in her hand for a long time.
Looking at the map of Peaceful Town, Ying Huaixu finally felt considerably reassured.
The daily quests refreshed normally!
Ying Huaixu followed the map toward the exclamation mark.
Before long, he spotted a burly man working at a forge.
Ying Huaixu went straight over and asked, "Hey, brother, need a hand with anything?"
The blacksmith looked up, saw Ying Huaixu, and immediately broke into a broad smile.
"Ah, our young hero! Oh, could you please fetch me a small hammer?"
Ying Huaixu was speechless.
Come on, man.
The little hammer is two steps away. You could reach out and grab it yourself. You need my help?
What kind of fucking overgrown baby are you?
Still, Ying Huaixu was more than happy to oblige.
An overgrown baby it is, then. I'm getting experience either way.
After handing over the small hammer, Ying Huaixu completed today's daily quest.
He received another 300 experience.
But that was all he got. There was no extra reward like the one Doctor Li had given him.
Ying Huaixu didn't mind.
As long as he got experience, that was enough.
After completing his daily quest, Ying Huaixu went to the martial arts hall in Peaceful Town and bought a mundane sword technique manual.
It cost him a full five taels of silver.
Now that he had confirmed the daily quests refreshed normally, Ying Huaixu planned to give his current strength a small boost.
He also wanted to experiment and see whether the uses of experience had changed at all.
Once he got the sword technique manual, Ying Huaixu hurriedly opened it for a look.
Ding! Mortal-grade sword technique detected: Flying Snow Sword. Learn it?
Ying Huaixu learned it without a second thought.
The next instant, Ying Huaixu saw a new icon appear in his skill bar.
"Holy shit!"
Ying Huaixu was stunned.
This was a little too overpowered.
This was only a mundane sword technique. Once he joined a sect, he would be learning spells and supernatural abilities.
Wouldn't I be able to learn those instantly, too?
Most importantly, after learning the technique, he seemed to know instinctively how to use it.
Ying Huaixu unequipped Flying Snow Sword from his skill bar and moved it into his skill inventory, but that didn't erase his knowledge of the technique.
It was just that when he tried using it, he was like a beginner taking his first faltering steps.
Once he equipped it in his skill bar again, he could perform it smoothly, without the slightest hitch.
It was as though he had practiced it countless times.
And the most important thing of all was this.
There was no cooldown.
As long as he had enough mana, he could unleash it nonstop!
"This is ridiculous!"
In the later stages of the game, many skills had absurdly long cooldowns. When Ying Huaixu led people through raids, he had desperately wished he could use a no-cooldown cheat.
He hadn't expected that being transported into the game world would actually grant his wish.
Since that feature worked, Ying Huaixu next began testing how experience could be used.
Ying Huaixu noticed an upward arrow on Flying Snow Sword and clicked its icon with a thought.
Immediately, the Flying Snow Sword panel expanded.
Advance skill to minor mastery (300/2200)
Ying Huaixu clicked to advance it.
A flash of golden light swept past.
Flying Snow Sword reached minor mastery.
One Flying Snow strike became two.
"Good, good, good! This works normally, too!"
Ying Huaixu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But then, Ying Huaixu noticed that one of his health-restoring pills had been used automatically.
"Well... damn. Did my maximum health increase?"
Ying Huaixu was itching with curiosity.
He really wanted to know what his starting health was like now.
But he was a real person now, so he had neither a health bar nor a mana bar.
An increase in health presumably meant an improvement in his physical condition.
Still, this was another pleasant discovery.
Namely, what the health-restoring pills could do.
Freed from the game's rules, these things could do more than heal injuries. They could even restore his body to good health!
But why am I still so hungry?
"I can't take it anymore. I need food, now!"
Ying Huaixu hurried toward Peaceful Town's restaurant.
Then he declared with lavish confidence, "Bring me one of everything!"
Who didn't know Ying Huaixu by now?
Especially since everyone knew he had money to spare.
The proprietor immediately smiled and said,
"Coming right up! Just sit tight, young hero!"
Then Ying Huaixu proceeded to demonstrate what it meant to eat like a reincarnated starving ghost.
But no one laughed at Ying Huaixu.
In their eyes, Ying Huaixu was a martial artist. A big appetite was perfectly normal.
Those martial artists at the Ping'an Martial Arts Hall ate by the bucketful.
In fact, the more Ying Huaixu ate, the more the people of Peaceful Town respected him.
Because the more he ate, the stronger he must be.
Watching Ying Huaixu's appetite, even Hall Master Zhao of the Ping'an Martial Arts Hall couldn't help feeling a little envious.
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