Lu Ze's gaze was calm as he abruptly drew the Emerald Water Sword with his right hand.
In that instant, the meager Dou Qi within him surged madly into the blade along an extremely obscure and incomprehensible meridian route.
"Hiss!"
A wisp of sword Qi as fine as gossamer slipped from the sword's tip.
The sword Qi traced an incredible arc through the dim mine tunnel, lightly sweeping past the three Rock Rats at the front.
"Pfft! Shhk! Shhk!"
The three Rock Rats' hard stone armor, which even blades could barely scratch, met the sword Qi.
And was smoothly cleaved in two, the cuts as polished as mirrors, with even the blood taking a moment before it gushed out.
The Grass Character Sword Art's ultimate sharpness displayed spine-chilling killing power in this narrow mine tunnel.
The remaining Rock Rats were terrified by this horrifying sight, but driven by their bestial instincts, they still lunged forward without fear of death.
Lu Ze followed strange footwork, his figure weaving through the mine tunnel like a phantom, without needing to swing his sword over and over.
The sword Qi pouring from the Grass Character Sword Art was like the breeze that was everywhere in the air.
Lu Ze heard only incessant hissing. There were no fierce clashes of Dou Qi, only a one-sided slaughter.
In less than half an incense stick's time, the dozen or so Rock-Iron Armored Rock Rats had all become cold corpses.
Every Rock Rat's head had been precisely sliced open.
Lu Ze sheathed his sword and crouched down, deftly opening the Rock Rats' heads and picking out a dozen or so magic cores that glowed an earthy yellow.
"So these are peak first-rank Gravity Magic Cores. Sixteen whole cores-enough to extrapolate [Suction Palm]."
He found a dry cave, sat cross-legged, and held the magic cores in his hands, beginning to absorb the gravity origin within them.
As the origin entered his body, the panel began flashing wildly.
"System, extrapolate!"
[Absorbing gravity origin.] [Extrapolation prerequisites met. Beginning cross-dimensional extrapolation.] [Extrapolation progress: 10%, 30%, 50%...]
That vast, incomparable torrent of information once again flooded Lu Ze's mind: ultimate insights into gravity, suppression, and spatial distortion.
Yet when the progress bar reached 50%, it suddenly stalled.
[Warning: insufficient energy. Extrapolation paused. Current progress: 50%. Absorb more high-grade earth-attribute gravity energy or undergo high-intensity combat to complete the final extrapolation.]
Has it stalled?
Lu Ze opened his eyes, unsurprised.
A great cross-dimensional divine ability like this could not possibly be obtained for free in its entirety in one go.
The earlier Grass Character Sword Art had been more like a beginner's gift package. Reaching 50% had already brought him to the threshold, and a faint heaviness in his palm seemed capable of warping the air.
Just as he was about to rise and leave, a flurry of disorderly footsteps and fluctuations of Dou Qi suddenly came from outside the mine tunnel.
"Brother Xiao Ning, the C-Class Abandoned Mine Tunnel is just ahead."
Jia Lie Shan's cold voice rang out at the tunnel entrance.
"That cross-legged piece of trash called Lu Ze is inside.
"Go in and slaughter him, and I, Jia Lie Shan, will owe you a favor.
"Remember, do it cleanly. Leave no traces."
"Don't worry, Young Master Jia Lie," an arrogant voice replied with a sneer.
"He's just a Two-Star Dou Zhe. He's probably already wet his pants from the magical beasts in there, hasn't he? I, Xiao Ning, am a Three-Star Dou Zhe. Killing him will be as easy as turning over my hand."
Deep in the mine tunnel, Lu Ze brushed the dust off himself and slowly stood up.
He watched the firelight spilling through the tunnel ahead and the Xiao Clan thugs swaggering toward him with raised torches as they searched. His right hand slowly rose and closed around the Emerald Water Sword's hilt.
In the dim mine tunnel, Xiao Ning led five Xiao Clan thugs inward, impatiently hacking at the moss on the rock walls with his sword as he walked.
"Damn it, this place is a dump. Is that brat Jia Lie Shan playing us? That piece of trash probably ended up in a magical beast's stomach ages ago."
Before Xiao Ning could finish, his footsteps abruptly stopped.
At the edge of the torchlight, a youth in coarse hemp clothing stood quietly at a fork, blocking their way.
A longsword inlaid with a blue gemstone hung at the youth's waist. His gaze was calm, like a pool of stagnant water.
"Lu Ze?" Xiao Ning's eyes widened, first in astonishment, then with scornful contempt appearing on his face.
Just a measly Two-Star Dou Zhe, putting on such a fucking act!
"You little bastard, you're pretty hard to kill! You actually weren't eaten by magical beasts!" Xiao Ning sneered, unleashing his Three-Star Dou Zhe Dou Qi without reservation.
He twirled the Mysterious Tier longsword in his hand, then thrust it straight at Lu Ze's face with a sharp whistle through the air.
"Die!"
Facing this powerful, heavy strike, Lu Ze did not retreat. He did not even blink.
He simply raised his right hand, gripped the Emerald Water Sword, and drew it with a backhand motion.
Lu Ze's immense Dou Qi erupted, more than half consumed in an instant.
Yet after the Dou Qi surged into the Emerald Water Sword, it made no sound at all, as though the Emerald Water Sword remained just an ordinary Yellow Tier longsword, exactly as before.
Facing a Three-Star Dou Zhe, you still dare to be this presumptuous!
Seeing Lu Ze so calm only enraged Xiao Ning further.
Yet at the very instant he was about to hack Lu Ze to pieces,
"Hiss!"
Xiao Ning suddenly felt the entire world fall silent.
He heard only the sound of the Emerald Water Sword slicing through the air and saw his longsword breaking apart.
In the dim mine tunnel, a nearly imperceptible transparent thread seemed to pass soundlessly through the air.
Xiao Ning's sneer froze on his face.
The instant his longsword touched that thread, it was cut in two as though made of paper, its severed surfaces as smooth as mirrors, without even the faintest crisp sound of shattering metal.
Immediately afterward, his cloth armor and his neck also felt that slight chill.
The world fell silent. With a thud, Xiao Ning dropped stiffly to his knees, his eyes wide open, extreme disbelief lingering in his pupils. Only then did blood suddenly gush from the line across his neck.
He had only just come within half a meter of Lu Ze.
The remaining five Xiao Clan thugs were frightened out of their wits and turned to flee.
Yet the sword Qi formed by the Grass Character Sword Art was like a net cast across heaven and earth.
Almost imperceptible, without a single gap.
"Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!" Three more faint streaks of sword Qi flashed past, and five heads flew into the air. Blood stained the tunnel's rock walls red and splashed onto the moss.
Lu Ze sheathed his sword, his expression unchanged.
Just then, the panel in his mind suddenly began vibrating wildly.
[Killed Three-Star Xiao Ning. Plundered earth-attribute Dou Qi and blood essence origin.] [Killed One-Star Dou Zhe ×2, Two-Star Dou Zhe ×3. Plundered trace amounts of origin.] [Detected an influx of highly concentrated earth-attribute origin.] [Resuming extrapolation.] [Extrapolation progress: 50%, 70%, 90%, 99%...]
Deep in the mine tunnel, Lu Ze watched the extrapolation progress bar before him gradually fill, sensing the gravitational presence within the surrounding rock strata growing restless from the slaughter.
He raised his head and looked toward the faint daylight filtering in from outside the mine tunnel.
"Jia Lie Shan, oh, Jia Lie Shan. This generous gift you sent has really done me a huge favor."
Before you continue