Chapter 104 - 104: 104, (Unknown Person)
“Three breaths?” After hearing Elder E’s words, Lu Xun couldn’t help but be stunned.
Under normal circumstances, a person breathes 16-20 times per minute, which means that his second senior sister had only used about 10 seconds to break through three successive stages.
How did she do it!?
Noticing Lu Xun’s confusion, Elder E let out a creepy laugh, opening his long crocodile mouth to speak:
“Boy, are you curious about how your second senior sister managed to break through in such a short time?”
Lu Xun nodded in agreement.
Instead of answering directly, Elder E asked, “Did you break the main sword in the third stage?”
Lu Xun’s face changed slightly before he let out a forced laugh, visibly embarrassed.
The main sword looked so fierce, who knew it was so fragile.
“You won’t be asked to compensate for it. The creator of ‘Turtle’s Longevity’ was not only a master of formations but also a grandmaster of artifact refining.
We don’t lack magical artifacts here, there are plenty of replacements in the
warehouse,” Elder E said.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Lu Xun again and laughed in a peculiar way, “Furthermore, compared to your second senior sister, your little destruction is nothing.”
“Elder E, what do you mean by…” Lu Xun asked.
“The three stages you see now have been repaired.” Elder E said, “Your second senior sister only waved her sword thrice, and after those three strikes, the three stages were left unusable.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xun’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
Could this be the legendary “True Breakthrough”!?
However, he quickly realized something was off. According to Elder E, his second senior sister had made three sword attacks. But wasn’t it a rule that one couldn’t bring their own magical weapons into ‘Turtle’s Longevity’?
He voiced his doubts to Elder E, who gave him a complicated look before asking, “Didn’t you notice that the first step in all three stages involved aiming a sword at you?”
Elder E continued, “Usually, challengers pick up and use that sword… Only you did not.”
Hearing this, Lu Xun couldn’t help but laugh again.
After some more teasing with Elder E, Lu Xun left ‘Turtle’s Longevity’ with Ji Li.
The entrance and exit were the same, an old, dried-up well.
You had to jump into the well to enter and sprung out from the bottom of the well to exit.
Thankfully, the alley was deserted – not a soul, not even a stray cat around. Otherwise, there was a chance somebody would have gotten scared, believing they’d encountered a well demon.
When there were many people around, Ji Li obediently followed behind Lu Xun due to the social hierarchy but when they were alone, she plucked up the courage to walk a little faster, trailing only half a step behind him.
She wished she could walk side by side with him, perhaps even lean into him, but her cheeks were not thick enough for that yet. Her heart had intentions, but her courage wasn’t quite there yet.
If Yan Bao were here, she would have advised Ji Li, “You need great courage to become eligible for maternity leave!”
Maybe that was the reason why she, as a player, managed to woo an NPC – of all gender, a female one. She might be wondering when she could start her maternity leave.
By the time they returned to the Lai Fu Restaurant, night had fallen.
Murong Yan, that plump and simple girl, was practicing her sword dance under the moonlight.
Her aptitude wasn’t outstanding among the Demon Sect, but she compensated for it with diligence.
Don’t be fooled by her chubbiness; she was truly devoted to her cultivation.
Little Mute, Lin Chan, was sitting on the steps, her thin legs put together, arms resting on her knees, with her palms supporting her cheeks.
She was watching Murong Yan practice sword. Given her ‘Natural Sword Embryo’ talent, she could remember the moves after seeing just once.
Pity that simply remembering the moves was not enough to master the sword techniques. How to channel the spiritual energy inside when using a sword technique was the key.
Seeing beautiful master has returned, Lin Chan quickly stood up and made her way over.
She was a polite child. If her master was standing, she shouldn’t be seated.
“Have you been cultivating well today?” Lu Xun reached out and ruffled her hair.
Ji Li, on the other hand, looked on in envy. She, too, wanted to be ruffled.
Lin Chan lightly nodded her head. She was quite addicted to cultivation because it alleviated her strange disease, which not only secured her a good sleep but also revitalized her whole spirit.
Seeing that Little Mute seemed to have something to say, Lu Xun extended his hand with a smile.
With her fingertip on his palm, she communicated her query to him – if he would like to have a meal.
“Alright, do let the kitchen know.” Lu Xun replied with a chuckle.
Upon hearing this, Lin Chan immediately ran towards the back kitchen.
At this moment, Ji Li was very annoyed, lamenting that she wasn’t mute. If she was, she could also write words in Lu Xun’s palm. Rounding it up quite liberally, it was almost like holding hands! She was jealous, oh how she was jealous!
Should she mute herself?
After eating some food with Ji Li, Lu Xun said to those present, “We’ll set off for the sect tomorrow.”
Now that the beta test issue had been resolved and the instance had been completed, the only thing left undone was the bounty on Three Thousand Mountains, but there was no rush for that.
What he was more anxious about now was returning to the Demon Sect to learn new cultivation techniques!
Lu Xun still had over 20,000 experience points now, but he couldn’t level up. It was indeed a bit troublesome.
After reaching the Initial Realm, he could fly with the aid of objects. Whether flying on a sword sheath or crafting a specific Flying Magical Treasure, either option was a good choice.
Unfortunately, among the four of them, only Murong Yan could fly, and her meagre Swan Feather Sword was already struggling to carry her. If it had to carry the three of them, it would probably just commit suicide on the spot, giving them all a good show.
Therefore, they needed to acquire a carriage to return to the Demon Sect, making their journey slow and probably taking several days on the road.
The next day, Ji Li and Murong Yan managed to obtain a carriage. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was absolutely comfortable. The group then prepared to return to the sect.
Lin Chan, who was born and raised in Qingling City and had seldom left it in her lifetime, was suddenly leaving her hometown. She couldn’t help but look outside through the carriage window.
With her current disposition, going to a completely unfamiliar place was slightly nerve-wracking and scary.
Fortunately, the presence of her master beside her gave her a great sense of security. She felt much more at ease when Lu Xun was around.
The words Lu Xun said to her before they left still warmed her heart. Lu Xun had said to her, “Let’s go home with your master.”
Throughout the journey, Murong Yan mostly acted as the coachman.
Ji Li had just emitted from the Turtle’s Longevity, and needed to meditate to digest her insights gained from the challenge, so she was in a quasi-retreat state inside the carriage.
Lin Chan was also diligently cultivating. Firstly, she didn’t want to disappoint her master, and secondly, it was beneficial for her health. To her, the desire to become stronger was slightly lacking.
Instead, Lu Xun, with nothing to do, would scroll through the forums and read posts from the troll gamers.
After all, he could no longer gain experience by practicing the Qi Consumption Technique.
Even though the beta test had ended and there was still some time before the official release, the forum remained bustling. Each day, there were a large number of netizens posting numerous oddball threads to attract attention.
Can you believe that Lu Xun was reading online novels on the forum?
The troll author wrote too slowly, each chapter was too short, and he liked to leave cliffhangers too much. Lu Xun sometimes wished he knew the author’s in-game ID so he could kill him every time he saw him and force him to log off!
Go write your novel! What you’ve written so far is simply not enough, understand?
To his pleasant surprise, both Lin Chan and Ji Li had made breakthroughs.
Having high enlightenment was indeed advantageous. Meditating and cultivating every day enabled quick progression.
Lu Xun wasn’t envious. After all, he was accustomed to leveling up by doing quests. Cultivating was just for the enjoyment of the process. However,
Murong Yan truly did envy them.
Her situation was different from Ji Li’s and Lin Chan’s. She only had three ripples, equating to an enlightenment level of three.
In the Demon Sect, this sort of aptitude wasn’t eye-catching. There were numerous individuals with enlightenment levels over five. If not for her fortunate encounters, Murong Yan’s cultivation base would probably be even lower.
Of course, she was mostly happy for them.
That being said, despite her envy, Murong Yan was content.
If this were thousands of years ago, she wouldn’t even have the qualifications to cultivate.
Thousands of years ago, One Sword Mountain and Ten Thousand Sword
Mountain hadn’t split apart yet, and it was still known as Sword Mountain. During that era, the entry barrier for cultivators was high, individuals needed to have five ripples in order to cultivate, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to sense spiritual energy.
In other words, individuals like Murong Yan were considered to have no fate with immortality.
It was not until later that a Great Cultivator improved some of the prevalent basic methods of the time.
Through his improvements, even those with low aptitude could sense the existence of spiritual energy!
This effectively lowered the entry barrier for cultivation, providing more people with the opportunity to cultivate.
These improved mainstream basic methods have been passed down to this day. However, for some reason, the name of this Great Cultivator was not recorded.