After exchanging blows for several rounds, Su Yang gained a slight upper hand.
However, it was obvious that Black Robe wasn't using full strength. Of course, neither was Su Yang.
For now, the two were merely testing each other's waters.
But just as Su Yang was pondering his next move, Black Robe lunged at him first.
"Still coming, huh? Alright." Su Yang quickly retreated four or five steps, then launched a high roundhouse kick aimed at Black Robe's head.
Black Robe lowered their center of gravity to dodge the kick, then executed a sliding tackle towards Su Yang's feet.
His legs formed a scissor shape, locking tightly around Su Yang's legs, and he squeezed hard, attempting to bring Su Yang to the ground.
But Su Yang wasn't going to be taken down that easily.
He yanked his right leg free with force, then aimed a stomp directly at Black Robe's chest.
Black Robe slapped the ground with his right hand and spun horizontally in a bizarre posture to dodge the attack.
"Holy crap? What kind of footwork is that?"
Su Yang's stomp hit nothing but air. He quickly pulled his left leg free, and at the same time, the dark figure flipped back onto his feet.
He extended a gloved hand and pushed a palm toward Su Yang's chest. This time, Black Robe's speed wasn't particularly fast. Su Yang, seeing what looked like a soft, weak strike, hesitated for a split second and didn't dodge immediately.
Bang!!
Instantly, an incredibly powerful force surged from his chest throughout his entire body. He felt as if his internal organs had shifted inside him.
Pfft!
Su Yang couldn't hold it back and sprayed a mouthful of blood. Eyes wide with disbelief, he flew backward three or four meters before crashing onto the ground.
A wave of intense dizziness washed over his brain, but the sensation vanished in the blink of an eye.
[Host, please do not underestimate the enemy.]
The System's notification voice echoed in his mind.
Su Yang spat out the remaining blood in his mouth and hurriedly scrambled up, clutching his chest. A few seconds later, the agonizing pain in his body disappeared as well.
At that moment, a hint of confusion—or perhaps surprise—flickered in the eyes beneath Black Robe's hood a few meters away.
"Phew..." Su Yang exhaled, thinking to himself, 'Damn it, I got cocky. But how did that soft-looking palm strike have so much power? It actually made me cough up blood. What the hell? Thank god I have the Gold Medal Healing skill, or I would have been done for tonight.'
[Ding! Detected that the Host has gained insight during combat with an expert. Physique increased by 1 point. Current Physique: 95. Combat Power increased by 2 points. Current Combat Power: A-Rank 86. Intermediate Fighting Skill upgraded to Advanced Fighting Skill.]
As the System's voice faded, Su Yang immediately felt a significant surge in both his strength and stamina.
—Oho, a pleasant surprise. My Intermediate Fighting Skill, which has been stagnant for so long, finally leveled up. Nice.
Looking at Black Robe standing motionless a few meters away, Su Yang smiled faintly. "You spooky bastard, you've actually got some skill. That was just an accident. Let's go again."
Having said that, Su Yang moved his feet and charged at his opponent once more.
......
The two fought for another five or six minutes. This time, thanks to the skill upgrade, Su Yang's attributes—speed, strength, and endurance—had improved considerably.
He handled the exchange with Black Robe with much more ease, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that his opponent still wasn't using their full strength.
Bang!
After trading a punch with the dark figure, Su Yang and his opponent each stumbled back three or four steps before regaining their balance.
Now, neither of them moved. They stood about three meters apart, and instantly, the surrounding air fell silent once again.
Su Yang narrowed his eyes, staring at Black Robe before him. 'Even after leveling up my skills, I can't take him down. This guy's Combat Power must be pretty high. But he doesn't seem to have any killing intent towards me. What the hell does this person want?'
It was true; from the beginning to the end of their exchange, Black Robe hadn't shown a strong desire to attack. Su Yang was getting a bit confused.
He looked at Black Robe and said calmly, "Hey, can you tell me who you are now? You didn't follow me all the way from Licheng to Ya'an just to spar with me, did you?"
"You are indeed not bad."
Black Robe finally spoke. If he hadn't, Su Yang would have started thinking the guy was a mute. However, upon hearing the voice, Su Yang froze...
Because the voice belonged to a woman. And judging by the sound alone, it seemed to be a very sweet-sounding girl.
Two seconds later, Su Yang snapped out of it. He raised his eyebrows, his face full of question marks as he thought, 'What the f*ck? A woman? How could it be a woman?'
"Are you kidding me?? You're a woman?"
"I never said I was a man~"
"Holy sh*t?"
"Wait, wait, let me get this straight. Licheng, Ganhai Zi, the green light, Ge Hai."
"By the way, do you know Ge Hai?"
"Ge Hai? Never heard of him."
"Good lord, you... you don't know Ge Hai?"
"Why should I know Ge Hai? Who is Ge Hai? Is he famous?" The woman in the Black Robe fired back three questions in a row.
Hearing this, Su Yang felt his entire theory collapse. He had always assumed the opponent was a man, and most likely connected to that weird kid, Ge Hai.
But unexpectedly, it turned out to be a woman who didn't know Ge Hai at all.
"Damn it." Su Yang wanted to laugh, but couldn't quite get it out.
He looked again at Black Robe, whose face was hidden. "You're sure you're the one who's been following me since Ganhai Zi, right?"
"Mhm, that's right~" The sweet voice emanated from within the black robes, creating a massive sense of dissonance in Su Yang's heart.
He slapped his own forehead. "So, why are you following me?"
"No reason, just checking your strength~"
"What? That's it? Are you that bored?" Su Yang was speechless. "Have you confirmed it now?"
"Confirmed."
"Then can you take off your hood? I'm curious if you're actually a man or a woman."
"Isn't my voice obvious enough?"
"What if you're faking a falsetto? For all I know, you're just some gross, foot-picking dude."
"You're the gross foot-picking dude! Your whole family are gross foot-picking dudes!" Black Robe seemed to get agitated.
Su Yang scratched his nose. "Fine, if you won't show me, forget it. So, now that you've confirmed my strength, what do you want to do?"
"Hehe, the time isn't right. It's not convenient to tell you yet. I'm leaving." Black Robe left as abruptly as she spoke, turning around and sprinting away at an astonishing speed.
"Leaving?" Su Yang was stunned. He hadn't even found out her ultimate goal; how could he let her go so easily?
He moved quickly, chasing after Black Robe.
But no matter how hard Su Yang chased, the distance between them remained constant at about twenty or thirty meters. Su Yang chased her for a full kilometer but couldn't catch up.
"Stop following me. I'll come find you again. Bye-bye~" The sweet, cute voice of Black Robe drifted back from the distance.
"Dammit, don't go! What the hell do you want?!"
Watching Black Robe disappear into the night, Su Yang stopped and roared in frustration.
But there was no reply; she had completely melted into the darkness.
"What the f*ck? That was completely inexplicable!!"
"And it was a woman. Ugh." Su Yang stood there, scratching his head frantically.
"Could it be Ye Wan? No, no, definitely not. Her Combat Power isn't high enough to fight me to a draw like that, and the voice and height are different."
"Who on earth is it?"
Su Yang stood there, gazing in the direction where Black Robe had vanished, lost in thought for a full two minutes.
"I can't figure it out. Ah, to hell with it, why stress? At the very least, this wasn't a wasted trip. From what I can tell, the other party doesn't seem to hold any malice toward me—or at least, not for the moment. Besides, she's only fixated on me. As long as she doesn't get any ideas about targeting anyone else, that's fine."
"Time to head back." As he spoke, Su Yang raised his wrist to check the time. An hour and ten minutes had already passed since he left the hotel.
"Holy crap, I'm out of time! Gotta move!" Su Yang yelled, whirling around and sprinting toward the open space where he had parked his car.
......
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
