Chen Guan seized the opportunity as she spoke, pulling his left hand from his waist, spreading his five fingers, and slapping it toward Guan Jinyue's face.
Guan Jinyue tilted her head to dodge, releasing her grip on the hammer handle.
Taking advantage of this opening, Chen Guan stepped back two paces, steadying himself on the deformed floor of the carriage while gripping the iron hammer securely.
The protective layer of his Guardian ability circulated on his body's surface, colorless and luminous, completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Your physical condition... is a bit unusual."
Guan Jinyue's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as her gaze swept over Chen Guan. Hand-to-hand combat made it much easier to detect the presence of a Guardian ability than weapon-based fighting.
Chen Guan didn't give her time to confirm. He had already swung the fourth hammer.
With this strike, he used the momentum of his body, rotating a full half-turn with the trajectory of the hammer. The hammer head swept in from the side, faster than the previous three strikes by a noticeable margin.
Guan Jinyue raised her right hand slightly.
Chen Guan felt as if someone had pushed him through the air from a distance. His entire body, along with the hammer, flew backward. His back slammed into the remaining iron wall of the carriage with a dull thud.
The protective layer of his Guardian ability flickered at the point of impact. The force of the collision was evenly distributed across his body. It hurt, yes, but it didn't cause any real damage.
Clearly, Guan Jinyue wasn't going all out. An attack of this level couldn't break through his defense.
He coughed twice, the sound low and muffled, pretending to be more seriously affected by the push than he actually was.
But the movement to stand up was swift.
Guan Jinyue watched him rise to his feet again, and a faint trace of surprise flickered in her eyes.
"You took that hit and you can still stand?"
"I'm thick-skinned and dense." Chen Guan switched the hammer to his other hand and rolled his shoulders a couple of times.
Guan Jinyue said nothing, but the time her gaze lingered on him grew longer.
A third-tier Summoner, after taking one of her attacks, should in theory have at least two broken ribs.
But this guy stood up, and he stood solid. No, he wasn't a Summoner—he was a Strengthener, specializing in self-defense.
Her experienced mind quickly saw through the secrets of his Guardian ability, and she grew cautious. Sure enough, anyone favored by a Trickster was never ordinary.
Guan Jinyue looked into his eyes. Moonlight spilled across her blade as she finally began to take things seriously.
Her sword intent spread through the night, like a layer of transparent gossamer covering the entire carriage, silent and still, yet dropping the air temperature by several degrees.
A serious Guan Jinyue was a completely different person from before. She was no longer the carefree girl but a drawn sword, cold and sharp.
"Thick-skinned and dense?" Guan Jinyue repeated flatly, her figure flickering slightly, and the next moment, she vanished from her original position.
Chen Guan's vision blurred before an overwhelming gust of wind-pressure surged toward him.
He instinctively raised the iron hammer across his chest in a defensive posture. But Guan Jinyue's speed exceeded all his expectations.
He didn't even have time to look up; he only saw a silver thread falling like a shooting star.
"Clang!"
The iron hammer and the sword blade clashed violently, erupting in a deafening screech of metal as sparks flew.
Chen Guan felt his hands go numb. A tremendous force transmitted from the hammer into him. Uncontrollably, his whole body sank, while his boots carved two deep furrows in the ground, sending up chips of concrete and gravel.
The impact of this single blow far surpassed any previous attack. It felt like being rammed head-on by a heavily loaded freight truck traveling at high speed.
The protective light of his Guardian ability flashed frantically across his body. Each flicker accompanied a faint hum, as if it were bearing extreme pressure.
Guan Jinyue's assault didn't succeed, but she showed no surprise. Her swordsmanship flowed like water. After the strike, her sword tip retracted naturally, tracing a silver arc through the air in a perfect half-circle.
Leveraging the reaction force, she flipped lightly in midair, directing her blade straight at Chen Guan's throat.
This transformation was incredibly fast. A heavy vertical slash turned in an instant into a deadly flat-cut aimed at slitting his throat.
Chen Guan snapped his head back violently, the blade passing so close it nearly grazed his chin. Having dodged, he realized his iron hammer was too far away to recover. So, he drove it forward in a quick thrust, attempting to push Guan Jinyue back.
But the moment her sword tip touched the iron hammer, Guan Jinyue didn't meet force with force. Instead, she skillfully slid her blade along the hammer's surface. Using the curve of the hammer head as a guide, the blade slithered upward like a living thing, then shifted, stabbing straight toward Chen Guan's wrist as he gripped the handle.
This sequence of moves was lightning fast. Before Chen Guan could even fully react, a chill was already crawling toward his wrist.
He released the hammer from his right hand, and rather than retreat, he stepped forward, throwing a powerful punch toward Guan Jinyue's cheek, his fist whistling with force.
At the same time, his released right hand caught the tail end of the hammer handle, making the iron hammer spin midair like a striking snake, aiming a tricky blow at Guan Jinyue's flank.
This sudden counter-shift was completely unexpected. Chen Guan's fighting style bore a reckless, primitive savagery, following none of the conventional rules.
Guan Jinyue's eyes narrowed slightly. She hadn't expected this "thick-skinned and dense" guy to react so quickly—and to dare trade blows with her at close range.
Facing Chen Guan's pincer attack, she didn't move her body. Instead, her sword turned into a blade of flowing light in an instant, first parrying his heavy punch. With a dull, thudding sound of flesh hitting metal, the blade and fist met.
Then, following without pause, as the blade parried the punch, the tip swept downward with precision and met the hammer's edge.
"Hum!"
Another brief, sharp buzz. The tip of the sword and the edge of the hammer collided, perfectly deflecting the attack.
Guan Jinyue's movements never stopped. While repelling both simultaneous blows, her sword struck like a venomous serpent, recoiling and then stabbing straight at Chen Guan's throat with the speed of lightning.
Fast, accurate, ruthless. A direct strike to a vital point.
Chen Guan only felt a bone-chilling cold at his neck. He had no time to dodge. No way to dodge.
At the critical moment between life and death, he pushed his Guardian ability to its absolute limit.
The protective layer on his body instantly flared up, almost solid and tangible.
The sword tip stabbed into the force-field. There was a sound like a sharp implement tearing into tough leather. The field rippled violently, light bursting everywhere, as if it might shatter in the next second.
But in the end, it held against the sword. The immense shockwave penetrated the barrier, shaking Chen Guan and making him taste something sour and sweet rise from his throat.
The tip of Guan Jinyue's sword was blocked, but there was no hint of frustration in her eyes.
Instead, her stare became sharper. Looking at the glowing Chen Guan before her, she understood the mechanism of this Guardian ability: only by crushing the limit of its power could she truly harm Chen Guan.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
