Chop, spin, sweep, lead, lock... A few simple movements flowed like water in Li Yan's hands, full of violent aesthetics.
"Generate force as a whole, use your waist, not your arms. Keep your wrists flexible. The blade follows the person; the person doesn't chase the blade. Hooking and locking isn't about pulling hard, it's about following the opponent's momentum, using softness to overcome hardness."
Li Yan explained coldly while demonstrating.
Chen Guan watched with rapt attention, branding every detail into his mind. Li Yan's demonstration was more intuitive than any written description.
Finishing the demonstration, Li Yan threw the battle axe back onto the weapon rack and looked at Chen Guan: "Keep practicing. Practice those few moves until you can do them without thinking. Also, think about how your coffin coordinates with this thing—one for offense, one for defense. Don't trip yourself up."
"Yes, thank you, Instructor!" Chen Guan thanked him sincerely. Li Yan's guidance always hit the nail on the head and was worth its weight in gold.
Li Yan nodded, said no more, turned, and left the training room.
With Li Yan's guidance, Chen Guan's practice became more targeted.
He no longer blindly pursued power and speed, but focused on the fluidity of force generation, physical coordination, and the coordination between the scythe and his footwork.
Sweat soaked his clothes time and time again, only to be evaporated by his body heat. His arms went from aching to numb, and then to a feeling full of power. Chen Guan could clearly feel himself improving; his control over the scythe and his understanding of combat were rapidly elevating.
Looking at the slowly climbing stats on his panel, he revealed a smile. He liked this feeling of getting stronger bit by bit.
...
Early Wednesday morning, as the sky just began to brighten, Chen Guan carried his coffin on his back and arrived at the academy's east gate on time. He had stored the scythe in his ring; after all, the coffin was too big, and holding a scythe as well would leave him with nowhere to put it.
An Changqing and Su Yuehe were already waiting there. Both of them had the habit of getting up early for morning exercises, so they always arrived a bit earlier.
An Changqing maintained his usual steady demeanor, a longsword at his waist, standing there like a warm morning sun.
"Morning, Classmate Chen." Su Yuehe greeted him, resting her chin in one hand.
"Morning, Classmate Su."
Although their forms of address were still somewhat distant, Chen Guan and Su Yuehe actually had a decent relationship. She was a cheerful girl who loved to read, so Chen Guan would occasionally bump into her at the library.
As expected of a Knowledge-type Esper, always having a book in hand was just her basic routine.
An Changqing simply nodded: "Everyone's here. Let's go."
It was the teleportation array once again. After a flash of light, the three appeared in a desolate, barren hilly area covered with jagged, grayish-black rocks.
In the distance, a massive fissure appeared. A canyon, as if cleaved by a giant axe, stretched across the earth. On both sides of the canyon were steep rock walls, and the air was filled with a faint smell of smoke and dust.
This was the Ashen Canyon, a dormant volcanic region.
"The map shows that the Shadow Wolves' area of activity is mainly in the Shadow Stone Forest on the outskirts of the canyon."
An Changqing brought up his terminal map and pointed to a dense stone forest made of black, oddly-shaped rocks flanking the canyon entrance: "The terrain there is complex and the lighting is dim. It's an ideal hunting ground for Shadow Wolves. We'll head straight there."
"You've all read the data on the Shadow Wolves' characteristics."
While taking the lead towards the stone forest, An Changqing quietly reiterated the key points: "They are Tier 2 pack animals, though their individual strength is only Tier 1. Their fur has a weak shadow affinity, making their stealth capabilities extremely strong in dim environments."
"Their claws and fangs have a corrosive effect; getting injured by them will cause a continuous loss of stamina. They excel at coordinated combat and possess simple tactics. The Alpha Wolf is suspected to have stronger shadow manipulation abilities and might reach Tier 3. Leave it to me."
Chen Guan listened silently, his hands unconsciously tightening their grip. A Tier 3 Alpha Wolf, plus a pack of Tier 1 Shadow Wolves, and on their home turf... The difficulty of this mission was indeed a level higher than clearing out Rock Beetles.
Before coming, he had already allocated points to bring his Strength attribute up to 9. Even so, he was probably still the one holding the team back.
He could only hope that his performance wouldn't be too terrible.
An Changqing continued, "Classmate Chen Guan and I will draw the wolf pack's attention from the front. Yuehe will use the terrain and sonic interference. Once we find the Alpha Wolf, we will concentrate our power to kill it quickly. Remember, do not drag out the fight, and do not let the wolf pack separate and surround you. If things go south, immediately retreat out of the canyon. I will cover you."
"Understood," Chen Guan and Su Yuehe replied in unison.
The three said no more, quickening their pace as they approached the stone forest that resembled the fangs of a giant beast.
The closer they got, the more obvious the cold, gloomy feeling in the air became.
The sunlight seemed to be mostly absorbed by those bizarrely shaped black rocks. The lighting inside the stone forest was dim, which was always somewhat uncomfortable for humans.
[It's pitch black... so scary.]
[Hugging the commenter above, I'm scared too.]
[+10086, barrage protect me, Little An protect me.]
It seemed it wasn't just him; even the live comments felt creeped out through the screen. However, to prevent the screen full of comments from affecting his combat, Chen Guan chose to temporarily turn off the barrage. Suddenly, his field of vision became clear.
The moment they stepped into the stone forest, Su Yuehe raised her piccolo and played a low, prolonged investigative sonic wave.
Chen Guan and An Changqing also immediately heightened their vigilance to the maximum. An Changqing's longsword was slightly unsheathed, while Chen Guan gripped his scythe in his hand. An Changqing glanced at the suddenly appearing black scythe, his heart stirring slightly.
Could it be that Chen Guan was finally going to use his hidden power?
The stone forest was terrifyingly quiet. There was only the whimpering sound of the wind passing through the rock crevices, along with their own faint footsteps and breathing.
After walking for about a hundred meters, Su Yuehe suddenly stopped, her expression changing slightly: "Careful! In all directions, there are many of them. They are moving in the shadows, very fast."
Almost the moment her voice faded, the surrounding shadows seemed to come alive.
Several pitch-black, liquid-like figures dashed out silently from the shadows of the strange rocks, moving so fast that only afterimages remained.
Their bodies were slightly larger than ordinary wolves, entirely covered in matte black fur. Their limbs were long and vigorous, their sharp claws gleaming with a faint blue luster in the dim light, and their scarlet eyes were exceptionally piercing.
The newcomers were precisely the Shadow Wolves. There were no less than ten of them, pouncing from different directions in an encircling formation.
"Back to back," An Changqing shouted in a low voice. Instead of retreating, he advanced, taking the initiative to meet the three Shadow Wolves pouncing from the front.
His longsword left its sheath, and a golden light burst forth. The fierce sword aura instantly forced back two of the Shadow Wolves, while the third had its neck slashed by his sword, leaving a deep wound as it fell with a howl.
Chen Guan's reaction was not slow in the slightest. He spun around abruptly, using the black iron coffin on his back as a barrier to protect his and Su Yuehe's rear.
At the same time, the scythe in his hand traced an arc of light, slashing towards the waist of a Shadow Wolf pouncing from the side.
That Shadow Wolf was exceptionally agile. In mid-air, it strangely twisted its body and narrowly avoided the scythe's blade. It was only struck on its hind leg by the end of the handle, letting out a grunt of pain before landing and quickly vanishing into the nearby shadows.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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.
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!
