Zhong Yi respawned from the Moon-Watching Tower, his face flushed red.
“Ahem. That was just a mistake. I was careless a moment ago…”
Zhong Yi did his best to hide his embarrassment, pretending nothing had happened as he once again headed toward the city gate.
Although he had always performed consistently in illusion realms, being killed by a regular soldier in what was practically a beginner tutorial was a first for him.
“That’s strange. Why does this soldier deal so much damage? Was that a critical hit? Or… was I attacked by an elite mob?”
Zhong Yi muttered under his breath.
This wasn’t his first time playing one of Lu Ze’s illusion realms. He had seen all kinds of difficult and downright sadistic challenges.
But a regular soldier that could take away half his health with one slash? That really was a first.
This time, Zhong Yi proceeded much more carefully.
He no longer dared to draw the aggro of several warriors at once, nor did he swagger forward to provoke them. Whenever he could use a stealth deathblow for a surprise attack, he did so…
The journey went smoothly. Zhong Yi quickly dealt with several warriors and entered the city gate.
On the stone steps not far away stood an elite enemy who was somewhat more imposing than the ordinary warriors:
[Boss Yamauchi Shigenori].
“Oh? So the difficulty’s starting to ramp up?”
Zhong Yi licked his lips, took a deep breath, and without another word, drew the Kusabimaru and charged forward.
“Bring it on!!”
After several practice bouts, Zhong Yi had gained a new understanding of Sekiro’s gameplay.
The core mechanic was the yellow energy gauge beneath the health bar, known as the “posture bar.”
Whenever an attack was deflected, the posture bar would rise.
Once it filled completely, the opponent would be left open, allowing them to be executed at will.
“So… the best defense is a good offense!”
With a loud shout, Zhong Yi brought his sword down onto Yamauchi Shigenori’s broad black greatsword.
Clang!
“Again!”
Clang!
“Again… huh?”
Zhong Yi tried to press his advantage, but the instant Yamauchi Shigenori finished deflecting his attack, he seized the opening created by the deflection and followed up with a sweeping counter.
The thick blade of the greatsword struck Zhong Yi and sent him staggering backward, instantly chopping away a huge portion of his health!
“What’s going on…?”
Zhong Yi was still reeling from the blow, wearing a bewildered expression, when the black greatsword stirred up a heavy blade wind and came sweeping toward his face.
In that instant, Zhong Yi’s vision turned completely crimson.
[Death!]
…
Yamauchi Shigenori.
The first elite enemy players encountered in Sekiro.
He was also the tutorial enemy designed to familiarize players with deflections and counterattacks.
For players experiencing a Soulslike game for the first time, he could certainly be considered one of the early-game bosses capable of driving them away.
Especially before players understood the value of deflecting. If they simply focused on attacking, the elite enemy’s damage would teach them a brutal lesson.
At this moment, it wasn’t just Zhong Yi. Quite a few players had begun enjoying their first taste of torment in Sekiro.
…
Mu Yawen’s illusion realm.
“Deflect, deflect… deflect again!! Hehe, it’s my turn now, right?!”
By her sixth death, Mu Yawen had finally begun consciously memorizing Yamauchi Shigenori’s attack patterns and managed to land several perfect deflections in succession.
“The deathblow’s ready… Take this!”
“Whoa, he has another life?!”
“I’m gonna die again!!”
…
Zhou Qiaoling’s illusion realm.
“Ahhh! This is so annoying!!!”
Zhou Qiaoling glared viciously at the large blood-red character floating before her: “Death.”
It was a simple character, yet she could feel all the malice Lu Ze had packed into it!
Especially since she had been just one slash away from killing Yamauchi Shigenori before he caught her off guard and finished her with a brutal combo.
That single word, “Death,” seemed to contain all the resentment in the world.
Once again, she arrived at the mountain path guarded by Yamauchi Shigenori.
“What am I supposed to do? I really don’t want to fight him…”
Zhou Qiaoling looked at Yamauchi Shigenori in despair. She had no desire to experience the weight of his greatsword even once more.
“I don’t want to fight him… Wait! Why do I have to fight him at all?!”
Zhou Qiaoling suddenly had a revelation, and her gaze instinctively shifted toward the gate behind Yamauchi Shigenori.
The mission was to reach the objective. It had never said she had to kill Yamauchi Shigenori!
“Bakayaro!”
Seeing that Zhou Qiaoling continued to stand there without moving, Yamauchi Shigenori lost patience. He raised his greatsword and launched the first attack.
At that very moment, Zhou Qiaoling rolled aside with ghostlike agility, precisely evading Yamauchi Shigenori’s strike.
Yamauchi Shigenori specialized in the greatsword. His attacks were powerful and carried tremendous force, but his movements were naturally somewhat slower.
His blow missed. Just as he was about to adjust his position, Zhou Qiaoling spotted her chance, turned, and sprinted toward the path behind him.
Then, using a withered tree as a foothold, she ran faster and faster, her feet practically flying over the ground…
“Hahahaha! Bye-bye, sucker~~~”
…
…
The Boundless Sword Sect, the Boundless Sword Domain.
Every cultivator participating in the Sword Ruins Inquiry had entered the Sekiro illusion realm without exception.
High above the Boundless Sword Domain, hundreds of illusion-realm scenes were projected into the air.
Naturally, the scene attracting the most viewers belonged to Chen Yuan, who had made a wager with Lu Ze.
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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.
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
