The Boundless Sword Domain.
Li Moran sat quietly in a corner at the far eastern end, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
Yet a faint smile played at the corners of her lips.
It was the smile of someone who had found a worthy opponent and was continually surpassing herself.
Within the illusionary world, she was locked in a deadly sword fight with Genichiro Ashina beneath a moonlit reed field.
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
The crisp ringing of blades colliding echoed endlessly through the evening breeze.
For cultivators at their current level, Genichiro’s strength was beyond question.
His attacks, speed, sword techniques, and comprehension of the sword surpassed those of every cultivator who had returned to square one!
Even a genius like Li Moran was no exception.
She died again and again, only to rise and try once more.
Everyone else had already moved on to the subsequent chapters of the story. Only she continued to challenge Genichiro over and over.
The battle with Genichiro was not a gatekeeper fight like the one against Yamauchi Shigenori.
It was a story battle.
Once the fight ended, the story would forcibly proceed to the next event, making it impossible to return and challenge him again.
Therefore, whenever she failed, Li Moran would decisively quit, delete the save, and start over from the beginning.
As Li Moran continued to die, more and more cultivators gathered around her illusionary display.
“Why is True Disciple Li still stubbornly challenging Genichiro? Isn’t this guy invincible?”
“No idea what she’s thinking… Wouldn’t it be better to come back after raising her level and attributes?”
“She’s such a blockhead!”
“I want to see how many times Genichiro has to kill her before she finally gives up!”
…
The cultivators’ whispered comments naturally couldn’t be heard by Li Moran within the illusion.
She couldn’t see the comments they were sending, either.
Li Moran had always been indifferent by nature and disliked lively crowds.
Unless Lu Ze specifically asked her to, she never streamed her gameplay.
Even now, when the cultivators watching from outside could send comments, she had disabled them right from the start.
She only wanted to challenge Genichiro with a clear mind and savor the joy of battle.
Li Moran firmly believed that, within Lu Ze’s illusion—
As long as her opponent had a health bar, as long as that health bar could be depleted, and as long as there was no time limit…
Then the opponent could definitely be defeated.
After dying time and time again, she faintly sensed that the afterimages of Genichiro’s katana in her eyes were gradually becoming clearer.
Genichiro’s movements seemed to be slowing down, just a little…
…
…
Zhou Yue’s illusionary world.
After losing the battle, Wolf’s left arm was severed, and the illusionary world plunged into darkness.
“A master swordsman who lost one arm? Why does that sound so familiar…? Lu Ze sure seems to have watched The Return of the Condor Heroes more than once!”
Zhou Yue muttered under his breath and quietly waited for the cutscene to end.
The darkness lasted for a moment.
Then a candle flame appeared in his field of vision.
The soft scraping of wood shavings reached his ears, as though someone were polishing something.
“It’s starting!”
The moment he sensed that he had regained control of his body, Zhou Yue perked up and struggled to sit upright.
“Why does this feel so strange… Huh?”
Zhou Yue froze when he raised his left hand.
His left arm had neither regenerated nor become an empty sleeve like Yang Guo’s. Instead, it had been replaced by a prosthetic limb covered in mechanical components.
Zhou Yue tried moving it. It was surprisingly nimble, without the slightest hindrance.
“What is this?”
As Zhou Yue examined the prosthetic arm with curiosity, the direction of the fire suddenly produced the weathered voice of an old man:
“You’re awake? Looks like you really weren’t meant to die…”
Zhou Yue turned his head.
The speaker was a disheveled old man wearing a tattered red robe. The words “Sculptor” floated above his head.
The Sculptor’s left arm hung empty. With his right hand, he skillfully held a small round carving knife and continued whittling the block of wood in front of him. The rough outline of a Buddha statue could just barely be made out.
Zhou Yue got to his feet, and new equipment information appeared before his eyes.
The prosthetic arm attached to his left shoulder was called the “Shinobi Prosthetic,” a mechanical tool the Sculptor had given him.
“You gave this to me? Then you…”
Zhou Yue looked at the Sculptor’s empty left sleeve.
Clearly, that was where the Shinobi Prosthetic had once been attached.
“It was the finest fang of the One-Armed Wolf, but useless for carving Buddhas… Since you have appeared here, it seems you are fated to possess it. You may have it.”
The Sculptor didn’t even look up, continuing to work on the piece of wood before him.
Zhou Yue glanced around the room and frowned.
The modest temple was filled with circle after circle of wooden Buddha statues.
Every statue had its head bowed, its hands pressed together in an attitude of repentance.
Clearly, all of them had been carved by the Sculptor.
Zhou Yue couldn’t help growing curious.
Who exactly was this Sculptor?
How did he know that Zhou Yue was Wolf?
Why had he lost an arm?
And why did he spend his days carving wooden Buddhas without rest?
“Thank you for your assistance, Senior. May I ask your name? And why are you carving… all these Buddha statues?”
Zhou Yue gathered his courage and asked.
“Just call me Sculptor.”
The Sculptor didn’t look up. The wooden Buddha in his hand became a little more refined.
“I am burdened by grave sins. I can only repent through this…”
“Why am I here?” Zhou Yue continued.
“I merely happened to find you… Surely I couldn’t leave something that might or might not be a corpse to be eaten by wild dogs?”
“How long was I unconscious?”
“Some time has passed since I brought you here… But you needn’t worry. Your master is still alive.”
“Where is he?”
“He has been imprisoned in Ashina Castle… But they will soon be using his blood.”
“His blood?”
“I don’t know the details, but… his blood possesses a special power known as Dragon’s Heritage.”
…
After their brief conversation, Zhou Yue gained a rough understanding of his current situation.
The reason Kuro had attracted Genichiro’s attention was that he possessed the special blood known as Dragon’s Heritage.
Kuro was currently imprisoned in Ashina Castle and could be subjected to blood extraction at any moment.
[Main Quest Updated: Go to Ashina Castle and gather clues concerning Kuro.]
“Heh. So I have to return to Ashina Castle after all?”
Zhou Yue rose with a cold laugh and strode out of the dilapidated temple with his head held high.
Behind him, the Sculptor called out a reminder:
“The Shinobi Prosthetic is more than merely the arm you lost… If you discover any shinobi tools, bring them here. I can fit them for you.”
“Oh?”
Zhou Yue took another look at the Shinobi Prosthetic attached to his left arm.
In the equipment menu, he could clearly see three slots labeled “Shinobi Tools.”
“You can do that too?”
Zhou Yue immediately began imagining himself fighting normally before suddenly activating a shinobi tool in the prosthetic and giving his opponent an unexpected surprise.
It might not be the most honorable thing to do, but when he recalled Genichiro’s underhanded ambush, he felt perfectly justified.
He remembered Genichiro’s contemptuous gaze, as well as the humiliation of being ambushed with a feint.
“This grudge won’t go unanswered! You little thief, Genichiro! Just you wait—I’ll make you pay!”
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."
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!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
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.
