“A Samurai General?”
Chen Yuan hesitated for a moment before hiding on the second floor of the gate tower and peering outside.
The enemies he had fought earlier were merely ordinary patrol samurai.
But this fellow, Naomori Kawarada, had the title “Samurai General” after his name. He was clearly much stronger than those previous mooks.
Moreover, beneath his red health bar were two red orbs.
That meant his opponent had two lives.
By now, the livestream had already begun. Quite a few cultivators had entered because of the name “Elder of the Limitless Sword Sect.”
These enthusiastic viewers were nothing like the spectators outside. They were refined and easygoing to an almost absurd degree—and they absolutely refused to show any respect to any cultivator, not even an Elder in the Void Refinement Realm.
[Old geezer chickened out?]
[Are you even good enough?]
[So this is all the Limitless Sword Sect has?]
…
Chen Yuan immediately grew anxious.
As the dignified Grand Elder of the Limitless Sword Sect and a renowned figure among sword cultivators, when had he ever been mocked like this?
Now, even if Genichiro Ashina were standing right in front of him, he couldn’t afford to hesitate.
‘In terms of rank, Yamauchi Shigenori was a clan leader, which is even higher than a general.’
‘Besides, Senior Heart Demon once said that the strength of the characters in Lu Ze’s illusion could be judged from their clothing…’
‘This Samurai General isn’t dressed particularly extravagantly. His face is even covered, and he’s wearing a horned helmet… He probably isn’t all that formidable.’
After considering the matter, Chen Yuan climbed out of the window and jumped down.
He drew the Mortal Blade and held it behind his back, striking the pose of an otherworldly master.
“Limitless Sword Sect, Chen Yuan. I’m here to offer you some guid—damn it!?”
Before Chen Yuan could finish speaking, the Samurai General entered combat mode and drew his blade in a slash. Chen Yuan had no choice but to hurriedly raise his sword and block.
The strike had come far too suddenly, and Chen Yuan failed to time his guard properly.
A tremendous force traveled through his hand. His center of gravity nearly gave way, and he stumbled two steps backward, losing the chance to deflect the blow and counterattack.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Chen Yuan’s palm was numb, but he continued to talk tough.
His eyes remained fixed on the Samurai General’s blade. His opponent’s attacks were both swift and heavy, and the second strike was already coming down.
Clang!
Clang!
The second and third strikes came as fast as lightning, carrying the weight of a thousand jun.
Chen Yuan barely managed to catch the Samurai General’s attacks with two consecutive horizontal blocks.
‘So that’s how it is. These are your sword techniques? I’ve already seen through them!’
Chen Yuan stared intently at the Samurai General’s movements.
After three consecutive strikes, he had already grown accustomed to the general’s footwork and the rhythm of his swordsmanship.
The instant the Samurai General raised his blade, Chen Yuan instinctively lifted his sword once more.
However, this strike did not fall.
“Huh?”
By the time Chen Yuan realized what was happening, it was already too late.
The timing of his guard had passed. The fourth strike came crashing down, smashing him face-first into the mud and causing his health bar to drop by a huge chunk.
The barrage of comments in the sky immediately erupted in laughter.
[He’s this bad?]
[He can’t even handle such an obvious feint? Go back to the mortal world and grow crops!]
[Hahaha, all he knows is defense. All he can do is wait to die!]
…
Chen Yuan had never livestreamed before. When had he ever experienced such a refined and easygoing barrage of comments? He immediately grew furious.
“I merely underestimated my opponent… You juniors had better watch your mouths!”
He gritted his teeth and got back to his feet.
This time, he changed his approach.
Forget blocking. Forget counterattacking…
The Samurai General’s blade was so slow. Wouldn’t it be enough to overwhelm him with speed?
As though he had suddenly achieved enlightenment, Chen Yuan decisively launched a swift assault.
“Watch closely! The enemies in this illusion are nothing more than mindless fools. Their sword strikes are clumsy beyond belief… Once you seize an opening, you can attack them at will!”
Chen Yuan first evaded one of the Samurai General’s strikes. Then, taking advantage of the recovery lag after the attack, he swiftly thrust his sword forward.
“One strike! And another!”
Chen Yuan swung his wrist to its absolute limit and stabbed twice in succession. Sure enough, he seized the initiative and overwhelmed the Samurai General, forcing him into hit-stun two times in a row.
“Three—huh?”
Chen Yuan’s original plan had been simple: if attacking caused his opponent to stagger, then couldn’t he just keep striking and use his speed advantage to lock the enemy in hit-stun indefinitely?
However, when he launched his third strike, the Samurai General did not stagger. Instead, he leaped high into the air.
At that moment, Chen Yuan was in the middle of swinging his third strike, carried forward by momentum.
The Samurai General’s blade came crashing down. The full force of the jumping slash landed squarely, instantly emptying Chen Yuan’s health bar and completely extinguishing his first life.
Looking at the “Resurrect” option before him, then at the dense mass of mocking comments in the sky, Chen Yuan’s face flushed an especially vivid red.
“Again! I refuse to believe this!”
After resurrecting, Chen Yuan no longer dared to use his aggressive strategy.
The physical abilities of Sekiro were fixed; they could not be surpassed through sheer intent or by relying on a cultivator’s reflexes and combat experience.
Otherwise, even with their swordsmanship insights sealed away, the cultivators could still easily win through sheer speed.
“Must I follow your rules? What is there to learn from this inferior defensive swordsmanship…?”
Chen Yuan gritted his teeth and spoke openly for all to hear.
Clearly, Lu Ze had already established the rules of swordsmanship in this world.
Deflect perfectly, then counterattack.
In other words, the so-called “parry.”
“If you insist on making me follow your rules, then I’ll indulge you!”
Chen Yuan let out a disdainful snort and began focusing all his attention on blocking.
With his mind completely focused on carefully timing each guard, he actually managed two perfect deflections in succession, following them with two counterattacks against the Samurai General.
“This inferior swordsmanship can be mastered with nothing but precise timing…”
Seeing the Samurai General draw back his blade and charge up, Chen Yuan hurriedly raised his sword to block. But in the next instant, a powerful killing intent suddenly erupted, and a red “Danger” character exploded in his mind.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two heavy waves of sword wind swept across Chen Yuan’s lower body.
Even a perfectly timed guard could not defend against a “Danger” attack. He was cut down and sent sprawling.
Chen Yuan’s eyes filled with shock.
“Damn… Why does a mere general know techniques like this, just like Genichiro?”
“I understand now… This isn’t an ordinary enemy at all! It’s a boss on the level of a great demon!”
Before he had even finished speaking, another intense killing intent surged toward him.
Danger!
Chen Yuan was already somewhat distracted. He was immediately seized and thrown to the ground by the Samurai General, who followed up with another vicious slash.
Death!
…
Outside the illusion, Lu Ze watched the scene with a delighted smile.
In his previous life, the Samurai General had been given another nickname: the “Refund General.”
Who knew how many newbie players had entered the game dreaming of becoming a peerless sword saint, only to reach the gate path of Ashina Castle and be humiliated by the Samurai General until they quit the game.
Although he was only an elite enemy, he possessed not only “Danger” attacks but also the embryonic form of fast-and-slow blade combos. To players still in the newbie phase, he was practically a nightmare.
Without mastering the art of parrying, the difficulty of killing the Samurai General skyrocketed.
For players who attacked mindlessly, being brutalized by him a dozen or even twenty times was perfectly normal.
Most importantly, he was different from Genichiro Ashina.
Players can accept getting beaten by Genichiro at the start. For one thing, it’s a scripted loss; for another, Genichiro looks every bit like a final-boss-level enemy, so getting crushed by him doesn’t feel unfair.
But the Samurai General…
Dude, who even are you?
Getting beaten dozens of times by some weakling wearing a horned helmet is honestly a little humiliating.
With the Samurai General standing guard, many new players hadn’t even made it through Ashina Castle’s true front gate before they were already searching customer service for the refund button.
At this very moment, the cultivators—cut off from their cultivation and insights into swordsmanship—were suffering the exact same hardships as the players from their previous lives…
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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 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."
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.
