The news that Li Moran was about to defeat Genichiro spread, and the cultivators within the Limitless Sword Domain emerged from their illusion realms in shock. Almost as one, they turned their gazes toward Li Moran in the eastern corner.
“For real!? Someone can actually defeat Genichiro?”
“How is that possible? Isn’t this supposed to be a scripted death?”
“No way… I’m practically being beaten to tears by Gyoubu Oniwa, and you’re telling me someone has already beaten Genichiro?!”
“Let’s go see!”
…
Everyone flew out of the Limitless Sword Domain with half-believing, half-doubting expressions and gathered at the center of the viewing platform.
By now, nearly every onlooking cultivator had assembled around the image of Li Moran’s illusion realm, watching with rapt attention and waiting for a miracle to happen.
In the image, Li Moran’s health bar had fallen to only one-third. Yet, as she faced Genichiro’s killing blow, she remained completely unflustered, responding with calm composure.
Genichiro leaped into the air and brought down a four-hit combo.
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
The katana and Kusabimaru collided in showers of sparks. The crisp ringing of steel filled their ears, drawing a wave of cheers from the crowd.
“Incredible!!”
“The rhythm of those four slashes changes ever so subtly, and every strike conceals a killing move… What a defense!”
“One hit is all it takes to die… She’s practically licking blood off the edge of a blade!”
“True Disciple Li has blocked all four strikes—why isn’t she counterattacking?”
“Holy crap! After those four rapid slashes, the final one, unbelievably slow, is the real killing move!?”
“True Disciple Li blocked it!!”
…
In his previous life, every boss—including Genichiro—had several fixed attack patterns.
Once players memorized them, they could respond with ease.
Naturally, that level of difficulty was insufficient for cultivators. Thus, the combat AI of every elite monster and boss had undergone numerous upgrades based on the original version.
After all, the AIs in the illusion realms were being controlled by cybernetic souls belonging to sword cultivators. They were genuine, pure-blood AIs.
The bosses’ attacks still retained traces of the original versions, but they were no longer rigid. Even when using the same moves, they would make subtle changes to their rhythm.
That was why the process that had taken players three or four hours in his previous life required most cultivators to spend an entire day and night.
Genichiro’s alternating fast and slow strikes were all blocked by Li Moran.
“Die!”
With a loud shout, Genichiro suddenly leaped up and brought his blade crashing down. Once again, Li Moran perfectly deflected the attack.
Wave after wave of relentless assault followed, yet Li Moran defended against every single one. Her health bar, as fragile as a candle flickering in the wind, stubbornly remained at one-third. She did not retreat even half a step!
“Clang!”
Genichiro entered a frenzied assault, attacking like a madman. Li Moran moved with leisurely ease, retreating as she deflected each strike.
The yellow posture bar above Genichiro’s head continued to rise…
The cultivators on the viewing platform grew increasingly excited.
“Sword Immortal Li is awesome!!”
“That ringing of steel is so beautiful… How did I never notice it before?”
“Of course you didn’t! Among high-level cultivators, victory or defeat is decided in a single exchange. It’s no longer an ordinary clash of blades…”
“This illusion realm is truly marvelous!”
“Look! Genichiro’s posture bar is full!!”
“The deathblow marker is out… Sword Immortal Li is about to win!!!”
“Wait, why hasn’t Sword Immortal Li performed the deathblow yet?”
…
The posture bar was the core mechanic of Sekiro.
By deflecting an opponent’s sword techniques, one could increase the enemy’s posture bar.
Once the posture bar was filled, the enemy would briefly lose their guard. A strike delivered at that moment would kill them instantly.
That was why deflection was the core of Sekiro—and the universal answer to every boss.
At that moment, Li Moran had already filled Genichiro’s posture bar. As long as she struck, victory was guaranteed.
However, under everyone’s astonished gazes, Li Moran smiled faintly and withdrew Kusabimaru.
The next moment, the illusion realm fell into darkness.
Li Moran reappeared at the bottom of the well where the game began.
The scene left every person on the viewing platform dumbfounded.
“What’s going on!? Victory was right in front of her, and Sword Immortal Li actually stopped?”
“She didn’t just spare him—she even killed herself and chose to start over!”
“I get it now… Sword Immortal Li is going for a no-damage run!”
“That’s insane… Wasn’t she only hit by one strike just now?”
“A no-damage Genichiro!? Hiss… I wouldn’t even dare imagine something like that!”
“As expected of Sword Immortal Li!!”
…
Li Moran went through the earlier sequence with astonishing familiarity.
When she once again arrived before the reed field, she looked at Genichiro beneath the moonlight and took a deep breath.
Just as the cultivators had guessed, Li Moran—who had always pursued the ultimate heights of swordsmanship—wanted to kill Genichiro without taking a single hit.
Once more, she urged Kuro to leave and stood alone before Genichiro.
Li Moran drew Kusabimaru from her waist.
Moonlight spilled across the dim blade, flowing through the night and into her beautiful eyes.
Li Moran gazed calmly at Genichiro.
“I… am above you.”
With that, she gave the blade in her hand a light wave, her entire posture relaxed and at ease.
Genichiro frowned in confusion. Instinctively, he seemed to sense that the Wolf standing before him was somehow different from before.
“Heh. What an arrogant shinobi.”
Genichiro let out a cold laugh, and his figure suddenly accelerated several times over.
It was an opening move no one had seen him use in the previous battles.
But Li Moran remained calm and dealt with it effortlessly.
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
Blades collided, producing pleasing rings of steel and brilliant showers of sparks.
It was as if the bright moonlight had been shattered and fused into the edge of Li Moran’s sword. As Kusabimaru danced through the air, the sight was breathtakingly beautiful.
Cries of astonishment rose one after another from the viewing platform, showing no sign of stopping.
“This is too beautiful!!”
“A Sword Immortal beneath the moon!!”
“Her sword dance looks like an actual dance… No wonder Old Demon Lu is always making Sword-Dancing Immortal skins…”
“My heavens, Genichiro is being completely suppressed by True Disciple Li this time!”
“No damage! No damage!!”
…
Steel rang out, and sparks flew without end.
Genichiro’s blade shifted through an ever-greater variety of attacks, each one aimed at killing.
Yet Li Moran continued to respond unhurriedly, without the slightest trace of impatience.
At that moment, she had lost all her cultivation and possessed no swordsmanship whatsoever. She was a blank sheet of paper.
Against an enemy with a far stronger physical body, she had to continuously break through the limits of her sword techniques. This was a method of cultivation she had never experienced before.
Moonlight seemed to cling to Li Moran’s eyes before gradually merging with the edge of Kusabimaru.
In her vision, Genichiro’s movements grew slower and slower.
Faintly, amid the sparks created by the colliding blades, she seemed to glimpse something…
…
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
Genichiro’s desperate, life-or-death strikes were all blocked by Li Moran.
As the final spark burst into being, the posture bar above Genichiro’s head filled completely. Li Moran’s health bar, just as it had been when she entered the reed field, remained utterly unchanged!
A red deathblow marker appeared over Genichiro’s chest.
This time, Li Moran did not hesitate. She thrust her sword in.
In an instant, a striking system announcement appeared simultaneously in every illusion realm:
[Skyreach Sect’s Li Moran has achieved the first kill of the boss—Genichiro Ashina (Normal)!]
At once, the sky of the livestream was flooded with barrages:
[Sword Immortal Li is awesome!!]
[That was so satisfying! Now I want to go smithing right this instant!!]
[I feel like I can do it again—I'm gonna be a Samurai General!]
[So cool! So cool!!]
[Holy crap!! There are so many gift effects!!!]
……
After Li Moran successfully scored the first kill on Genichiro, big shots from all realms came flocking to the livestream. In an instant, the screen was flooded with gift effects such as Myriad Swords Return to Origin and Sword Splits Heaven’s Gate.
Only then did Li Moran realize, with a slight start, that countless people had witnessed what happened.
She had never cared for noisy crowds and devoted herself entirely to honing her swordsmanship. Long ago, she had chosen to block the livestream’s messages.
The chat could be blocked, but the effects from high-level gifts could not. After all, Lu Ze needed to take his cut.
[The genius cultivator has sent Myriad Swords Return to Origin ×10 in the livestream, along with the message: “zJunior Sister Li is incredible! You defeated Genichiro, so it looks like he won’t have to lose an arm after all!”]
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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."
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.
