The rain fell heavier and heavier, showing not the slightest sign of stopping.
Amidst the torrential downpour, the expression of the young woman on the stage was obscured and blurred. Yet, her eyes stared intently at a specific corner in the audience.
"...What is she looking at?"
"Who is in that direction?"
Amidst the growing murmurs and mounting attention, the old man with the withered, exposed wrists vanished in a blur. When he reappeared, he was already standing on the stage.
"How did you recognize me?"
He broke into a grin, asking in a seemingly benevolent manner.
At the same time, he unwrapped the cloth bound around his saber and drew the blade.
A sudden commotion erupted in the crowd, and the scene instantly descended into utter chaos as more people recognized him. Clearly, no one could have imagined that this demonic figure—one of the world's absolute top-tier martial arts masters—would appear in such an insignificant arena!
Wu Zhen did not answer his question.
The very second after she saved her game, the tip of the old man's saber came cleaving straight toward her!
It was a peerless blade wielded by a peerless master. Even before the saber reached her, the sheer force of it split Wu Zhen's skin, leaving long, thin trails of blood. Had her reflexes and agility not been so exceptionally sharp, she would have already been cleaved in two, becoming just another soul claimed by the blade!
Sharp, stinging waves of pain radiated from her split skin.
Yes, Wu Zhen had turned off her pain suppression.
She wiped her thumb across the bloody scratch on her cheek, the smile on her face growing wider and wider.
—This made things much more interesting, didn't it?
The old man did not give her a single moment to catch her breath.
Upon seeing the expression on her face, his own smile vanished. Like an alert leopard finally locking into the hunt, he delivered a lethal backhand thrust!
Wu Zhen narrowly dodged the strike and countered with a sweeping whip kick. However, the old man executed a bizarre set of footwork, evading her assault like a phantom and easily matching her speed.
Wu Zhen was not the least bit discouraged by this.
On the contrary, a thrilling shiver of excitement coursed through her entire body.
—Lightness skill.
She wanted it too.
Beneath her intense gaze, the old man gripped his saber hilt tighter. The faint sense of foreboding, which had started as a mere trickle, suddenly surged into a rushing stream, leaving only one thought in his mind.
Kill her, right here and now!
If he let her leave alive, there would be endless trouble in the future!
In the next second, the two who had briefly drawn apart clashed once more!
The spectators who had been scrambling for their lives subconsciously halted in their tracks. Their attention was utterly captivated by the life-and-death struggle on the arena stage, and they did not even dare to breathe.
The voices of the crowd fell dead silent; only the sound of the rain remained.
Amidst the torrential rain, fresh, bloody gashes appeared one after another on the dark-haired young woman's body. In a life-and-death struggle of this caliber, lacking any divine weapon or profound martial arts technique, she logically should have been defeated long ago. Yet, she managed to maintain an eerie equilibrium—the blade of that peerless saber could not even graze a single corner of her clothes!
Life-Claiming Saber had never fought such a frustrating battle!
His moves grew increasingly ruthless and vicious, yet his opponent's rhythm remained perfectly steady. Her gaze fell upon him with a precise, emotionless scrutiny, much like a ravenous wolf trying to mimic human footsteps.
A bizarre, inhuman aura surrounding her grew thicker, making his scalp tingle with dread.
Finally, after an unknown number of exchanges, a spine-chilling smile blossomed on her face through the veils of pouring rain.
Alarm bells blared in Life-Claiming Saber's mind, but it was already too late.
In the mere blink of an eye—perhaps even less—the dark-haired young woman's figure flashed directly in front of him!
And the footwork she was utilizing was none other than the very lightness skill he was so proud of!
"Wh—"
Life-Claiming Saber's pupils contracted sharply. He instinctively tried to evade, terrified of letting her get close, but all he saw was a flutter of pitch-black hair.
The next second.
A piercing, agonizing pain erupted from his wrist!
The young woman had dropped her center of gravity incredibly low, darting past the old man's side in a blur. By the time her silhouette became clear again, she had already dispersed her momentum. With one hand planted on the ground, she slowly stood up.
In her hand, she held a saber.
A peerless blade that had originally belonged to someone else.
As the old man stared with eyes so wide they looked ready to tear, she smiled cheerfully and said in a breezy tone:
"Your saber seems to like me better."
"What arrogant nonsense!!"
Life-Claiming Saber's eyes were already bloodshot. Forming his hand into a claw, he lunged at her abruptly. But she only let out a soft laugh, tilted her head to the side, and swung the blade backhandedly.
In a flash, blood cascaded like a waterfall, and a severed head rolled from the blade.
The blood that sprayed from his throat dyed the rainwater pooling on the ground a deep crimson. However, not a single drop stained her; her slight head tilt had allowed her to dodge the splatter perfectly.
[Wu Zhen] has defeated [Life-Claiming Saber]!
[Achievement Unlocked: Killing Star]
[Killing Star: Slay a man every ten paces, leave no trace over a thousand miles.]
[Achievement Unlocked: Number One in the World]
[Number One in the World: Within the mortal realm, there is no longer anyone who can withstand a single blow from you.]
Wu Zhen looked down at the audience.
Everyone swept by her gaze stepped back in unison.
Wu Zhen did not mind.
She was looking for someone.
In the crowd, Jiang Zhenxue stared intently at the young woman standing on the stage. He watched as her gaze swept accurately toward his direction and suddenly collided with his own.
Then, her searching movements paused. Her eyes instantly curved into crescents, resembling the moon in the sky, as she beamed a bright, radiant smile at him through the heavy downpour.
The stench of blood and the damp scent of the torrential rain—mingled with the young woman's unfaded, intense inhuman aura, her wildness, her soaring spirits, the sharpness of an unsheathed blade, and the brilliant smile she directed solely at him.
—At this moment.
Even the sound of the rain faded away from him.
All he could hear was the beating of his own heart in his chest.
.
.
Wu Zhen was incredibly happy.
Today was the happiest day she had experienced since entering the game. Even on the day she stumbled upon her immortal destiny, her mood was nowhere near as elated as it was now.
Especially after checking her loot, her great mood was doubly amplified.
Com! Bat! Rocks!
She hopped lightly off the arena stage and bounded over to Jiang Zhenxue's side, already accustomed to his gaze tracking her every movement.
Just a moment ago on the stage, when she had smiled happily at him, Jiang Zhenxue's expression seemed to undergo some sort of change. Through the thick veil of rain, she couldn't see it clearly, but now that she was up close, there didn't seem to be anything unusual about him.
"Jiang Zhenxue, let's go home!"
She said, her eyes sparkling brightly.
Jiang Zhenxue paused, then raised a hand to wipe the water streaks from her face—though it was to no avail. The rain was simply too heavy, and her face was instantly covered in rainwater once again. Just as Wu Zhen began to show a hint of confusion at his actions, Jiang Zhenxue nonchalantly withdrew his hand and gently reminded her, "You haven't claimed your thousand taels of silver yet."
Realization dawned on Wu Zhen, and her attention was immediately diverted. With a spring in her step, she trotted off to find the escort master to collect her reward for successfully defending the arena.
Now that even Life-Claiming Saber had been defeated by her, she was the undisputed champion of the arena, and no one would dare question it.
Stashing the silver, along with the chest, straight into her inventory, Wu Zhen turned around to head back to Jiang Zhenxue.
Perhaps because her performance in the arena was too terrifying, and now that she had entered the inner quarters of the escort agency, the martial artists who finally snapped out of their daze and wanted to befriend her noticed that Jiang Zhenxue was acquainted with her. They flocked to him to strike up a conversation.
On one side, someone praised, Miss Wu has achieved so much at such a young age; her future is boundless. On the other side, another chimed in, Since you are traveling with Miss Wu, Young Master, you must also possess extraordinary talent. Amidst such flattery, Jiang Zhenxue simply opened his umbrella again. Although he was smiling, his expression remained very detached.
Until someone blurted out, Miss Wu and you are such a perfect match, Young Master. It is truly a match made in heaven, making everyone envious!
Jiang Zhenxue suddenly broke into a smile.
As if sensing her approach, his eyes looked over through the misty veil of rain, carrying a hazy smile.
He did not deny it.
Wu Zhen, as expected, did not care about the remarks of these insignificant bystanders and ducked under his umbrella.
The return trip took even less time than the journey there. In almost the blink of an eye, the gates of her ancestral home appeared before Wu Zhen's eyes.
She waved at Jiang Zhenxue, rushed into her room, and changed into clean clothes.
Although fighting in a rainstorm was exhilarating, being drenched was indeed very uncomfortable. The player shook her head vigorously, trying to shake the water droplets off, but she obviously failed.
Could not all martial arts masters in literary works dry their clothes with their inner energy?
She was already the number one in the world; why could she not automatically unlock this skill?
The player was very dissatisfied.
However, at the thought of today's harvest, Wu Zhen's dissatisfaction vanished completely.
She opened her inventory.
As the head of the three great demons, the loot from the Life-Claiming Saber was extremely generous.
The gold and silver alone were countless, and there was also a pile of precious medicinal herbs, rare ores, martial arts manuals, and lethal poisons that killed on contact with blood.
Overnight, she had achieved financial freedom.
She never had to go up the mountain to hunt again! Yay!
However, Wu Zhen did not plan to practice the martial arts manuals. The upper limit of mortal martial arts was very obvious, and her goal was to ascend to immortality. Coupled with the fact that she already had the title of Number One in the World, there was even less need for it. On the contrary, she was quite interested in esoteric arts like formations and divination.
With so much money, she directly opened the building mode of her ancestral home and started renovating.
The terrain and landforms where the ancestral home was located could also be changed, but Wu Zhen had not thought this part through yet, so she decided to beautify the exterior of the mansion first.
With the evaluation score assisting on the side, Wu Zhen did not even have to rack her brains to design; she could simply place the most perfect and suitable furnishings.
Wu Zhen even made changes to the outside of the courtyard.
Since she had plenty of gold and silver anyway, with a wave of her hand, she directly transformed the nearby wasteland into a bamboo forest, hiding the mansion within it. She also arranged some thin mist to linger in the area, making the place look incredibly mysterious and ethereal.
Mhm, it completely looked like the secluded home of an immortal cultivation family!
Wu Zhen happily pressed the confirm button. In the corner of her eye, the number representing the required construction cost only appeared for a split second.
...Wait a minute.
Before the player could even turn pale with fright, the entire building instantly and silently began to transform.
After the blueprint fully materialized, the courtyard featured small bridges over flowing water and carved beams with painted pillars. Outside the courtyard, the bamboo forest was tranquil and enveloped in mist, looking vastly different from its previous appearance.
[Ancestral Home Evaluation Score: 100]
The comment was [Cloud-like steps and moonlit grounds, water pavilions and floral verandas].
With such an evaluation, Wu Zhen should have been very satisfied.
If only she had not gone bankrupt overnight.
Wu Zhen slowly collapsed onto her bed.
Next time she upgraded a building, she would never dare to ignore the total cost again, boohoo.
.
While peace reigned over the Wu family's ancestral home, massive waves were stirred up in the martial arts world.
The news that the Life-Claiming Saber was slain in the arena by an unknown nobody spread at a terrifying speed, passed from mouth to mouth.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, this matter was simply too bizarre.
For a time, almost everyone in the martial arts world was discussing the person who had slain the Life-Claiming Saber. But besides curiosity and admiration, there were also many other voices.
That demon's Three Yin Saber is a peerless treasure blade. That Wu Zhen only managed to kill the demon after getting her hands on the blade. This treasure must definitely still be in her possession now!
I heard that Wu Zhen belongs to no sect and has no master. She is just an ignorant village girl who luckily killed him because the demon underestimated his opponent and was heavily injured by a Shaolin Temple master not long ago. The Three Yin Saber falling into her hands is simply casting pearls before swine!
Such remarks grew increasingly intense.
Thus, whether they were chivalrous swordsmen, assassins, or spies.
They all headed toward Gan City.
