“Legend of the Immortal Sword,” this game, had almost reached the final plot stage; I was just one step away from clearing the level.
But at this moment, Li Muyang wasn’t in a hurry to push through.
Mastering the Sword Control Heart Technique that could wield the Startling Swan Immortal Sword was more important to him at this point.
Li Muyang coveted the game’s clearance rewards, but the Sword Control Heart Technique also had to be thoroughly understood.
If he cleared the game now and claimed the reward, Li Muyang wouldn’t be able to enter the game again.
—Where would he find a master like the Human Puppet Master to teach him cultivation?
Li Muyang, “…So when executing the third form, I need to use concentrated thoughts to form a spiral and draw out the Sword Intent, right?”
In the battlefield of Nanjiang City, Li Muyang wielded the head of the Human Puppet Master, striking fiercely at the demons in the city.
Using the Startling Swan Sword Technique’s Sword Control, he wielded his Eradication Wheel, increasing its power significantly.
The head of the Human Puppet Master, clasped in his hand, watched Li Muyang’s Sword Control moves with wide eyes.
[Human Puppet Master: …Wrong, all wrong! An error by a hair’s breadth leads to a miss by a thousand miles! You should…]
The incessant chattering of the Human Puppet Master’s head guided Li Muyang through his mistakes.
In the distance, within Nanjiang City, the demonized half-demon general was on a killing spree, unstoppable by anyone.
Li Muyang had rejected Granny Gu’s invitation at this juncture; he didn’t go to stop Luo Feng from his massacre within Nanjiang City, nor did he release the Ink Fairy from beneath Drowning Soul Lake.
He carried the Human Puppet Master’s head around the city, killing solitary demons and using them to test his cultivation progress.
The Startling Swan Sword Technique was abstruse and difficult to understand, and with his comprehension, learning was extremely challenging.
But fortunately, in the game was the head of a Human Puppet Master, able to provide one-on-one guidance.
As long as he entered the battle stage, it was Li Muyang personally entering the game; such immersive one-on-one teaching allowed for a rapid increase in his understanding of the Startling Swan Sword Technique.
Although his perception was far from Jiang Xiaoyu’s, who could understand 70% after listening once, it was still much better than struggling alone.
Thus, he kept reloading save files, under the guidance of the Human Puppet Master, he diligently practiced the “Startling Swan Sword Technique” through the failed endings where Nanjiang City was destroyed.
With the power of save files, it’s fine to learn the Startling Swan Sword Technique before pushing through the plot. Even if he fails many times, there’s no fear.
Li Muyang opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
Another day of gaming ended, and his cultivation-sealed body felt incredibly exhausted. Explore stories on empire
Li Muyang stretched and stood up, went to the bamboo forest to dig some bamboo shoots, washed them in the river’s clear water, skewered them with bamboo sticks, then lined them up by the fire to start preparing dinner.
In this secret realm where the Ink Fairy rested, he and Elder Yan had been trapped for two months.
Having finished the Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid, Li Muyang began to seek food in the secret realm using the materials at hand.
Fortunately, the bamboo shoots in this forest were endless; he could pull them up today, and they would grow back tomorrow.
Coupled with the variety of wild fruits in the distant mountains, Li Muyang was able to scrape by, avoiding starvation from not eating for too long.
As for Elder Yan outside the bamboo forest, a Demon Path expert of her caliber had already foregone eating food; even though her cultivation had been diminished, she wouldn’t starve to death.
Her condition, however, seemed to be getting worse.
She sat motionless ten zhang in front of the Ink Fairy’s grave every day, trying to subdue the Startling Swan Immortal Sword.
Clearly, Elder Yan’s abilities and standards were a bit short.
To forcefully subdue the Immortal Sword of a True Immortal from the ancient mythological era like the Ink Fairy, one would need the strength of a True Immortal, right?
Or as Elder Yan had said, the entire Refinement Demon Sect would have to come out and join forces to subdue it by sheer strength.
But in this current secret realm, with Elder Yan’s cultivation diminished, she didn’t even dare to approach within ten zhang of the grave.
Her injuries, too, fluctuated between better and worse.
With her cultivation stripped away, she could not heal herself with her own mana and relied solely on the Spirit Pills in the Qiankun Ring to keep her alive.
But those mystical pills and elixirs are not inexhaustible, and who knows how long Elder Yan will be able to hold on…
Li Muyang secretly went to the edge of the bamboo grove to check a few times, deeply fearing that Elder Yan might not withstand it and die at any moment.
But he didn’t go over to impose on her, always keeping his distance, no longer speaking to Elder Yan.
Now both he and Yan Xiaoru had lost their powers, trapped in the secret realm, in an extremely awkward predicament.
If he got too close, he might offend this woman, leading to unnecessary misunderstandings.
Those bastards from the Refinement Demon Sect were truly useless!
Two months had passed, and reinforcements should have already arrived at Demon Sword City, right?
But the Elders and Sect Master of the Demon Sect had still not opened the secret realm. They couldn’t really be thinking like Li Muyang imagined, assuming their disappearance as death without finding the secret realm…
Indeed, it is better to rely on oneself than to rely on others.
Realizing that he couldn’t count on the big shots of the Demon Sect outside, Li Muyang became even more eager to diligently practice the sword techniques.
As time slipped away day by day, Li Muyang spent nearly all of his time outside of rest on the game, practicing the “Startling Swan Sword Technique” every day with the head of a Human Puppet Master in hand.
The obscure and difficult content of the Startling Swan Sword Technique wasn’t much, but the learning difficulty was extremely high.
For Li Muyang at his current level of cultivation and comprehension to learn this, it was like a primary school student trying to solve college entrance exam problems.
Even though he had a college professor level Human Puppet Master by his side teaching the formulas, it was still very tough for Li Muyang.
But tough as it was, Li Muyang continued to stubbornly learn without giving up, unwilling to quit.
And his hard work in cultivation indeed produced results.
Although his low level of cultivation resulted in slow progress, by the end of two months, Li Muyang had roughly learned about sixty percent.
With continuous improvement, he could see hope.
In contrast, Elder Yan, who sat outside the bamboo grove in the grass, became more haggard by the day, visibly losing hope.
She was unable to subdue the Startling Swan Immortal Sword and was still waiting in vain for reinforcements, completely trapped in a desperate situation.
Occasionally, when Li Muyang secretly observed her, he even saw in Elder Yan’s eyes not a glimmer of light, an emptiness as if she were dead.
She sat there, like a statue that had died.
Days like this continued on, one after another.
On the day marking three months since Li Muyang and the others were trapped in this secret realm, Yan Xiaoru, who had been sitting motionless on the grass for three months, suddenly stood up.
She stood up, went to the nearby riverbank, washed her haggard face with the clean water, as well as her unkempt head of long hair.
After finishing her grooming, Yan Xiaoru returned to the grass, took out a long sword from her Qiankun Ring, and dug a deep pit in the ground.
Then, as if it were the most natural thing, she lay down in it.
“?”
From the bamboo grove, Li Muyang, who saw all this from a distance, was somewhat dumbfounded.
What’s going on with this woman? Has she given up on treatment?
To actually dig a pit for herself…
Li Muyang was still hesitating, but he saw two hands emerge from the pit, beginning to scrape the dirt at the edge of the pit with her hands.
This woman, she actually intended to bury herself alive.
“Damn, what a sight to behold…”
For an Elder of the Demon Sect to give up on treatment, to bury herself…
Unbelievable!