Absolute Death Game

On the screen, facing the wooden sword coming straight at him, a flash of fear and despair crossed Ye Feng's face, an expression so vivid that Xiao Buli didn't know if it was his imagination, but as if possessed by a spirit, he suddenly twitched the mouse, and the wooden sword stabbed past Ye Feng's cheek, leaving a trail of blood.

The two passed by each other, standing back to back, Ye Feng did not take the opportunity to counterattack but remained frozen in place. After a while, he suddenly dropped his sword to the ground— "You win," he said.

Xiao Buli also felt a bit of fear at this point. Had that sword hit Ye Feng's head, the critical strike effect produced by hitting a vital spot would have likely killed him instantly. But would the people of Longquan Sword Pavilion really stand by and watch him kill their fellow disciple without any reaction? At the very least, becoming cold in terms of prestige was inevitable, right?

Maybe they would swarm him and chop him to death with their swords (although the likelihood of that was minuscule).

It was a good thing he had that little shake. Xiao Buli thought to himself.

System prompt: Defeated Ye Feng, earned the title of Swordsmanship Master, you can now learn advanced ultimate techniques of swordsmanship.

System prompt: Achieved 'Show Mercy', your personal prestige has increased by 100 points.

System prompt: Ye Feng's favor towards you has increased by 1000 points, your personal prestige with Ye Feng has reached Respect, your prestige in Longquan Sword Pavilion has increased by 1000 points, your prestige in Longquan Sword Pavilion has reached Friendly.

Finally achieving the title of Swordsmanship Master, Xiao Buli struggled to calm his overly excited heart. With this, all he needed was to improve his Taoist Heart by one more level to advance to Cursed Swordsman, or he could continue to challenge for the title of Swordsmanship Grandmaster for a chance to advance to Sword Control Master.

As for which career to switch to, it depends on which one he would achieve first: Taoist Heart LV3 or the title of Swordsmanship Grandmaster.

At this time, Ye Feng approached him with a complex look, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Xiao, for showing mercy and sparing my life." With that, he turned and left.

Chu Yunyu followed close behind, sizing up Xiao Buli with a scrutinizing gaze, "Are you a disciple of Gu Yuexuan?"

"Junior brother," Xiao Buli corrected.

"Hmph, indeed, tell your senior brother for me, one day I will beat him. I will prove with my own actions that the Art of the Sword Heart is absolutely stronger than Sword Control Skill," he declared arrogantly before walking away.

What a baffling fellow, Xiao Buli mused, but according to what he said, the Sword Heart clearly isn't as formidable as Sword Control, otherwise, it would have been Gu Yuexuan saying this, not him.

Then Liu Xing also came over, "Man, where did you learn that swordsmanship? It's so badass? It's like the legendary 'Fight fire with fire' tactic."

Xiao Buli shook his head, "Don't say that, it's not as overpowered as you think, it can only deflect close-range physical attacks, and there's a limit to the deflection."

"I thought so," said Liu Xing. "But that's still pretty overpowered, where did you learn it?"

At that moment, an idea struck Xiao Buli. While the title of Swordsmanship Grandmaster seemed out of reach for him, it might not be so for Liu Xing. With some more hard training, he might achieve it, and with the Tao Te Ching, he could gain LV1 Taoist Heart, then wouldn't he be able to change his class to Sword Control Master?

Thinking thus, Xiao Buli hesitated, unsure whether to share this information. After some thought, he decided to keep it a secret for now. It's said, "know the face, not the heart." Liu Xing and he were not yet well-acquainted, not to mention friends. It would be best to disclose this after he himself had changed classes; presently, it was too early.

With that in mind, he responded tersely: "Sect swordsmanship, not something the average person can learn."

Liu Xing couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed after hearing this, "Sigh, never mind then. Hey, are we going to run a dungeon instance this afternoon?" Discover exclusive content at empire

Xiao Buli naturally didn't object. Running a dungeon instance could not only increase practical experience but also yield equipment. His current gear was too shabby; except for a silver ring with decent attributes, the rest like the Tomb Raider's Talisman used for luck, night-vision eyepatches, and the Soul Slayer used for grinding experience had rather weak properties.

The rest of his gear came from street stalls; he indeed needed to acquire some quality equipment to strengthen himself.

"Sure, you go ahead and call the others. I'm going to learn some skills and will be right there."

Liu Xing said okay and left, while Xiao Buli headed to the front hall of Longquan Sword Pavilion, ready to see what special techniques he could learn from the master of swordsmanship.

Upon finding Mu Zhiqi and choosing to dialogue, the option to seek Ultimate Skills indeed appeared; previously, this option had been grayed out and unselectable, but now it was activated, obviously due to having attained the title of master of swordsmanship.

As he chose to learn Ultimate Skills, Mu Zhiqi nodded, "With your current understanding of swordsmanship, you are indeed qualified to learn my Ultimate Skills. Which one do you want to learn?"

After he finished speaking, a skill list popped up in front of Xiao Buli, enumerating more than a dozen Ultimate Skill techniques.

Looking at these Ultimate Skills, Xiao Buli's eyes lit up with envy; these weren't like the semi-passive swordsmanship techniques but rather concrete active skills, somewhat similar to Chain Sword Strike. However, basic skills were much more powerful than his Chain Sword Strike, although the price was exorbitant as well—the cheapest cost four or five Gold Coins.

He glanced at his inventory, having only seven or eight Gold Coins left, it seemed he could only afford to learn one for now, and would have to consider the rest in the future.

Most of the Ultimate Skill techniques were primarily offensive, including several AOE skills. Though not as powerful as Mystic Skills, their advantage lay in using internal energy or physical strength, even rage, allowing for frequent usage.

After some hesitation, Xiao Buli chose the Sword Qi Slash—an Ultimate Skill he had seen many people use, and presumably, there was a reason for its popularity.

Sword Qi Slash: Summon Sword Qi with internal energy to attack the enemy from a distance. The power and flight distance of the Sword Qi are determined by internal energy strength and weapon damage. Depending on the various attributes of internal energy and the weapon, extra special effects might be added.

Xiao Buli tried out Sword Qi Slash on a training dummy, chopping off a full 45 health points, far more potent than his Burst Talisman. The only drawback was its significant consumption—each Sword Qi Slash cost him 20 internal power points, a full tenth of his current energy.

Additionally, probably because his Inner Strength originated from the Flower Shifting Great Technique, the color of the Sword Qi he unleashed was green, and it came with a natural damage effect.

After he learned and mastered the Sword Qi Slash skill, Xiao Buli returned to Nine Dragons City, where everyone was already gathered in the tavern.

There was a noticeable improvement in everyone's strength: behind Yaoyao was Niu Dazhuang in full armor wielding two axes, and behind Bai Yunfei followed a Blood Corpse drenched in red. Wu Tao, although without a companion creature, had skin that had turned iron-like grey-black.

"What happened to you?" Xiao Buli asked curiously.

"This is the Iron Cloth Shirt, a passive defense skill. How about that, pretty cool right? Does it give you a Terminator vibe?" Wu Tao boasted proudly.

PS: The first chapter for today, two more chapters to follow. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)