Chapter 112
Mastering the Startling Swan Immortal Sword and the heart mantra was more important to him now.
The game’s completion reward was tempting for Li Muyang, but mastering the Startling Swan Sword Mantra was the priority.
If he cleared the game now and claimed the reward, Li Muyang would no longer be able to enter the game.
—Where would he find a master like Shape-Shifter Master to teach him cultivation then?
Li Muyang: “…So when executing the third move, I should use concentrated intent to form a spiral and draw out the sword intent?”
On the battlefield of Nanjiang City, Li Muyang, holding the head of Shape-Shifter Master, struck at the demons within the city with heavy blows.
Using the Startling Swan Sword Mantra’s Sword Control Technique, he wielded his Dharma-Annihilation Wheel, enhancing its power.
Shape-Shifter Master’s head, held in his hand, stared wide-eyed as Li Muyang performed the sword control technique.【Shape-Shifter Master: …You’re doing it all wrong! A miss is as good as a mile! You should…】
Shape-Shifter Master’s head was incessantly chattering, pointing out Li Muyang’s mistakes.
In the distance, within Nanjiang City, a half-demon general was on a killing spree, unstoppable by anyone.
Li Muyang had declined Granny Gu’s invitation to stop Luo Feng from wreaking havoc in Nanjiang City, nor did he release the Ink Fairy from beneath the Soul Drowning Lake.
He carried Shape-Shifter Master’s head around the city, killing isolated demons and using them to test his cultivation progress.
The ‘Startling Swan Sword Mantra’ was difficult and obscure, and with his level of comprehension, learning it was extremely challenging.
Fortunately, in the game, he had the head of Shape-Shifter Master for one-on-one guidance.
As soon as he entered the combat phase, Li Muyang would immerse himself in the game, and this immersive one-on-one teaching greatly accelerated his understanding of the Startling Swan Sword Mantra.
Although it was far from Jiang Xiaoyu’s ability to grasp 70% of it after hearing it once, it was still much better than Li Muyang practicing on his own.
In this way, he kept reloading the game, using Shape-Shifter Master’s guidance to identify weaknesses and diligently practice the Startling Swan Sword Mantra in each of Nanjiang City’s doomed endings.
With the ability to save and reload, he wasn’t afraid of failing multiple times.
He could always push the plot forward after learning the sword technique.
Li Muyang opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
Another day of gaming had ended, and his cultivation-sealed body felt incredibly tired.
Li Muyang stretched and stood up, went to the bamboo forest to dig up some bamboo shoots, washed them in the river water, skewered them on bamboo sticks, and lined them up by the fire to prepare dinner.
In this secret realm where Fairy Yu rested, he and Elder Yan had been trapped for two months.
After drinking the Jade Marrow Spiritual Elixir, Li Muyang began to make use of local resources, searching for food in the secret realm.
Fortunately, the bamboo shoots in this forest were inexhaustible. He could harvest them today, and they would grow back tomorrow.
Plus, with various wild fruits in the distant mountains, Li Muyang managed to scrape by without starving to death from not eating for too long.
As for Elder Yan outside the bamboo forest, a demon cultivation expert of her level had long since stopped relying on food, and even with her cultivation reduced, she wouldn’t starve to death.
However, her condition seemed to be getting worse.
Every day, she sat ten steps in front of Fairy Yu’s grave, motionless, trying to subdue the Startling Swan Immortal Sword.
But clearly, Elder Yan’s strength and level were a bit too far off.
To forcibly subdue Fairy Yu’s immortal sword, maybe one would need the power of a true immortal?
Or as Elder Yan said, the entire Demon Refining Sect would need to come out and combine everyone’s strength to subdue it forcibly.
But now, within the secret realm, with her cultivation reduced, she didn’t even dare to approach within ten steps of the grave.
Her injuries were also fluctuating, sometimes better, sometimes worse.
With her cultivation reduced, she couldn’t heal herself with her own power and relied on the spiritual pills and miraculous medicines in her Qiankun Ring to stay alive.
But those pills and medicines were not endless, and it was uncertain how much longer Elder Yan could hold on…
Li Muyang secretly peeked at the edge of the bamboo forest a few times, fearing that Elder Yan might not survive at any moment.
But he didn’t go over to seek trouble and always maintained a distance, no longer speaking to Elder Yan.
Now, both he and Yan Xiaoru had lost their cultivation and were trapped in the secret realm in an extremely awkward situation.
If he got too close, he might offend this woman and cause unnecessary misunderstandings…
That being said, those bastards from the Demon Refining Sect were really of no use at all!
Two months had passed, and reinforcements should have arrived at Demon Sword City by now, right?
But the elders and sect leaders of the Demonic Sect had not opened the secret realm.
Surely they didn’t think, as Li Muyang feared, that they couldn’t find the secret realm and had treated his and Yan Xiaoru’s disappearance as death… right?
As expected, it’s better to rely on oneself than others.
Realizing that the big figures of the Demonic Sect outside couldn’t be relied upon, Li Muyang became even more eager to practice the sword technique diligently.
Time passed day by day, and Li Muyang spent almost all his time outside of resting in the game, practicing the Startling Swan Sword Mantra every day with the head of Shape-Shifter Master.
The Startling Swan Sword Mantra was not extensive in content, but it was extremely difficult to learn.
For Li Muyang with his current cultivation and understanding, learning this was like a primary school student trying to solve college entrance exam problems.
Although he had a professor-level Shape-Shifter Master by his side to teach him the formulas, it was still very hard for Li Muyang.
But no matter how hard it was, Li Muyang persevered and refused to give up.
And indeed, his hard work was paying off.
Although his low cultivation made progress slow, after two months, Li Muyang had roughly mastered about 60% of it.
He was making continuous progress and could see hope.
On the other hand, Elder Yan, who sat outside in the bamboo forest on the grass, became more haggard day by day, visibly losing hope.
She couldn’t subdue the Startling Swan Immortal Sword and was unable to wait for reinforcements, completely trapped in a dead end.
Occasionally, when Li Muyang secretly spied on her, he even saw that Elder Yan’s eyes were devoid of any light, as empty as those of a dead person.
She sat there like a dead statue.
……
Days passed like this.
On the day when Li Muyang and the others had been trapped in this secret realm for three full months, Yan Xiaoru, who had been sitting motionless on the grass for three months, suddenly stood up.
She stood up and walked to the nearby riverbank, washed her haggard face with the clear water, and tidied her disheveled long hair.
After finishing her grooming, Yan Xiaoru returned to the grassy field, 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 to do, she lay down in it.
“???”
From within the bamboo forest, Li Muyang, who had been watching this scene from a distance, was somewhat dumbfounded.
What’s with this woman? Has she given up on recovery?
She’s actually digging a grave for herself…
While Li Muyang was still hesitating, he saw two hands emerge from the pit, beginning to scrape the dirt from the edges of the hole. This woman, she really intended to bury herself.
“F*ck, that’s something you don’t see every day…”
A high-ranking elder of the Demonic Sect actually gave up and tried to bury herself.
Outrageous!
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