Chapter 9
Chapter 9
This time, the game feels much easier.
Li Muyang directly chose the last save.
?Final Act: Meeting the Commander of Loushan City?
After the game loaded, Li Muyang opened his eyes and saw fully armed soldiers blocking the way.
Beside him, Fairy Liuli’s eyes were filled with sorrow.
“Lord Zhao…”
This Fairy Liuli was mourning the death of the guide.
The next process was the same as the last time, without a moment of sorrow for the passing of the guide, they arrived at the residence of the true culprit lurking behind the scenes, the Commander of Loushan City.
After being surrounded by the soldiers, Fairy Liuli revealed her identity, and someone immediately came to lead the way.
Li Muyang and Fairy Liuli followed the guide through the heavily guarded Commander’s residence and met the frantic General Wu deep inside the estate.Fairy Liuli ordered General Wu to bring out his family members one by one into the courtyard.
This time, when General Wu’s favorite wife was helped out by a maid, and Fairy Liuli confirmed the true identity of the demon cultivator, Li Muyang also made his move.
The moment the demon cultivator turned to flee, Li Muyang activated a time stop.
He then rushed forward with his knife and, with two swift slashes, chopped off the woman’s legs.
When the time stop ended, the woman fell to the ground, screaming miserably and spraying blood.
Fairy Liuli instantly leaped over and subdued the demon cultivator, binding her with special ropes.
The entire action was over in the blink of an eye.
Fairy Liuli was no longer surprised by Li Muyang’s ‘movement technique’, which seemed like instantaneous teleportation.
The two of them worked together with perfect tacit understanding.
General Wu hadn’t even had time to understand what was happening before he saw his beloved fall to the ground, screaming as she revealed her true form as a demon cultivator, turning into a half-human half-demon creature. ?
“Madam Yu… is actually a monster?”
General Wu’s face turned pale, clearly frightened by the creature covered in monkey fur resembling an ape.
While General Wu was horrified that the person by his side was a monster, Li Muyang’s field of vision also popped up with the level completion score interface.
As expected, the score for completing the level had indeed changed.
?Beginner’s Tutorial—The Mystery of Loushan City Cleared?
?Guide: Deceased?
?Fairy Liuli: Lightly Injured?
?Mastermind: Captured?
?Clearance Rating: A (A Flaw in the White Jade)?
?With your keen reactions, formidable strength, and invincible talent, you have successfully eliminated the source of turmoil in Loushan City, saving countless lives and earning immeasurable merit. You have also captured the mastermind, allowing the imperial court to uncover the truth behind the mysteries of Loushan City. Your fame will be celebrated by the people.?
?Would you like to claim your clearance reward??
?Current selectable rewards (choose one of three)?
?Blood Demon Heart Refining Sutra?
?Low-grade spiritual flying sword?
?Five bottles of Jade Marrow Spiritual Elixir?
?Host, please note that once you claim the reward, this tutorial level will be permanently concluded and cannot be entered again.?
Li Muyang breathed a sigh of relief as the clearance score appeared in his field of vision.
With the upgraded score, the rewards for clearing the level also improved.
The previously ‘Blood Demon Heart Refining Sutra’ was now available in its entirety, no longer marked as ‘incomplete’.
The treasure reward had been upgraded from the most basic mortal-grade flying sword to a low-grade spiritual flying sword.
In this world, the classification of treasures is simple: the lowest level is the mortal-grade, common goods for the masses, and above that are the lower, middle, and upper-grade spiritual weapons.
But even a low-grade spiritual weapon is not something that an Outer Sect disciple of the Demon Refining Sect could easily possess.
The steward in the Outer Sect, who had a not insignificant status and power, only had a mortal-grade flying sword.
If Li Muyang could have a low-grade spiritual flying sword, he could be considered invincible in the Outer Sect.
After all, a spiritual weapon could significantly enhance one’s combat power, making it easy to defeat those Qi Refining disciples who lacked such protection—it would be like fighting on a different level.
As for the third reward, the Jade Marrow Spiritual Elixir, Li Muyang had heard of it too. It was a heavenly treasure similar to spiritual rice. The top group of direct disciples of the Demon Refining Sect were said to receive half a bottle of Jade Marrow Spiritual Elixir each month to aid their cultivation.
This stuff was much more potent than spiritual rice. Five bottles of Jade Marrow Spiritual Elixir would be considered a big fortune even in the Inner Sect.
Li Muyang was extremely covetous.
The upgrade from a B to an A rating had already brought such a significant improvement in rewards… What if the rating could be raised even higher?
Li Muyang looked at the clearance evaluation interface.
?Guide: Deceased?
?Fairy Liuli: Lightly Injured?
These two prompts, along with the ?A (A Flaw in the White Jade)? below, clearly indicated to Li Muyang that to achieve the highest rating, he must ensure that the guide survives and Fairy Liuli remains unharmed.
If both conditions were met, he should be able to achieve the highest rating.
Li Muyang, whose interest had been piqued by the A-level rewards, had no intention of claiming them yet.
Instead, Li Muyang decided to continue challenging himself.
Since there was no time limit on this beginner’s tutorial, why not keep going until he achieved a perfect score?
Li Muyang chose to reload the third act, ?Interlude – Crisis in Loushan City?.
As the darkness surrounding him faded, Li Muyang found himself on the carriage traveling down the deserted streets.
This was the most challenging part of the entire beginner’s tutorial and the key to achieving a perfect score.
The moment he entered the level, Li Muyang stood up and addressed Fairy Liuli.
“Fairy, may I borrow your immortal sword for a moment?”
Then, another round of slaughter ensued.
……
In the early morning, when the crowing of the rooster pierced the tranquility of the mountains, the foothills outside the Demon Refining Sect began to stir as life awakened within the thatched cottages.
Having finished his morning wash and carrying a huge water bucket on his back, Guan Xiaoshun was on his way to the spiritual field when he saw Li Muyang, who was squatting at the door of his hut, washing his face with a weary expression and huge dark circles under his eyes.
Seeing this, Guan Xiaoshun was curious. “Brother Li, didn’t you sleep last night?”
In the Demon Refining Sect’s Outer Sect, where entertainment options were extremely limited, most people spent the long nights sleeping.
A few would spend the night in the brothels that were opened in the market, but even there, the main activity was sleeping.
Someone like Li Muyang, with huge dark circles and a tired face, clearly having not slept all night, was a rare sight indeed.
Guan Xiaoshun asked curiously and Li Muyang sighed, “Don’t mention it, I had insomnia last night.”
He had been dying all night long, and even with the use of the Time Stop and Hidden Sword in the Belly abilities, which were like cheats, Li Muyang still couldn’t keep the guide alive amidst the relentless attacks of the blood demons.
It was even difficult to protect Fairy Liuli from getting hurt.
The overall difficulty of this beginner’s tutorial was quite low, but achieving a perfect score was indeed challenging.
Li Muyang had been tormented by the third act’s tower defense all night, and it truly gave him a feeling reminiscent of his past life playing Souls-like games.
Being killed over and over by monsters, one had to be highly focused during combat, as any slight negligence or mistake would lead to a game over.
Still, the difficulty of achieving a perfect score only fueled Li Muyang’s competitive spirit.
—I refuse to believe I can’t protect this damn guide!
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