Inside the pitch-black thatched cottage, Li Muyang's eyes snapped open.
"Damn! Failed again!"
He hadn't expected that his blade would shatter against the monster's neck.
The defense of those six monsters was astonishingly strong.
In the game, just before Li Muyang died, he used the "Sword Hidden in the Belly" skill, which successfully broke through the defense of one monster and slew it with the sword he spat out.
But the remaining monsters swarmed over, giving him no chance to activate the time-stop again, and they chopped him and the Glass Immortal Maiden down where they stood.
The "Sword Hidden in the Belly" skill had a 20-second CD and could only kill one monster at a time; it wasn't to be relied upon to break through the situation.
Li Muyang narrowed his eyes, "It seems I have to borrow the Glass Immortal Maiden's flying sword."
The trap set by the six monsters was to provoke the Glass Immortal Maiden into action, causing her to lose her flying sword before they dared to swarm up; obviously, the monsters feared her flying sword.
The fact that the Glass Immortal Maiden took action also showed that the ancient sword on her back was not to be underestimated, at least capable of easily breaking through the defense of that group of monsters.
Having realized this, Li Muyang took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Continue the beginner's tutorial."
The scene before his eyes instantly became dark, and he was once again submerged in the dark tides surrounding him.
When he opened his eyes, he was back on the shaking, jolting carriage.
The cart driver's mountain song echoed through the mountains as the carriage traveled on the steep trails.
Li Muyang immediately jumped off the carriage and started sprinting on the mountain path.
"Eh? Constable!"
The surprised shout of the cart driver was quickly left behind as Li Muyang ran, activating time-stop on the way and rushing straight to the mountain pass, where he saw Horse Post Pavilion by the roadside ahead.
He took several deep breaths to regulate his breathing before he headed towards the inn with his waist knife slung on.
Pushing open the inn's big door, a smiling innkeeper came to meet him.
"This constable..."
But Li Muyang walked straight past him, heading for the Glass Immortal Maiden.
The Glass Immortal Maiden, dressed in blue, sat in the lobby of the inn, an ancient-looking sword on her back that appeared extremely old and blunt.
Li Muyang walked straight up to the Glass Immortal Maiden and said, "Maiden, may I borrow your Immortal Sword?"
"Ah?"
The Glass Immortal Maiden, who was about to speak as Li Muyang, clad in constable's clothes, approached, did not expect him to preempt her and directly ask to borrow the sword.
The Glass Immortal Maiden's eyes showed shock, clearly caught off guard by Li Muyang's overly familiar and strange behavior.
Li Muyang, however, glanced at the six jianghu guests in the room and roughly estimated the distance.
"Thank you very much, Maiden."
Having calculated the distances, Li Muyang said his thanks, without regard for whether the Maiden was willing or not.
The next second, time-stop was activated.
The world inside the inn instantly plunged into monochrome, everything between heaven and earth losing its color.
The six jianghu guests still sat at their spots, seemingly unchanged.
The Glass Immortal Maiden, carrying the Immortal Sword, sat stiffly, her eyes filled with astonishment, as if puzzled why Li Muyang was thanking her.
Li Muyang reached out and drew the Immortal Sword from her back and rushed towards the six jianghu guests inside the inn.
Although this body's cultivation was average, the 7 seconds of time-stop were enough for him to make a run around the inn.
After 7 seconds passed, the time-stop was lifted.
Li Muyang, holding the Immortal Sword, stood at the inn's entrance, and the six jianghu guests scattered in the lobby were all decapitated, their blood spurting wildly.
The bloody sight of six people gruesomely killed in an instant frightened the innkeeper into screaming and rushing towards the backyard.
The Glass Immortal Maiden sitting in the inn, however, had her eyes sharply condense as she instantly looked towards Li Muyang at the doorway and the Immortal Sword in his hands.
She stood up, both shocked and angry.
"You..."
However, as soon as the Glass Immortal Maiden began to speak, the six decapitated bodies of the itinerant warriors began to transform.
They expanded and distorted until they became six headless monsters, and the heads that had fallen beside them underwent similar changes.
The sight of this horrifying scene rendered the Glass Immortal Maiden speechless, her rage caught in her throat.
"This…"
She looked on in utter shock at the six monstrous corpses before turning to Li Muyang with disbelief.
"How did you know they were Demon Cultivators?"
She had been in this inn for quite some time without recognizing that these six were Demon Cultivators, yet the constable before her had struck with ruthless precision and assured confidence, his gaze piercing as though he had no fear of being wrong.
And his movement technique was so fast!
In the blink of an eye, he had seized her Immortal Sword and killed all six…
The Glass Immortal Maiden regarded Li Muyang with a mix of astonishment and wariness. Despite appearing to have a common cultivation and merely being at the Qi Refining Stage, how could he possess such an eerie and dreadful movement technique?
She hadn't even clearly seen how he made his move!
The Glass Immortal Maiden was filled with doubt and uncertainty, at a loss for what to say.
But Li Muyang, holding the Immortal Sword, glanced at her and suddenly spat out a streak of cold light.
In an instant, a stream of blood burst from the ground beneath the Glass Immortal Maiden's feet, followed by a pained scream from below, and a steady flow of fresh blood began to seep out from under her feet.
Startled by this commotion, the Glass Immortal Maiden lost her composure.
She immediately moved away from the spot where she had been standing, staring in bewilderment at the blood-soaked dirt.
Were there Demons underground too, having stealthily tunneled beneath her feet without her noticing?
In that moment, the Glass Immortal Maiden felt a chill run down her spine.
Because she knew very well that none of the six monsters within the inn were weak.
If they were to mutate and reveal their full power, along with the Demon that had been lying in wait underground, she, trapped in this deadly situation, likely wouldn't be able to escape unharmed...
Taking a deep breath, the Glass Immortal Maiden then turned to Li Muyang with a serious expression.
"I am Chu Qingxue from the Mysterious Sword Sect. May I ask how to address you?"
The Glass Immortal Maiden spoke with reverence, giving Li Muyang the respect he was due.
The constable before her might have seemed weak and ordinary in his cultivation, yet his thunderous methods and mysterious movement technique had won the Glass Immortal Maiden's respect.
Who would have thought that within the decayed and corrupt court, there would be such a capable person...
Li Muyang, upon hearing the Immortal Maiden's question, also came back to his senses.
Although he had been assigned the identity of a constable, it seemed he hadn't been given a name.
Which meant... he had to choose his own ID?
Meeting the Glass Immortal Maiden's gaze, Li Muyang offered a faint smile and said, "The Immortal Maiden flatters me. I am but a minor constable from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. You may simply call me 'Nameless.'"
Unable to think of a good ID in the moment, Li Muyang provided a catch-all one.
And as soon as he finished speaking, numerous messages popped up in the top right corner of Li Muyang's vision.
[Meet with the Glass Immortal Maiden——Completed]
[Ensure the Glass Immortal Maiden's Safety——Completed]
[Current Progress Saved]
[New Mission——Please accompany the Glass Immortal Maiden into Loushan City]
Li Muyang had acted too swiftly, commencing his attack the moment he saw the Glass Immortal Maiden, leaving her no time to react.
Not even leaving time for the system to respond.
As a result, the mission log had only updated two entries at once just now.
Seeing the successful completion of the mission, Li Muyang also breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he had failed once, it was only one failure, and upon his second attempt, he had instantly eliminated the group of Demon Cultivators.
What it means to be a speedrunner, he thought with a lean back.