Chapter 304: The Dormant Dragon Listens To Thunder In The Depths; With One Sword, The Starry River And Ten Thousand Ravines Collapse
“Spiritual perception?”
“Does Immortal Road Eternal have this skill?”
Qian Ren E Gui looked calmly at Yi Ye Fu Yun, who had even taken the trouble to give a special explanation, and for a moment he was somewhat stunned.
Facing five War God Alliance experts alone, even he might get injured, yet Yi Ye Fu Yun, who was only level one, was not only unharmed, but had evaded every strike using so-called spiritual perception. It was truly unbelievable.
However, surprise was one thing; Qian Ren E Gui did not slow his pace of support.
Although Yi Ye Fu Yun had dodged the five attacks, his crisis was not over. If no one helped, it was only a matter of time before he was taken out. After all, the two sides not only differed in numbers but also in levels.
Do not be fooled by each level only granting one more free attribute point. When the level gap is large, those accumulated attributes are enough to easily determine victory or defeat.
Especially since Immortal Road Eternal has a stamina mechanism identical to reality. You cannot, like in other games, fight for a long time without feeling physical fatigue.
In Immortal Road Eternal, as long as you fight for a while, you will feel tired, just like a short sprint in real life. Intense exercise cannot be sustained for long.
High-level players usually add to stamina to extend their endurance. A level six or seven player who invests in stamina can already maintain combat over 20% longer than a level one player. This means the five War God Alliance experts simply need to keep attacking Yi Ye Fu Yun; no matter how well he dodges, he will exhaust his stamina before they do and find it hard to move.
At that point, when Yi Ye Fu Yun is struggling to move, any player can easily butcher him, let alone War God Alliance experts.
But just as Qian Ren E Gui had taken only a few steps, Gui Hou, who had chased up from behind, blocked his path with a spear, forcing him to turn back to parry and block.
“I’ll hold this old thing. You quickly finish off that newcomer and the crazy woman!”
Gui Hou blocked Qian Ren E Gui while issuing orders to the fourteen who were encircling Yi Ye Fu Yun and Ye Qinglu, intending to end it quickly.
As a top-tier giant guild in the virtual game world, War God Alliance had plenty of dealings with the Azure Travelers traveling group. The Azure Travelers had even ruined their plans many times. The two sides had fought big battles across other games, so they knew the Azure Travelers’ situation very well.
Yi Ye Fu Yun’s level as a newcomer was beyond their expectations, but they knew all too clearly what Qian Ren E Gui and the Azure Travelers’ vice leader were capable of.
As long as he held up Qian Ren E Gui for a short while, those fourteen would be enough to take down Yi Ye Fu Yun and Ye Qinglu.
“Trying to hold me down? Not that easy!”
At this, Qian Ren E Gui stopped holding back his stamina. His offensive became fiercer, even treating the swords in his hands as throwing weapons, hurling them one after another—six in an instant—straight at Gui Hou, the War God Alliance elder. At the same time, he followed up with two swords in his hands slashing forward. The speed was so fast that ordinary people could not react at all.
“I’ve long since gotten used to your eight-sword style. Why do you think the vice president sent me to deal with you?”
Gui Hou’s spear whirled in his hands. He too stopped conserving stamina. With a retract and thrust, he stabbed eight times in an instant, each strike precisely hitting a sword blade and blocking all the attacks.
For a time, the two were evenly matched; neither could do anything to the other.
“Damn it, after not seeing him for a while, his strength has improved so much.” Qian Ren E Gui’s face darkened as he looked at Gui Hou, whose level was not far below his own.
The uglier Qian Ren E Gui’s expression grew, the more delighted Gui Hou felt, and the more relaxed his fighting became.
After going all out for more than ten seconds, Gui Hou’s grin was about to split his face.
Ten-plus seconds was enough time for the other side of the battle to end. After that, they just had to wait for their companions to come over and join in killing Qian Ren E Gui, then this battle would be completely over.
But when Gui Hou finally looked, he was shocked.
Not only had the fight over there not ended, but Yi Ye Fu Yun seemed to be getting smoother and more comfortable as he fought. Under the siege of five people, he twisted, dodged, and weaved; they could not touch him at all. It was as if he were dancing among the crowd, and the five others were just his backup dancers.
“What are you five even doing! Why haven’t you taken down that newcomer yet?” Gui Hou could not help but roar in anger.
The other nine failing to finish Ye Qinglu, the Azure Travelers’ vice leader, was one thing. After all, Ye Qinglu, that crazy woman, was truly strong—someone who could fight the vice president to a standstill.
On top of that, Ye Qinglu was level nine, the highest level of the non-wipe internal test. In her hands was the Dragon Spring Sword, a lower-grade magic tool acquired from an opportunity, which increased attributes and was much stronger than his superior mortal weapon. It was normal for nine people to fail to take her down quickly.
But five people facing a genuine level one newcomer and still not killing him was something he could not accept.
Qian Ren E Gui was not some random nobody. In other games he had killed three War God Alliance elders in one go. The fact that he had delayed for more than ten seconds already was exceptional.
The five War God Alliance members felt complicated when they heard this.
They themselves were helpless. It was as if Yi Ye Fu Yun had eyes in the back of his head. No matter how they encircled and attacked, he could easily dodge, and with the smallest possible movements, meaning his stamina consumption was minimal. After a string of attacks, the stamina they had left was actually less than his.
They even suspected Yi Ye Fu Yun of cheating. Otherwise, how could every dodge be at such a perfect angle and distance, without a single mistake in more than ten seconds of blazing-fast attacks? Every time he avoided a weapon, it was by about one centimeter, which did not seem humanly possible.
“This kid is too slippery. Let’s trade life for life.” The man holding a nine-ring sabre gritted his teeth.
The other four nodded, their gazes toward Yi Ye Fu Yun turning icy cold.
Immortal Road Eternal’s death punishment was harsh: one death meant dropping one level. For their level, losing one level meant at least a full day of grinding to make up. No one was willing to die unless absolutely necessary.
As their killing intent surged, the always-dodging Yi Ye Fu Yun suddenly clenched his fist and punched straight at the level six spear wielder in front of him.
“Courting death!”
The level six spear wielder was surprised to see Yi Ye Fu Yun suddenly attack, but he swept his spear sideways to smash into him, planning to teach him a lesson.
Though his strength attribute was not very high, he still had twelve points, which a level one newcomer could not compete with. When strength clashed, the weaker party would be briefly stunned. The other four were ready to seize that instant to kill Yi Ye Fu Yun with ease.
Bang!
When spear and fist collided, the level six spear wielder, who had been about to mock him, watched in disbelief as his spear failed to knock Yi Ye Fu Yun back. Instead, the spear bent at an impossible angle, and a terrifying force surged down along the shaft.
Boom!
The level six spear wielder was blasted into the air, flying more than two meters before barely landing on his feet. His hands went numb.
Before he could recover, Yi Ye Fu Yun appeared in front of him. Another punch came, the movement indescribably natural and fluid. Due to the rebound stiffness, the level six spear wielder could not dodge at all and took the punch directly to the head.
Bang!
His head slammed intimately into the ground, and his health bar instantly plummeted by half. Yi Ye Fu Yun followed with another punch, smashing both his head and the ground into a pit. His health dropped to zero. Dead beyond dead.
“You… how is that possible!”
“How can your strength be that high?”
The other four stared blankly at their teammate, killed in just three punches. They could not understand what had just happened.
Yi Ye Fu Yun’s three punches looked slow, but from first contact to the end took less than two seconds. They did not even have time to support him before he died.
What baffled them most was Yi Ye Fu Yun’s strength. They could not understand why someone at level one could possess such power that a level six character had no ability to resist.
Moreover, Yi Ye Fu Yun had been dodging frantically before, struggling just to stay alive, yet now he suddenly launched a counterattack, even ignoring the sword at his waist and using only his fists with basic attack power. It made no sense.
“Sorry to keep you guys waiting, big brothers. I got too used to playing High Martial Arts Descend and wasn’t accustomed to this game’s body. I’ve barely adapted now. Let’s have a serious fight.” Yi Ye Fu Yun stretched lazily, confirming he could fully control his current body, then looked at the War God Alliance four with some excitement.
The virtual degree of High Martial Arts Descend was so high it was practically indistinguishable from reality. In contrast, Immortal Road Eternal, though exceeding 85% virtual degree, always gave him a sense of delay. It was very slight, but for someone who had blown heads twice in High Martial Arts Descend, it felt very uncomfortable in action. So along the way, he had been constantly adjusting to gain complete control over the body.
Just now, he had finally adapted to this new body.
He was also quite curious how the martial skills he had learned in High Martial Arts Descend would perform in Immortal Road Eternal. The Crushing Stone Fist he used earlier was not ideal. The muscle coordination of this body only allowed him to reach about 90% of its original power.
With four War God Alliance experts remaining, it was the perfect chance to test other martial skills.
The four War God Alliance members were stunned.
Got used to High Martial Arts Descend so much that he was not used to this game’s body?
What kind of game was High Martial Arts Descend? They had never even heard of it.
Not used to the game body? Since when did playing a game require bodily adaptation?
And “have a serious fight”—was that something a person should say?
“You brat are asking for death!”
Infuriated by his provocation, all four charged Yi Ye Fu Yun head-on. The man with the nine-ring sabre took the lead, with the other three close behind.
“Careful, they’re going for mutual destruction!” Qian Ren E Gui, who had finally managed to break free enough to see this, shouted repeatedly, “Do not take it head-on!”
In virtual games, many do not allow friendly fire at all, but Immortal Road Eternal is different. All attacks are almost fully realistic, which means teammates can be used as tools.
But Yi Ye Fu Yun seemed not to hear, showing no intention of circling around. He simply stood there quietly, waiting for the four to come.
“Die!”
The nine-ring sabre wielder exploded with power; his sabre flashed into two afterimages, chopping toward Yi Ye Fu Yun in a way that would make dodging impossible and force him to block head-on. At the same time, the three behind him attacked the sabre wielder’s back, intending to take out both him and Yi Ye Fu Yun together.
As the two blade shadows were about to strike Yi Ye Fu Yun, he raised one hand. The back of his hand precisely struck the real blade, deflecting its trajectory. Then he stepped forward, pivoted, and with his other hand unleashed a thunderous palm strike that broke the sound barrier and slammed into the sabre wielder’s side.
Advanced martial skill Lightning Palm, no internal force version.
Boom!
Before the three allies’ attacks could land on the nine-ring sabre wielder, he was blasted away like a cannonball. His health hit zero.
“Dead?”
The three stared in shock at the instantly killed sabre wielder.
As level six players, they had invested some points into health. Even if a level nine put all their attributes into strength, it should still be impossible to one-shot them.
Yet Yi Ye Fu Yun had done it with a single palm.
Before they could react, Yi Ye Fu Yun stepped forward and arrived before them. Thunder crackled from both his palms as he flashed past their sides.
Snap, snap, snap!
Three palms landed, each on a side waist. All three were sent flying five to six meters and died on the spot.
“Who in the world is this monster?!”
Gui Hou’s eyes went wide as he watched the four being instant-killed, unable to believe it was real.
Previously, Yi Ye Fu Yun, a level one, had ambushed and killed one person in three punches; that was one thing. Now he was killing one per palm. He was like a humanoid boss.
Even Gui Hou himself did not dare say he could survive that three-palm combo. Yi Ye Fu Yun was more terrifying than Qian Ren E Gui.
“He took them out?”
Qian Ren E Gui also could not believe his eyes as he watched Yi Ye Fu Yun, who had killed four in an instant.
When Ye Qinglu first said she wanted to introduce her little brother into the traveling group, he opposed it. Ye Qinglu had made it clear that Yi Ye Fu Yun was decent and should barely meet the group’s bottom line.
Ye Qinglu was always serious and responsible, so he had decided to test Yi Ye Fu Yun at the Black Boxing Arena. He had to admit Yi Ye Fu Yun performed better than expected and did meet the group’s minimum requirements.
But now? What was this?
This was called “decent”?
Watching Qian Ren E Gui locked in combat, Yi Ye Fu Yun, still unsatisfied, called over to him, “Brother Qian Ren, need any help?”
That triple Lightning Palm combo was not his limit, and besides Lightning Palm he wanted to try other martial skills. But with the current War God Alliance members all dead, he would have to find other targets if he wanted more tests.
“No need. I can handle this one. Go help Qinglu!” Qian Ren E Gui shook his head with a grin. Seeing how strong Yi Ye Fu Yun was, he knew their side of the fight was secure.
“Help my big sis?” Yi Ye Fu Yun gave a wry smile. “Forget it. If I go over, she’ll absolutely hack me along with them.”
“Yi Ye, don’t mess around. Qinglu’s up against nine people. If you don’t support her, it’ll get dangerous.” Qian Ren E Gui was speechless as he saw Yi Ye Fu Yun still not moving. At a time like this, he still had the mood to joke.
Though Ye Qinglu was level nine and wielded the lower-grade magic tool Dragon Spring Sword, her stamina was not much higher than that of other level six players. Nine people besieging her could very well wear her down to death. And the War God Alliance experts were going for mutual destruction; Ye Qinglu could not hold out for long.
But as Qian Ren E Gui spoke, Ye Qinglu, who had been dodging in the distance, also stopped her evasive movements. Unlike Yi Ye Fu Yun, who was unfamiliar with Immortal Road Eternal, her Dragon Spring Sword suddenly shone with green light, making the game’s spiritual energy visible.
“Spiritual energy! She can actually condense spiritual energy?”
Qian Ren E Gui nearly popped his eyes out as he looked at the green-lit Dragon Spring Sword.
The space in Immortal Road Eternal contains spiritual energy, a type of power that enables cultivation. According to the NPCs, only those who condense spiritual energy can step into the Qi Refining Realm, the stage after advancing past level ten.
But spiritual energy is formless and intangible. Players can only vaguely sense it, let alone condense it with their spirit, as the NPCs describe.
Normally, to step into the Qi Refining Realm, one must obtain a cultivation method and practice it as described, to figure out how to condense spiritual energy. Those methods are like tools that greatly assist in controlling spiritual energy, lowering the difficulty. The better the cultivation method, the more it reduces the difficulty. But such cultivation methods are all held by major sects. Without joining them, players cannot obtain one.
Yet now, Ye Qinglu, without any cultivation method, was condensing spiritual energy purely by her own power. It was unbelievable.
Ye Qinglu looked at the green glow of the Dragon Spring Sword and smiled.
“As expected, using a strong spirit in combination with the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique works.” Feeling the spiritual energy flowing through her body, her opinion of High Martial Arts Descend rose another level.
In Ye Qinglu’s view, the spiritual energy in Immortal Road Eternal was likely designed to train pioneers’ spirits. The main goal was to make players find ways to exercise their spirit. The stronger the spirit, the better the control over spiritual energy. The so-called cultivation methods were probably tools that amplified spiritual perception, allowing players to better manipulate spiritual energy with intent.
However, Immortal Road Eternal’s cultivation method was clearly inferior to that of High Martial Arts Descend. In High Martial Arts Descend, players could directly temper and enhance their spirit through meditation techniques, while Immortal Road Eternal was extremely indirect. One could only stress the spirit by controlling more spiritual energy, and had to figure out alone how to do that. The gap between them was enormous.
“Spiritual energy! How can she control spiritual energy?” Gui Hou was also shocked as he watched Ye Qinglu.
With spiritual energy being so vague to sense, he could not understand how she had done it. Condensing spiritual energy meant that without joining a sect, Ye Qinglu could already advance to the Qi Refining Realm once she reached level ten, leaving everyone else far behind.
“Kill her! We must kill her!” Gui Hou’s gaze toward Ye Qinglu turned ice-cold.
At the moment, Ye Qinglu was still level nine. She had to reach level ten to advance to the Qi Refining Realm. Players lose a level when they die. If they killed her now, they could greatly delay her promotion, buying War God Alliance more time to figure out how to condense spiritual energy.
The nine War God Alliance experts also understood the importance of killing Ye Qinglu. Their eyes turned bloodshot as they launched relentless attacks.
“Good timing! Let me test this move on you.”
Facing the nine charging from all directions, Ye Qinglu raised the Dragon Spring Sword. The green glow intensified until it was painfully bright even to those watching from far away.
For a moment, time itself seemed to halt. Everyone around could feel the once-vague spiritual energy madly surge toward Ye Qinglu. The spiritual energy that had been indistinct now became clear.
In the blink of an eye, they saw a phantom figure over a hundred meters tall standing proudly over Thousand Needle Forest, its movements with a long sword exactly mirroring Ye Qinglu within.
“Rise!”
Ye Qinglu lifted the Dragon Spring Sword.
Suddenly, countless long swords condensed from spiritual energy appeared around the hundred-meter phantom, a full three hundred of them hovering over Thousand Needle Forest, leaving all players within dumbfounded. They had no idea what was happening.
An immortal manifestation?
A special boss?
“Go!”
Ye Qinglu swung the Dragon Spring Sword toward the War God Alliance members.
In an instant, three hundred spiritual energy swords, each dozens of meters long, swept out like a river of sword qi, engulfing all War God Alliance members.
By the time the three hundred spiritual energy swords faded, a gorge over a kilometer long had been carved through Thousand Needle Forest, and War God Alliance was annihilated.
