Chapter 1 The Game

Inside the game.

Chu Nuan City.

When Fang Yue opened his eyes, as if in slow motion, a blood-soaked arm slowly sliced across the night sky right in front of him, splattering his face with blood.

Roars, angry shouts, cries for help—a cacophony of sounds intertwined, making his head ache.

"At dawn, I'll cover the retreat! You take Ye-ge and go!!"

Fang Yue felt a tearing pain all over his body, as if his meridians and body structure had just undergone some kind of brutal transformation. He was so weak that he could barely move.

But then he heard a familiar roar—it was Jing Yan's voice.

Immediately afterward, he saw a black figure flung from a distance, landing in front of him, rolling twice before abruptly standing up. He didn't even notice Fang Yue on the ground. Without turning his head, he roared forward, "Jing Yan, we go together!!"

As if because he had awakened, the strength throughout his body began to awaken and surge.

Fang Yue struggled to sit up, internal force surging madly, like parched land meeting rain, nourishing his whole body and repairing his physical condition.

The only problem was that when he circulated his internal force, he still felt bursts of stinging pain, as if his meridians were damaged.

Even Night's Breath couldn't recover?

Fang Yue frowned slightly, suppressing his current strange state and looking in the direction Qing Chen was facing.

He saw a black figure in the distance, roaring back at them, "Take Ye-ge away! I'm not going to die that easily... die... Ye-ge?"

That black figure, whose voice had been trembling with excitement just moments ago, froze instantly upon seeing Fang Yue sitting up. He was stunned for a moment, then his whole body broke out in goosebumps. The joy in his expression was visible to the naked eye. He roared, "Ye..."

*Bang!!*

At this moment, the flow of time seemed to slow down.

All that remained in Qing Chen's retina was a black line.

Starting from a point, the black line crossed Jing Yan's position, smashing the huge wooden棒 that was about to hit Jing Yan's head. With a bang, it shattered and splintered, scattering tiny pieces of wood everywhere. The huge black figure's head was instantly blown open, frozen with frost, and black blood gushed out, turning to ice in mid-air before it crashed to the ground.

Following the direction of the falling giant black figure, one could see the black line ending there, the surrounding area covered in frost. The person tilted his head, looking at the two in astonishment.

All of this happened swiftly and rapidly, yet the flow of time around them was so slow. Only when the 'black dot's' lips slightly parted did time suddenly return to normal.

"Ye-ge!!"

"Ye-ge!!"

The two came back to their senses and exclaimed in unison!

"It's me. What's the situation? Are we not in Chu Nuan City?"

Fang Yue asked, vigilantly surveying his surroundings.

He could see that it was pitch black all around, and even... cold!

This meant that the core of the geothermic heating had been destroyed!

And in the surrounding undulating shadows, he could see crowds of people screaming, fleeing, and begging for help, as well as figures further away, brandishing swords and fighting with some of the black shadows.

Hearing Fang Yue ask about the situation, Qing Chen and Jing Yan both wore grim and angry expressions.

"It's Tian Ruichi! He's the one behind this!"

Tian Ruichi?

Fang Yue was stunned for a moment, then remembered.

Tian Ruichi was a man of the Seventh Prince, the special envoy who conveyed the Holy Decree of the Emperor, summoning him to the capital to enter the Imperial Palace.

How could he be...?

For a moment, Fang Yue's thoughts surged, but seeing the people around him being killed by the undulating shadows of the youguai, screaming and falling as if in a Shura battlefield, he immediately suppressed his thoughts.

He could ask about Tian Ruichi's matter in detail later. The immediate priority was to kill the youguai and save the people of Chu Nuan City!

"Where's Lin Ling? Where's Dou Hongyi? Are there *li*-level youguai among the youguai? Can you find a way to get them to gather together?"

Fang Yue observed the situation while calmly thinking and asking questions.

"As soon as Captain Lin saw everyone being attacked by youguai, we couldn't stop him. He rushed out. Dou Hongyi should be with Captain Lin, fighting over there. As for the strength of the youguai, most of them are at the *xue*-level to *zai*-level!"

As he spoke, Jing Yan pointed in the direction where Fang Yue had seen the sword light flashing.

That was where the most black shadow youguai were gathered, the most intense fighting.

And those fleeing crowds were only being pursued by some low-level youguai.

"Those youguai..."

"Ye-ge, have you noticed it too? As expected of you, you caught on so quickly. I've been observing, and those youguai seem to be commanded by someone, carrying out reasonable action splits. This shows that there are leaders among them, like the [Guizhi] you mentioned to me!"

Um... If I said that I just thought those youguai really knew how to pick on the weak, wouldn't that be embarrassing...

[Embarrassing!!]

Shut up! As long as you don't speak, no one will know what I was thinking!

"What! Ye-ge even noticed this, such keen insight, not like the usual Ye-ge at all!"

Jing Yan also exclaimed, but that last sentence was a bit unnecessary.

Fang Yue raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced at Qing Chen, and nodded slightly.

Low EQ: Those youguai only know how to pick on the weak.

High EQ: The youguai have leaders!

Can't let Qing Chen be the only one with high EQ, I have to be high too!

Having just woken up, his originally dry body was now fully restored.

Power surged around him, silk-like black lines undulating around him... black lines?

Fang Yue was stunned, touched the corner of his eye with his hand, and looked at it. His hand was covered in black blood.

*Guizhi*? How could that be? I didn't use that part of my power!

Black *qi* was somewhat special, belonging to the power of the *gui* spirit root, troublesome to recover, but also extremely powerful.

When Fang Yue usually mobilized his body's power, he always prioritized using his internal force.

Just now, he had also mobilized his internal force, preparing to kill the surrounding youguai.

But he clearly didn't use *guizhi*, so what were these silk-like black lines?

The silk-like black lines, like plain silk, wrapped around Fang Yue's body, floating automatically behind Fang Yue, vaguely forming a ring, similar to the black ring above his head.

"Ye-ge, this is..."

"Ye-ge, you've only been offline for two days, how did you suddenly get stronger? Can you get stronger even while sleeping?"

Jing Yan and Qing Chen were dumbfounded. Fang Yue was also a little confused. He tried to control the silk-like black lines, and the ring behind him immediately began to rotate rapidly as if moved by his will. He pointed upwards.

*Whoosh—*

Even Fang Yue himself almost didn't react. The silk-like black lines had already pierced through the black shadow youguai hundreds of meters away, almost in an instant!

"So fast!?" Fang Yue's pupils shrank.

"One-hit kill?!" Qing Chen's eyes widened.

"Ye-ge, what exactly is this..." Jing Yan covered his mouth.