5 005, [Martial Arts Prodigy]

Lu Xun's words of consolation had clearly no effect. As soon as Ji Li heard the word "ghost", she became even more panic-stricken.

Although she just grew up on the fringes of society, she had heard plenty of rumors. She had always loved listening to the interesting stories told by story-tellers as a child, and was particularly interested in these mystical matters.

But now that she had actually encountered one, she was a little bit at a loss.

A ghost! This was a ghost!

Ji Li was not faint-hearted, but she knew she couldn't outfight the group that was pursuing her, yet this shadowy figure has easily killed all of them!

However, she was helpless to stop Lu Xun now, for the ghostly figure seemed to have sensed something and began floating towards them.

Its speed was getting faster and faster, and its expression was becoming more gruesome, changing from ╭(°A°`)╮ to (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`).

You'd say that's pretty scary, right?

From its hollow eyes, a large amount of black fog was flowing down, as if it was shedding black tears.

Ji Li gritted her teeth, drew her Wedding Sword from its scabbard, and moved to stand protectively in front of Lu Xun.

As a descendant of the Righteous Martial Sect, her parents taught her from a young age to be a qualified female knight. Protecting the weak was the most basic virtue of a knight. Of course, Lu Xun was handsome, and protecting beautiful things was also part of human nature.

The spectral figure was getting closer and closer to them. Seeing that the distance was about right, Lu Xun suddenly shouted loudly, "Hold your breath!"

Ji Li, already nervous, was startled by Lu Xun's suddenly loud voice and felt even more aggrieved.

But she obediently held her breath because it was by following Lu Xun's advice earlier that the spectral figure passed straight by them without causing any harm.

As Lu Xun and Ji Li held their breaths, the spectral figure stopped moving.

Its expression, which was already confused, now appeared even more so.

That's just how the Black Silly are, as long as you hold your breath, you can even do unpredictable moves in front of them and it won't matter.

Moreover, once you find the right method, they're incredibly easy to kill!

Lu Xun held his breath and quickly moved closer. Then he raised his hands, extended his fingers and jabbed them into the spectral figure's hollow eyes!

That was where its essence was located.

If he could strike it, it would be hurt.

And if he struck deep enough, it could possibly kill it in one hit!

"Whoosh---!" He almost missed.

The black fog around the spectral figure began to spread all around, looking a bit daunting.

As Lu Xun moved, its form started to distort.

The distortion was so great that not even a yoga master could achieve it.

"Did I not kill it?" Lu Xun hesitated for a moment, withdrawing his hand, then jabbing at it again.

This time he got it in one go.

The black fog exploded outwards, like a fireworks display of black smoke.

The dissipating black fog marked the death of the shadowy figure.

"[Ding! For killing the Mountain Ghost, you have gained 666 experience points!]"

Lu Xun was overjoyed. It was indeed the same as the game mechanics where killing monsters allowed you to level up!

This creature, referred to by players as Black Silly, was known as the Mountain Ghost in the Heavenly Dust game, but when looking at the given experience points, if it wasn't a moving gift pack of experience for lucky players, what could it be?

When he checked his character panel again, the number had changed to[666/100] indicating that he was now eligible to level up.

Although the system indicated that he could upgrade, Lu Xun was reluctant to do so.

The reason was simple; he did not yet know any cultivation techniques.

As mentioned before, playing Heavenly Dust felt less like a game and more like a real world.

Players here practiced as if they were truly cultivating, and the so-called leveling up was merely the enhancement of your cultivation techniques.

To put it in the simplest terms, if Lu Xun currently had a Qi Refinement Technique and leveled up once, then he would reach the first level of Qi Refinement and nine levels would lead to the ninth level of Qi Refinement.

Therefore, Lu Xun was particularly concerned about his start. Even though they all can level up, learning a technique becomes crucial!

Though one might not see the impact in the early stages, it becomes significant in the later stages.

If he were to level up without knowing any techniques, then that'd truly be a waste.

After dealing with the Black Silly, Lu Xun dusted off his hands and sniffed his fingers. "Hmm, no weird smell," he commented.

Ji Li had just watched him take down a Mountain Ghost, her feelings were extremely complicated.

She was even beginning to wonder, was this man really just an ordinary person?

But he did not seem to put up any resistance when I kidnapped him, right?

Speaking of it, earlier he effortlessly vanquished a Mountain Ghost. That was kind of cool...

Lu Xun didn't feel the need to explain. Instead, he was surprised to find that Ji Li's favorability seemed to have risen a few points.

"This girl's favorability level is so easy to increase?" Lu Xun was slightly baffled.

Those who didn't know any better might think that "Heavenly Dust" is a not-so-harmonious game.

While standing there, Lu Xun deliberated for a moment and then headed east.

Ji Li quickly followed. The appearance of the Mountain Ghost still left her on edge. She asked, "Where... where are we going?"

"To collect equipment," Lu Xun replied with a smile.

Ji Li didn't quite understand at first, but then she noticed the direction in which Lu Xun was heading and realized he was going to loot the bodies.

All the people who were chasing her were dead and lying there.

She counted and there was a total of seven people lying there, six men and one woman.

Their expressions were gruesome, indicating they had suffered greatly at death.

With pale faces and slight muscle atrophy, they looked ghastly.

Ji Li shuddered. If it hadn't been for Lu Xun, she might have been among them.

As for why Lu Xun watched them die... it was because when he glanced at them unintentionally earlier, he discovered a few of them were "red names", indicating they were wanted criminals.

Lu Xun did not avoid the sight of the dead bodies. He quickly scanned them and a lot of item information appeared.

"[97 taels of silver]"

"[An Unimpressive Long Sword]"

"[An Imitation Robe from Ni Shuang Workshop]"

"[A Short Gun with Low Durability]"

...

Lu Xun thought to himself, "The gun is short and has low durability."

The equipment is low-grade mortal iron, but it's sharp.

In the end, he gathered all the silver money and picked up a convenient dagger and a longsword that looked expensive.

He could sell the other items in the city for some cash, but it would be inconvenient for him.

Items like heavy hammers and iron rods used by martial artists weighed easily ten kilograms. How could his 0-level character handle them?

He could lift them for a while, but he had a long journey ahead.

So he turned to Ji Li and said, "Whatever you want."

As expected, Ji Li cheerfully picked up the heavy hammer, iron rod, and similar things. She was strong indeed!

Even though her face was covered by a veil, her eyes that were visible could not hide her delight. She was overjoyed and it was written all over her face: "I am rich!"

She had no thoughts about the silver money. After all, without Lu Xun, she might have been dead, so the money naturally belongs to him.

But the weapons that Lu Xun didn't want, she eagerly collected.

It was kind of pitiful to see the former young miss reduced to such a state.

What surprised Lu Xun was a secret script hidden in one of the men's bundle, it was a finger technique manual named "Eagle's Claw".

Lu Xun picked it up and flipped through a few pages, and a prompt popped up asking if he'd like to learn it.

Cultivation techniques should not be practiced randomly, but he could learn new skills. There was no upper limit to this, so Lu Xun chose [Yes].

"[You have learned Eagle's Claw (Beginner Level)]."

He stretched out his fingers and performed a quick move in the air. It did seem to have some style.

"Oho! My fingers are kind of impressive!" Lu Xun played excitedly.

All this was seen by Ji Li, her mouth slightly agape.

"How come this man just glanced at the secret script and he's already got the gist of it!?"

Could this be the martial arts prodigy that her parents spoke of, the one that appears only once in a hundred years?

"[Favorability+1...+1...+1...]"

Lu Xun: "???"

...