Chapter 9 Staying Up Late is the True Path to Cultivation

This time, the load was much easier.

Li Muyang directly chose the last save point.

[Final Curtain: Meeting the Commander of Loushan City]

After loading finished, Li Muyang opened his eyes and saw fully armed soldiers blocking the way.

Sadness filled the eyes of the Glass Immortal Maiden by his side.

"Lord Zhao..."

This Glass Immortal Maiden was mourning the passing of an old acquaintance.

The subsequent process was consistent with the previous one. Without a moment's mourning for the guide's passing, they arrived at the military commander's mansion in Loushan City, where the real culprit lay hidden!

After being surrounded by soldiers, the Glass Immortal Maiden declared her name, and someone immediately came to lead the way.

Li Muyang and the Glass Immortal Maiden followed the guide through the heavily guarded military commander's mansion in Loushan City and met the commander, Wu, who was sweating profusely and frantically overwhelmed.

The Glass Immortal Maiden asked Commander Wu to bring out each of his family members and lead them to the courtyard.

This time, when Commander Wu's favorite wife was helped out by a maid and the Glass Immortal Maiden confirmed her true identity as a demon cultivator, Li Muyang acted simultaneously.

The moment the demon cultivator turned to flee, Li Muyang activated time stop.

Then, with a knife in hand, he rushed forward and with two swift cuts severed the woman's legs below the knees.

When the time stop ended, the woman, wailing miserably and spraying blood, fell to the ground, missing her best chance to flee.

The Glass Immortal Maiden instantly leaped forward and effortlessly subdued the demon cultivator, binding her with a special rope.

The entire operation was virtually done in the blink of an eye.

The Glass Immortal Maiden was no longer surprised by Li Muyang's "movement technique," which resembled Instantaneous Movement.

The two of them worked together seamlessly.

The sweaty Commander Wu had not yet grasped what was happening when he saw his cherished concubine fall to the ground, screaming and revealing her true identity as a demon cultivator, transforming into a grotesque half-human, half-demon monster.

"Yunian... Yunian was actually a monster?"

The complexion of Commander Wu turned ashen. He was clearly frightened by the creature that looked like a monkey covered in monkey fur.

As Commander Wu panicked over the realization that his bedfellow was a monster, Li Muyang's vision also popped up with the level completion score screen.

Unsurprisingly, the score for this completion showed changes.

[Tutorial Level—The Mystery of Loushan City Cleared]

[The Guide: Deceased]

[Glass Immortal Maiden: Slightly Injured]

[True Culprit: Captured]

[Completion Rating: A (A Flaw in the White Jade)]

[With your keen reactions, formidable strength, and unbeatable talent, you successfully eliminated the source of turmoil in Loushan City, saved the lives within, and accrued immeasurable merit. Furthermore, by capturing the true culprit, you enabled the imperial court to unveil the truth behind the mysteries of Loushan City, and people will sing praises of your renown.]

[Would you like to claim your completion reward?]

[Available rewards to choose from (pick one): "Blood Demon Heart Refining Technique," a low-grade Spiritual Artifact flying sword, five bottles of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid]

[Host, please note that after claiming the reward, this tutorial level will be completely concluded and will no longer be accessible.]

...

Seeing the completion score that popped up in his vision, Li Muyang breathed a sigh of relief.

After the upgrade in the score, the rewards for clearing the level were also upgraded.

The originally incomplete "Blood Demon Heart Refining Technique" no longer had the "Fragment" label and could now offer the full cultivation technique.

And the reward for the magical artifact also improved from the trashiest mortal-grade flying sword to one of a low-grade Spiritual Artifact.

The classification of magical artifacts in this world is simple, with the lowest grade being the common mortal-grade, used by the weakest, and above that are the high, middle, and low-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

But even the lowest grade of Spiritual Artifacts, the inferior quality ones, aren't something that an Outer Sect Disciple of the Refinement Demon Sect could easily possess.

Their overseer, who had a not insignificant status and authority within the Outer Sect, only had an ordinary flying sword.

If Li Muyang could have an inferior quality Spiritual Artifact flying sword, he could be said to be invincible among the Outer Sect.

After all, the boost to combat effectiveness provided by a Spiritual Artifact-level treasure would make it a downright dimensional beatdown against this group of Qi Refinement Realm disciples without Spiritual Artifacts to protect themselves.

As for the third reward, Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid, Li Muyang had also heard about it; it was a heavenly treasure similar to Spirit Rice. It was said that the top batch of Direct Disciples of the Refinement Demon Sect received half a bottle of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid to aid their cultivation every month.

This stuff was far more potent than Spirit Rice, and even within the Inner Sect, five bottles of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid would be considered a fortune.

Li Muyang was incredibly envious.

After the grade boosted from B to A, the rewards increased substantially... What if the grade was raised even further?

Li Muyang looked toward the clearance evaluation interface.

[Guide: Deceased]

[Glass Immortal Maiden: Lightly Wounded]

These two prompts, along with the [A (Minor Flaws)] below them, were clearly reminding Li Muyang. If he wanted to obtain the highest tier of grading, he had to ensure the Guide stayed alive, and the Glass Immortal Maiden remained unharmed.

If he could achieve both conditions simultaneously, he should be able to receive the highest level of grading.

Li Muyang, whose interest had been piqued by the Level A rewards, had no thoughts of accepting the rewards at this point—even though they were already quite generous.

But Li Muyang planned to continue the challenge.

Since there was no time limit for this newbie tutorial, why not just continue?

Until he obtained a perfect grade!

This time, Li Muyang chose to reload Scene Three [Interlude—Crisis Within Loushan City].

When the darkness surrounding him faded, Li Muyang found himself on the carriage traveling through the empty streets.

This was the most challenging part of the entire newbie tutorial and the key for Li Muyang to achieve a perfect grade.

The moment he entered the level, Li Muyang stood up and said to the Glass Immortal Maiden.

"Maiden, may I borrow your Immortal Sword for a moment?"

Then, another round of slaughter ensued...

...

"Ohhhhhh!!"

At dawn, when the crowing of the rooster pierced through the tranquility between the mountains, the thatched cottages at the foot of the mountains outside the Refinement Demon Sect began to stir.

Guan Xiaoshun, who had already washed up and was carrying a huge bucket towards the spirit fields, saw Li Muyang squatting at the door of his hut, washing his face with a face full of weariness and huge dark circles under his eyes.

Seeing this, Guan Xiaoshun was curious, "Brother Li, didn't you sleep last night?"

In the Refinement Demon Sect's Outer Sect, where entertainment options were extremely limited, most people spent the long nights sleeping.

A few would go to the brothels in the market to spend the night, but even there, they went to sleep.

Someone like Li Muyang, with huge dark circles and an exhausted face, clearly not having slept all night, was a rare sight indeed.

Guan Xiaoshun looked on with curiosity as Li Muyang let out a sigh and said, "Let's not talk about it, I had insomnia last night."

Dammit, after dying over and over all night, even with the BUG skills like Time Stop and Hidden Sword, Li Muyang still couldn't ensure the survival of the Guide amidst the relentless assaults from the blood demons.

Even protecting the Glass Immortal Maiden from injury was difficult.

The overall difficulty of this newbie tutorial was low, but achieving a perfect score was truly hard.

After being tormented by the third act's tower defense all night, an entire nightlong, Li Muyang was really feeling the vibe of playing the Souls series from his past life.

Being killed by monsters time and again, having to stay highly focused during battle, not allowing a single mistake or oversight, or else it was game over.

Attaining a perfect score was so challenging that it ignited Li Muyang's competitive spirit.

—I refuse to believe I can't protect this damn Guide!