Chapter 385: Skill [Three Steps, One Kill], the Fourth Calamity?

A woman's figure in a white ruqun seemed to sense something and looked toward one side behind her, where a cultivator sat paralyzed with terror, ceaselessly radiating a wonderful aura of fear.

That fear and dread of hers was like fermented fine wine, rich and mellow, its fragrance drifting for ten miles, tempting her to drink it in.

Yet at this moment she had no leisure to spare for this alluring delicacy.

Her gaze was fixed solely on the figure approaching behind the terrified cultivator — within the hazy, indistinct mist, two wavering crimson lights flickered ceaselessly, filled with brutality, endless You Can either whimpering or wailing as they clung to its body. It was a figure as massive and heavy as a great mountain, like a monster resurrected bearing countless dead souls!

For a moment it made her recall a certain past experience — a powerful Demon King who loved to chew You Can raw and savor fear, or perhaps one could call him a Demon God!

Involuntarily she retreated a step. The next instant, realizing her own flicker of timidity, she stepped forward again and halted, a fierce, ruthless expression surfacing on her face.

For the ghost race, fear — or rather, faith — is the foundation of strength. So long as one's own will does not waver, so long as one still possesses demonic power and ghost power, one can still fight. But once one develops fear of the enemy, eighty or ninety percent of one's strength is lost; worse still, the "fear" one generates will be devoured by the enemy, nourishing them.

She halted her steps, a pair of pitch-black, ruthless eyes fixed intently on the approaching figure, and spoke for the first time: "You are…"

Yet that figure gave her no chance to speak. In the next instant, the massive dragon body seemed to teleport, and a broad claw seized her as easily as pinching a chick, then lifted her up.

What was happening?

Eyes wide, the woman fierce as a jealous wife or vengeful ghost had no idea what had occurred. The next moment, when she came to her senses and tried to struggle, to Baichuan she was no more than a palm-sized figure — a creature utterly fragile in his eyes — how could she possibly break free?

Even the bone sword that had once shattered everything, born together with her, now seemed to have lost its function, its former edge gone forever.

Shocked along with her were not only this "woman" wielding the bone sword, but also the people of the Fang family.

Having been toyed with by this strange ghost-race woman earlier, they knew all too well how terrifying her power was.

Even though in others' eyes they were lofty Golden Core great cultivators, before this woman they were as fragile as porcelain dolls — a single slash or thrust of the bone sword in her hand was enough to breach every protection they had.

How could this be?!

Where on earth did such a terrifying being come from?!

In their dread, the Fang family people simultaneously held their breath, not daring to make the slightest sound, wishing they could vanish on the spot, terrified of drawing that terrifying figure's attention.

For a time, the only sound left in this place was the great ghost-race demon's howls.

Unaware of what these people were thinking, Baichuan felt a flicker of curiosity toward this strange creature before him and began to examine it carefully — especially that peculiar bone-crafted sharp sword. Come to think of it, these mysterious beings who descended from beyond the heavens, whether strong or weak, all seemed to possess means to easily breach other beings' defenses — be it claws and fangs, or weapons.

This invincible Sharpness was somewhat similar to his own LV6-level Sharpness ability, but generally speaking, a being possessing such a Characteristic shouldn't logically be this weak.

Was it the difference between the past and his own spacetime?

After studying her bone sword for a while, as well as her skeletal body crafted entirely from ghastly white bones, Baichuan lost interest. Under the fearful gazes of everyone present, endless You Can poured forth and chewed this great ghost-race demon to pieces.

No matter what secrets she held, once she entered his belly, it wouldn't be long before all those secrets were laid bare before him.

As bone segment by bone segment was ground to fragments by You Can that became part of his own power, a force that even Baichuan found astonishing slowly flowed from his throat throughout his entire body. He felt his strength had actually grown somewhat.

Though it looked like merely "somewhat," to other beings it was an insurmountable gulf.

At the same time, he felt he had gained another broken skill — a skill unlike his own abilities!

This sensation was hard for Baichuan to describe. If the abilities he had evolved were like instinct — as effortless as raising a hand to pick up a cup and drink, or grasping an object — then this new ability was something he could feel within his body: a vague thing, and as long as he focused his awareness on it, he could trigger it and unleash the skill's effect.

So now this ability allowed him to feel that there was something vague within his body; as long as he focused his awareness on it, he could trigger it and unleash the effect of the skill.

【Three Steps, One Kill!】

That was the name of this broken skill. Once unleashed, a bone sword would condense in his hand, and under the pull of an invisible force, he would take three steps.

These three steps were unaffected by spatial distance — they would lock onto the target and close in like teleportation. Three steps, each one gathering a powerful force, until at the final moment it all condensed into a single point and burst forth from the sword's tip.

Truly powerful!

However, the sense of déjà vu this skill brought made Baichuan inexplicably think of a memory from his past life — a thing called a "game."

So, was there any connection between the two?

Was it his imagination?

Lowering his eyes, Baichuan murmured softly, lost in thought.

……

Meanwhile, in a world that had developed to its peak, where nearly the entire population had become extraordinary — within a prosperous city.

"Dammit!"

An angry voice rang out from within a gaming pod. The next instant, the pristine white gaming pod rose and opened with a crisp sound, revealing a damp, graceful figure within.

She was an absolutely beautiful woman, but at this moment the slightly twisted, palpitating expression on her face ruined that beauty.

Yet she couldn't be bothered with anything else, opening her mouth wide to gulp down fresh air, trying to alleviate the nauseating backlash brought on by her character's death.

Her name was Ye Minmin — the one who had been controlling that bone-wielding bone woman, and one of the renowned experts within this new world "Duan Yu" of the game "Transcendence," under the code name Bone Princess.

It was unknown how long it had been since the mysterious game "Transcendence" had descended upon Di Xing. With this mysterious game's help, their planet had long since developed from its original surface civilization into a Star System civilization. Everyone could enter "Transcendence" to explore unknown worlds, and upon completing quests, bring back a portion of their character's power to Di Xing.

Not long ago, "Transcendence" had finally opened yet another new world. Such an event as opening a new world — even in the entire history of "Transcendence" on Di Xing — was a grand occasion that had occurred only three times. Ordinary people might wait their entire lives until old age and still never encounter one.

Now she had the great fortune to witness the third new world opening. Such a magnificent opportunity was naturally not to be missed — after all, the old worlds had long been occupied by guilds and nations, with most of the resources already claimed and the balance of power long fixed.

But a new world was different. It represented everything unknown, like an undeveloped treasure mountain waiting to be explored. Especially according to the promotional materials, this was not like the previously opened Western-fantasy, magic, and monster-type worlds, but rather a mysterious world of cultivation!

Anyone who had been baptized by "Transcendence" knew the value of this!

Cultivation — one of the legends that had existed since ancient times in their world. If they could obtain cultivation techniques from within the game, they might be able to practice them directly in reality.

Having experienced "Transcendence" for who knew how long, they had long understood that "Transcendence" meant far more than just a game!

But who would have thought — after she had completed countless prerequisite quests and finally managed to get close to the "Dragon King" of Yao Huang Da Di to trigger a special chain quest — she had merely stepped out to complete a task while toying with those NPCs, intending to harvest some fear to strengthen her Bone Princess character, when she had the misfortune of encountering a mysterious, terrifyingly powerful NPC who appeared from god-knows-where! She suffered a crushing defeat on the spot.

Now things were great — the quest she had wasted so much time unlocking was about to go up in smoke!

And now she would have to endure a period of weakness.

"What kind of demon was that, anyway?"

"Could it be some phase's big boss from inside this game?"

After resting a while and feeling considerably better, Ye Minmin began to recall the scene before she was slaughtered — that terrifying figure, like a god, like a demon.

Such a powerful bearing — even in Di Xing, a special world where she had seen much — she had only witnessed it on a handful of the original "Transcendence" game's top players.

But what sort of great figures were those top players? How many worlds had they gone through, how many resources had they accumulated, to reach where they were today?

"Truly worthy of being the hardest world since 'Transcendence' launched!"

Deeply aware that her opponent was extraordinary, Ye Minmin silently opened the recording system within the game, gazing at the automatically saved footage. In the hazy mist, a terrifying figure wrapped in myriad spirits and cloaked in purple flames slowly stepped forth, and then crushed her with effortless ease in one breath. Even she, who had been slain by that opponent, could not help but feel a certain intoxicated fascination with that absolutely dominant bearing.

Her intuition told her that the opponent absolutely concealed an astonishing quest, one that, once triggered, would likely initiate a phased major event!

Unfortunately, because of the special nature of her own innate talent as Bone Princess, even the system recording could not penetrate the white fog to capture the opponent's appearance clearly—she could only vaguely make out that the opponent had a pair of horns.

Thinking this, Ye Minmin edited the video slightly and decisively posted it on the player forum.

【Shocking! A newbie player went out to do a quest and actually encountered this?!】

In the footage, the flickering crimson gaze within the mist, the twisted and elongated eerie You Can, and the towering dark figure wrapped in purple flames—all displayed the purest aesthetic of violence!

She knew clearly that such a BOSS surely harbored an unimaginably valuable quest, but that was absolutely not something a modestly famous solo player like her could handle.

Not to mention she was still under the backlash penalty of death. Better to take advantage of this information while it was still fresh and trade it with those large guild factions for some resources she could use, to make up for the losses from her "Dragon King" quest.

After posting the video, she logged off the forum and quietly waited for certain guilds to come knocking.

Yet she had no idea what earth-shattering waves this video would stir up on the forum!

The story needs to begin not long after her death.

On another front, Baichuan, having finished dealing with everything, decisively absorbed all the lingering souls left behind by the deceased lives, and then headed toward Long Ze, where the bone woman had intended to do her quest.

Shortly thereafter, within less than an hour, Long Ze was destroyed. The self-proclaimed "Dragon King" crocodile dragon was killed by Baichuan through the devouring of myriad spirits, leaving behind nothing but a skeleton stripped of all flesh and blood, its head tilted skyward!

And the massive Long Ze itself, under the power of Baichuan's True Immortal might, directly transformed into a bottomless abyss.

One must understand that although both were True Immortals—or rather, pseudo-immortals of this era—don't forget that the capability tier of a pseudo-immortal is merely LV6 Characteristic level, and within LV6 there is still an 【Immortal】 tier! Even though Baichuan's power was incomplete, it was still not something the opponent could withstand!

Furthermore, the now-activated special unranked ability 【Spirit Absorption】, which constantly amplifies without cease!

So long as his body does not burst from being unable to bear it, so long as there are still You Can being absorbed by him, his power will continue to grow beyond all reason, until the very moment his body can no longer hold!

And Baichuan's very strongest point was precisely the toughness of his own physical body!

At this time, several other players who had also happened to come to Long Ze on Yao Huang Da Di due to quests witnessed boundless momentum surging skyward, a sky-obscuring four-clawed dragon shadow rising into the air—that was the Dharma Aspect of Long Ze's "Dragon King." Yet that "Dragon King" Dharma Aspect, which had once awed countless players with its might, was now being beaten savagely with absolutely no ability to fight back.

The dense purple flames nearly spread across the entire sky, within which countless ghostly wraiths shrieked mournfully, madly pouncing and gnawing at the "Dragon King's" body. Interwoven with the Dragon King of Long Ze's unceasing roars of fury, which gradually turned into cries of helpless terror.

In the end, beneath a purple radiance so powerful it was unimaginable, the entire Long Ze was blasted straight into the sky, leaving behind only a bottomless giant crater, and within that crater, the eerie, sky-gazing, unclosed-eyed corpse of Long Ze's "Dragon King"!

At this moment, the entire Yao Huang Da Di was shocked.

No one had expected that the "Dragon King," one of the four kings of the Demon Court of Yao Huang Da Di, would die so bizarrely! Not a single eyewitness left.

Equally shocked were the players who had descended into this world.

Anyone who was quietly doing a quest and died for no reason would surely be furious enough to gnash their teeth.

Not only that, but afterwards all quests in the entire Long Ze region would become invalid—that was what truly made people miserable. Among them, those hidden quests and chain quests—countless players had invested so much effort, and now it was all gone!

Vast numbers of players had no idea what had happened at all. All they could see was that exaggerated scene in the distance. As for those closer, they simply had no chance to react before they vanished.

No! There was still one person who had come into close contact with the truth!

That was "Bone Princess"!

With the release of this video by Bone Princess Ye Minmin, those conspicuous purple flames and the twisted You Can, large numbers of bewildered players finally found the culprit and gathered one after another……

At this moment, everyone knew—something major had happened!

……

(End of this chapter)