Chapter 36: Duan Xing

Night fell, all sounds hushed, and the sky under the waning moon resembled a deep, dark-red satin drapery.

Just then, a black hole suddenly appeared in the sky.

An object trailing blue flames emerged from the black hole, tearing across the firmament to crash directly into the Blood Plain region of the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Boom!

Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the blue fireball struck the vast land of the Blood Plain, carving out a crater over fifty meters in diameter; shards of rock flew everywhere, and nearby twisted plants were scorched into charcoal by the intense heat.

As the rising steam dissipated, a huge square metal box was revealed at the bottom of the pit, its surface slightly warped from the violent impact.

Just then, the metal box vibrated, and a heavy metal door opened from bottom to top.

Out stepped a humanoid boy about 1. 5 meters tall with pale blue hair; he wore heavy rune battle armor, and his pure white pupils held not a shred of emotional fluctuation, lifeless like a wooden puppet.

At that moment, a mechanical electronic voice rang out from the shuttle behind Duan Xing:

"Combat trial initiated. A radius of 35 kilometers centered on me is your trial zone. During the trial, you must not leave the trial zone, or you will be judged as having failed the trial!"

Leaping out of the crater, the blue-haired puppet swept his gaze over the nearby scorched earth, then raised his right hand to press a protruding metal knob on his left chest, turning it as if winding a spring.

Accompanied by a series of crisp clicking sounds, the complex patterns engraved on the battle armor ignited from the left chest, spreading across his entire body.

The puppet boy also turned his head to look at the waning moon hanging high in the sky; a solemn expression floated onto his Iron Face, and with a raise of his hand, a black gem appeared in his right palm, which he clenched into a fist and crushed violently.

The powder from the shattered black crystal splashed outward, contacting the air and rising as billowing black smoke.

Instantly, the evil lifeforms in the Blood Plain region, like beasts scenting blood, rushed toward the location of the puppet boy one after another.

Zeng!

The puppet boy crouched slightly, and two blue light blades snapped out from his wrists; a hint of killing intent floated into his pure white pupils.

His gaze swept across the surroundings.

Evil hounds with fangs resembling hyenas, dark ghosts whose twisted limbs made them roll forward like balls of black fog, evil spirits shrouded in corrupting black mist... and numerous blood corpses; the evil creatures attacking from all sides grew more and more numerous.

At this moment, the puppet boy transformed into a streak of blue light and killed forward, weaving through the horde of evil; the light blades in his hands were like scissors cutting through darkness, splitting every evil creature he passed cleanly in two, causing them to dissipate into black smoke, leaving only black crystals behind.

His movement speed grew faster and faster during the battle, like a dancer gracefully moving among the evil horde, the cold gleam raised by the blue blades resembling a skirt hem fluttering with his body's movements.

At this time, players exploring the Blood Plain region, curious about the unusual behavior of the evil lifeforms, began asking in the regional channel for the cause:

"What's going on? Does anyone know what happened? Why are all the evil creatures running in one direction?"

"I thought I was done for, but the evil creatures ran off on their own; I survived by luck, so happy."

"Getting ready to follow and take a look; brothers, come to my livestream for live coverage, and those who can afford it, donate some Sacrificial Power!"

Faced with the anomaly of the evil creatures, curious players followed the direction in which the evil were moving to investigate.

Many other players seized the opportunity to activate livestream Cultivation Mode, broadcasting live to other players who could not reach the Blood Plain quickly, hoping to profit from it.

When the players approached the area where the puppet boy was located, the scene before them left them stunned.

The blue figure moved freely through the horde of evil like a dancer; wherever the dual-wielded blue blades passed, the evil creatures had no power to resist, and he harvested all nearby evil life in an exquisitely elegant manner.

But what the players cared about even more were the black crystals covering the ground.

These were energy crystals that only dropped after killing evil creatures above level 10, which could be exchanged for Sacrificial Power income at the altar in the function panel.

To the players, the ground covered in black crystals was no different from cash.

The price of 1 point of Sacrificial Power had already been bid up to 150 credit points, and it was difficult to acquire large amounts; one could only buy small amounts from individual players.

At the current stage, whether brick-moving players or ordinary players, everyone wanted to increase their strength first before considering profit issues, so the shortage of Sacrificial Power was enormous.

Faced with the ground full of black crystals, the nearby players acted without hesitation.

They continuously picked up the crystals from the ground and tossed them into their personal space inventory.

Players watching this scene via livestream also went crazy, leaving messages in various live broadcast rooms:

"Brother, I beg you, post coordinates in the regional channel; I'm on my way to the Blood Plain right now."

"Ahhh, I'm still on resurrection cooldown! Watching you pick up money is worse than killing me; you're not allowed to pick them up, do you hear me? Stop picking them up!"

"Watching this livestream is giving me a heart attack; I just wanted to see what happened, but now you make me watch this; I wish I had wings to fly over and pick them up with you."

The regional voice channel also exploded over the money-picking incident.

Players scattered across various regions of the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range gathered toward the Blood Plain.

The players who arrived first had already gone completely mad; they followed the blue figure's advance, continuously picking up the black crystals left on the ground.

At this time, the puppet boy, who was still fighting, also noticed the crowd of players gathering behind him.

Upon seeing them picking up the black crystals on the ground, a thick killing intent floated into the boy's pure white eyes.

He stopped his forward movement at that moment and wound the spring at the position of his left chest.

The originally dim rune battle armor burst forth with brilliant light once again after the spring was tightened.

His figure immediately transformed into a streak of blue light, changing direction to shoot toward the group of players; his form crossed paths with a player first, and before the player could even make out the puppet boy's appearance, a death notification rang out in their mind.

This time, the target of the puppet boy's slaughter had become the players.

After crossing paths with his figure, numerous players dissipated into black smoke, guided back to Emperor Tomb Village by the spatial power of Ye Ming to reshape their flesh and blood underground.

"Damn, why did he switch to killing us? Should we run!"

"Oh my god, in the blink of an eye my good brother was cut in half and turned into black smoke; this guy is too fierce."

"Run my ass; death only deducts 10 points of Sacrificial Power, and each evil crystal on the ground yields at least 5 points; just pick up two casually to break even. Hurry and pick them up while you can; stuff them into sacks!"

Faced with the puppet boy's murderous assault, the players did not retreat but instead became even more frenzied.

Everyone wanted to pick up a few more evil crystals before dying.

Information about the puppet boy was also captured by the players amidst the slaughter.

【Duan Xing (Sky Rune Clan)】

Hunting Level: 53

Target Introduction: A descendant of the Sky Rune Clan's main lineage, hailed as the strongest of the Sky Rune Clan's new generation, currently undergoing a combat trial before joining the Ni Chao Legion.

Players who obtained the puppet boy's information immediately shared the parsed data in the regional chat channel.

Whether on-site or in other regions, players were shocked by the boy's hunting level.

A hunting level of 53 was an intensity they had never encountered in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region.

At this moment, Duan Xing, who was in the midst of slaughter, also noticed something was wrong.

After he killed these lifeforms that were snatching the evil crystals, the snatched evil crystals actually disappeared completely along with them as they turned into black smoke.

The evil crystals were proof of his successful trial; facing the continuously decreasing number of evil crystals, Duan Xing immediately became anxious.

In a flash of movement, he grabbed a player who was trying to pick up an evil crystal by the neck, lifted him before his eyes, and stared at the player with cold, pure white pupils, asking:

"Where are the evil crystals you picked up?"

Duan Xing's words were automatically translated by the parsing system into a language the players could understand.

Hearing this, the player whose neck was being choked showed not a trace of the fear one should have in the Iron Face of death; his gaze was still scanning the glowing black crystals on the ground, and then, lifting his head with a flushed Iron Face, he said:

"Let me pick up one more, and I'll tell you!"

Duan Xing:...

(End of Chapter)