(Subscribe to read at Qidian) The mountain is bare.
The grass was withered.
There weren't even many trees.
There was only a crude stockade made of wood.
Strictly speaking, this was just a desolate mountain. Even the birds that passed by didn't want to linger.
"Sigh!"
Qin Shujian was bored to death as he sat on a large rock. Beside him was a large saber that was chipped in a few places.
Coupled with the patched clothes on his body and the holes in his straw sandals on his feet, he looked like he was about to die.
He looked more like a beggar than a bandit.
But —
He really was a bandit.
No, to be precise, he was a bandit.
Name: Qin Shujian
Identity: Ordinary bandit
Affiliation: Liangshan Stockade
Realm: Level One of Basic Martial Arts
Cultivation Method: Level One of Body Forging Scripture (Five levels in total) (Mortal Level Low Grade)
Equipment: Damaged sword, tattered shirt, tattered pants, tattered straw sandals
This was Qin Shujian's current status panel.
When he first came to this world, he thought that he had been reborn.
But after a day of learning, Qin Shujian finally realized that he had become an NPC in the game.
As for why he was so sure.
Because at the bottom right corner of the status panel, there was a countdown timer that kept ticking.
"2 days 15 hours 23 minutes 41 seconds until the players arrive."
"Sigh!"
Seeing this, Qin Shujian sighed again.
The players were coming.
And his current identity, no matter how he looked at it, was like a cannon fodder NPC in the newbie village.
It existed to give experience to the newbie players.
"Killed … resurrected. Killed again … resurrected again."
Qin Shujian suddenly thought of the scene when he was playing the game.
At that time, he didn't have any feelings for those cannon fodder NPCs. But now that his identity had changed, he deeply felt this kind of sorrow.
Wait!
Qin Shujian's face suddenly froze.
He seemed to have overlooked something.
And that was …
His body's original identity was indeed an NPC, but now, it had been taken over by someone else, and it was completely replaced.
Because of this, whether or not he could be resurrected was unknown.
Thinking of this, Qin Shujian suddenly quivered and jumped up from the big rock.
"No … this won't do."
"What if he can't be revived? Wouldn't I suffer a huge loss?"
"There are still more than two days left. We can't just sit here and wait for death."
Qin Shujian took a few deep breaths as he looked at the countdown timer on his Attribute Panel. It was as if he was looking at his own death timer.
It wasn't easy for him to live again. Even if he was an NPC, it was still better than completely disappearing.
"Even if I have to be an NPC, I will never be a cannon fodder NPC!"
Qin Shujian silently set a flag for himself.
If he didn't want to become a cannon fodder NPC, he would have to increase his level … I mean, strength. Only then would he be able to get out of this awkward situation.
This game didn't have the level system that he was familiar with.
Instead, it adopted a different division of realms.
As for the so-called Body Tempering Scripture, Qin Shujian discovered that there was indeed such a cultivation method in his mind.
However, that was only a superficial method of tempering one's body. It needed to rely on the accumulation of tempering over a long period of time. There was no possibility of a quick breakthrough in a short period of time.
However …
Qin Shujian had his own thoughts.
Since this was a game, he definitely couldn't do without killing NPCs to level up.
As for where to kill NPCs?
Qin Shujian glanced at the people walking around him and smiled slightly.
He was currently in a nest of NPCs. There was no need for him to search.
The only problem was …
He himself was an NPC. Would he be able to obtain something like experience points or leveling up by killing his own kind?
Qin Shujian bent down and picked up the broken broadsword on the big rock. He walked toward one of the bandits who was dressed similarly to him.
At the same time, the attributes of that bandit appeared in his mind.
Name: Zhang Ergou
Identity: Ordinary Bandit
Affiliation: Liangshan Village
Realm: Level One of Basic Martial Arts
Cultivation Method: Body Tempering Scripture, Level One (Total of Five) (Mortal Level, Low Grade)
Equipment: Broken broadsword, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Pants, Tattered Straw Sandals
Apart from the name, everything else was exactly the same as Qin Shujian's.
He didn't know if it was because of the game's special features or because the other bandits were in the same camp as him.
In any case, Qin Shujian could see through the other party's attributes as long as he wanted to.
When Qin Shujian approached that bandit, he was still standing in the same spot. His eyes were looking outside. He stood there motionless like a piece of wood.
Qin Shujian also tried to communicate with these people.
In the end, the result was …
Apart from him, these bandits were no different from the cannon fodder NPCs in his impression.
They didn't know how to talk and had no intelligence.
They ate and rested on time every day, stood guard and patrolled. It was as if everything was going according to the settings.
"Brother!" Qin Shujian patted his shoulder.
Zhang Ergou turned to look at him, then turned back.
"Ugh …"
A large hand suddenly covered his mouth. Then, he was forcefully dragged behind a big rock.
Looking at Zhang Ergou, whose mouth and nose were covered, his hands and feet instinctively struggling, Qin Shujian's eyes hardened. He suddenly raised his broadsword and slashed.
Although the broadsword was broken, it was still very sharp.
"Puchi" a light sound was heard. It was the sound of a blade piercing through flesh. Zhang Ergou was immediately pierced through.
Blood flowed from the wound.
Then, a warm current rose from the broadsword and flowed into Qin Shujian's body.
Thump!
Qin Shujian's legs gave way and he staggered to the ground. His chest rose and fell violently. His face was faintly pale.
Murder!
He killed someone!
Looking at Zhang Ergou, who died with his eyes wide open, and the broadsword in his chest, the dark red blood was particularly eye-catching.
Qin Shujian didn't expect that killing an NPC would be so realistic.
For a moment, he almost thought that he wasn't in a game and that he wasn't killing an NPC, but a real person.
Fortunately — —
Without waiting for Qin Shujian to be surprised for too long, Zhang Ergou's corpse slowly disappeared under his eyes.
All that was left was his original broken broadsword. The moment it lost its support, it fell to the ground.
Bang!
The sound of the broadsword hitting the ground made Qin Shujian come back to his senses.
Seeing this scene, he let out a long sigh of relief. His deathly pale face also recovered a lot.
"Good … … Although it was a bit too realistic, at least my guess was correct."
If he really was asked to kill someone, Qin Shujian didn't have the guts, but he definitely couldn't just raise his hand and slash without even frowning.
Qin Shujian finally calmed down. Only then did he remember the warm current that had just surged up. He immediately checked his own stats.
Name: Qin Shujian
Identity: Ordinary Bandit
Affiliation: Liangshan Stronghold
Realm: First Stage of the Basic Realm
Cultivation Method: Body Forging Scripture First Stage (+) (Total of Five Stages) (Mortal Level Low Grade)
HP: 1
Equipment: Broken Broadsword, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Pants, Tattered Straw Sandals
The status panel was still the same as before.
The only difference was that there was an additional HP attribute.
In addition, after the first stage of the Body Forging Scripture, there was an additional plus sign.
Seeing the plus sign, Qin Shujian's mind couldn't help but move. His consciousness lightly tapped on it.
He saw his HP instantly drop to zero.
In the Cultivation Method tab, the words "Body Forging Scripture" also twisted. Immediately after, a wave of power surged out from his body, as if some subtle changes had occurred.
Name: Qin Shujian
Identity: Ordinary Bandit
Affiliation: Liangshan Stronghold
Realm: Second Stage of the Martial Realm
Cultivation Method: Body Forging Scripture Second Stage (Total of Five Stages) (Mortal Level Low Grade)
HP: 0
Equipment: Broken Broadsword, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Pants, Tattered Straw Sandals
The HP dropped to zero.
The Body Forging Scripture he cultivated changed from the first stage to the second stage. His realm also changed from the first stage of the Martial Realm to the second stage of the Martial Realm.
"My strength has roughly doubled."
Picking up the broken broadsword from the ground, Qin Shujian weighed it in his hand and found that it was a lot lighter than before.
His originally skinny arms had faintly bulging muscles.
Soon after, he stretched on the spot and had a clearer understanding of his body.
"Every aspect of my body seems to have improved, but it's not as obvious as the increase in my strength."
Pinching the muscles on his body, his skin also had some toughness.
This was the effect of increasing the Body Forging Scripture by one stage.
The Body Forging Scripture was similar to the Liangshan Stronghold's cultivation method. In any case, up until now, all the NPCs Qin Shujian had come into contact with had cultivated this cultivation method.
As for the Body Forging Scripture's use, as the name suggests, it was to temper the body.
Tempering the body and nourishing the strength.
When one cultivated to the fifth stage of the Body Forging Scripture, one would be able to spread the strength throughout the body. Every move would be able to explode with the strongest power.
As for the Mortal Level Low Grade displayed in the Body Forging Scripture, Qin Shujian guessed that it should be the level of this cultivation method.
According to normal theory, this was the lowest level.
Above it, there should be something like Mortal Level Middle Grade, Mortal Level High Grade, and so on.
Even if you haven't eaten pork, have you not seen a pig run?
Qin Shujian still knew a little about these normal otherworldly, ahem … game theories and knowledge.
As for the HP.
"Killing a Zhang Ergou NPC gave me an extra HP attribute. It should be something that can only be obtained by killing NPCs. I just don't know if it can be obtained by killing players."
Qin Shujian's mind was spinning.
"Consuming one HP to increase the Body Forging Scripture by one stage. Increasing the realm by one stage is equivalent to directly increasing one level. If this is the case, leveling up in this game is quite easy."
"After all … in this Liangshan Stronghold, these non-intelligent NPCs shouldn't think that their companions are trying to harm them."
"I wonder if Zhang Ergou has already respawned?"
All of a sudden, his thoughts drifted away again.
Suddenly.
Qin Shujian shook his head violently. Thinking about this now had no meaning to him.
The most important thing now was to think of a way to increase the Body Forging Scripture to the fifth stage.
This way, before the players arrived, he would be able to increase his strength to a higher level and get rid of his identity as a cannon fodder NPC.
He had set a general goal for the short term future.
Qin Shujian held the broken broadsword and walked out from behind the boulder.
Coincidentally, another patrolling bandit walked over from afar.
Qin Shujian also walked towards him openly.
Just like Zhang Ergou, this patrolling bandit didn't have any vigilance towards Qin Shujian.
Even when he got close, he only glanced at him briefly and directly walked past him.
When the patrolling bandit had his back to him, Qin Shujian grabbed his nose and mouth with one hand and his throat with the other and directly dragged him behind the boulder.
His cultivation had increased to the second stage of the Basic Realm, and his strength had doubled.
The patrolling bandit was only at the first stage of the Basic Realm, so he couldn't resist Qin Shujian at all. He was easily dragged over.
He did the same.
His hand rose and the broadsword fell.
Fresh blood splattered, and another patrolling bandit fell to the ground with a puzzled expression.
This time, Qin Shujian had experience. When he saw the bloody scene again, although his face was still somewhat pale, it wasn't to the point where he staggered and fell to the ground.
However —
This scene was too real.
It was so real that the thick smell of blood continuously entered Qin Shujian's breath.
He could only say in his heart, "This isn't real, it's just a game. I only killed an NPC." These words were to comfort himself.
He familiarly checked his status panel:
Name: Qin Shujian
Identity: Ordinary Bandit
Affiliation: Cold Mountain Stronghold
Realm: Second Stage of the Basic Realm
Cultivation Method: Body Forging Scripture Stage Two (Total of Five Stages) (Mortal Level Low Grade)
Life Points: 1
Equipment: Broken broadsword, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Pants, Tattered Straw Sandals
Just as Qin Shujian thought, his life points did increase by one point for every NPC he killed.
However —
Qin Shujian looked at the Cultivation Method column and frowned deeply.
The plus sign that he expected didn't appear this time.
This also meant that the Body Forging Scripture couldn't be upgraded this time.
"Previously, 1 life point was enough to upgrade the Body Forging Scripture by one stage. Now that I have 1 life point, I can't upgrade it again. Is it because I don't have enough life points, or it can't be upgraded continuously?"
Qin Shujian thought in his heart.
If it was the first reason, it would be fine. At worst, he could just kill a few more NPCs. After all, he didn't really think that killing an NPC would be enough to upgrade the Body Forging Scripture by one stage.
If it was really that easy, then he would only need to kill a few bandits and the Body Forging Scripture would be maxed out.
But if it was the second reason, then things would be a little troublesome.
Because what he lacked the most now was time.
If there was a so-called cooldown time for every upgrade, then it was really bad news.
When the fallen bandit disappeared, Qin Shujian made up his mind to continue to verify his conjecture.
One must know that any conjecture had to be tested in practice.
Fortunately, Cold Mountain Stronghold didn't have much, but they had enough bandits.
There were at least fifty bandits gathered in the small mountain.
Soon, Qin Shujian left the place.
The disappearance of the two bandits didn't seem to have attracted the attention of Cold Mountain Stronghold.
Or rather, no one knew where the two bandits had gone.
Not long after, Qin Shujian encountered another lone bandit patrolling the mountain alone.
With the previous two successful experiences, he already had a lot of confidence.
There were no surprises.
Almost as if he was very familiar with this place, he forcefully dragged the lone bandit to a place that blocked his view. Then, he cleanly finished him off.
After finishing off the bandit, Qin Shujian checked his attributes again.
Just as he expected, his life points had increased from 1 to 2.
However, in the Cultivation Method column, the second stage of the Body Forging Scripture was still displayed there alone. There were no changes.
The plus sign that he expected didn't appear.
Qin Shujian took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He could only attribute this to the fact that his life points were still not enough.
After all —
He didn't want to admit that the Body Forging Scripture really had a cooldown time.
After suppressing the restlessness in his heart, he immediately chose his next target.
One, two …
Every time he killed a bandit, Qin Shujian would check his own attributes. After finding that there were no changes, he would continue to look for the next bandit.
When the fourth bandit was killed, Ye Qingyu's eyes lit up.
Qin Shujian checked his attributes again. Finally, his expression changed.
Name: Qin Shujian
Identity: Ordinary Bandit
Affiliation: Cold Mountain Stronghold
Realm: Second stage of the Basic Realm
Cultivation Method: Body Forging Scripture second stage (+) (Total of five stages) (Mortal Level Low Grade)
Life Points: 5
Equipment: Damaged Broadsword, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Pants, Tattered Straw Sandals
After his life points reached 5 points, there was finally a plus sign behind the second stage of the Body Forging Scripture.
Without any hesitation, Qin Shujian directly used his consciousness to click on it.
The 5 points of life points were directly reset to zero.
Weng!
The words of the second stage of the Body Forging Scripture directly transformed into the third stage in his mind.
His realm also directly increased from the second stage of the Basic Realm to the third stage of the Basic Realm.
A warm current surged from his body, instantly spreading to his limbs and bones. His qi and blood also started to slightly boil.
At this moment, the space between his flesh and blood seemed to have become closer. His originally somewhat pale skin now had a bronze color.
"My strength has doubled from my original foundation."
Qin Shujian felt as if he had practiced the Body Forging Scripture for many years. He was familiar with everything related to the third stage of the Body Forging Scripture.
He felt as if he knew every inch of his body's improvement like the back of his hand.
His strength had doubled from his original foundation. This was a significant improvement.
One had to know.
When he had advanced from the first stage of the Basic Realm to the second stage of the Basic Realm, his strength had doubled.
Now that he had advanced from the second stage of the Basic Realm to the third stage of the Basic Realm, his strength had doubled again.
In this way, his strength had increased by more than four times from the beginning.
Furthermore —
The increase in strength was not as simple as one plus one equals two.
After breaking through to the third stage of the Basic Realm, Qin Shujian suddenly had a premonition that even if he were to face those bandits head on, less than ten of them would not be a threat to him.
Apart from that.
"After advancing to the third stage of the Basic Realm, the various aspects of my body have also improved. Although it is not as obvious as the doubling of my strength, it is still not a small improvement."
After briefly familiarizing himself with the condition of his body, Qin Shujian once again looked at his status panel.
The health bar had already cleared to zero.
"From the first stage of the Body Forging Scripture to the second stage of the Body Forging Scripture, I only need 1 health point."
"From the second stage of the Body Forging Scripture to the third stage of the Body Forging Scripture, I need 5 health points."
"The difference is a total of five times."
After carefully calculating, Qin Shujian felt a toothache.
If it really was a difference of five times, then even if he killed all the bandits in the Cold Mountain Stronghold, he might not be able to reach the fifth stage of the Body Forging Scripture.
However, after knowing the increase in strength from advancing to the next stage, Qin Shujian felt that it was reasonable.
Otherwise, the difficulty of this game would be too easy.
"The third stage of the Body Forging Scripture corresponds to the third stage of the Basic Realm. Then, the fifth stage of the Body Forging Scripture should correspond to the fifth stage of the Basic Realm.
If this is the case, then the fifth stage of the Basic Realm should be able to fight against a hundred people! "Qin Shujian inwardly guessed.
That was sixteen times the strength of the first stage of the Basic Realm.
However —
These were all hypotheses and could not be taken seriously.
After knowing that there was no cooldown time to increase the Body Forging Scripture and that there was only a requirement for health points, Qin Shujian felt somewhat comforted.
Wasn't it just health points?
There were so many bandits in the Cold Mountain Stronghold. Before he killed them all, there was no need to consider this problem.
After all, he was only at the third stage of the Basic Realm. There was no need to consider the fifth stage of the Basic Realm.
As a person, one must be down-to-earth.
One step at a time, one must become bigger and stronger.
This was the absolute principle.
After his strength reached the third stage of the Basic Realm, Qin Shujian felt that he could be considered an expert in the Cold Mountain Stronghold.
At the very least, those NPCs at the first stage of the Basic Realm would not be able to pose any threat to him.
If he wanted to obtain more health points, waiting for more to come was no longer realistic.
Moreover, if too many bandits died, it would be hard to guarantee that the Cold Mountain Stronghold's Stronghold Master would not notice.
After all, a stronghold had a Stronghold Master.
And the Stronghold Master was the most powerful NPC in the stronghold.
Although Qin Shujian had not personally met the Stronghold Master of the Cold Mountain Stronghold, he knew that the Stronghold Master was not someone these NPCs at the first stage of the Basic Realm could compare with.
"I must increase my strength as much as possible before the Stronghold Master of the Cold Mountain Stronghold discovers me."
"This way, even if I am discovered, I can at least guarantee that I can escape if I can't defeat him."
After making up his mind, Qin Shujian decided to take the initiative to attack.
Previously, when he was fighting the NPCs one by one, the efficiency was too slow.
There were only two more days until the players arrived. If he continued to waste time, he might die.
Soon —
Qin Shujian did not walk for long before he saw three bandits.
Two of them were patrolling bandits, while the other one was on guard duty.
When he quickly approached them, Qin Shujian did not hesitate at all. The large saber in his hand carried a fierce gust of wind as it directly chopped towards the neck of one of the patrolling bandits.
With four times the strength of a normal bandit, the broken large saber in his hand was as light as a feather. The speed at which he swung his saber was much faster.
The patrolling bandit didn't even have time to react before his neck was slashed by the saber.
Bang!
A large head flew into the air, accompanied by a spray of blood.
This sudden turn of events caused the other patrolling bandit and the one on guard duty to be unable to react in time.
However, shortly after, the eyes of the two bandits flashed with an ominous glint. Even if their intelligence was not high, they could still understand the situation in front of them.
Just as they were about to attack, Qin Shujian was already one step ahead of them.
He took a big stride forward and swung his large saber at an angle. The saber was extremely fast, and it directly chopped at the shoulder of the other patrolling bandit.
The blade of the saber cut through the shoulder and directly cut three inches below the throat.
PS: The chapter will return to normal in ten minutes. The fee will not be deducted again!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
