“Master’s thinking is correct. In this mini-game, fleeing and surviving are the key points.”
“Fighting your way out, on the other hand, is a heretical playstyle.”
“The success rate is extremely low and the risk is extremely high.”
“For us, surviving until midnight is victory.”
“We need to use our brains, not our… Ah, no, that’s wrong.”
Ke Ling stopped mid-sentence and corrected herself.
“In summary, launching an attack is foolish behavior.”
“Passively defending is a last resort.”
“Fight less, don’t fight, survive—that’s the way to the future.”
“This special training now is to increase our survival rate.”
“Mm, hiding won’t last until the end.”
Yang Liuqing understood in his heart that as time went on, the hunters would become more reckless.
“Either get it or kill.”
“There would be no other choice.”
“Master doesn’t need to look far for something so close. Don’t bother learning all those useless things.”
“You have something you’re better at.”
Ke Ling hinted.
“What I’m good at?”
Yang Liuqing thought, ‘Did I really have something like that?’
“Replicating other people’s martial skills relies purely on the power of the Magic Eye.”
“Replicating techniques whose principles you don’t understand makes it hard to unleash their true power.”
“It’s a convenient ability, I suppose.”
“Can’t really call it a specialty.”
“Master, do you remember the feeling of killing someone for the first time?”
Ke Ling gave a hint.
Yang Liuqing immediately had the illusion of time flowing backward.
Last night, he used the Big Sword to cut down an invading enemy.
‘That was me with zero combat experience, killing for the first time.’
Later, fighting against Red Hound, it was also the sword that took the lead.
‘That’s right, swordsmanship.’
“I really have been taking the long way around.”
Yang Liuqing gripped the black longsword with both hands, his expression changing.
“That’s right, Master’s true talent lies in swordsmanship.”
Ke Ling nodded, wearing an expression that said “you can be taught.”
“The Magic Eye’s replication can’t be said to be weak, but compared to your swordsmanship talent, it’s still a huge gap.”
“Moreover, the Huayue Zimu Sword is a perfect match for you, Master, unleashing unimaginable power.”
“Alright, let’s specialize in swordsmanship training.”
Yang Liuqing decided to put aside other martial skills for now and pick them up later if there was an opportunity.
“Master, sword techniques need to be combined with body movement.”
Ke Ling flashed her body in an instant, pulling back several dozen meters.
Immediately, hundreds of light swords suddenly appeared in the space behind her.
Seeing this, Yang Liuqing’s pupils constricted slightly.
Then, he focused his mind, raised his sword a bit, and prepared to meet the challenge.
Without a word, Ke Ling waved her small hand, and ten light swords shot out.
Yang Liuqing concentrated his mind and gathered his qi, activated his Perception fully, and captured the trajectories of the ten light swords.
Next, he retracted his Perception to a three-meter radius to prevent Ke Ling from using the same trick again.
‘This was learning from the previous lesson.’
As expected, Ke Ling’s flying swords changed course mid-flight, and their speed was even faster than last time.
However, prepared in advance, Yang Liuqing once again captured the attack trajectories and easily dodged.
He didn’t even use the Hound Body Movement to reduce consumption.
If it weren’t for the high consumption of maintaining the Perception state, he felt he could keep dodging indefinitely.
Seeing that her master had learned to control Perception so quickly, Ke Ling immediately increased the stakes.
Twenty light swords shot out.
This time, they changed course the moment they were launched.
The difficulty of prediction increased greatly.
Yang Liuqing had to shrink his Perception range even smaller, now just covering the tip of the black longsword.
‘He needed to counterattack.’
‘Rather than just dodge.’
After all, safely dodging twenty light swords was still too difficult.
‘Must shoot some down.’
Ke Ling didn’t increase the attack speed; if it were too fast and complicated, Yang Liuqing wouldn’t absorb much experience.
If training doesn’t achieve results, it’s better not to train.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
As the black longsword swung, several light swords were knocked away, dispersing into spirit particles.
The remaining light swords were still moving at high speed.
But Yang Liuqing predicted in advance and easily dodged with swift movements.
After that, he even chased down the light swords that hadn’t time to change trajectory, reducing their numbers.
Ke Ling was very satisfied with this, so she increased the stakes again, sending thirty at once.
Yang Liuqing’s expression was tense, and the hand gripping the sword trembled slightly.
This was the recoil damage from the previous attacks.
Ke Ling’s flying swords were full of force!
If he was careless, his body would be pierced with several holes.
He had to be extremely alert to deal with it.
Thirty light swords were no different from a small-scale rain of arrows.
Yang Liuqing’s dodge space was compressed even smaller.
He needed to activate the Hound Body Movement to create distance.
Doing this would undoubtedly wear him down.
‘But there was no other way.’
In midair, Ke Ling looked down expressionlessly, gently moving her small hand, and the light swords changed their trajectories, chasing Yang Liuqing from all directions.
Her consumption was so small it could be ignored.
At this point, how could Yang Liuqing not know that the little one was ridiculously strong?
‘As expected of my sword spirit.’
…But soon, he realized something was wrong.
“Ke Ling, stop!”
“Does Master have a new idea?”
Ke Ling immediately stopped her attack and teleported over.
“Why do you have almost no consumption?”
Yang Liuqing felt unusually tired.
Ke Ling tilted her head slightly:
“Because I’m consuming Master’s power.”
“…I knew it.”
Yang Liuqing held the sword with one hand and pressed his forehead with the other.
If Ke Ling could maintain such high consumption outside, breaking the situation would be simple.
As it turns out, she was consuming his power, which was a different story.
“We are the Trinity, and with you as the master, it’s natural that our consumption comes from your power.”
Ke Ling added.
“I was hoping to rely on you to help me out when necessary.”
Yang Liuqing was frustrated.
‘This safety net plan clearly won’t work.’
His power was fixed; if he gave a portion for Ke Ling and Ke Li to use, there wouldn’t be much left for himself.
This was the drawback of the Contract.
He had noticed it during breakfast, but his nerves were too tense, causing him to push this matter to the back of his mind.
“Master need not worry. When we can sustain ourselves, we don’t need to draw from your power.”
Ke Ling dismissed the light swords.
“Moreover, we can absorb spiritual energy to replenish ourselves. The situation isn’t as bad as you think.”
Hearing this, Yang Liuqing let out a sigh of relief:
“I almost forgot. Your physiques are very special.”
“Don’t worry, Master. When necessary, we’ll help you.”
Ke Ling indicated that Chen Yanran could at most give you a hand or two, but we sisters can give you many hands.
“Mm, I’m counting on you.”
Yang Liuqing said this not because he wanted to place his hopes on Ke Ling and Ke Li.
‘It was purely an expression of his trust.’
In today’s world, those who lend you a hand when you fall are, without exception, benefactors.
“Looks like we can’t increase the intensity anymore.”
Seeing how tired he looked, Ke Ling knew she had consumed too much.
She immediately waved her small hand and condensed a three-foot green blade.
“Master, let me feed you some moves.”
Since Yang Liuqing had already mastered the use of Perception, attacking like that wasn’t very effective; it was better to feed him moves one-on-one.
“Alright.”
Gripping the sword with both hands, Yang Liuqing took a breath and threw himself back into training.
Outside, Ke Li wasn’t idle either.
“About to wake up? That won’t do. I’ll seal your five senses and dump you in the rooftop stairwell.”
After saying that, her small hand reached out toward Daoba, who was lying on the ground letting out faint groans.