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"Huff... huff... huff..."

At the intersection of Cross Street, the white-clothed swordswoman stood with her blade drawn, her heart lost in confusion.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Western Province City, in a narrow alley, Yino leaned against a wall, gasping for breath as if he had just escaped death. Sweat drenched his back—he had nearly pissed himself from the sheer terror of that overwhelming sword intent.

Yino wasn’t invincible.

The reason he had managed to hold his own against his senior sister in their sword exchange earlier was largely due to the countless times he had been trained by Yuyan in his past life while playing Fallen Immortal.

As everyone knew, Fallen Immortal was a high-skill-ceiling cultivation combat game.

Some characters had stats that seemed like they were filled in by the developers with their feet...

And when players couldn’t compete with raw numbers, they had no choice but to study all kinds of movement techniques.

Back then, Yino had walked this path step by step.

To defeat the corrupted Yuyan, Yino had lost count of how many times he had respawned at the revival point.

Later, after being tempered a thousand times by the blackened Sword Immortal, Yino had finally memorized every single one of Yuyan’s sword techniques.

Just how well did Yino know Yuyan?

Well, if she so much as twitched, he could recite every motion of her sword sequence and the corresponding dodging method.

There was no helping it—these strategies had been carved into his bones in his past life.

In the original Fallen Immortal, Yuyan was a classic hyperactive boss.

Not only were her stats absurd, but her move set was ridiculously varied—she could fly, dive, and do everything in between. And once she entered her second phase at low health, her originally two-meter-long Frost Chant Sword would suddenly transform into a divine spear descending from the heavens.

Once she activated her second form, Yuyan’s attack range would multiply several times over.

As the saying goes, an inch longer, an inch stronger.

Yuyan’s swordsmanship was already flashy enough—could you imagine her swinging a five-meter-long sword like the Monkey King, sweeping across half the screen?

What the hell?! You call this swordsmanship?!

Back in his gaming days, Yino had once craned his neck and widened his eyes in disbelief at this very thought.

If Yuyan’s first phase was still within the realm of human reaction time...

Then her second phase was simply an unavoidable, screen-wide AOE that no human could dodge.

So when Yino saw Yuyan soar into the sky, forming the familiar sword technique seals, and watched as the slender Frost Chant Sword absorbed the essence of heaven and earth to grow even longer—

He knew that there was no escaping this calamity today.

Yuyan had no sense of honor. He had only teased her a little, interrupted her sword techniques a few times by exploiting timing, but she had gradually lost her patience and decided to go all out, activating her second phase at full health.

Yino had already been ready to surrender.

But luckily, at the critical moment, Jinyue had intervened with an illusion, allowing Yino to escape. Then, under the cover of the dust storm, she had whisked him away from prying eyes.

"Jinyue, if you had been even a few minutes later, I would’ve been sent straight to another world by that damn Yuyan’s ultimate!"

Leaning against the wall, Yino couldn’t help but complain.

But across from him, the red fox girl merely covered one eye with her hand. Though exhausted from casting illusions under the noses of the Holy Maiden and Yuyan, she still managed a playful smirk at Yino’s disheveled state.

"Who told you to run so fast?"

"Of course I ran fast! If I hadn’t, Yuyan would’ve actually killed me!"

"Well, there’s nothing to be done about that. By the time I got there, you were already fighting her..."

"Then why didn’t you cover my escape earlier?!"

"Because I wanted to see who would win between you and Yuyan!"

By the end, Jinyue spoke as if she were completely justified, even looking up at Yino with admiration.

Faced with the fox demon’s worshipful gaze, Yino’s eyebrow twitched. Not only could he not bring himself to blame her, but a small, smug sense of pride even bubbled up inside him.

After all, though dueling Yuyan was dangerous, Yino truly believed his swordsmanship was flawless.

To break Yuyan’s composure with pure skill—this was an achievement countless sword prodigies wouldn’t even dare dream of!

And from the results, Jinyue had saved him in the end.

"By the way... your eye seems to be hurting more often lately..."

As they chatted, Yino set aside his earlier complaints and sat up properly, motioning for Jinyue to come closer.

Jinyue obediently leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Before, my illusions only worked on Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, or Nascent Soul cultivators... But now, Yunmei and Yuyan are both Divine Transformation. The strain of casting illusions on them is several times heavier than before!"

The red foxgirl rubbed her eye, sighing weakly.

Yino watched her, an inexplicable pang of sympathy in his chest. He draped an arm over her shoulder, then used his other hand to cover her eye in her stead.

Soon, a verdant natural spiritual energy flowed into Jinyue’s right eye, soothing her fatigue.

"Stay still. I’ll use Wangxue spiritual energy to help you recover."

"Mmm..."

Jinyue obediently complied, and the two fell into a rare silence.

Seeing her so weak, Yino’s mind wandered to the original Jinyue’s overwhelming strength in the game. Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked:

"But... how exactly do you improve your cultivation? Even Yunjin has reached Core Formation by now. You can’t stay stuck at Foundation Establishment forever, can you?"

"..."

The moment these words left his mouth, Jinyue stiffened awkwardly.

Still nestled in Yino’s arms, she raised a finger and pointed at the dark sigil deep within her left eye’s pupil.

"Do you know what this is?"

"The Abyss Sigil?"

Yino recalled Jinyue’s original setting, his tone laced with doubt.

Truth be told, while he knew about Jinyue’s later plot and combat prowess in the game, he had no idea about her background. After all, who knew how a self-proclaimed Hedonist Witch cultivated?

"Yes, the Abyss Sigil. So I’m... a cursed being."