Zhang Ling stared at the weapon nestled in his palm before sliding it back into the folds of his vermillion robe. He understood its purpose intimately. He knew the reason why this weapon existed. It was to kill the monster.

  The nature of beasts and monsters was fundamentally different from that of humans. All living beings possessed a soul, but its manifestation was not uniform across species.

  Monsters and beasts had always been stronger than an average human, yet couldn't receive a soul gift. They had innate abilities similar to soul gifts, but the innate abilities weren't exactly soul gifts.

  There was only a single reason for that: their souls were amalgamated with their physical bodies. As a result, monsters had stronger physical bodies and different, much stronger offensive and defensive techniques.

  However, this fusion left them with a fatal flaw: their souls remained perpetually exposed, lacking the protective separation that human souls enjoyed deep within their consciousness.

  Zhang Ling knew this, thus he came to the conclusion that Heaven's Efface, which eradicates the soul, would be able to easily kill the monster.

  Since it only works after coming in direct contact with the soul, it wouldn't take any effect on humans. Thus, it would be preserved in case someone accidentally uses it on a human.

  At that moment, the temple halted directly before them. The gigantic behemoth floated imposingly in the air, high and mighty, as an Unawakened figure stepped near the platform's edge, leaning forward to peer down at the two individuals standing far below.

  The youth's gaze fixed upon Ren Ai's chest with undisguised lustful hunger, his eyes crawling over her form. Then he clicked his tongue dismissively while examining her face, his expression souring as if her features failed to meet some imagined standard.

  Turning back, he ordered something at his comrades and a while later two Unawakened walked toward the edge with crossbows and arrows, taking their aim.

  Ren Ai, standing two paces behind Zhang Ling, remained perfectly still. A flicker of uncertainty crossed her mind regarding what was going to happen, but one thing was sure: she wouldn't die, and they'd win.

  Immediately, an arrow came whistling right at Zhang Ling. He moved slightly and dodged easily.

  More arrows followed in rapid succession, so he pulled out the sword from his waist, either dodging or easily parrying all the arrows.

  After several minutes, the barrage of attacks stopped. The two Unawakened had grim expressions on their faces. Their ammunition had depleted considerably and not a single arrow had found its mark. They went back in, and after some time, someone walked out.

  "You appear quite skilled, friend," the leader called down. "What's your name? We've collectively decided that cooperation would benefit everyone more substantially than unnecessary confl—"

  "If you want to talk, come to a level where I can see you at least." Zhang Ling interrupted, while looking straight, not even sparing a slight glance.

  "Now, now, don't be like that," the leader cajoled, adopting a conciliatory tone. "We just attacked you, admittedly, but we don't desire any unnecessary conflict moving forw—"

  "Are you afraid that I might kill you all despite you having the guardian's ability and tens of Unawakened?"

  The veins at the leader's temple visibly twitched, his jaw clenching momentarily before he forced out a loud laugh. "Haha, excellent, excellent! I appreciate your spirit!"

  "Hey, Da Peng!" he shouted toward the temple's interior. "Descend the temple so we can speak with him properly!"

  The temple started descending slowly.

  DOOM!

  The temple settled on the ground. The leader—also the guardian— positioned himself at the entrance, arms crossed casually. "So, would you at least honor me with your name?"

  Zhang Ling looked at him straight in the eye but didn't reply. A few moments of silence passed. No one moved.

  “I am going to attack you after I finish drinking from this gourd." Zhang Ling's voice was conversational, almost bored. "I'll kill all of you. If any of you want to run or do anything else, this is your chance."

  He took the gourd from his waist and drank a few sips of water, the sound of the liquid sloshing within the container.

  The leader observed him silently.

  "Hah, now I am interested. How exactly are you going to do that?" His voice carried a note of challenge. "If there is even a slight possibility that you could do that, then I'd deserve to lose."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Zhang Ling didn't answer. Once he finished drinking, he threw the gourd on the ground.

  Before the gourd touched the ground, he had already moved.

  In an instant, his figure blurred, appearing right beside the two attackers from earlier.

  'What?! How many agility pills—'

  The thought barely formed in the leader's mind before it became irrelevant. The two figures were already beheaded. The two had tried to move at the last second, but it had done nothing except giving their bodies a little momentum, which carried them forward slightly, causing their heads to fall and roll down on the ground.

  Followed by the beheading, they became two chests on the ground.

  The leader's eyes widened. His mouth remained closed. He didn't have any words for what had just transpired. The speed, the precision, the ruthlessness, it was beyond anything he had encountered before.

  Done with the two outside, Zhang Ling didn’t even glance at the stunned leader. He simply turned and walked through the temple’s open entrance.

  A few Unawakened had watched what just happened outside, and when he moved in, panic flooded the entire temple.

  "Oh—Oh my heavens! I told them not to descend!" One of them shouted, his voice cracking with fear and accusation.

  "Run! Run!" Another shouted.

  Meanwhile, Zhang Ling advanced at a measured, unhurried pace, slowly killing everyone he could find.

  Ren Ai looked at the decreasing survivor count, her eyes shining ominously.

  …

  An hour later, on the opposite side of the map,

  Hua Yong returned to the temple with a carefree demeanor, practically sauntering through the entrance. He was notably pleased with himself. He had successfully obtained the golden chest, which gave him twenty fragment points, not to mention the rare elixirs he'd receive after the game, the rewards that would make all his efforts worthwhile.

  On the other hand, the atmosphere among the Unawakened remained tense for a long moment.

  Moments later, Xia Sahui herself arrived at the entrance. Her robes were stained and torn. Her face was pale but composed. She walked straight to the central altar.

  "Descend the temple, continue on the previous route."

  "Uh, Lu Zhiheng is not back yet."

  "Where is Lu Zhiheng?"

  Both Wan Reira and Cai Hong spoke at the same time.

  “He fell from the cliff.” Xia Sahui replied with slight remorse in her voice, just enough to sound convincing.

  A collective flinch went through the room. This was huge. All of them were nearly certain that Lu Zhiheng would become an Awakened easily. They didn't expect him to die at this point.

  'It makes sense. Humph, he was too arrogant, thinking he could go against a scion. He had it coming.' Chen Tao thought with barely concealed satisfaction.

  'Tch, tch, poor guy. After all, you reap what you sow.' Yao Ming mused internally, shaking his head with feigned sympathy.

  Hearing the response, Cai Hong and Wan Reira went silent, both of them knew that death here was not actual death. If anything, it could be considered as him just having a series of unfortunate events. They couldn't do anything about it even if they wanted.

  The temple started descending slowly. It took nearly the same time to descend as it took to ascend. They still needed to conserve the essence stones, the journey was not over, they still had to move closer to the outskirts of the central area.

  …

  Meanwhile,

  Zhang Ling had already killed nearly thirty-five Unawakened.

  Unlike Hua Yong inhabiting the temple on the other side, this temple's guardian didn't put any upper limit on how many Unawakened he'd take under his command. He had thought that he'd be able to easily kill all of them slowly or at the end of the game, and that way, he'd amass a large number of fragment points.

  However, Zhang Ling alone had killed all of them.

  The leader was currently kneeling in front of him, the temple's ability was also metal control, so he was wearing a full body armor. Yet, the armor was broken and bent at multiple places, suggesting that he had been beaten brutally by Zhang Ling.

  "Cough, cough—" Blood sprayed from the leader's lips as he struggled to speak. "You are… exceptionally strong. It was an honor fighting with you."

  Zhang Ling still had a sword but he himself wasn't exactly unscathed. He had been bruised and slashed multiple times, causing him to bleed from the many open wounds that marked his body like a map of battle. He stared at the leader for some time and then finally spoke for the first time: "Join my faction… My name is Zhang Ling."

  The leader was startled by the sudden revelation, now it all made sense, the person in front of him was a scion among scions. He gathered some courage to look at him: "I am Jin Qing."

  …

  Back to the following day, in Lu Yi’s valley,

  Lu Yi took out a wooden chest using Massless. He put his destroyed clothes inside the chest and then put the box right where he had fallen, the location marked by the blood his body had left. He also took Hua Yong's spear and placed it on top of the chest.

  Though there was close to zero possibility that his death would be doubted, there was still no harm in taking extra measures.

  After he was done, it was finally time to re-enter the game. Opening the map, he determined his location to be pretty close to the central area. It was just that he was stuck in a deep valley surrounded by large mountains and it would take a long time to get out.

  Not having any other choice, he then spent the next two hours getting out, his muscles screaming in protest, his transformed body pushing itself beyond what it had been designed to do.

  By the time he was out of that place, the temple had already gone far enough that it even disappeared from the map.

  Lu Yi shook his head, dismissing thoughts of the temple, and thought about his next location.

  Finally, after spending so much time, he was free to go wherever he wanted and do whatever he desired.

  He decided to go back to that village where he had first arrived at the start of the game. There was a forest between that village and the central area. He would traverse that forest to reach the center.

  A long time had already passed since the game started; he hadn't forgotten that the realm was still being destroyed from the outside. The safe zone had already reached the village, he would need to be quick if he wanted to take that route.

  It was also a good opportunity to kill some campers who'd be loitering around the edge.

  He used Massless once again. This time, he took out the physique enhancement pills that he stored. There were nine for agility, twelve for strength, seven for endurance, and nine for senses.

  Throwing all of them into the void part of his body, he sprinted straight toward the next destination.