Chapter 3: Fighting A Monk

Evil Emperor System notifications started ringing inside Jiang Long's mind suddenly.

[Congrats to the Host for completing the current mission of taking down Wanwan and raising intimacy with her to 80. Rewards: First art of 'Heaven Traversing Six Sword'.]

[Current Intimacy with Wanwan: 85]

[First art of Heaven Traversing Six Sword: River Crossing Slash!]

[Host Jiang Long came in close contact with Wanwan. By kissing her lips, you have triggered the effect of 'Yin-Yang Heavenly Flower Scripture' and gained 1,000 Points! Current Cultivation: Third Order (6%)]

[Host Jiang Long came in close contact with Wanwan. By taking her down, you have triggered the effect of 'Yin-Yang Heavenly Flower Scripture' and gained 10,000 Points! Current Cultivation: Second Order (3%)]

[Host collected over 10,000 Points in the lifetime; successfully activated Evil Emperor World!]

[Evil Emperor World: A special independent world to which Host and those Host give permission can access. It can store all things in the world, including living beings. There is a Spiritual Pool and Central Palace inside Evil Emperor World.]

[Spiritual Pool: A pool 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters deep which is full of spiritual energy.]

[Central Palace: A massive building located at the heart of Evil Emperor World. By cultivating there, one can get twice the benefit with half the effort.]

[Host helped Wanwan glimpse into the secrets of the void and helped her give birth to Void Seed. Reward: Innate Pure Yang Bone.]

…

The series of notifications left Jiang Long dumbfounded for a long while.

"This Evil Emperor System is too strong. Just by taking down one beauty, I was able to leap past Third Order and enter Second Order, which is simply unthinkable. Seems like taking down beauties is the way to go…." He chuckled.

Then, he took a deep breath and looked for River Crossing Slash, the first art of Heaven Traversing Six Sword that was within his mind.

The mystical mnemonics recorded inside his mind strangely made sense. He closed his eyes as his consciousness sunk, entering a focused state.

After ten minutes, Jiang Long opened his eyes. He had learned River Crossing Slash, and he couldn't help but grin at how mighty it was. "It's so strong. Thank god system is helping me learn this; otherwise, it would take me years learning this by myself."

Next, he took out two things from the system inventory.

One was a bleak purple pill, and the other was a dazzling golden bone radiating holy light. It has mysterious fluctuations appearing and disappearing intermittently, and countless strands of divine light revolving around it make it look extraordinary.

Jiang Long put aside the Innate Pure Yang Bone, sat on the bed, and ate Cleansing Pill. It went inside his system and started refining his blood, cleaning meridians, and expanding his mental capabilities.

As it cleansed his meridians, he winced in pain but he had a good pain tolerance, so he didn't scream.

An hour later, Jiang Long woke up smelling a disgusting stench. He noticed, he couldn't have not noticed the layer of black filth all over his skin. He exited the hut and found a lake nearby in some time.

Only after a long bath did he feel comfortable, and he noticed that he had become even more handsome than before. His skin, in particular, has become so pellucid and smooth that even girls would envy him.

Cleansing Pill was a very rare pill and those who have the chance to take it early on benefit a lot. In game, it gave his avatar 10 additional points in charm, so he bought it with his eyes closed, even though it was pretty expensive.

"Alright, time for the main thing." Jiang Long rubbed his hands excitedly back in the hut and took out Innate Pure Yang Bone again, marveling at how mysterious it looked.

Compared to Cleansing Pill, the value of Innate Pure Yang Bone was at least ten thousand times more.

By refining it, not only will his cultivation talent shoot through the roof, but he will also be much stronger than people with a similar cultivation realm. Additionally, if he finds a Yang Source one day and absorbs it, he will be able to awaken Innate Pure Yang Body!

One of the top ten most terrifying physiques!

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Long suppressed his excitement and lifted the Innate Pure Yang Bone. Then, he pressed it against his chest without any hesitation.

"Boom!"

The aura of Innate Pure Yang Bone suddenly exploded, turning into a blazing light that poured crazily into Jiang Long. Almost immediately, Jiang Long felt the pain of unimaginable degree.

A hot breath emerged from his body, surging like a massive wave in his chest as if to completely burn his body to ashes. This was Innate Pure Yang Bone's unwillingness to be refined, so it resisted.

But Jiang Long forcibly endured it. As he began refining it, his breath of Second Order started surging.

…

Quiet hut.

Even after hours, Jiang Long was refining the Innate Pure Yang Bone; it wasn't easy. Fortunately, as time passed, the resistance it posed disappeared alongside the unimaginable pain, allowing him to refine it smoothly.

With this momentum, the Innate Yang Pure Bone was slowly and steadily completely refined by him!

Not knowing how long had passed, the Innate Yang Pure Bone lost its luster, turned into grey ash, and drifted out of the window.

"Huff… finally done; it was harder than I thought. In game, you press a button, and it's done, but in reality, it turned out to be so difficult to refine."

"System, show me my stats."

…

[Host: Jiang Long]

[Cultivation: Second Order (75%)]

[Talent: Extraordinary Evil Charm]

[Cultivation Technique: Yin-Yang Heavenly Flower Scripture (Heaven-tier)]

[Martial Arts: Heaven Traversing Six Sword (Heaven-tier)]

(Black-tier → Profound-tier → Earth-tier → Heaven-tier)

[Inventory: Cleansing Pill x1]

[Partner(s): Wanwan (85)]

…

The energy from Innate Pure Yang Bone was immense, but since most of it was consumed to strengthen his bones, only a minor part was used to raise his cultivation. Nevertheless, it allowed his cultivation to reach very close to First Order.

Having consumed everything with nothing to do here, Jiang Long left the hut and walked down the mountain range.

Along the way, he hunted a rabbit and ate it after roasting it. He didn't know much about cooking and didn't have any cooking ingredients, so the taste was bland, but it was enough to fill his stomach.

He went down the mountain and traveled for a few hours before coming across a village. The village was filled with demonic way cultivators. Jiang Long didn't feel any discomfort because of that, however. As a man with foreknowledge about this world, he understands that whether it is the demonic or righteous way, in the end, it's all the same.

Jiang Long stayed in the village for about a week. During this time, he earned money by killing wild beasts in the mountain and picking herbs. Most of the time he spent was on perfecting River Crossing Slash and getting used to his sudden increase in strength.

After that, he left the village and went to a ferry port, wanting to cross the river.

"Hehe, you people from Land of Dugu are nothing but reptiles on the land. What Da Sui, Yuwen Shang, Fei Yun? You all rely on the abundance of resources given by mother nature to survive! If you give the Land of Dugu to us, the people from Land of Hafu; Meng, Tu, and Jin, the three kingdoms will be tens of times stronger than your Li, Sui, and Ming Kingdoms!"

While Jiang Long was waiting for his ferry in a tea shop, a loud voice sounded, making everyone look towards the speaker almost instantly.

Jiang Long was no exception. He looked over. The speaker was a monk, not a monk from Dugu but from the Land of Hafu, a country adjacent to the Land of Dugu.

While the Land of Dugu was filled with resources, the Land of Hafu was barren. The people from the Land of Hafu always coveted the abundant and rich resources from here, but their strength was relatively low, so they didn't dare start a war.

As people around them listened to the monk belittling Land of Dugu, they grew angry, but not many stepped forward to fight him. Because the monk was releasing fluctuations of a Second Order cultivator. While he was only a Second Order cultivator, compared to ordinary people living in a village, he was already a master.

There were still some strong souls, however.

"Foreign monk, you dare belittle us! Who do you think you are?"

"Humph! What a self-righteous monk."

"What are you even doing here? Go back to your barren land! And apologise before you go! We people from Land of Dugu are magnanimous and won't care about your insults if you apologise sincerely."

"Haha, I am right here, you people from Land of Dugu. If you have courage, come and challenge me. As long as one of you can beat me, I'll return to the Land of Hafu immediately and never take a step in the Land of Dugu again!" The monk laughed loudly and provoked.

"I'll teach you a lesson!"

A swordsman jumped out with a sword in his hand. Although his swordsmanship was good, it was a pity that he was only a Third Order cultivator and was defeated by the monk after a few exchanges.

"Your swordsmanship is good but you still need to train for ten years before your sword can touch my robe." The monk mocked.

"I, Lin Pingzhi, a disciple of Shan Sect challenge you!" Another swordsman jumped out.

Jiang Long was taken aback when he heard the challenger this time around. He hadn't expected to see Lin Pingzhi here in a small ferry port. But then, he shook his head. "Lin Pingzhi stumbles across Unique Sword Manual a few months before the start of the story. Before that, he was nothing but a weakling."

Sure enough, Lin Pingzhi, a powerful swordsman of the future, was shortly defeated by the monk.

"Although you are better than the previous swordsman, you are still much worse than me. The disciples of the Shan Sect, one of the five best Sword Sects, seem quite normal. You people from the Land of Dugu like to exaggerate things. Here you couldn't even take my Land of Hafu's roadside swordsmanship! Hahaha!" The monk laughed, throwing his head back.

Lin Pingzhi was humiliated, but he could only step aside. Such was the way of this world. If you are weak, you can only be mocked and humiliated!

At this moment, Jiang Long stood up. He has been fighting with wild beasts in the mountains this past week, but he has yet to fight a human cultivator. While he didn't care about this whole Land of Dugu and Land of Hafu conflict, he was interested in fighting with this monk. He wanted to know how strong he was compared to other Second Order cultivators.

When Jiang Long walked toward the monk with a crude iron sword on his shoulders, everyone's attention shifted towards him. More precisely, at his handsome face. At one look, he looked extraordinary, a cut above the rest.

"Monk, do you dare take one attack from me?" Jiang Long had seen this monk's arrogance, so he asked himself arrogantly. His belief was simple. If you are humble, he is also humble, but if you are arrogant, he can be even more arrogant!

The monk sneered, listening to him. "Young man, you look handsome, but I don't think physical strength is your forte. How about going back to Land of Hafu with me, I promise to find you a more suitable profession."

"Stop with the nonsense, you dumb monk. Do you dare or not?"

After he was scolded, the monk's face got gloomy. "Come then!"

Without further delay, Jiang Long got into a stance, and the aura of the Second Order cultivator that he was holding back erupted all of a sudden.

Then, he jumped forward and swung his iron sword, his eyes flashing with cold lights.

≪River Crossing Slash!≫

The monk was taken aback by the fearsome momentum of the sword and hurriedly fought back with the golden beads in his hand. But the moment they clashed, the golden beads were cut apart, and the momentum of Jiang Long's attack flung the monk meters away!

"Huh! That's all!" Jiang Long stood proudly and mocked, looking at the embarrassed monk.

The monk's face sank. He looked at Jiang Long and then at the golden beads on the ground that were cut apart cleanly.

"Well done!"

"That was amazing, little brother!"

"Today, I'll pay your ferry fees!"

"Monk from Hafu, go back to your land, you can't even defeat a youth from our country!"

For a time, the crowd was divided into two groups. One group praised Jiang Long, and another jeered at the monk.

"Okay, this monk by defeated by you today. Can you tell me your name?" The monk looked at Jiang Long.

"This handsome brother is called Jiang Long, you better remember it well. One day, this name will resound in all corners of this world."

"Jiang Long, alright. Today I was defeated. I'll keep my words and go back to the Land of Hafu." The monk said, stood up weakly, and retreated step by step into the crowd.

The crowd kept praising Jiang Long as if he was a hero, but he simply nodded in response. He didn't do it because he liked Land of Dugu or because he hated Land of Hafu; it was all to test out how strong he was. And he has to say that he was pleasantly surprised by the result!

Jiang Long boarded the ferry after some time. Someone kept his promise and paid the money for him. He felt that being a hero wasn't a bad profession. However, the next moment he shook his head. A hero has to carry a lot of burdens; he will leave them to the two protagonists of this world.

All he is interested in becoming powerful and adding all peerless women of this world into his harem.

It took some time to cross the river, almost four hours to be exact.

He jumped off the ferry when reaching his destination, Ahun Town. A big town controlled by the Ahun Gang, one of the six big gangs in the Land of Dugu.

Jiang Long was about to leave the ferry port, but before he even took a step, a woman appeared in front of him out of nowhere.