“You’re pretty charming, aren’t you?”

Lin Yixin smiled while we were walking by a small, quiet river. She was walking backward with her hands behind her back.

Her pale face glowed like silver under the moonlight, and the white cape fluttering behind her complemented her beauty even more.

Slightly dazed, I answered her question with a question of my own. “Why would you say that?”

Lin Yixin smiled again before replying, “Dominating Heaven Blade wants to kill you, Roaming Dragon wants to kill you, Shadow Chanel wants to kill you, and now even Purple Marquis, a guy we just met, wants to kill you as well. If that isn't proof of your charm, then what is?”

I laughed openly. “It’s an acceptable amount of popularity, I suppose. I have enemies all over the world, hahaha…”

Lin Yixin shot me a look before hiding a giggle. “Let’s go. The sooner we get to Ghost Valley, the sooner we can level up to 60. Once you’re promoted to a Silver Warrior, you’ll gain a few more life-saving skills that’ll keep you alive.”

“Okay.”

……

By the time we reached Ghost Valley, it was already dawn. A ray of sunlight spilled from between the mountains and cast a golden sheen across the forest.

Lin Yixin pointed. “Look, it’s right there!”

As Lin Yixin mentioned, there was a valley not far away toward the front. However, it had a dark and gloomy appearance, and the forest near it seemed to be filled with stale air. Well, I had expected as much. It was called Ghost Valley for a reason. I could already imagine the bad things in store for us.

I pressed my fingers together like a daoist and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Yixin asked.

I replied, “The balance of yin and yang has been upset. Six Yin Gods are in power, and the Yang God is missing. The ghosts are rejoicing. This place is an ominous portent!”

Lin Yixin looked around her nervously before looking down at her own chest. Then, she relaxed and said calmly, “So what? Let’s enter the valley already, you fraud. A quest is waiting for us at the entrance!”

We continued toward the valley, and as expected, a shabby, temporary camp soon entered our view. The camp looked pitifully simple—straw sheds propped up by a couple of bamboo—and I could see two scouts sitting around an extinguished, still-smoking bonfire. A half-eaten young boar was impaled on the wood.

Lin Yixin walked up to the NPC soldier and smiled sweetly. “Is there anything we can do for you, my lord?”

One of the soldiers stood up and examined Lin Yixin. He did the same to me, but to my surprise he didn’t notice that I was a Night Creature. That being said, the Cyanfire Cloak did cover me up pretty well, so maybe it wasn’t that much of a surprise.

The soldier sighed emotionally before starting. “Young adventurers, for the past three months, we’ve been attacked by those damned undead at least a dozen of times and lost many of our companions. It is good to see you both. I knew that the Silver Moon Alliance wouldn’t give up on its warriors no matter where they are!”

The soldier then added loudly, “Young warriors, please head into Ghost Valley and kill 200 Rotten Corpses and 200 Zombies. Return to me after you’ve completed your quest for a generous reward!”

Ding~!

System Notice: Do you accept quest [Cleanse the Ghost Valley]? (Quest Rank: D+)

Both Lin Yixin and I chose “Accept” without hesitation. Now that we had gotten our quest, it was time to depart!

I took the lead and summoned my Dark Wasp. When Lin Yixin saw its name, she complained, “Lu Chen, change its name. I forbid you from calling it Wind Fantasy…”

“Why should I?” I turned around with a smile.

Lin Yixin puffed up her chest and replied, “Because there can only be one Wind Fantasy…”

“...”

It wasn’t really an answer, but I relented and changed its name to F-22. It was a cool name; cool enough to make Lin Yixin laugh at the very least.

A terrible stench hit our faces when we entered the valley.

“Ugh…”

Lin Yixin frowned. “What is this disgusting smell?”

I answered, “It’s the smell of the undead.”

Unlike Lin Yixin, I was very familiar with this smell. After all, it was how I smelled when I turned into an undead swordsman. However, the smell disappeared after I absorbed enough Soul Sparks of the Undead, eventually evolving into a Bone Creature. There was no way Lin Yixin would have traveled with me otherwise.

A low, ear-piercingly loud growl came from the front. Soon, a ragged figure shambled toward our direction.

“Look, it’s a human~”

Lin Yixin looked very excited to meet another human being. However, her expression quickly changed into fear in the next second.

The “human” walking toward us wasn’t alive in the slightest. It was a half-rotten corpse, the absolute weakest type of Night Creatures. Its face was riddled with holes and crawling with maggots. It was a horrific sight.

Rotten Corpse LV-42

I could see its level. It was 6 levels stronger than me, and 4 levels stronger than Lin Yixin. It wasn’t a difficult opponent.

“What are you doing? Go get ‘em.”

I shot Lin Yixin a look and urged her to act. She had the Holy Energy skill, so she should have an easier time against undead creatures.

Lin Yixin pouted but charged forward. Her sword glowed silver as she approached the Rotten Corpse, and a milky white cyclone suddenly appeared around the blade!

Thwack thwack!

412!

427!

She did what damage with just two basic attacks?!

I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren’t deceiving me before opening the Combat Log. Written within—

Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" activated “Killer Wind Swordplay”!

Killer Wind Swordplay?

I asked in astonishment, “Beauty Yi, is this your skill?”

“Yep.”

Lin Yixin glided two meters away from the monster, then engaged it once again with a slash of her sword. She had complete control over the battle’s rhythm.

Seemingly reading my mind, she smiled. “When I was just a noob, I killed a dangerous boss and got this Killer Wind Swordplay. It amplifies my base attack and greatly increases my mob-killing efficiency. For example, Rank 3 Killer Wind Swordplay enhances my base attack damage by 15%.”

I nodded. “No wonder you’re able to level up so quickly.”

“Now that I’ve answered your question, less talking and more helping! Let’s kill this Level 42 monster without losing any health!”

“Alright!”

I and my Dark Wasp attacked the Rotten Corpse together. We were able to kill it almost perfectly with my Pardon and Slayer Slash combo, two basic attacks from my Dark Wasp and one final strike from Lin Yixin. Although the experience of the kill was split between us, I could see an obvious bump in my experience bar. As I had expected, the experience of a Level 42 monster was no joke.

Pop!

We were off to a good start as a Big Magic Stone dropped from the Rotten Corpse. I picked it up from the ground and checked its quality. “It’s a 91. Say, how should we split the loot? Do we roll the dice?”

Lin Yixin didn’t even look at the Big Magic Stone. “What’s the fun in that? This one is yours, the next one is mine, and so on. This way we’ll both profit.”

“Okay!”

Lin Yixin’s plan wasn’t a bad one. If we rolled the dice, it was inevitable one of us would have more loot than the other. That would only cause an imbalance in the group.

The deeper we went, the more Rotten Corpses we encountered. At first, they came at us in twos or threes. Eventually, they started charging us in hordes. Their massive numbers made killing them incredibly difficult.

……

Crack!

Lin Yixin cut down a Level 44 Rotten Corpse, panting heavily. Her cheeks a little reddened, she said, “I can’t keep this up, Level 44 Rotten Corpses deal too much damage to me. Let’s use our pets to aggro two, otherwise we’ll have to have one tank the mobs.”

“I told you we should’ve done this from the start, but you said the Dark Wasp was too fragile…”

“Hmph, get moving already!”

I ordered my Dark Wasp forward to aggro one mob, but five Level 44 Rotten Corpses charged us instead. This is bad!

“Quick!”

I ordered the Dark Wasp to tank three Rotten Corpses while I attacked them from the sides. At the very least, I needed to kill one as soon as possible and reduce the pressure on our backs. Lin Yixin took on one, her Fire Blade occupied another. It was a fierce fight. All of our HPs were dropping constantly. In less than half a minute, my Dark Wasp lost half its HP. These Rotten Corpses were seriously powerful!

“Heal up! Don’t be stingy!” Lin Yixin shouted when she saw my HP.

I hurriedly drank a Rank 3 Health Potion and fought even more furiously. This was the perfect moment to use these pricey little buggers!

I killed two Rotten Corpses in a row with Pardon and Slayer Slash before working together with my Dark Wasp to kill the third one, ending our crisis. Lin Yixin also killed the fourth and fifth Rotten Corpses with Killer Wind Sword Skills. She looked incredibly gorgeous when she fought.

One hour passed in the blink of an eye, and countless Rotten Corpses had been put to eternal rest under our blades. We had gotten 11 Big Magic Stones as well, and we had both leveled up twice. I was 37, Lin Yixin was 39, still 2 levels ahead of me.

I sat down beneath a tree to check my condition and wait for my Dark Wasp to heal up. I also needed a short break after that grueling battle.

“Here, some health potions…”

I turned around and saw Lin Yixin standing next to me and holding a bunch of Rank 3 Health Potions in her arms.

“W-what is the meaning of this?” I felt a little worried. Is this a trap?

“You’re about to run out of pots, aren’t you?” Lin Yixin said. “Take them, they’re free. We’re a party now, so we shouldn’t split hairs over something this minor.”

Touched, I accepted her gift and counted 17 Rank 3 Health Potions in total. If I sold them on the market, it would probably be worth around 1000 RMB in total. I couldn’t help but shoot Lin Yixin a glance. I guess she’s a good person after all...

I stood up, dusted off my butt and walked up to a dead Rotten Corpse. Then, I absorbed its soul spark.

Lin Yixin frowned slightly and asked, “Hey, you’ve been doing this for some time. What is it for?”

I stretched out my arm and pulled away my wristguard, revealing the reddish skin beneath it. In fact, new skin was starting to grow in some other areas. I guessed I had evolved into a Bone Lord before realizing it; who knows how many undead soul sparks it took to evolve this far.

“Eh? You’re growing skin?” Lin Yixin opened her mouth in clear surprise.

I nodded and smiled at her. “Yep. Once I absorb enough soul sparks, I’ll evolve into an Asura and officially become a human once more. So? You’re looking forward to see my handsome face again, aren’t you?”

Lin Yixin shot me a playful, teasing look before giggling. “Even if you regained your original appearance, what part of you has anything to do with the word ‘handsome’?”

“...”

Fuck, everything that comes out of this girl’s mouth is poison!

……

Suddenly, Lin Yixin received a message. The moment she checked it, a deep frown marred her beautiful face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m… going to log out for a second.”

Lin Yixin set down her tent and looked at me. “Give me 10 minutes, okay?”

“Sure. What’s so urgent?”

“Please don’t ask…”

“Fine. Come back quickly!”

“Got it!”

Lin Yixin logged off, leaving behind a simple tent. I sat next to it and waited for her to come back online. It was too difficult for me to fight the Level 44 mobs alone, and one mistake meant dying and losing an entire level. There was no reason not to wait for Lin Yixin to come back before resuming the quest.