We continued forward. We entered an area where there were thick stone pillars with clumps and clumps of withered skeletons tied to them. They were humans who had been punished and killed by the undead, and many of them were Famous Generals as well. Many savage-looking Corpse Eaters were roaming the place, and we had to kill them if we wished to make it to the second floor.

I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and cast Dragon Slaying Slash at a Corpse Eater’s head, dealing 300k+ damage or so. Not even we were brave enough to aggro the mobs en masse considering that the Level 303 fiend-rank mobs drastically outleveled all of us. Maybe we could pull it off if there was a choke point where only one or two of us would be attacked at a time, but this area was as wide and open as it gets. We would have to do this the slow and steady way.

……

Chiang chiang!

I accidentally aggroed two Corpse Eaters to us, so I challenged one on my own while leaving the other one to He Yi and Lin Yixin. The party was focus-firing my Corpse Eater when suddenly, a surge of heat washed over my body. It was the Blood Thirst effect increasing my body size by around 25% for 7 seconds. During this short period, both my Attack and attack speed were increased drastically!

While the Corpse Eater was wailing in pain, I chuckled. "Tsk tsk, this Blood Thirst is seriously amazing!"

Beiming Xue commented, "Not only that, you look much bigger and stronger than before, big bro…"

"Really?"

After the first Corpse Eater was dead, Murong Mingyue suddenly puffed up her chest and walked up to me. Before I could ask her what she was doing, she pressed a palm to my chest arm and slowly slid it all the way down to below my stomach. "The real question is, did your little brother grow bigger as well?"

I turned purple. "Sis! Seriously?"

Murong Mingyue giggled uncontrollably. "Surely you’re curious as well? If Blood Thirst really does make it bigger, hmm, let’s just say I won’t be locking my door tonight. You get me?"

"I do not…"

"Dishonest boy…"

A short distance away, Lin Yixin pouted. "Sister Eve, are you sure this is okay? I feel like Little Cheat is going to lose his way if he continues to live together with Sister Mingyue…"

He Yi replied expressionlessly, "Relax, she has been teasing Lu Chen for years, but nothing has ever happened before. That’s just the way Mingyue is; all bark and no bite when it comes to relationships, and super selective with her men…"

While helping them to put down the second Corpse Eater, I said, "Er, maybe it’s just me, but you make it sound like sis has been hurt by men in the past. Has she?"

Murong Mingyue’s healing paused for an instant before she let out a chuckle. "Not really. All I ask from my men is to be obedient outside the house, do good work inside the house, and be useful in the bed. Love has no place in this equation…"

I shuddered. "Holy shit, you’ve actually been screwed over by love before!"

Murong Mingyue blushed. "You’re the one who got screwed, you little brat! Yes, I’ve been in a relationship before, but I’m still a virgin, okay?!"

I couldn’t hide my disbelief, "Sis, you’ll have to lie really hard to convince anyone that’s true. The wise men were right after all. Even ghosts are more believable than a woman’s words…"

The temperature dropped all of a sudden. When I looked, I noticed that the other five women in my party—Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Moon Dew—were staring at me with emotionless eyes.

Me: "I… I’m sorry, I was just kidding…"

Murong Mingyue said nonchalantly, "Really? I wonder what your ‘wise men’ say when their dicks are in a woman’s mouth. There is no man who doesn’t like some oral action—good one anyway…"

Me: "Can we focus on the grind please? This is getting way too NSFW for my liking…"

"Whose fault do you think it is!?"

……

We eventually swept all the mobs on the first floor except the 100 Corpse Eaters at the center of the map. It was because I wanted to use them to stall Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance when they got in. I had to set up the roadblock myself, but it wasn’t difficult at all. All I did was to hop onto the Ancient Divine Dragon, fly over the heads of about 100 Corpse Eaters, and use Earth Escape when I reached my destination. They would not have an easy time clearing the mobs out, and if Lady Luck willed it, they might even wipe once or twice in the process. The Corpse Eaters’ offensive power skyrocketed when Blood Thirst was triggered, and not even Lin Yixin, He Yi and I could handle more than 5 Corpse Eaters at the same time, much less Dark Mercenaries. Blood Alliance would do even worse because the Assassin class absolutely didn’t possess the tankiness necessary to solo a mob. All they were good for in PvE was CC on smaller mobs and quick burst of DPS.

I took a moment to tidy my bag. I had picked up 19 Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Cards in total, which was enough to last me until the end of this session. Lin Yixin and He Yi had also rolled a lot of Bloodthirsty Corpse Cards themselves. I loved cards that were useful and lasted 3 hours on use.

The end of the first floor was a long, pitch black corridor. When we reached the end, I was surprised to find that the top of the staircase was blocked by some sort of pitch black, moss-covered stone slab. Heaven knows how many years had passed since people came through this place.

"The second floor is right above us. At least, that’s what the 3D map is showing," Lin Yixin said.

I tried giving the slab a push, but it didn’t even move a millimeter. "How do we get through this slab though?"

He Yi pumped her fist and cheered me on, "Gogogo, Lu Chen! Break it with your Burning Blade Slash!"

My mouth twitched. "Eve, please, I’m no Superman, and I definitely don’t have the power to destroy a system-designed roadblock. If you ask me, I think we chose the wrong path during the fork earlier. We should’ve gone down the east path, but Yiyi kept saying that this one’s the auspicious path…"

Lin Yixin blushed. "It IS an auspicious path! Did you forget all the Rank 13 Leaf Spirit Grass I picked up along the way? Who do you think has to refine your high-rank potions, huh?"

"Fine, fine, I’m in the wrong here. Now, please step back while I make my attempt."

"Okay!"

After the girls retreated a suitable distance away, I raised the Chill of the Nine Province and fired a triple-hit Burning Blade Slash at the slab!

Boom boom boom!

The ground shook, and the moss covering the slab was sliced to pieces by the sword aura. Unfortunately, the stone still didn’t move an inch. It looked like Burning Blade Slash wasn’t powerful enough to destroy whatever barrier was blocking our path.

"It’s useless. My attacks are nullified by the system itself."

"Not yet. Try using your Xuanyuan Slash next. If it is a question of firepower, then your SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill has the best chance of shattering it to pieces. If possible, I don’t want to waste time returning to the fork and giving Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance the chance to catch up to us…"

"Very well!"

I raised my sword again and activated Heavenly River Transformation. When the Xuanyuan Slash struck the stone slab, my arms abruptly chilled with the effect of Mountain Crush. If even this doesn’t work, then—

Bang!

Thankfully, it worked. The slab was shattered into fine powder, and dust flew everywhere for the time. There was no time to savor my work, however. I raised my Cyan Dragon Shield in a hurry and yelled, "Watch out! The second floor’s mobs are coming down to us!"

My Dark Pupils had penetrated the dust clouds and identified at least seven armored undead soldiers rushing toward me. They were skeletons covered in rotten, dry skin, and the most "well-preserved" of them all had a complete eyeball… dangling in front of its face. "Damned invaders! You will pay the price of life for invading Bloodthirsty Castle! Now die so we can get a taste of fresh meat!"

“Get a taste of this!"

I fired Burning Blade Slash and tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the mobs right after. The fiery sword auras and Coiling Dragon Revolution were able to halt the mobs’ charge and even drive them to the back. Without hesitation, I seized the opportunity to slam my shield into the ground, catch the returning sword and activate Cold of the Nine Provinces, freezing ten or so mobs at the same time. Now that I had a moment of respite and they couldn’t move, I knew they were called ‘Undead Podao Wielders’. I immediately ordered, "Lian Xin, seal the entrance with Ice Spiral Matrix and God Devil Breaks. Beiming Xue, hit them all with Evil Spirit Volley. Priests, keep me healthy while I hold the line. These Undead Podao Wielders are no joke, so be on top of your game!"

"Mn!" The girls didn’t panic despite the sudden attack. They attacked and healed in an organized fashion.

Bang bang bang…

The Level 305 mobs were absolutely deadly. Even with the Cyan Dragon Shield, I felt like my arm was shattered into pieces when a single Heavy Slash + Barrier Break combo struck me. My HP dropped to 700k in just the blink of an eye. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue triggered a critical when casting a Greater Heal, and I was pulled away from the brink of death by a green "+1280954" healing number.

While I was keeping the dozen or so Level 305 fiend-rank mobs at bay, Lin Yixin activated Gan Jiang and Mo Ye without hesitation and hit all the mobs with Ice Flame Slash and Ice Storm. He Yi also launched her own all-out assault. I was taking far more damage than I would’ve liked. If we didn’t wipe out the Undead Podao Wielders as soon as possible, there was every chance we would wipe here.

Three Undead Podao Wielders dropped that after we smashed their faces in with a ton of long-cooldown, high-powered skills. Lin Yixin then stepped up beside me to split away some of the firepower while Murong Mingyue cast Pool of Life beneath our feet. Unfortunately, my HP still wouldn’t go higher than 50% because too many mobs were hitting me with Barrier Breaks, so I gritted my teeth and activated the Death side of Xuanyuan Art. All the mobs within my view instantly lost 50% of their HP, and some even died straight away. Finally, we were out of danger.

Xuanyuan Art was absolutely amazing against other players, but it was the complete opposite against monsters. It worked only when the mobs were on the same map as me, within 1000 yards and within my line of sight. Oh, and it was completely ineffective against bosses. Still, I couldn’t complain. Right now, no other weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments had an active skill that even came close to Xuanyuan Art’s might.

……

Eventually, all the Undead Podao Wielders dropped dead to our tactics, skill and cooperation. In total, they dropped a total of 4 pieces of Earth-grade equipment that could be sold in the market for a fair amount of money and magic stones. After we distributed the goods, we finally entered the second floor. I looked around and spotted a couple of isolated Undead Podao Wielders along the corridor we were at. I wondered if there was a boss on this floor.

"No time to waste. Let’s begin from the rightmost path," I said.

"Mn." Lin Yixin nodded.

It was at this moment we received a message from Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, we just encountered Candle Dragon’s men in Bloody Shield Domain and fought a small battle against them. We learned that they are sealing Lantern Girls in Magic Lamp Canyon. Do you think we should disrupt their activity?"