Accelerate, Accelerate

At nine o'clock, Yu Xian entered the arena once again. The plain, unadorned battles began anew. His first opponent took one look at Yu Xian and decisively surrendered. Yu Xian sighed. Being too strong was truly a sin. With that, he chose to queue for the next match. Throughout the entire morning, his points climbed steadily, but he felt more and more like a performing monkey in a zoo. Worse still, one opponent even cheered, "Keep it up!" before yielding. In the afternoon, after finishing lunch, Yu Xian resumed matchmaking. A flash of white light erupted, and Yu Xian appeared in the arena. The very next moment, he stared across in shock—Nora had appeared. [Yu Xian (Points: 2,066) VS Nora (Points: 1,684). Match start!] The second the match began, Yu Xian was just about to greet her when floating funnels, laser cannons, flying swords, shields, and super-heavy armor materialized around Nora. In the blink of an eye, the area around her was no longer an arena, but a fortified bunker. "You've... got to be kidding me!" Yu Xian's eyes widened, and he hastily activated the skill Forward Light Shield. The next instant, firepower poured down in torrents. If rendered as an animation, this sequence would undoubtedly burn through a monumental budget. It was utterly absurd. All Yu Xian could see was a deluge of bullets and laser blasts. Treading atop his Forward Light Shield, the corner of his eye caught two flying swords hurtling toward him from behind. He hastily darted forward while ascending rapidly into the air, the two flying swords trailing right on his heels. The hilts of these flying swords were fitted with thrusters that blasted flames furiously; as the thrust intensified, their speed grew faster and faster. "Unfair! Nora, you didn't fight Yaoyao like this!" Yu Xian wailed aggrievedly midair. Just yesterday, when Zhang Buyao and Nora crossed blades, they were practically dancing with swords in graceful tacit understanding. Why did it turn into a desperate battle royale survival game the moment it was his turn? At that moment, the pursuing threats behind him multiplied. Where there were only flying swords a moment ago, a massive swarm of drones appeared. Lasers strafed relentlessly, making Yu Xian howl in pain. Fortunately, he possessed the passive Hard to Kill, Hard to Die; every time he took a beating, he recovered at breakneck speed. In the end, Yu Xian could no longer bear the pain and hurriedly conceded. In short, hitting his wife was out of the question—grabbing his bucket and running was the only way to get by. ... ... After Yu Xian conceded, Nora stowed her weapons, a faint smile playing on her lips. This was all she could do for Zhang Buyao. By reducing her contact with Yu Xian, she was yielding time to Zhang Buyao in hopes that the two would get together as soon as possible. After all, a single lifetime was very short. A hundred years later, Yu Xian would belong not only to Zhang Buyao, but to her as well. ... ... Over the following month, Yu Xian continued his winning streak. Well, all right. Because of Nora, his streak had been broken once, sparking a wave of discussion on the forums that ultimately exposed Nora and Yu Xian's relationship. Even so, it did not have much of an impact. At most, people gossiped about it occasionally during late-night chatter. What truly captivated players remained the arena matches and the Skill Exchange Initiative. Although some players lost skills after running into powerhouses like Yu Xian, the vast majority successfully traded for the skills they desired, multiplying their strength. Of course, mishaps occurred along the way. One player scammed skills, conning dozens of them out of others. By now, he had become public enemy number one across the Zhen Realm, with countless players swearing to slaughter him the moment they left the realm. Yet as loud as their slogans rang, not a single player dared challenge that scammer to a Life-and-Death Arena to duel to the death. Lest anyone forget: While the Zhen Realm prohibited infighting among players out in the wilderness, one could still apply for a life-and-death battle and kill opponents all the same. Yu Xian's attitude toward the matter was essentially that of an amused bystander munching melon. After all, it had nothing to do with him, and following a month of steady development, he had grown terrifyingly strong. [Name: Yu Xian] [Enhancement: +1] [Level: 15] [EXP: 45] [Class: Order Guard] [Skills:] [Forward Light Shield] [Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena] [With and Against the Flow] [Water Control] [Imperishable Golden Bell] [Blood Burst] [Hard to Kill, Hard to Die] [Painted Skin Clone] [Multicast] [Heavy Strike: Consumes stamina to infuse your fist with battle intent, dealing double damage.] [Body Manipulation: Consumes spirit to link with a target. If your willpower exceeds the target's, you will control the target's body. Continuously consumes spirit for the duration.] [Super-High-Speed Cooking: Consumes stamina to accelerate food cooking speed, cooking meals faster.] [Cement Repair: Consumes spirit to produce a portion of cement, repairing damaged or missing objects.] [Mirror Reflection: Creates a mirror out of thin air to reflect enemy attacks. The mirror's strength scales with your willpower.] [Fireball: Consumes spirit to gather fire elements from the air, creating a fireball to attack a target.] [Moonlight Absorption: When a bright moon hangs in the sky, absorbs moonlight to generate lunar essence power.] [Blood Control: Enables manipulation of your own blood. The stronger your spirit, the greater your degree of control and power over your blood.] [Black Pupils: Infuses your pupils with killing intent, turning them pitch-black to intimidate fainthearted targets.] [Flame Saber: Consumes stamina and spirit to form a controllable, crescent-shaped blade of fire to attack a target.] [Draw Slash: The first strike of any blade attack deals double damage.] [Heart of the Martial Artist: Spirit and battle intent both augment the physical body, granting physical defense equal to Spirit × Battle Intent × 2.] [Bullet Time: Enter one second of bullet time every ten seconds.] [Lucid Sword Heart: Generates 10 sword qi per second and allows replication of all sword-type skills.] [Summon Crow: Consumes spirit to summon a crow scout with shared vision.] [Guardian Shield: Summons a metal shield. The stronger the heart to protect, the greater the shield's defense.] [Storm Summoning: Consumes a massive amount of spirit to generate an immense tornado, devastating all targets over a wide area.] [Eye of Appraisal: Consumes a small amount of spirit to appraise a target's attributes and skills. The closer the target's level is to your own, the lower the cost.] [Enraged Roar: Unleashes a furious roar that intimidates surrounding enemies while greatly boosting your own defense and combat power.] [Eight Hundred Deathsworn: Consumes 10% HP to summon eight hundred deathsworn warriors to fight for you. Their classes are randomly selected from Assassin, Hitman, Ranger, Poison Master, Ninja, Spy, and Secret Agent.] [Dragon Mouth Cannon: Open your mouth to fire a dragon-shaped beam of light toward a target.] [Self-Sacrifice: Consumes your own HP to restore a target's HP.] [Toxic Fangs: Consumes spirit to manifest a barrage of fangs shot at a target, with a chance to poison on hit.] [Earth Mastery: Gain power over the earth. As long as you stand on the ground, stamina and HP continuously regenerate; additionally, consuming spirit allows you to manipulate the ground for your own use.] ... ... The further along he went, the better Yu Xian's acquired skills became. Because later on, fewer players wagered skills casually, while more and more players hunted for skills—and all of them were experts. Since everyone was hunting skills, it went without saying that their abilities were top-notch. When Yu Xian defeated them, his odds of drawing excellent skills naturally skyrocketed. Especially the final one, Earth Mastery, which had belonged to the third-ranked player. Yu Xian had actually expended quite a bit of effort fighting him, ultimately ending the battle by knocking him into the air and comboing him to death. Currently, among the top ten players, the only one Yu Xian had yet to face was Shenshang Chai—a battle eagerly anticipated by everyone across the Zhen Realm and the myriad heavens.