Volume One: Yuhang Town

Chapter One: The Sword on Ten-Mile Slope

　　“Level seventy-one…”

　　Henry Thompson murmured, casually swinging his longsword.

　　A lantern flickering with a ghostly blue flame about ten feet ahead was instantly extinguished, then split in two and fell to the ground—it had been sliced cleanly in half by his offhand sword strike from a distance!

　　It was already the dead of night, yet a young Taoist priest in a water-and-fire robe was wandering the desolate wilderness, making for a rather eerie scene.

　　From afar, his figure was tall and graceful, his features handsome and otherworldly. Closer up, one could see his clear brows and well-defined features, his eyes shining brightly as he glanced around—truly a face untouched by worldly dust.

　　As he strolled along at a leisurely pace, ghostly lanterns would occasionally dart out from the darkness, drawn to him, trying to get close. Unfortunately for them, with every flash of sword light, not a single lantern could cross the line of danger.

　　Each time a lantern was destroyed, a few white specks of light—visible only to him—would rise from its remains and merge into the Taoist’s body.

　　“Sigh—” Henry Thompson let out a soft sigh and muttered to himself, “As expected, the higher my level gets, the less experience these lantern monsters give. At first, just one would level me up, but this time it took a whole two months. At this rate, who knows when I’ll reach the next level.”

　　“But…” he changed his tone and continued, “Even though leveling up is slow, at least it’s… safe!”

　　His gaze drifted toward a distant direction, as if he could see through the endless darkness and glimpse those vicious beings lurking, waiting to devour the unwary.

　　“This world is just too dangerous—monsters, demons, vengeful ghosts, beasts… evil things fill the land, danger at every step! To find monsters with more experience, I’d have to take even greater risks. I don’t really know how strong I am now, but I’m sure it’s not much. To be safe, I’d better stay on Ten-Mile Slope a while longer.”

　　“A man must endure loneliness, resist temptation… and be able to slay lantern monsters!”

　　As he muttered to himself, he casually slew another five or six lantern monsters, his movements so practiced and precise that he’d reached a state of mastery.

　　……

　　Henry Thompson had been in this world for almost a year.

　　A year ago, he was just a high school graduate who had just finished the college entrance exam, sulking because a fatal mistake had left him with only the second-highest score in the province.

　　One boring afternoon, he clicked on an old xianxia game. Little did he know, he was opening the door to disaster.

　　When he woke up, he found himself in a strange new world.

　　Outside Yuhang Town was Ten-Mile Slope, and on Ten-Mile Slope stood the Deyun Temple, where he became a young Taoist priest.

　　Of course, who he was didn’t matter.

　　What mattered was that in this world, immortal arts, demons, ghosts… all the settings from the game had become real! And the Henry Thompson who once controlled a virtual character had become a flesh-and-blood person who could feel pain and die!

　　His mindset instantly collapsed.

　　Anyone can go on a killing spree behind a screen, but when you’re actually in this kind of world, there’s only one thought left in your head—survive with a smile.

　　The west side of Ten-Mile Slope bordered a mass grave, with wild, desolate tombs and abundant spiritual energy, inevitably giving rise to ghosts and monsters. Lantern monsters were the most common of them all.

　　Lantern monsters were extremely weak. Essentially, they were faint, wandering spirits clinging to will-o’-the-wisps, taking the form of lanterns. If a traveler got too close, their soul would be jolted.

　　For ghosts of this level, any man with a bit of yang energy could disperse them. Even if one did manage to hit you, you’d just get a minor illness—nothing serious.

　　So over the years, no cultivators bothered to deal with them—everyone was too lazy to act. The locals near Yuhang Town all knew not to pass through Ten-Mile Slope at night, so no one really got hurt.

　　Until Henry Thompson appeared.

　　When he discovered he could gain experience and grow stronger by killing monsters, the lantern monsters of Ten-Mile Slope faced an unprecedented catastrophe…

　　After all, they were the weakest ghosts for a hundred miles around, and could respawn endlessly—making them the perfect choice for leveling up.

　　Half the night passed.

　　Henry Thompson sheathed his sword and turned to head back.

　　He knew not to fish the pond dry, so he never wiped them all out. After each round of lantern monster hunting, he’d give them three or four days to recover.

　　During those days, he’d go to the eastern woods to hunt ghost bees, to the southern wasteland to find wine-jar monsters, and to the northern foothills to farm black furballs.

　　If there was one thing all these various little monsters had in common, it was that they were weak…

　　In this dangerous world, the weak and helpless Henry Thompson relied on these even weaker monsters to slowly grow stronger, bit by bit.

　　……