Edward Thompson secretly looked down on these dutiful Wudang disciples, but his steps had already come to a halt. To go any further would be to enter the forbidden zone of the Sword-Releasing Pool, a place even these fourteen disciples had never set foot in. Only the owners of the weapons within the Sword-Releasing Pool were allowed to enter.

So, Edward Thompson took a deep breath and stepped inside.

There was no obstruction; the fourteen Wudang disciples simply fixed their eyes on his every move, but showed no intention of stopping him.

Edward Thompson was not surprised at all, because two hours ago, he was no longer a Wudang disciple. He was entering the forbidden zone of the Sword-Releasing Pool to retrieve the weapon he had left there during his visit to Wudang.

It was just an ordinary iron sword, the kind you could buy at any village blacksmith, but when he visited Wudang, it had been treated no differently than the legendary Tai'a sword.

Inside the Sword-Releasing Pool, two swords lay side by side.

Edward Thompson's hand slowly reached out as he looked at the fourteen Wudang disciples, who only watched him in return.

Edward Thompson knew that as long as he didn't touch the Tai'a sword, they would not make a move.

Suddenly, Edward Thompson's hand shot out like lightning and grabbed the hilt of the Tai'a sword.

Fourteen cold flashes lit up, green wind flickered, and the fourteen Wudang disciples had already drawn their swords, attacking without any warning. At this moment, Edward Thompson seemed to have only two choices: leave the sword, or leave both his life and the sword.

But Edward Thompson's choice was to leave the sword, not his life.

With a powerful swing of his right hand, he flung the Tai'a sword high into the air—not to attack anyone, but to throw it far away.

The Tai'a sword traced an arc and flew off the cliff at the edge of the mountain. Several Wudang disciples used their lightness skills to chase after it, but they were still a few steps too slow. The strength of these Wudang disciples was, at best, B-rank. Even if seven of them formed the Seven-Segment Sword Formation and could unleash S-rank combat power, lightness skills were not something that could be improved by a sword formation.

The Tai'a sword fell off the cliff, and Edward Thompson was already bleeding, his blood splattering five steps.

But before the Tai'a sword even hit the bottom of the cliff, Edward Thompson's figure had already appeared at the foot of the mountain.

After all, a game is still a game. No matter how realistic it strives to be, it can't possibly give players only one chance.

Revived at the respawn point, Edward Thompson didn't hesitate for a second and immediately ran toward the valley with practiced ease. He had rehearsed this step more than once or twice. He knew exactly where the Tai'a sword would land. And for something like the Tai'a sword, the system would definitely not refresh it away. As long as no one touched it, it would stay there forever.

By now, Wudang's Henry Clark might already know that the letter was fake.

The disciples guarding the Sword-Releasing Pool might have already reported the incident to the sect.

The disciples sent out by Wudang, as well as players who had heard about the event, might have already started searching the valley.

But no one would be faster than Edward Thompson.

Unless someone else, like the Tai'a sword, jumped straight off the cliff by the Sword-Releasing Pool and survived.

But that was clearly impossible—even someone with S-rank strength couldn't do it. Because this was a world of martial heroes, not immortals.

Edward Thompson moved quickly, but he was not flustered. He carefully reviewed every step he had taken, making sure there were no mistakes. Especially when he threw the Tai'a sword—the force was just right, and there was no way it would land somewhere even he couldn't find.

If this were the real world, Edward Thompson might not have been able to control his strength so precisely. But this was a game. Although he had been expelled from Wudang and lost all the martial arts he had learned there, his own strength was completely unaffected. With his martial skills, it wasn't hard to control his strength for something like this, especially since he had practiced it countless times.

All that hard practice had not let Edward Thompson down.

Timing, location—everything was perfectly under control. At the base of the cliff outside the Sword-Releasing Pool, all was silent, and the Tai'a sword lay there quietly. Without hesitation, Edward Thompson strode forward and picked up the Tai'a sword.

If he tried to leave the valley now, he might run into an ambush. Edward Thompson had already studied the valley's terrain: sheer cliffs on both sides, impossible to climb even with the best lightness skills.

Going deeper meant venturing into the unknown, with no idea what might happen.

So Edward Thompson chose the safest option—he quickly logged out of the game.

After all, an online game is still an online game; logging out is always the safest and most invincible way to hide.

Exiting the game, Edward Thompson took off his helmet. Looking around, he saw that his three roommates were still wearing their helmets, fully immersed in the game!

【2】

Edward Thompson was a second-year student at LGE Academy's upper division. He and his three roommates had all been hooked on the game "Rivers and Lakes" since its release, but none of them had expected that the four of them, who used to get along well, would develop a rift because of the game.

The reason was that Edward Thompson spent all his time in the game immersed in various quests, while the other three, like most players, enjoyed the constant improvement of their strength. For them, quests were just one way to get stronger—they pursued the rewards, not the process. Gaining strength, roaming the martial world, what they wanted was the thrill and vengeance of living on the edge. They simply couldn't understand why Edward Thompson would treat an online game like a single-player game, obsessively tackling all sorts of quests.