The time returned to the morning in the ruined temple. To be honest, at first, Xu Xuan was quite enthusiastic about joining the Mo Family to learn Mechanism Technique, especially when he saw Mo Li using mechanisms to help the villagers with their work. However, he quickly gave up. The ascetic lifestyle of the Mo Family was simply unbearable for him. At the same time, he began to admire Mo Li for being able to persist in such a life.
He got up from the ruined temple and walked into the courtyard with the sword in hand. The life in the mountains had developed quite a few habits for Xu Xuan, and practicing sword techniques every morning was one of them.
If he didn’t practice his sword techniques one day, Xu Xuan would feel quite uncomfortable. As he recalled the exercise methods from the Sword Hall, he began to practice the Sword Hall’s sword techniques over and over again.
“Your sword technique is lacking.” At some unknown point, Mo Li had already arrived in the courtyard of the ruined temple.
“Does the Mo Family practice sword techniques as well?” Xu Xuan couldn’t help but ask upon hearing her question.
“Of course, not only sword techniques, but we also understand Military Array Technique,” Mo Li said, and to Xu Xuan’s surprise, she had somehow produced a jet-black long sword. When Xu Xuan looked closely, he realized that the sword was actually made of wood. Yet even though it was made of wood, it exuded a heavy aura.
“What is this?”
“Mo’s Sword.” Looking at Xu Xuan, Mo Li smiled and said, “Your thoughts on communism last night inspired me a lot. As a thank you, I will guide you in your sword technique. This is a return, so you don’t need to join the Mo Family.”
Before Xu Xuan could respond, the two Mechanism Persons beside them suddenly moved, attacking Xu Xuan from the left and right, each holding a wooden sword.
In an instant, Xu Xuan felt flustered.
However, without giving Xu Xuan much time to adapt, Mo Li also rushed towards him.
“Next, adjust your breathing according to my attack frequency. The rhythm of your breath is very important in battle.” As Mo Li spoke, she attacked Xu Xuan with one sword after another. Every time the wooden sword touched Xu Xuan, it would immediately retract, not causing him too much harm, while her attacks carried a special frequency.
Although the black wooden sword seemed very heavy, for some reason, it felt nimble and sharp in Mo Li’s hands.
Eventually, the morning passed amidst the sparring between the two. From then on, Xu Xuan had an additional task every morning: learning the Mo Family’s sword techniques from Mo Li. What comforted Xu Xuan was that the sword techniques of this era seemed to lack special tricks—or perhaps the Mo Family’s didn’t emphasize them—focusing instead on speed, precision, and lethality! The goal was to achieve a quick kill as soon as the battle commenced.
After finishing their practice, the two set off once again. They walked, paused, and after half a month, they finally arrived within the territory of the Eastern Chu Kingdom.
This world was indeed different from the one he had come from, with the most significant manifestation being the State of Chu, which was actually divided into the Eastern Chu Kingdom and the Western Chu Kingdom. At the same time, Xu Xuan truly witnessed the landscape of this world’s countries.
Thus, the two practiced sword techniques every morning and traveled for another half month unknowingly. This half month also left Xu Xuan with many questions, the main one being that the armies they encountered along the way all had blank expressions…
Indeed, all the armies they encountered had blank faces, showing no expressions and almost never speaking. The closer they approached the capital of the Eastern Chu Kingdom, the more they noticed the increasing number of refugees. As the number of refugees grew, their travel speed slowed down once more.
The reason was simple: every time Mo Li encountered a refugee, she insisted on helping them.
To say nothing of it, just during the days that Xu Xuan had been traveling by her side, he had personally witnessed Mo Li turning many refugees and poor people into disciples of the Mo Family.
“Is the Mo Family really capable of taking in so many people all at once?” Looking at yet another person who expressed a desire to join and left with the travel expenses Mo Li provided, Xu Xuan couldn’t help but speak up.
“We have to help even if we can’t take them in, and once they join the Mo Family, we will find them a job if they have a skill. If they don’t, we will teach them a life skill. From woodworking mechanisms to farming and production, to military formations in battle, the Mo Family can teach it all. Life in the Mo Family may be tough, but at least they won’t starve,” Mo Li smiled and added, “Moreover, this Eastern Chu Kingdom seems a bit strange.”
“It is indeed a bit strange; there seem to be quite a few refugees along the way.” Hearing Mo Li’s words, Xu Xuan couldn’t help but reflect. It seemed that the closer they got to the capital of the Eastern Chu Kingdom, the more they encountered refugees trying to escape from there.
“Not that kind, but rather something else.” While traveling with Xu Xuan, Mo Li pondered, “Along the way, I always vaguely sense a presence of demon monsters.”
“Demon monster presence?” Upon hearing her words, Xu Xuan frowned, and it was at that moment that they spotted a small village not far ahead. The village was situated not far from the riverbank, but it didn’t seem to have many inhabitants; it looked like there were only a few houses, probably four or five households at most.
“Let’s not think too much; it seems we have work to do again.” Upon seeing the village, Xu Xuan instinctively rolled up his sleeves. Every time they encountered such a poor village, Mo Li would always take some time to help the local people as much as she could. After traveling for a while, Xu Xuan had already gotten used to this.
However, what Xu Xuan didn’t expect was that when they rushed to a small house nearby, they actually smelled a strong scent of blood.
Right after that, a horrifying scream rang out in front of them, the cry of a man, followed by the scream of a girl. Accompanying the scream was a terrified little girl, about seven or eight years old, who ran out of the room.
The little girl seemed to have been greatly frightened, and her body was covered in blood. As she ran out of the door, she stumbled and fell towards the outside.
However, the little girl did not hit the ground, as a Mechanism Person had already moved ahead and caught her.
At that moment, the little girl also noticed the two people outside.
“Wow!!! Help!!! There’s a monster!! Help!! There’s a monster in the house!!”
“Huh?” Hearing the girl’s words, Xu Xuan immediately drew the long sword from his back. It was at that moment he noticed that a person had emerged from the house. Though this person appeared to be an ordinary villager, he had no eyes, nose, or ears on his head—only a giant mouth that stretched to the roots of his ears. Furthermore, the figure was obviously emaciated, yet his belly bulged like that of a pregnant woman.
What shocked Xu Xuan even more was that this head was at least four times larger than a normal person’s head. At that moment, the giant mouth was incessantly chewing on an arm, and in its hand was a human leg. Blood was still oozing from the leg, indicating it had just been torn from someone’s body.
“Fuck!!” Seeing this scene, Xu Xuan immediately hurled his long sword forward, not waiting for the monster to react; the sword flew straight toward its neck. As for the chain linked to the sword, Xu Xuan had recently discovered that these chains could freely lengthen and shorten. Of course, the specific length still depended on how far he could control the sword. However, one thing surprised Xu Xuan: after experiencing the events in the Mist Realm, along with his training during this time and the breathing technique that Mo Li taught him.
His sword control distance had actually increased from fifteen steps to twenty steps.
Without giving the monster any chance to react, the long sword pierced straight into its neck. Almost simultaneously, one of the Mechanism Persons had quickly moved back with the little girl to a safe distance, while the other Mechanism Person had drawn a weapon resembling a chainsaw.
At the moment Xu Xuan’s sword pierced the monster’s neck, the Mechanism Person darted forward and began to saw the monster’s head with its chainsaw. This spectacle left Xu Xuan gawking and momentarily forgot to retrieve his sword.
“Is there such a thing in this era? Chainsaw murder robots?”
“They are Mechanism Persons, and that saw is not called a chainsaw; it is simply powered by cultivated ‘Qi’,” Mo Li corrected Xu Xuan after hearing his exclamation.
While the two were talking, the monster was being sawed in half by the Mechanism Person. To prevent the monster from moving, Mo Li even commanded the Mechanism Person to further chop the monster into several pieces…
After dealing with this monster, the two finally entered the house, and the sight inside almost made Xu Xuan vomit. It was a pile of unrecognizable blood and flesh, so indistinguishable because it seemed to have been brutally smashed by some force and carelessly chewed on.
But in the end, Xu Xuan held it together and didn’t rush out to throw up.
After all, he had to save face; the beautiful Mo Li who had entered with him showed no reaction. Naturally, he couldn’t look too embarrassing. Additionally, sometimes one doesn’t know their limits until they push themselves a bit.
At this time, Xu Xuan and Mo Li checked a few other rooms, and what they found was almost the same horrifying scene. Undoubtedly, the monster they had killed earlier must have possessed some special terrifying power, but ultimately, that power hadn’t had the chance to be used before it was instantly killed.
