Quadruple split.

Chapter 2723: The Thorny Road
"Oh dear, that's a one-hit kill."

Gu Xiaole shook her head, raised her fan to cover her mouth, and chuckled, "This does remind me of some not-so-pleasant memories~"

Despite his calm and collected expression, with even a faint smile between his brows, Gu Xiaole's less-than-pleasant memories were genuine. After all, during that great battle in Northwest China, Gu Xiaole was caught by someone and had two of his shikigami instantly killed.

That "someone" was none other than Ji Xiaodao, who was then known as "Sinful Lady's Companion" and whose game ID was Jidao. The two shikigami she instantly killed were the former Oni [Zen] and the latter Oni [Miao], who had just been killed by Yune's sword.

Admittedly, the Great Yin-Yang Master Gu Xiaole is much stronger now than he was back then. If he were to encounter Ji Xiaodao again, he could easily win within ten moves.

The problem is that while Gu Xiaole is improving, the opponent who once defeated him without any chance to fight back, and who would have been killed 100% if there had been even the slightest mistake in the process... is also getting stronger.

What's even more disheartening is that the opponent's increase in strength is even greater than Gu Xiaole's.

Even though this person was the 'cheater' who already had an 'epic level' outside the game, they were still completely outclassed.

It has to be said that this is quite a blow.

You have to understand, as a monster who could easily hack him to pieces, that girl was just an ordinary person outside the game. Although she did have a father who could whip the moon like a top when pushed to the limit, as an ordinary person whose potential had been sealed since childhood because of the 'retribution' he was born with, the fact that she could easily surpass him in the game still hurt Gu Xiaole a little.

It can only be said that if it were the power of genetics, it doesn't seem to be the case. After all, neither the older nor the younger sister seems to have inherited their father's unparalleled strength and vices. On the contrary, it seems that their mother's traits have been inherited by the twin sisters.

For example, the younger sister inherited her decisive and taciturn nature in battle; the older sister inherited her unrestrained and terrifying culinary skills.

Despite her younger sister's overly cold, even somewhat world-weary, temperament, and her older sister's extraordinary beauty, which resembled neither their father nor mother, Gu Xiaole considered these degree of 'individuality' perfectly normal. What was abnormal, however, was her younger sister's terrifyingly talented and potential.

Based on some knowledge originating from outside the [Boundary of Innocence], Gu Xiaole could almost be certain that, given that the twins' father was too 'outside the circle,' it was absolutely impossible for them to inherit his strength, at least in terms of power. Even if there were some unavoidable similarities in the form of power, the upper limit would definitely not be 'outrageous'.

Gu Xiaole believes that his aunt and uncle, the strongest Yin-Yang Master and Spirit Medium couple in the world, have reached the upper limit of genetic inheritance. For example, one can directly refer to Winter in the current [Innocent Realm]. Although he only has some basic overflow inspiration in reality, he is able to comprehend the super potential of the 'Boundless Life and Death' level in the game.

To put it bluntly, Yi Dong's level of strength and talent theoretically represents the upper limit of those whose potential has been sealed, but whose family members are indeed formidable.

Under this standard, Zhou Lan, Huo Yanyang, and Ji Xiaoge are the more normal type. Although they are strong enough, their strength is very logical and within the realm of common sense.

As for the perennial runner-up on the [Innocent Realm] individual combat power ranking, although his strength is illogical, Gu Xiaole is well aware that Cordova's strength has nothing to do with the 'mechanics' and is entirely due to the accumulation of 'numerical values'. Therefore, this is also a normal situation, since the strength of cheaters mainly relies on 'cheat' rather than how overpowered they are.

Compared to this, the younger sister, who is second only to Cordoba on the individual combat power ranking and has now most likely broken through to the [Epic] rank, seems particularly outrageous to Gu Xiaole.

Moreover, for some reason, Gu Xiaole has gradually become somewhat anxious lately. As a result, she, who was originally very indifferent to improving her strength, has started to worry about her combat power in the game.

Fortunately, this wasn't too difficult for her.

In fact, given that Gu Xiaole had already reached the epic level in terms of realm, although she also received an epic class quest symbolically issued by the system after winning the [Questioning and Debating - Team Battle] championship, the epic class rewarded by that quest was [Necromancer Archmage], which in Gu Xiaole's view was completely inferior to the [Onmyoji] class.

In other words, this reward task is simply a hint from the system, meaning 'just raise your strength to match your realm and that's it,' so Gu Xiaole has no need to do anything extra for this useless lower-level substitute.

In this situation, what she needs to do is actually quite simple: she just needs to continuously hone the strength of the character 'Great Onmyoji Gu Xiaole' through actual combat, improve the match between the game character and her own realm, and then find a small opportunity, and the bottleneck that holds most people back will naturally be resolved.

The Grand Arena of Tianzhu Mountain is naturally a prime location under these circumstances. After all, as long as you fight seriously, every match here will be accompanied by high rewards. So as long as Gu Xiaole's opponents are of high caliber, his character's improvement speed will not be slow.

Admittedly, a few months ago, the beautiful female Onmyoji might have scoffed at such things. After all, compared to improving her character's strength in the game, Gu Xiaole would rather spend a few hours quietly cultivating outside the game pod. In the Realm of Innocence, Gu Xiaole preferred to explore various supernatural locations and continuously increase her 'otherworldly experiences' on her free-spirited journey, rather than fighting monsters and completing quests to level up.

But now it’s different…

After experiencing the deaths of Largo and Pexi at [Ancient Ruins - Purple Night]; after experiencing the despair of facing that legendary monster; after experiencing the anger of destroying [Playground - Warm Cocoon] and [Mountain Earthworm Excavation Site], Gu Xiaole's mentality has changed, and the nature of the game... has also changed.

Moreover, the moment the boy made up his mind to become an enemy of the Viper Merchant Guild, Gu Xiaole immediately realized what a thorny and difficult path the former would embark on in the future.

Although Gu Xiaole has only been playing "The Realm of Innocence" for less than a year, he has long been active in the real world as an Onmyoji and has seen too many hellish scenes. He knows very well that those rotten, dark, vicious, and bloody thorns are far more unbearable than the so-called mountain of knives.

She knew even more clearly that the boy would never give up, and no matter how difficult the road ahead, he would definitely persevere to the end.

Gu Xiaole would not stop the boy, even though she felt a great deal of heartache and reluctance. She would never stop the boy from bringing salvation to others.

Because Xiao Le herself was the one who had been saved by the other party.

Because Xiao Le will unconditionally respect any ideas a boy has.

Therefore, Xiao Le wants to become stronger, because only by becoming stronger can she better accompany the boy... or accompany the boy and her beloved girl on that thorny path, protecting them whether silently or flamboyantly, with joy or anger, sorrow or happiness.

After that, things became much simpler. After confirming that there was nothing he could do to help at the Ascension Fortress, Gu Xiaole plunged into the Grand Arena and quickly reached a relatively high rank in the Level 3 Arena. He reaped a large amount of experience and proficiency in a very short time and successfully reached the so-called 'bottleneck'.

Thus, although her speed was far inferior to that of an anonymous woman ranked third on the individual combat power leaderboard, Gu Xiaole still reached a terrifyingly fast level where she was just a hair's breadth away from completing the Epic rank and regaining all her strength outside the game. Moreover, since her shikigami in the [Realm of Innocence] were even stronger than those outside the game, and she had obtained the [White Zetsu: Asura Hell] and [Black Chick: Divination Strategy]—weapons that are extremely rare in reality—and successfully unlocked her own samurai spirit (though somewhat uncontrollable), once she truly entered the [Epic] rank, her strength in the [Realm of Innocence] might even surpass that in reality, becoming so powerful and comprehensive that even she herself could hardly predict it.

Now, only one problem remains for Gu Xiaole: the 'opportunity' mentioned earlier. Fortunately, unlike others who did not reach the Epic Realm, Gu Xiaole, like Mu Xuejian who had briefly entered the Epic Realm, knew what he lacked... the so-called 'opportunity'.

For her now, the simplest and most likely opportunity to break through to the epic level is a strong 'crisis'.

It is worth mentioning that the 'crisis' here refers to a life-or-death battle, a desperate situation where one careless move could lead to annihilation and utter ruin. However, if one can withstand the desperate situation and pressure, it is very likely that the crisis can be overcome.

Therefore, the 'crisis' experienced in the ancient ruins could not help Gu Xiaole. The reason is simple: that legendary-level experimental subject, who seemed to lack a mind but possessed terrifying strength, was simply too powerful. So powerful that there was no such thing as a 'life-or-death battle'. Even if Gu Xiaole advanced to the epic level on the spot, the result would still be certain death.

As for the subsequent battles with the [Slatflies] forces around Anka Market... Gu Xiaole really didn't feel any pressure.

Admittedly, if the epic-level powerhouses under Wildfire had truly sided with Tidebug, then the two sides could very well have engaged in a fierce battle at the Earthworm Excavation Site, leading to Gu Xiaole's breakthrough in a desperate situation. However, after that rather handsome epic-level assassin betrayed them on the spot and slit the throats of Tidebug and all of his men without hesitation, this possibility no longer existed.

This competition is Gu Xiaole's best opportunity to realize his potential.

The reason is simple: although the Grand Arena's mechanism can ensure the safety of the players in most cases, as Mo Tan and others had worried before, the three-level arena does not actually include the 'Epic' rank. Because of this, when two powerful players who are on the verge of advancing to the next rank fight to the death here, a true 'desperate situation' may arise. If one of them breaks through to the 'Epic' rank, as long as the match is not stopped in time, the pressure on the other side will be amplified to a terrifying degree.

Under this premise, looking at the entire Tier 3 arena, Yune Yi is indeed a rare and excellent opponent, because only this strongman, who is almost flawless in Gu Xiaole's eyes, who can cut down countless demons and monsters with just a long sword, and who can not even withstand the sword's edge when the former ghost and the latter ghost reveal their 'true ghost appearance', can possibly put enough pressure on him.

"Well, it's about time~"

Gu Xiaole smiled slightly. The [White Zetsu: Asura Hell] in his hand, which originally had the main function of amplifying shikigami, was instantly dyed black by a sinister ghostly aura, transforming into the [Black Chick: Divination Technique], which could greatly enhance spells. He whispered to Yune not far away, "I really hope you are a grateful person."

"What do you mean?"

Yune frowned slightly and asked a question in a low voice.

"To put it bluntly, if you can cross that chasm that has been troubling us for so long before I defeat you, then please seize the opportunity and go all out before the battle ends."

Gu Xiaole smiled slightly and said leisurely, "Continue to fight with the mindset that you are determined to kill me. Don't try to play any tricks like 'stop when it's time'."

"..."

Having a vague idea of ​​what Gu Xiaole wanted to do, Yune nodded slightly and said in a deep voice, "If you don't mind, I can agree to it."

"Very well, then we're even."

After saying that, Gu Xiaole took the shikigami's right hand and said with a smile, "Of course, all of this is on the premise that you can survive. If you die at my hands before you break through, that would be too disappointing."

"..."

Yune did not answer Gu Xiaole's question. Instead, he slowly held his longsword horizontally in front of him, his gaze narrowing slightly before locking onto the former.

"Very well, in that case~"

Gu Xiaole nodded happily, then turned to the ghost witch beside him who was looking at him with disgust, and said with a smile, "So, are you ready to 'go home', darling?"

"go to hell."

"Seriously, you really have to cooperate with me later. After all, the risk of completely opening your mind for me to possess and merge with is extremely high."

"It's perfect for you to die."

"If I die, you will die too."

"Go to hell."

"In that case, who will protect him?"

"..."

"Oh dear~ So you have no objections?"

"Stop talking nonsense..."

Chapter 2714: The End