Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The young man in white was none other than Dao Tian. He had discovered this underground palace while scanning the entire city with radar. The existence of such an underground palace beneath a courtyard house was unusual to begin with. Upon taking a look, he indeed discovered something amiss.

At that moment, the powerful demonic cultivator, having just inserted the crimson crystal into the boy's body, witnessed this scene. His expression changed, and he was about to unleash a killing move to extract the crystal from the boy's body. But before he could act, Dao Tian had already struck. Drawing his sword from his waist, with a terrifying speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye, he flashed before his opponent, and the next instant, a head fell to the ground. This opponent, who had just reached the second stage of cultivation and hadn't yet significantly strengthened his body, was someone Dao Tian could instantly crush without even needing to use killing moves or Gu worms; his physical prowess alone was enough to overwhelm him.

Those imprisoned inside the bars saw this scene and it was as if they saw a glimmer of hope. Dao Tian did not disappoint them. He easily cleaved open the cell bars. As for the chains binding them, they could figure that out themselves once they escaped.

Then he walked up to the boy, glanced at the wound on the boy's chest with interest, and saw that the wound had scabbed over and was beginning to heal. He then reached out and touched it. The intricate, chip-like Dao marks on his body allowed him to clearly feel the flow of energy within the boy's body through his fingertips.

"So that's how it is. In that case, the nonsense about the Tiger King's inheritance isn't so hard to understand. The Blood Path insects really love playing these kinds of tricks." He muttered to himself, casually pulling out a few nails. The wounds on the boy's limbs healed quickly after the nails were removed.

"Waaah... My benefactor!" The boy, who had just climbed off the wooden plank, grabbed Dao Tian's leg. Little did he know that the shrewd glint in his eyes had been seen through by Dao Tian.

"Don't cling to me anymore. Go. Keep a low profile in the future. As long as no one notices anything unusual about you, you'll be safe." With that, Dao Tian turned and left. He had figured out what the demonic cultivators lurking in Zhelan City were up to. The trick was old, but timeless. The Gu Masters of the Blood Path had been using this tactic tens of thousands of years ago, but this continent was simply too vast. The speed of information transmission was too slow; such deceptions could still fool people even now.

"But it's also a good thing. This body is indeed a bit weak now, and it's inconvenient to show off high-powered killing moves and other techniques. It's just right to take advantage of them. Anyway, those who fall for the trap are not good people."

……

On a mountain path east of Zhelan City, a coachman wearing a straw raincoat and with a face full of wrinkles was driving his horses along the path in the mountains. Behind him, a cart was pulling more than a dozen people, much like the exaggerated configuration of a Wuling Hongguang van that could carry dozens of people.

"Master Guo, how much longer until we get there? This mountain road seems to have no end in sight."

The old driver chuckled and didn't speed up: "We're almost there. I'm the most reliable driver in town. Don't let my youth fool you; I used to be a Gu master in the village. Even though all the Gu worms have been taken back, I'm still much healthier than you guys. I drive this road more than ten times a month; it's very reliable. We'll be there in no time."

The coachman seemed quite proud of his past as a Gu Master. Hearing this, the other passengers joined in a lively discussion, all eagerly inquiring about his experiences as a Gu Master. In this world, the profession of Gu Master was far more prestigious than that of a civil servant on Earth. Even just having once held that position was something countless people envied.

As Master Guo drove, he talked on and on. With a few words, he sounded like a storyteller, making it sound like he was the protagonist of a series of adventures, even though he had only ever worked odd jobs for a mountain stronghold.

No one knew he was bragging; they listened with great interest, occasionally cheering. Only a slightly more presentable young man in white remained calm, unmoved by the old driver's storytelling.

"Back in the day, there was a time when a few of us were in charge of escorting goods. At that time, the mountains were not peaceful. There were bandits and outlaws everywhere, especially in the deep forests. There might be bandits lying in ambush in the bushes by the roadside. But little did they know that the people escorting our caravan were all Gu Masters. They rushed out all at once, just like before."

Back then, I wasn't afraid of them at all. I threw a Moonlight Gu and sliced ​​off one of their heads. Before I could even make a second move, a dozen masked bandits had vanished without a trace. I was so powerful back then!

As they were talking, the bushes on either side of the carriage suddenly rustled, and two men sprang out. They raised their short crossbows and fired at the carriage, instantly sending one man screaming as he fell from the vehicle. It was the same boy who had spoken to the driver at the beginning.

Upon seeing this, Master Guo broke out in a cold sweat, lashed the horse's rump with his whip, and spurred the carriage to speed away.

"Master Guo, aren't you a Gu Master? Quickly kill them!" The people in the carriage were terrified. They turned around and saw the two people jumping out of the bushes. Although they weren't using Gu worms, they were incredibly agile. They ran as fast as the carriage on their own two legs, leaping over ten meters in a single bound. They were simply not ordinary people.

"Go ahead and do it!" Master Guo was terrified, his face ashen. Gone was the animated storyteller he'd been. He glanced back as he drove the cart, finally recognizing the two men chasing after him. They were covered in blood, clearly having killed more than one person, and their speed and strength were far beyond that of ordinary people. They were likely two powerful Gu Masters.

"Driver, faster! They're catching up!" the people in the car shouted in panic. They pulled something out of their bags and threw it behind them, hoping to knock down the pursuers, but the pursuers were incredibly agile. The random objects they threw had no chance of hitting them.

The mountain path was already rugged and bumpy. Even experienced drivers who frequently traveled this route found it difficult to maintain a steady ride when galloping at full speed. At a sharp bend ahead, the already heavily overloaded cart creaked under the strain. The wheels got stuck in the ruts, and with a crash, it collapsed to the ground, scattering everyone, including the horses pulling it, who were unable to get up.

The passengers scrambled to their feet in terror and fled in all directions, but Mr. Guo was trapped under the vehicle. He struggled to get out but couldn't, and could only watch helplessly as the two men drew closer and closer.

"There's still one alive. Kill that old man first. The rest of them can't get far without horses. We'll kill them all in a bit." The cruel voice grew closer. The old coachman struggled desperately, showing none of the true skills of a Gu Master. Seeing another person standing there beside him, dazed and seemingly paralyzed with fear, he couldn't help but shout, "What are you standing there for? Come and help me!"

Upon hearing this, Dao Tian actually came over and squatted down next to the old man: "You old fellow are kind-hearted. You just cut the reins right away. If you had ridden your horse away, you might have gotten away. But you insisted on taking a whole cart of people with you, and in the end, not a single person was willing to stay and help you. Good deeds don't always go unrewarded!"

"Why are you talking so much nonsense? Hurry up and run. Are you waiting to die if you don't run?" The old driver was scolded to his face, and his stubborn temper flared up instead.

Dao Tian chuckled: "Of course we're not running because we're not afraid."

As the two men approached, he twitched his nose and said, "Such a strong smell of blood. Looks like you've killed quite a few people. In that case, there's no need to show mercy to you two."

"Are you kidding me? Show some mercy..." One of them raised his crossbow, ready to fire, but before he could finish speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He didn't know when, but the man in white had appeared in front of him, and his wrist had been severed by the sword. His hand and the crossbow fell to the ground together.

Upon seeing this, his companion immediately tried to flee, but it was too late. Dao Tian kicked the man with the severed hand like a ball, sending him flying and slamming the other man, who was trying to escape, to the ground. The terrifying force shattered several of their bones, and the two lay on the ground groaning and begging for mercy: "Great hero, spare us! Spare us!"

Dao Tian ignored their pleas for mercy, walked up to the two men, and with a sword, precisely pierced their hearts without the slightest hesitation.

“Old man, you’re lucky today. If you had tried to escape on horseback alone, you would definitely be dead. But you’re lucky. I’m in a good mood today. I’ll make sure you get back alive.” Dao Tian said, squatting down and feeling around the wounds on their chests. After a moment, he found two blood-red crystals. He frowned and looked at them for a moment, then touched each crystal. Patterns like a network of crystal circuits flashed on the two crystals and then disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

He took one of the crystals and stuck it into his heart. He saw the blood-red crystal instantly merge into his body, leaving the small patch of skin on his chest unharmed.

He then walked over to the old man and flipped the overturned car. Seeing that the man's leg had been broken, he inserted another blood-red crystal into the old man's chest.

"What is this?" Master Guo felt a powerful force surge into his body from his chest. It was as if he had returned to his days as a Gu Master. Not only had his physical abilities returned to their youthful state, but even his broken leg had rapidly healed.

"Hehe, of course it's good stuff. Didn't you even ask around before you left? What kind of road did you take? These days everyone in the city is talking about the Tiger King's legacy, didn't you hear a thing? This forest we're in now is the place those guys are talking about where the Tiger King's legacy is."

"See those two dead bodies? Everyone who dies within a hundred miles will condense into the same red crystals you just absorbed. Those two attacked you because they'd absorbed something similar and experienced the benefits. They originally intended to kill everyone in the carriage and absorb all the crystals formed from your corpses. At that point, even a typical first-level Gu Master might not be able to defeat them. Unfortunately for them, they were unlucky. All the crystals they accumulated are now yours."

Upon hearing this, Master Guo was not pleased; instead, his expression darkened further: "Doesn't that mean I'm a fat sheep right now? If you kill me, all the crystals I've absorbed will explode along with me."

"You guessed right!" Dao Tian chuckled. "The so-called Tiger King's inheritance is nothing more than a free-for-all. There's no inheritance at all; it's just a deceptive propaganda ploy by the demonic sects to lure people here into killing each other. As you've seen, even ordinary people can become experts in a short time if they kill enough people. Since there's such a shortcut to becoming stronger, it doesn't matter if there's no Tiger King's inheritance. After all, everyone comes here for the inheritance, isn't it all about becoming stronger? Killing to become stronger is much easier than exploring the inheritance ruins."

Master Guo was terrified upon hearing this. Compared to the ordinary people who were blinded by power, he was the most calm and rational. As a former Gu Master, he had some basic knowledge; it was indeed possible to increase strength through such unorthodox methods. However, to say that one could increase strength indefinitely through this method was clearly unrealistic. After killing a certain number of people, there would always be a limit to the increase in strength. And the true powerhouses had a stronger foundation than them. Naturally, their limit was also higher. In the end, no matter what, they could only become the targets of harvesting, and the more power they accumulated, the more likely they were to be harvested.

"Don't look so grim. If I say I'll keep you safe, then you'll be fine. This kind of battle royale scam has been around for tens of thousands of years. It's still going strong today. It's just a matter of whether people are willing to take the bait. If you seize the opportunity, you might even get to experience what it's like to be a strong person in this special environment."

Dao Tian chuckled and pulled the old man into the jungle. He had come specifically to participate in this battle royale; how could he miss such a good opportunity to improve his apparent strength? Regardless of the actual effectiveness of the crystals in enhancing his power, as long as others knew he was the winner of this battle royale, no one would doubt how exaggerated his strength might be below the level of an immortal.

As for how to win this battle royale, for someone like him who's using a full map cheat, a wallhack, and an instant-kill cheat, it's incredibly easy.

[To be continued]

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