Infinite Fighting

The world is really small.

Zhang Ji was doing a side quest when he unexpectedly encountered Fang Lingwei here.

His gaze fell on the other two people, and they looked over as well.

With pursuers behind and the high walls on both sides making them easy targets to jump over, it's easy to become a sitting duck.

They had only one choice: to bypass Fang Lingwei and rush towards the Dongchang Street Night Market.

"Shuashua~!"

The hidden weapon attack began. The tall man on Zhang Ji's left moved quickly, throwing out two special darts. Then, a long, thin, black sword blade emerged from his sleeve and stabbed straight at Fang Lingwei.

"Ding ding~!"

Fang Lingwei deftly cleaved the hidden weapon with a slash of her knife, and deflected the incoming sword blade with her burst of energy.

At the same time, another person also made a move, not with a hidden weapon, but with a short knife, aiming at Fang Lingwei's lower body.

"Whoosh~!"

The blade swung across, but only struck the air, producing a slightly sharp whistling sound.

Fang Lingwei leaped up gracefully, simultaneously kicking the man wielding the slender sword.

"Bang~!"

Fang Lingwei held back her kick, but the man was still sent flying several meters away.

The man who had missed with his sword attempted to slash upwards, but Fang Lingwei blocked with her sword hilt. Her left foot landed on the side of the blade, and with a powerful kick, she rendered the sword immobile. Then, she raised her left hand and struck the Shadow Demon wielding the sword with a palm strike.

"Bang~!"

Another figure flew out.

Those with formal training are different; their skills are proficient, making it incredibly easy for them to beat these amateurs. They took down two Shadow Fiends in just two or three moves.

"Splitting Mount Hua with all my might!"

Zhang Ji seized the opportunity and unleashed a fierce slash.

There are no tricks involved, it's all about numbers.

If I had to talk about a technique, it would be to catch the aftercast delay of a skill.

Fang Lingwei held the sword in one hand with her right arm, blocking the attack.

Her expression changed slightly the instant the blades clashed.

This force is already comparable to that of experts above the seventh level of the Star-Attracting Realm.

Clang!

Fang Lingwei was forced to retreat to deflect the force, but after one move, the sword blade came down again.

"One bow, two bows, three bows. The New Year's Greeting Sword Technique!!!"

As Zhang Ji chopped, he said things that left Fang Lingwei confused.

The sheer numerical impact forced Fang Lingwei to retreat continuously.

Zhang Ji is a veteran player of this game, so it's impossible for him to have absolutely no skills.

He knows exactly when and which tactic will be most effective.

When facing a professionally trained fighter like this, the key is to disrupt their rhythm and prevent them from using their skills.

If you succeed in one move, you must fight to the death.

They were forced to use all their skills to take hits on the spot.

Of course, there are some numerical values ​​involved in doing this.

Zhang Ji happened to have it.

With ample stamina and strength, he unleashed his full power in every sword strike, maintaining a relentless and fierce momentum.

However, Zhang Ji also felt that he could not suppress Fang Lingwei for long. When Zhang Ji used the seventh bow, Fang Lingwei lightly touched her toes, and star power surged from her feet and was transmitted through her waist. Then, a rebounding force came from the sword, which directly sent Zhang Ji flying as he swung the sword down.

"Parry technique?"

Zhang Ji's body flipped in mid-air, and before he landed, another sword was already thrusting at him.

Just as he was about to be stabbed by the sword, more projectiles came flying from the side.

Fang Lingwei, unable to continue attacking Zhang Ji, turned and slashed at the hidden weapon following the sound of the wind.

"Boom~!"

The explosion was heard, and as the shockwave surged, smoke and dust covered the surrounding area.

After Zhang Ji landed, an arm grabbed him, and he felt as if his body had become much lighter, and at the same time, he felt as if he was being enveloped in water.

He did not resist, and even ran along with the direction the other person was pulling.

When the smoke and dust cleared, Fang Lingwei was all alone.

She frowned, feeling very annoyed at her mistake.

A large number of Zhenguo Guards were rushing towards them from afar, but Fang Lingwei had no intention of dealing with them, so she also left.

Dongchang Street Night Market.

A large number of Zhenguo Guards began searching the area, but they found nothing.

The strength of the Zhenguo Guards lies in their numbers; individually, they are only at the first or second level of the Star-Attracting Realm, which is not particularly impressive.

Three figures appeared outside a latrine near Xiuhualou.

It turned out to be Zhang Ji and his two companions.

"This smell is really pungent. If there's a next time, I'd rather die than hide in this place," said one of the shadow demons.

"Come on, it's good enough that we're alive. If those guys really caught us, being skinned alive would be the least of our worries," another Shadow Fiend said.

Zhang Ji didn't feel too uncomfortable. He had already lowered his sense of smell to the lowest level of one percent, so he could completely ignore the smells here. But speaking of which, why did those two voices sound a little familiar?

The height is just not quite right.
"Gentlemen, we've come a long way to escape together from the clutches of the imperial court's henchmen. We've shared a bond of life and death. Would you like to get to know each other?" A shadow demon pulled off his mask, revealing his face. "I am Yan Hao."

"Old Yan, it's you!"

The man next to him pulled off his mask, revealing himself to be Shi Feng.

"You too?" Yan Hao asked, dumbfounded.

Zhang Ji's eyes were strange; why were they all familiar faces?

Did they wear shoe lifts?

Otherwise, how come they're all over 1.75 meters tall?

Does that damn "Shadow Eater Technique" have the function of changing body shape?

"Brother, why don't you show your true face?" Yan Hao suddenly looked at Zhang Ji and asked.

Zhang Ji hesitated for a moment, then also pulled off his mask.

"Xiao Zhang!!" Shi Feng's eyes widened, then he said with a strange expression, "Why are they all people I know?"

Yan Hao smirked and said, "This is too much of a coincidence."

“What coincidence? Only those of us at the bottom with no other options would think of practicing evil arts,” Shi Feng sighed.

"I have a question for you all. Have you all practiced the Shadow Devouring Technique?" Zhang Ji asked.

He had heard about this technique from Fang Lingwei earlier, and judging from the information he had, he roughly understood the situation.

The so-called "Shadow Devouring Technique" should be an evil art. It should be relatively easy to practice and allow for rapid progress, but the side effect is probably that it will make you eat people's shadows.

It seems that someone is deliberately spreading this evil art, which has resulted in many shadow demons.

"What else?" Yan Hao looked at Zhang Ji strangely and said, "Aren't you one?"

"Of course, I'm just curious if there's some kind of conspiracy or underhanded scheme behind this," Zhang Ji said.

That's too obvious. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Yan Hao sighed, "There's no other way. Even if we know something's wrong, we still have to practice it. Those of us who don't have any talent will probably never have a chance to turn our lives around if we don't practice evil techniques like the Shadow Devouring Technique. I don't want to be a waiter for the rest of my life."

"Yes, although we know it's an evil art, it's the only martial art that gives us the chance to become official Star Warriors," Shi Feng said with emotion.

"How about we compare them? Let's see if we're practicing the same techniques. Maybe there are some differences between our techniques?" Zhang Ji said.

That's right, he wanted to trick them into practicing this skill.

Others may fear evil practices, but he is not.

He even quite liked it.

Players don't have many moral constraints; massacring cities to hone their skills is child's play.

The more unorthodox, the better, as long as it's powerful enough and the improvement is fast enough.

"Okay," Yan Hao nodded, then asked, "Who wants to go first?"

"Brother Yan, you go first," Zhang Ji said.

Yan Hao originally didn't want to speak first, but Zhang Ji's previous performance clearly showed that he was a cut above them, so he was now willing to give Zhang Ji face.

So he began to recount his "Shadow Eater Technique".

Zhang Ji turned on the recorder and listened to the recording.

After Yan Hao finished speaking, Zhang Ji also received a hint.

[Hint: You have mastered the (standard 5-star) combat skill "Shadow Devouring Technique".]

On the panel, the "Shadow Devouring Technique" appeared, and Zhang Ji obtained its brief information after looking at it.

[Shadow Devouring Technique (0/100): A method for tempering the body by visualizing an illusion and drawing upon its stellar energy. [Evaluation: A highly functional and stealthy method for drawing upon stellar energy; cultivation resources are also readily available.]]
The Phantom Star Power is different from the Spirit Pig Star Power. This Star Power has more effects. In addition to improving basic attributes, Star Power also has some special functions, such as being able to move faster when stealthily moving in shadows, being able to use Star Power to fine-tune one's own appearance, and being able to directly enhance one's own visualized phantom by directly devouring the shadows of living beings. As the phantom is enhanced, more Star Power can be absorbed, indirectly improving one's talent. Moreover, the stronger the living being, the stronger the cultivation boost brought by its shadow being devoured.

In this city, the best resource is undoubtedly the shadow of a person.

If your shadow is eaten, you will die.

The shadows of livestock are far inferior to those of humans, and the amount of shadow one can swallow at a time is limited. The better the shadow, the faster it is digested and the more nutrients one obtains.

In conclusion, this practice is essentially guiding people to engage in cannibalism in a disguised form.

"The more I look at it, the more it seems like raising Gu poison," Zhang Ji murmured to himself.

It's possible that these Shadow Demons will eventually be consumed as supplies by experts who have mastered a stronger and more complete "Shadow Devouring Technique".

Wouldn't that be like raising a venomous insect?

“Mine is the same as yours, Lao Yan, so there’s no need to say anything, right?” Shi Feng said.

"Let's memorize it," Yan Hao said.

Shi Feng definitely wouldn't be able to memorize the method after hearing it only once, so Yan Hao asked him to repeat it again to verify any omissions.

"OK then."

Shi Feng understood Yan Hao's suspicions and immediately recited his own "Shadow Devouring Technique," which turned out to be the same.

After Shi Feng finished speaking, Zhang Ji also repeated his own account, simply repeating what they had said.

“It seems we all use the same methods,” Zhang Ji said.

"Let's split up and go back to the restaurant later. Also, let's keep a low profile for a while and wait until things calm down before coming out again," Yan Hao said.

“That’s what I think too. The Extermination Bureau is investigating very closely now, and even the Zhenguo Guard has been alerted. Anyway, I plan to leave next month. The capital is really not a good place to practice martial arts,” Shi Feng said.

"I also plan to go back and practice somewhere else. There are too many masters in the capital," Yan Hao said.

Listening to their conversation, Zhang Ji felt that the two wouldn't leave so easily.

Gu worms are usually refined in a closed environment, which forces them to have no way out and to fight desperately in order to refine a fierce Gu King that is one in ten thousand.

If one could leave, would it still be called raising a poisonous insect? (End of Chapter)