Chapter 100: Accelerating Progress

For five consecutive days, Happy and Lei Zhan never left the ancient tomb, fully immersed in the joy of rapidly improving their martial skills! Unaware of how dangerous and chaotic the outside world had become.
During this time, the two got to know each other better.
Lei Zhan had a peaceful and steady personality. Although several of his friends were gradually drawn into this mission to celebrate the emperor’s birthday, he hadn’t yet mastered the Wuji Sword Technique to its peak, so he didn’t intend to get involved. His goal was simple—focus entirely on improving his sword skills before venturing into the martial world!
After briefly sharing her own understanding, Happy devoted herself wholeheartedly to training, striving to reach the Creation Realm.
Still, they were fairly well-informed about several prominent strongmen in the martial world during this period. In particular, Xiao San, the Swift Sword of the Mountain Gate, who had wiped out the Wind and Rain Tower, and Dingbei Hou, the Soul-Strangler of the North, were the most frequently discussed topics between the two men.
Accompanying them were the ferocious stone giant and the disgusting, pitch-black clay puppets. These days, the two never left the ancient tomb, even coordinating their meal times to come up together. As a result, their levels rose rapidly.
Lei Zhan fared well. During the days of battling the stone giant, he focused solely on withstanding attacks. His Turtle Shell Skill advanced from the eighth level to the tenth, activating its protective effect. Strange patterns appeared on his skin, forming a sturdy shell that made it difficult even for the stone giant to push him back.
As his defensive strength improved, the duration of his battles with the stone giant gradually increased from four or five minutes to over seven minutes. His Wuji Sword Technique broke through from the sixth level to the ninth, with sword lights flashing and movements so swift they were hard to track, making it hard to predict his true attack direction.
However…
While Lei Zhan saw significant improvements in these two martial arts, Happy’s gains were even greater!
Over these days, she not only mastered the Five Elements Chain Axe to the master level but also pushed four other martial arts—Black Cloud Sword Technique, Black Wind Saber Technique, Black Snake Spear Technique, and Nine Palaces Bagua Sword Technique—to the tenth level, all reaching the master realm. Together with her Flashing Sword Technique, which had already reached the master level the day before yesterday, she managed to push her internal energy past 80 points, officially entering the second level of the Creation Realm!
In other words, Happy had entered the Creation Realm since the day before yesterday!
At that time…

Lei Zhan also suggested going back to the city to exchange their gains from these days for money, so as to buy an excellent martial arts secret manual at a high price from the market before returning to the ancient tomb. Over these days, Lei Zhan had realized that Kai Xin not only understood the game deeply but also possessed remarkable qualities that made people feel extremely at ease around him. Spending time with Kai Xin made training much easier—no less effective than when several people took turns fighting monsters—and it seemed like new skills could be learned every day. To be honest… Kai Xin also sensed Lei Zhan’s sincerity. After all, in today’s online world, an excellent martial arts secret manual was extremely rare; not every player at the Creation Realm could obtain one. Each manual was tied to a highly difficult task, and only true masters could acquire them by chance, thanks to their solid skills. In the market, the price of such a manual was 200,000 silver coins—almost equivalent to 10,000 yuan in offline transactions, highlighting their scarcity and value. Over these days, the two had also obtained a large amount of treasures from the ancient tomb—various gold, silver, and jade items—worth nearly 100,000 silver coins if sold. But Kai Xin didn’t want them… He already had excellent martial arts manuals, not just one! “The Ballad of the Flower Hero” and “The Demon Subduing Staff Technique.” When Kai Xin silently drew out a blade that emitted a heavy, imposing glow, quickly causing a slight crack in the stone giant’s body, Lei Zhan was stunned speechless. Kai Xin seemed to be having an effortless time. With Lei Zhan drawing enemy fire, he didn’t need to worry too much—he just had to unleash his full firepower to raise his martial arts level. In just two days, “The Ballad of the Flower Hero” rose from level 1.00 to 49.37, and the stone giants and clay puppets could hardly last more than fifteen minutes under their attacks! With a bit more caution, one could even defeat a stone giant or clay puppet in just one round… That day! “Brother! I’m sorry, but I think I can’t make it today. My mother-in-law is coming over, and my wife ordered me to go pick her up early—otherwise, there will be trouble. How about we finish this fight and head back to the city, then come back here at 6 p.m.?” Lei Zhan explained apologetically. “It’s okay,” Kai Xin replied calmly, smiling. “Family is important. Go ahead. After this, I’ll log off too and not return to the city. I’ll wait for you at 6 p.m.” Hearing this, Lei Zhan glanced at Kai Xin again before nodding.

“Alright! But you need to be careful. Don’t try to take on the stone giant alone; if things go wrong, go to the entrance to draw their attention… Otherwise, it’s too dangerous.”
Xiao Kai laughed heartily. He indeed had plans to deal with the stone giant by himself to speed things up, but Lei Zhan saw through it.
Lei Zhan didn’t say much more, gave a few final warnings, and then logged off.
As soon as Lei Zhan left, Xiao Kai scanned the surroundings of the ancient tomb hall. Six or seven stone giants and clay puppets were still wandering around in various corners, ignoring each other.
Exhaling a puff of air, Xiao Kai had finished resting. He took out an ordinary, low-grade martial arts manual from his Qiankun Bag, glanced at it, and placed his palms on it…
Whoosh!
The martial arts manual quickly turned into a black beam and vanished into Xiao Kai’s body in an instant.
Ding!
The system issued a clear prompt:
“You have mastered the low-grade defensive manual, ‘Black Sand Tough Body’!”
This was a defensive manual obtained from the chief of Hei Feng Zhai. As his level increased, his defensive capabilities would gradually improve…
However, at present, Black Sand Tough Body was only at level 1, which was practically useless. Facing a Stone Giant at the Creation Realm with it was like wearing a thin layer of paper—barely any protection at all.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Kai slowly put on the wolf fur coat, wolf fur wrist guards, boots, and shorts, transforming into a fully armed jungle hunter before getting up.
He headed toward a stone giant not far away.
Whoosh!
With a flick of his hand, a willow leaf dagger accurately hit a stone giant dozens of meters to the left. Xiao Kai quickly retreated, but the giant didn’t even stagger. It glared angrily, locked onto the culprit, and rushed forward with thunderous steps—“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
Xiao Kai’s breathing immediately became lighter…
Fighting a stone giant alone with just level 1 Black Sand Tough Body was still extremely risky.
When the fierce stone giant closed in within a few meters, Xiao Kai narrowed his eyes, instinctively gripping his Battle-Tested Sword tighter, and counterattacked.
After training head-on with Lei Zhan for so long, it was time to speed up his training progress!