Open up and break into another world

The hunting area was located hundreds of miles deep within the Monster Beast Mountain Range. With Xu Ming's strength, if he identified the general direction and traveled at full speed, he would definitely be able to find the hunting area in a day or two.

However, Xu Ming was not in a hurry to get there; in fact, he deliberately deviated slightly from the direction.

The further in, the more powerful the monster beasts became. When Xu Ming reached a depth of three to four hundred miles, he could already encounter monster beasts at the Inner Training level.

In fact, Xu Ming accidentally strayed into a grove of willow trees that had become spirits, and was besieged by dozens of willow trees in a net-like attack. Most of the dozens of willow trees were comparable to the sixth stage of Outer Training, a few were comparable to the early stage of Inner Training, and the Tree King was even comparable to the middle stage of Inner Training; under such an attack, even a master of the late stage of Inner Training would probably die on the spot if caught off guard.

However, with his absolute strength and Micro-level Boundary, Xu Ming easily broke out of the willow grove unscathed.

“I always feel like someone is following me, but I can't find them!” Xu Ming's Boundary had reached the Micro-level, so he was very sensitive in this regard.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Xu Ming heard the sound of a zither, like the tinkling of a spring.

The elegant zither music was refreshing and familiar, but it also immediately alerted Xu Ming—why would there be zither music three to four hundred miles deep in the Monster Beast Mountain Range? And why would he just happen to hear it!

Moreover, the zither music was incredibly skillful, seeming to come from all directions, making it impossible for Xu Ming to determine the source of the sound.

“Is it… Miss Quan?” Xu Ming shouted.

With such superb zither skills, and someone who could make him feel familiar, it could only be Miss Quan, whom he had met at the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Association.

Why would Miss Quan run all the way to the Monster Beast Mountain Range to play the zither for him?

Xu Ming, of course, sensed that something was wrong.

As he shouted these words, his whole body was already on guard, and the Perfect Battle Mode was directly activated—the visitor was hostile!

The instant he activated the Perfect Battle Mode, Xu Ming's Boundary was directly elevated to nearly “Harmony of Man and Nature,” and his perception of the surrounding world took a leap forward. At the same time, Xu Ming also noticed that within the gentle melody, there was a hidden killing intent that was rapidly transmitted through the air.

“Sonic attack!”

Xu Ming had never seen such a bizarre attack method, but the words suddenly popped into his mind.

“I can't take it head-on!”

Xu Ming certainly did not dare to take this seemingly ordinary sonic attack lightly.

Dodge!

Fortunately, Xu Ming sensed the path of the sonic attack in the first instant, and dodged it by moving sideways.

Xu Ming felt that this air blade hidden in the melody immediately dissipated into the air the moment it failed to hit him; the energy resonated with other melodies and was transmitted back in the direction from which it came.

If it didn't hit the target, the energy could actually flow back and be reused?

“What a unique and exquisite method of controlling Xuan Qi!”

However, following the direction of the energy transmission, Xu Ming finally found the zither player who was hiding very well.

“Miss Quan, it really is you!” Xu Ming recognized her at first glance.

Moreover, Xu Ming was certain that Miss Quan's Boundary had definitely reached the Micro-level; otherwise, no matter how good she was at hiding, it would have been impossible for Xu Ming to only discover her now.

“You have some skill!” Miss Quan continued to play the zither, and said coldly, as if she didn't take Xu Ming seriously at all.

The beautiful melody swirled around Xu Ming's ears, but Xu Ming felt that it was full of killing intent everywhere.

“Miss Quan, what do you mean by this?” Although Xu Ming had his cheat, he didn't dare to take it lightly at this time.

This Miss Quan was clearly only at the Inner Training level, but Xu Ming felt immense pressure from her. To be honest, among all the Inner Training martial artists Xu Ming had seen, none had given him such great pressure.

“High Boundary, bizarre attacks… this kind of opponent is difficult to deal with!” Xu Ming stared warily at Miss Quan, “But… no matter how difficult the opponent is, it's just a matter of spending more cheat points!”

If Xu Ming was provoked, he could directly activate seven or eight times the attack and defense, and even a Congenital martial artist would dare to fight him head-on.

“But… now that my cultivation is higher, it costs a lot more cheat points to use the cheat!”

Xu Ming's current cultivation had already reached the late stage of Inner Training through offline training!

At the late stage of Inner Training, offline training costs fifty cheat points a day, which is five hundred taels of gold; and activating double attack or defense, raising the attack or defense by at least one time, costs five hundred cheat points.

Five hundred cheat points are, of course, not much to Xu Ming now. However, when he needs to activate seven or eight times the attack, it costs tens of thousands of cheat points each time—Xu Ming currently has only forty to fifty thousand cheat points left when all his gold is converted.

Therefore, Xu Ming not only had to consider the outcome of this battle, but also had to consider how to save some cheat points—after all, it wasn't easy to earn money! This time, he could activate seven or eight times the attack and defense to be reckless, but what if he encountered danger again next time after being reckless?

“It means nothing, I'm here for money, that's all.” Miss Quan still stroked the zither, calm and composed; only the killing intent hidden in the melody made it impossible for Xu Ming to listen to the music as easily as he did at the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Association last time, “I, Quan Xin, always let people die knowing why they died when I kill; codename ‘White Water,’ I've accepted a mission from Hidden Thorn, you can rest in peace!”

As Miss Quan spoke, she exuded a confidence in controlling life and death.

“No matter how bizarre or unique it is, can it escape my Probe?” You must know that even someone as mysterious as Gu Hanmo was thoroughly investigated by Xu Ming, even his measurements… cough cough!

Sure enough, the probe results were immediately fed back.

“Quan Xin, a descendant of the fallen Sixteen-String Sect, and also the current Sect Leader of the Sixteen-String Sect, cultivation at the Perfection of Inner Training, cultivating secret techniques… After the Sixteen-String Sect was severely damaged, the surviving Quan Xin joined the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Association and received the protection of the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Association… Quan Xin is also an assassin in the Hidden Thorn organization, she kills regardless of who the assassination target is, only to raise enough money to one day revive the Sixteen-String Sect…”

A large amount of information was instantly transmitted to Xu Ming's mind, and Xu Ming also had a clear understanding of Quan Xin's strengths and weaknesses.

“The founder of the Sixteen-String Sect attained the Congenital realm through the zither, her zither technique is the inherited technique of the Sixteen-String Sect!” Xu Ming had to say that this set of zither techniques was really so powerful that it almost had no flaws.

Within the range covered by the zither music, it formed its own domain; all attacks launched by the zither player could be recovered at any time through the melody, endlessly; if anyone wanted to get close to the zither player, the zither player could repel them with extremely dense attacks!

Moreover, the Sixteen-String Sect also had a powerful movement technique, and when paired with the zither technique, they could even kite opponents who were much stronger than themselves to death.

This was a very terrifying sect, but it had extremely high requirements for talent and comprehension.

“Almost invincible at the same level, and even able to fight beyond their level!” This was Xu Ming's evaluation of Quan Xin, “It's just a pity that she met me!”