"Brother Tian, Divine Sense is not something anyone can use, and they must have an appropriate cultivation before they can even learn it," Xiao Hua said to him.
"Oh... Is that so?" Yuan nodded. "Then I will continue to look for Spirit Grass with my Divine Sense."
Once Yuan left to look for more Spirit Grass, Yu Rou turned to look at Xiao Hua and said to her, "You know a lot of things despite your young age…"
"...Xiao Hua has existed for longer than you think," she responded with a calm voice.
"Eh? Then how old are you?" Yu Rou looked at her with wide eyes.
"..."
However, Xiao Hua did not respond to her, acting as though she was deaf.
"You can't even tell a fellow lady?" Yu Rou insisted.
"One's age does not matter when you are a Cultivator…" Xiao Hua said, avoiding the question.
Yu Rou shook her head inwardly and sighed after seeing Xiao Hua's strong reluctance.
"Anyway, I can't let Brother Tian do all of the work by himself. I'll also continue looking for Spirit Grass…" Yu Rou returned to searching for Spirit Grass with her bare eyes.
Half an hour later, Yuan returned to Yu Rou and Xiao Hua with an abundant amount of Spirit Grass in his spatial ring.
"I should have around 20 jins of Spirit Grass in my spatial ring right now," Yuan said to her.
"20 jins?! That's way more than what we need," Yu Rou said.
"Yes, but if the quest is repeatable, we can complete it multiple times in a single run," Yuan said.
"Oh, that's quite smart, brother. Meanwhile, I have only managed to find 2 jins worth of Spirit Grass…" Yu Rou sighed.
"Brother Tian, Xiao Hua also gathered some Spirit Grass for you," Xiao Hua said.
"Thank you, Xiao Hua. You can keep it to yourself until we need to hand it in," Yuan said to her.
"Un," she nodded.
"Now that we've completed the quest, let's return to the medicine store and hand in our Spirit Grass," Yu Rou said.
Thus, they began making their way back to Spring City.
However, on their way back, Yuan and his small group encountered another group of players that appeared to be heading in their direction.
"Brother Tian, there are four Cultivators at the fifth level Spirit Apprentice realm ahead," Xiao Hua said to them way before the two groups even met.
"They must be players that are doing the same quest," Yu Rou said.
Once the two groups met, the other group asked them, "Hello, are you guys coming from the Spirit Grass location?"
"Yes, that's right. It's just a mile that way," Yuan pointed in the direction they came from.
The four players then exchanged gazes with each other and nodded with a determined gaze in their eyes before turning to look at Yuan again.
"Since you know where to find more Spirit Grass and it's not too far away, why don't you do us a solid favor and hand over the ones you already have to us?" One of the players said to them, and the other three players drew their weapons.
"..."
Yuan was speechless. Are they being robbed? In broad daylight?
"And before you get any ideas, let me warn you that there are four of us and only three of you— and one of them is a mere child!" The player said.
"What should we do, brother?" Yu Rou asked him as she grabbed his sleeves.
"Hmm…" Yuan narrowed his eyes at the four players and asked them a moment later, "The four of you are players, right?"
"So what if we are?!"
"Hurry up and give us all of your Spirit Grass, or do we have to take it from your corpses!?"
"..."
Yuan ignored the four players and turned to ask Yu Rou, "Can you confirm for me that if players die, they will respawn later?"
Yu Rou nodded and said, "If a player dies, they won't be able to control their character for an hour, and they'll respawn in the last city they were in."
"Are you going to kill them?" she asked him afterward.
"Yes," he nodded with a cold expression on his face.
"..."
Xiao Hua looked at him with wide eyes. He's willingly going to kill four Cultivators? What happened to his righteous speech about not wanting to kill anyone just a few days ago?
Yuan retrieved the Starry Abyss and approached the four players with a cold gaze, and he spoke in a low voice, "I don't care if you want to rob us. I wouldn't have cared even if you wanted to kill me… However, threatening to kill my sister before me, you have crossed a line that you should've never crossed…"
The four players looked at Yuan's serious expression and began laughing out loud.
"Are you going to fight the four of us by yourself!? Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"Stop wasting our time and die already!" One of the players suddenly rushed forward and swung the sword in his grasp at Yuan with sluggish movements, looking like a complete beginner with the sword.
"..."
Yuan remained calm despite the sudden attack, even looking at the player with disdain in his eyes.
"You call that a sword attack?" Yuan casually shifted his body and barely dodged the sword.
The second he dodged the player's attack, Yuan jerked his hand forward, stabbing the player in the chest with the Starry Abyss.
"..."
The player stared at him with wide eyes filled with disbelief for a moment before falling onto the ground.
«You have killed your first player!»
«You have gained the title 'Player Killer'!»
"H-He killed our brother! Kill him and avenge our brother!"
The remaining three players immediately sprang into action after witnessing their brother being killed by Yuan, their faces filled with anger.
"Thousand Knife Technique!"
However, Yuan swung the Starry Abyss before any of the players could even get close to him, and before the players could even react, a black light flashes right before their necks.
*Plop* *Plop* *Plop*
The three players collapsed onto the floor simultaneously a moment later with deep cuts in their necks.
After killing the four players, Yuan stared at the corpses on the floor, feeling an indescribable feeling in his heart.
'I thought I wouldn't be able to kill people, but it was surprisingly easy…' Yuan looked at his palms that were slightly trembling.
However, he was not scared, nor was he traumatized by the experience.
"This is… excitement?" Yuan mumbled to himself in disbelief.
When he fought the four players, he didn't see it as fighting another human. Instead, it felt no different than fighting monsters.
"Brother! Are you okay!?" Yu Rou and Xiao Hua approached him a moment later.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Yu Rou began patting him all over his body to check for injuries.
"Don't worry, I am not injured," he said with a reassuring smile.
And then he continued, "Do you think I'll be punished for killing other players?"
"I don't think so, since there are many Player Killers out there but none of them have been punished for it," Yu Rou said to him.
"I see…"
"That was your first time killing another player, right? How do you feel, brother?" Yu Rou asked him afterward.
"I don't know, but one thing for sure is that I don't feel bad about it, and knowing that they don't die permanently made it much easier," he said. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Yu Rou, no matter who they are."
"Thank you, brother…" Yu Rou nodded with a bashful expression on her slightly rosy face.
"What should we do with their corpses?" Yuan asked sometime later.
"They'll respawn in an hour, so let's take their stuff before that happens," Yu Rou said as she began rummaging through their pockets.
"Y-You're going to take their stuff?" Yuan looked at her with wide eyes, as he didn't expect to see such savageness from her.
"Why not? You know that saying 'An eye for an eye'? They tried to rob us, so it's only fair that we do the same to them. And it feels no different from dismantling a monster after killing it."
Sometime later, Yu Rou returned with a disappointed expression on her face.
"Besides their weapons, they only had fifteen silvers and some minor recovery pills on them…" she sighed, "I guess it's better than nothing."
Sometime later, they continued walking back to Spring City.
"Xiao Hua, can you tell us if there are people close to us? I don't want to risk running into more people like the ones just now," Yuan said to her.
"Okay," she nodded.
Two hours later, they returned to Spring City, and then Mr. Qiang's Medicine Shop.
"Welcome back, young lady! Did you find the Spirit Grass?" The receptionist immediately recognized her beautiful face.
"Yes, we even brought more than you'd requested if you don't mind." Yu Rou said to him.
"Oh, that's perfect! I'll pay you 10 silver more for every extra jin of Spirit Grass you have for me."
The receptionist then placed a scale on the counter and said, "Throw everything you have on here."
Yu Rou nodded and placed her 2 jins worth of Spirit Grass onto the scale.
Then Yuan placed his 20 jins of Spirit Grass into the scale.
"You gathered 22 jins of Spirit Grass in such a short amount of time? I'm amazed!" The receptionist exclaimed his admiration.
"Wait, we still have more," Yuan said and turned to look at Xiao Hua.
"How much did you gather?" he asked her.
"318 jins," she responded calmly.
"Huh?"
Everyone in the store suddenly turned to look at her with wide eyes filled with disbelief.