[Task of heightened vigilance completed, received 150 experience points]
Received notification of task completion as the whistle sounded, while facing the black-clad attacker who killed the Protector.
Ching ching ching~ Blades danced in the hands of two people; in the hands of the black-clad attacker, the blade was a fluttering butterfly, shimmering with dangerous flashes.
In Lu Yu's hand, the blade served more as a shield, relying only on brute force to parry the opponent's various moves.
Lu Yu felt immense pressure; this black-clad attacker's strength likely had reached the fourth level of Body Refinement, and each time Lu Yu blocked an attack, he felt a painful shock reverberate through his tiger's mouth, his arms trembling.
Had it not been for the Body Tempering Pill enhancing physical strength, his arms would have long been ruined.
Challenging fourth-level Body Refinement with a level two, the pressure on Lu Yu was immense.
Regarding the earlier surprise attack using punches when the opponent was unprepared, now it could not be deployed.
The disparity between the two sides was too vast; once Lu Yu discarded the blade, the opponent could immediately sever his limbs.
Now Lu Yu relied solely on the mastery-level skill of Fierce Tiger Fist to maneuver with the opponent.
He awaited support from the inner courtyard; the alarm had been sounded, help should arrive quickly.
"Ah!" A Protector's scream erupted as the black-clad attacker severed his arm wielding the blade, followed by two strikes, beheading the Protector.
After slaying one, the black-clad attacker turned to surround another Protector; that Protector had practiced swordsmanship, and was at the fourth level of Body Refinement.
Facing one black-clad attacker, he could suppress him but not kill him, yet amidst the assault of two, he was in grave danger, possibly falling at any moment.
The only surviving Protectors were the one learned in swordsmanship and Lu Yu; Lu Yu sensed danger, realizing this way, he wouldn't survive until support arrived.
Though forcefully exiting the game could avoid death, Su Peng had advised minimizing such actions, as they might cause irreversible brain damage.
But at the last moment, it's a better option than brain death.
Yet it's not the last moment now; Lu Yu glanced at his experience points, killing one more black-clad attacker would give him enough experience to upgrade his Cultivation Technique.
With the Cultivation Technique upgraded, his strength would greatly increase, handling these black-clad attackers would be a minor issue.
In a one-on-one situation, he was suppressed by the opponent; how could he kill them?
Glancing at the besieged Protector, Lu Yu retreated towards him, pursued tightly by the black-clad attackers.
Soon, they stood back-to-back, surrounded by three black-clad attackers amidst the assault.
Lu Yu quickly said, "If you don't want to die, assist me in killing one intruder."
"Do you have a plan?" The person replied solemnly.
"No time to explain, just say yes or no?"
"Okay, we die if we don't fight; I'll risk everything to severely injure one, and leave the rest to you!"
Finished speaking, the person charged out, grabbing a weaker black-clad attacker and slashing desperately, with a life-risking stance, ignoring defense altogether.
Within a few seconds, that person's body had five or six bloody wounds, even with Lu Yu helping to shield some attacks.
The black-clad attacker was worse off, having weaker strength to begin with, while the opponent ignored defense entirely.
Trading blow for blow, soon severely wounded, struggling even to hold the blade.
Seeing the trembling hand holding the blade, Lu Yu seized the opportunity, repeatedly employing Eight Steps Pursuit of Cicada, crashing into the black-clad attacker, carrying him off.
In mid-air, Lu Yu had already stabbed his blade into the opponent's chest.
Without hearing the death notification, Lu Yu forcefully twisted the blade until he heard the system's notification.
Bang bang~ Two consecutive sounds.
The first was the sound of the corpse hitting the ground.
The second was the sound of Lu Yu stepping on the ground, deploying Eight Steps Pursuit of Cicada body technique.
Upon receiving the system notification instantly, Lu Yu dumped all experience points into the experience bar of Fierce Tiger Fist (Third Layer).
To his great satisfaction, upgrading Fierce Tiger Fist brought significant enhancement.
[Through diligent practice, Fierce Tiger Fist upgraded to Fourth Layer, Qi Blood +10]
[New skill learned! Fierce Tiger Fist - Black Tiger Heart Grab (Novice)]
[Through diligent practice, realm upgraded to third level of Body Refinement, Qi Blood +4]
Fierce Tiger Fist Fourth Layer was already the highest level the Cultivation Technique could reach; extra experience points automatically flowed into the newly learned skill – Black Tiger Heart Grab.
[Skill Upgrade! Fierce Tiger Fist - Black Tiger Heart Grab (Novice) → Fierce Tiger Fist - Black Tiger Heart Grab (Close to Mastery)]
Lu Yu felt slight changes in his fingers, seemingly becoming sharper.
An odd sensation.
During the brief moment Lu Yu killed the black-clad attacker and immediately deployed Eight Steps Pursuit of Cicada to return, the Protector had been fatally slashed on the back several times, deep enough to expose bone.
The Protector fell, and Lu Yu turned and advanced.
The knife was still lodged in the dead man's chest, Lu Yu had nothing left to fend off the opponent's blade, yet he still charged forward.
"Haha! Good timing, go to hell!" The black-clad figure, at the fourth level of Body Refinement, raised his blade for a vertical chop, already envisioning Lu Yu being sliced in half.
Slow!
The blade seemed incredibly slow in Lu Yu's eyes.
Now his Qi Blood had reached 63 points, the intensity of his Qi Blood was comparable to that of some veteran martial cultivators at the fourth level of Body Refinement, far surpassing this newly-entered level four black-clad individual.
Moreover, his masterful skills granted him exceedingly strong control over his own body.
He twisted his waist and sidestepped, watching the blade slice down less than a centimeter from his chest, his chest even feeling the sharp pain from the blade's edge.
That was the alertness of a strong person to danger.
Without hesitation, he executed Fierce Tiger Fist, his five fingers like steel rods, thrusting fiercely into the chest of the black-clad figure.
The bone that should have been hard seemed exceptionally fragile against the five fingers; Lu Yu just slightly felt the resistance at his fingertips before proceeding unhindered.
With a strong squeeze from his right hand, the blood vessels in the black-clad figure's eyeballs burst under immense pressure, turning his eyes blood-red on one side, causing severe chest pain.
The black-clad figure collapsed, Lu Yu's fingers still stained with warm blood, the purest blood, the blood from the heart.
Fierce Tiger Fist was the final and most powerful killing move of the Tiger Fist technique.
Lu Yu executed it for the first time and instantly killed a martial cultivator at the fourth level of Body Refinement.
The sound of the system's notification echoed in his mind; he didn't pay attention to how much experience points he gained as he headed toward the remaining black-clad figure.
Holding a knife, the black-clad figure felt no sense of security; it was too fast, his teammate died too quickly!
So fast that he couldn't even clearly see how his teammate died.
"How is it possible! Where did this monster come from, earlier he was clearly so weak, why suddenly did he become so strong?" The black-clad figure's mind was filled with doubt.
But there was no time left for him to find answers because Lu Yu had already charged forward.
The last black-clad figure was only at the third level of Body Refinement, and didn't last long in Lu Yu's hands before his heart was punctured and died.
This was because Lu Yu didn't want to be hurt by the knife in his hand, otherwise, he could have killed him even faster.
Looking at the knife in the dead black-clad figure's hand, Lu Yu thought, maybe he should learn a technique for swordsmanship or swordplay.
After all, the advantage of weapons was overwhelming.
The opponent's strength was clearly far weaker than his own, yet still relying on a technique practiced to a certain level, dragged on for so long.
Previously, Lu Yu himself was much weaker than the level four black-clad figure but still entangled with the opponent for a long time, then unexpectedly broke through at the last moment and killed the opponent with a surprise strike.
After glancing at the protector who could wield blade techniques and found him still breathing, Lu Yu hid him in a room, picked up a random knife, and quietly moved toward the inner courtyard.
Lu Yu had previously speculated that in the game, experience points could be earned by killing monsters, but in the Han mansion, there was no chance to kill monsters at all.
Now there's a chance to earn experience points by killing monsters, he must cherish the opportunity, otherwise, he wouldn't know when he would encounter such an opportunity again.
Moreover, he's in the dark now, those black-clad individuals wouldn't expect someone would stealthily attack from behind, it's a good opportunity.
In hiding, Lu Yu could observe which of those people he could deal with.
Otherwise, on the frontline, Lu Yu wouldn't have enough time to avoid and think about killing monsters and leveling up.
The battlefield was extremely chaotic, and most of them were martial cultivators at the sixth and seventh levels of Body Refinement.
Even though Lu Yu could kill a level four martial cultivator, being involved in the chaos wouldn't give him a good end.
Lu Yu soon found a target he could take down; three people at the third and fourth levels of Body Refinement were besieging a protector.
That protector must have been at the fourth level for a long time, he still had strength to counterattack despite the siege by three people, yet couldn't severely injure the three, constantly being dragged around.
Lu Yu seized the opportunity when one of the black-clad individuals was forced back, darting swiftly from the darkness, snapping the opponent's neck with a move called Hungry Tiger Pouncing.
The long-attacked protector saw the opportunity, launched a powerful attack, leaving the remaining two with no room to fight back.
Lu Yu and the protector joined forces from front and back, quickly taking down the black-clad individuals.
While Lu Yu killed the second black-clad figure, he shouted instinctively to the protector, "Wait!"
After killing the black-clad individual, the protector turned to Lu Yu, asking, "What is it?"
"It's nothing."
Lu Yu initially intended to stop him so that he could have the kill, regrettably, he acted too fast, wasting an opportunity to gain experience points.
After killing a few black-clad figures, the two separated.
Lu Yu went to search for other mobile experience points, while the protector went to unite with other protectors.
When the targets weren't suitable, Lu Yu would hide in the darkness, without revealing himself.
He had witnessed many battles before, there were black-clad figures besieging protectors, protectors besieging black-clad figures, and chaotic scenes of large-scale battles, but he did not join.
Just quietly searching for prey suitable for him in the dark.