2 002, 【Wedding dress】

"A furnace-ding?" Lu Xun blinked, puzzled upon hearing these words.

As a veteran player of "Heavenly Dust" and a fan of online novels, how could he not know what a furnace-ding signifies.

You may not value certain items, but to those demonic evil cultivators, specifically female cultivators, they are priceless. After all, a furnace-ding works best when it's fiery.

The fiercer the fire of the furnace-ding, the faster they can cultivate!

So, when Lu Xun heard the mention of furnace-ding, his expression quickly changed, and he couldn't help but think:

"Could such good luck befall on me!?"

In "Heavenly Dust," indeed, quite a few players chose this same cultivation path.

As stated before, the game offers a high degree of freedom. As long as you're an adult, you have plenty of choices.

However, this cultivation path has been labelled as one of the worst to start with due to its low limit.

Using such quirky methods to level up, it is unlikely that your cultivation base will be impressive. Moreover, the one serving as the furnace-ding will tend to die out and become a dry corpse after practicing such a technique three times!

Utterly dry, not a drop left!

However, since players can respawn multiple times, they can experiment however they wish, even if it results in abandoning their game account and starting over. But that doesn't apply to Lu Xun.

Every respawn is invaluable to him. He can't just go wasting them.

Risking his life for mere indulgence, that's too dramatic.

It would make sense if he risks his life for an impeccable start, but this low-level cultivation method, frankly, didn't appeal to him.

So, even though he found this whole situation interesting, he began thinking of what strategy to employ.

...

...

At this point in time, Ji Li, who was standing in front of Lu Xun, was also deep in thought.

Her father's surname was Ji, and her mother loved pears, hence she was named Ji Li.

Her family was a martial arts family, but the complex world of martial arts made it hard to determine friends from foes.

Due to a fortunate turn of events, her parents got possession of an immortal magical sword and a cultivation method. However, the news leaked out somehow, and their home was invaded. Only she managed to escape with the sword and method.

Not everyone in this world cultivates. In "Heavenly Dust," cultivation isn't particularly advantageous before level 10. It only becomes significant after level 10.

The cultivation method she had was the demonic arts, which were despised by those from righteous sects.

The primary condition for cultivation was that she needed a male furnace-ding.

As an innocent, unmarried girl, how can she handle this!

She had barely any knowledge about these matters, much less to use them for cultivation... after all, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl.

But she had to avenge her family! It was a deep-seated hatred!

Moreover, there were people still after her, she urgently needed to enhance her strength!

This demonic arts text was her only backing!

As for the magical sword called Wedding Sword... without a cultivation base, she couldn't use its power. At most, it was sharper than mortal iron, but it was also damn heavy!

So, a furnace-ding was what she needed the most right now.

But, how could she... She couldn't even...

Until she saw Lu Xun.

"Is there really such a handsome man in the world?" Ji Li's heart pounded at her first sight of him.

He was so attractive that she felt she wasn't at a loss, but rather stood to gain a bit?

Yes, Ji Li may not realize it herself, but she cares a lot about appearances.

Her mother once told her that there wasn't a single decent man out there. As such, why not choose the most attractive one?

It seemed...somewhat reasonable?

Come to think of it, if her dad wasn't handsome, would her mother, a martial artist herself, have married him?

Moreover, her rationale was simple; even if she had to use a furnace-ding, at least it should be someone she liked looking at. What if she got disturbed halfway through cultivation and it led to loss of control!

As for whether there's anyone more handsome than the man in front of her?

She won't believe it! Impossible! There's no such person!

He's already incredibly handsome...

Moreover, he seems to be just an ordinary man without any martial skills, and she couldn't sense any strength in him.

Ha, does that mean I can do whatever I please?

I've made up my mind! I'll kidnap him first and figure things out later!

Ji Li drew out her Spirit Sword, the Bridal Dress Sword, and pointed it at Lu Xun. Her finger aimlessly wandered for a while as she struggled to find the right words to say.

After all, she was just a 16-year-old girl.

After a long pause, she finally blurted out a question, her face blushing: "Are you with me or not?"

Hearing her voice and tone, Lu Xun became even more certain that she must be a young and immature girl. But he had no choice as he couldn't defeat her. Hence, he let out a bitter laugh and said, "Here? That wouldn't be appropriate, would it?"

Ji Li blushed even more as she heard his response. Her ears had turned so red they seemed on the brink of bursting.

Shame, shame, shame! How could it happen here!?

But why does even his bitter laugh look so charming?

Lu Xun, wide-eyed, saw a stream of numbers floating around the face-obsessed Ji Li:

"Favorability +1!"

"Favorability +1!"

"Favorability +1!"

...

"Eh, was this favorability feature also brought over?" Lu Xun was surprised.

He remembered how difficult it was to increase the favorability of game NPCs back when he was a player. He was tired of running around doing missions, desperately trying to increase favorability.

Many hidden missions required a specific favorability score to unlock, and there were rumors that once favorability reached a certain level, some really exciting things could happen.

Well, all he could do was to continue increasing his favorability!

But why was it so easy to increase favorability now?

Is it because his charisma used to be "1" and now it's "10"?

Lu Xun was dumbfounded, he looked up at the sky.

Little did he know, even this act of him gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle was noticed by Ji Li.

Wow, his jawline is so defined.

Wow, he looks so handsome from the side.

"Favourability +1...+1...+1..."

Lu Xun: "???"

Although he didn't yet fully understand, he knew that an increase in favorability was generally a good thing as it meant he would be relatively safer.

Now he even started questioning whether he had run into some kind of problematic girl?

Should he read her some inspirational quotes, to guide her back to the right way?

Ji Li suddenly looked eastward as he was lost in his thoughts.

"Damn it, those people are catching up with us!" Ji Li thought to herself, panicking.

Ji Li moved swiftly. All Lu Xun saw was a blur before he was lifted up into Ji Li's arms!

She held him horizontal to the ground with one hand, like carrying a surfboard...

Lu Xun, smelling the light fragrance from the girl, felt a mix of emotions.

"Damn, I've run into a superwoman!"

With a tap of her foot, Ji Li began running to the north. Despite carrying Lu Xun, she moved as if she had no burden at all.

Little did Lu Xun know, his hundred-plus pound body was still lighter than the Bridal Dress Sword.

"Gurgle, gurgle," the rushing wind was blowing directly into Lu Xun's mouth. He quickly closed it.

Now he had a close look at the Bridal Dress Sword, giving him a clear view of its basic information.

[Sword Name: Bridal Dress (Yellow)]

"Is it really Yellow Martial?" Lu Xun was slightly taken aback.

No wonder this sword looks so unusual!

It's really not ordinary! Worthy of the Yellow Martial name.

Then he looked at Ji Li again.

From his angle looking up, due to certain obstructions, he could only see half of her face.

...