Spirits

'Huh?' Yulong thought. His blade just sliced an afterimage. Before he knew it, the fox blitzed him, sending him flying toward a tree with a condensed ball of wind.

Groaning, Yulong stood up to face the seemingly innocent white fox that now had its teeth bared.

'It's a fast one. At my current state, I can't hit it.' Yulong gritted his teeth. Perhaps he would have to find another beast to kill.

'No, it's still an animal. I can outsmart it.' Yulong's sword glowed a blinding yellow. He rushed towards the fox, doing the same slash he did before, only to have it dodge. Yulong then spun on his heel, slashing the fox in half just as it appeared behind him. He wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.

<You killed a Tempest Fox!>

<Obtained 100 Qi!>

<No Qi has been added due to being at the bottleneck of your current realm!>

<Obtained 200x Yin!>

Yulong took the decent-sized best core and continued into the forest, killing one more fox.

As he continued, he noticed a slight increase in the breeze and immediately stopped. 'Something is coming!' Feeling a sense of dread, he ducked down immediately, narrowly avoiding a sharp blast of wind that cut through the tree behind him.

Narrowing his eyes, he turned towards to source to look for the culprit. Standing in between the trees was a swirling mass of wind in the form of a human man, standing and wading through the wind like grass.

'No way...? A spirit, here?' Yulong's eyes widened, even as he saw the words above its head.

<Wind Spirit>

<Ninth Level Mortal Martial>

'Damn it! I've got to run!' Yulong thought, turning around. At his current level, he couldn't defeat a spirit in his current state. This was because spirits were immortal and couldn't die.

They could only be defeated through sealing techniques and the destruction of their beast cores. As they were partially in the afterlife and partially here, they were extremely powerful and could even retain human intelligence.

Since he couldn't use Qi, all Yulong could do was run away at top speed, evading wind attacks and slicing trees to leave an obstacle behind him.

The spirit was relentless, chasing after him for miles and miles, eventually catching up to him as he slowly got worn down.

Yulong turned again, slashing the spirit in half with his ice blade- it just simply regenerated.

Yulong noticed something. 'They stop attacking to regenerate themselves. Perhaps if I cut it up into little bits, it will be erased from existence?' Wasting no time, Yulong continued to slash the spirit. Unlike normal swords which grew hotter when used, Yulong's sword grew cooler just like the original, emitting a slight chill.

The hours passed by, as Yulong was trying to eliminate every trace of the spirit. He kept going cleaning up the air with even the slightest distortion in wind.

After another hour, Yulong finally stopped, falling to the floor, with only a bead of sweat on his face.

"It's not regenerating... I must've killed it..."

<You killed Wind Spirit!>

<Obtained 1000 Qi!>

<Obtained 500x Yin!>

<You passed your bottleneck quest!>

<You are now a First Level True Martial Realm. 1000/2000>

Yulong smirked at these notifications as he felt himself instantly get stronger. He could now sense Qi better and could even use Qi. However, another notification thundered in the skies.

<Player 'Ao Bing' has been the first to kill a Spirit, one of the nuisances of this world!>

This message left the whole player base confused. What is a spirit, and how does it differ from regular magic beasts?

Yulong then looked at his hidden quest. 'How am I supposed to obtain a dragon legacy?' With that, Yulong logged off.

....

"Have you heard of player Ao Bing and Emperor?"

"Please, those are the only names I've heard for the past hour! The forums are going crazy with theories and ideas behind who they both are!" A young man said, to whom of which was seated at a long and extravagant dining table. He was currently on the phone. "We need to recruit them."

"Are you sure?" The voice replied, seemingly female. "They could be hackers. Just how does one get a hidden quest or kill a True Martial beast which can use Qi so early? We should report them! If they are Admins, they would have no problem."

"And if they are normal players apart of a prominent sect, then what? Promise me you'll try to find them out!"

The voice on the other side of the phone sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Just don't expect results."

The man hung up and set his phone down, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. "This has surely and if not will surely rock the gaming world as we know it..."

Similar scenes were happening all over the world with prominent businessmen and organizations.

Some people had even put a bounty on Yulong's and the Emperor's heads, proclaiming that they were hackers.

This even caught the attention of Shindo Corp, who gathered in a conference room to discuss the matter.

"Let's get right to business. Should we ban Emperor and Ao Bing?" The lead man said.

Then, each of the people present voiced their opinion.

"No, Ao Bing is the name of one of my favorite characters from a certain mythology,"

"They can't be hackers. There was no way they could bypass the system,"

"They could be speedrunners,"

"I say we let them stay. They could be the only ones with the potential to unlock the human seal and destroy the wall between realms," This came from the man from very far back.

"I agree with you all. Let's watch them for now. Perhaps we should add a Livestream option." The people nodded.

"Right, right."

"Coolio."

"Shut up, you aren't cool."

"You're not professional."

"I can feel it! A new age of cultivation and gaming is dawning upon us!"