In the dense and eerie forest, a single man walked with rxed yet calcted steps. His eyes were entirely emotionless as if everything around him was irrelevant.


    Boom!


    The man waved his hand, causing arge explosion to ur. A few meters to his left, a massive crater was formed. Its shape was perfectly round as if someone cleanly removed that portion ofnd.


    And in fact, they had. The man kept walking forward and a few secondster, a massive chunk of rock fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.


    On that rock, there was arge nt, however, each of its petals was coated in razor-sharp des that looked like a mouth. Onnding, that creature was squashed into paste.


    Feeling the experience enter his body, the man continued walking. He had no purpose besides to find life forms and kill them so he could level up.


    ‘The goal is to survive, but such a thing is too simple.’ The man thought. Merely surviving wouldn’t cut it. He wanted to gain something beneficial out of this time.


    However, he only cared about his goals. In order to gain experience at a faster rate, he made his way as far into the forest as possible. There was no rule about not harming other participants, and they were the closest source of exp in his vicinity, but he thought further.


    ‘There will be problems in the future if Imit mass ughter without cause.’


    But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it. He just wouldn’t go out of his way to do it, instead, he would kill anyone who was unfortunate enough to run into him.


    As the man continued to walk, he suddenly felt movement to his right. Twisting his body at an unnatural angle, he dodged an iing w.


    Behind him stood a massive panther, retreating after its attack failed.


    “You made a grave mistake stepping into my territory, human.” The panther hissed while releasing its full aura. The beast was clearly at 3rd ss just like him, only it was somewhere in the mid-levels.


    However, Damien said nothing in response. He waved his hand, retrieving arge shining sword from thin air. In the next second, he swung it down.


    A massive sword wave was released when he struck, cleaving its way towards the panther. The ground rumbled as it was split in two, and even the air whistled as it was torn apart.


    Sensing danger, the panther quickly dodged to his right. However, even this was of no use. Just the simple move made the panther feel lightheaded.


    Wait…that wasn’t right. He was a proper 3rd ss beast, there was no way for him to get exhausted from such a small movement. Upon making this realization, the panther looked down at his own body.


    To his shock and horror, there was a small hole within his chest, leading directly through his heart and out the other side of his body.


    Looking up at the human standing across from him, he only saw the man’s hand on his sword hilt as he stared on with those cold emotionless eyes. With this scene, its consciousness faded to ck.


    ‘Void Sword Art 2nd Step: Horizon Splitter’


    The concept of distance became irrelevant with the use of this move. Without giving another nce at the beast, he continued walking.


    ‘Next prey.’


    ***


    Meanwhile, Long Chen was having a different experience from Damien.


    “Long Chen, I dare you to move against us. Now that we’re alone, I can finally take action against you.” A ck-haired young man said. From his facial structure alone, it was clear the two were rted.


    Looking at the crowd of people that had formed around him, Long Chen stayed calm. “Long Bai, you should be aware that you gain nothing from this. Even without me, you won’t receive the sessor position.”


    “Shut up!” Long Bai screeched. “With you out of my way, the rest are nothing but trash! Today is the day you meet your end.”


    Long Bai signaled with his arms, causing all 10 of the goons he had brought to charge as he watched from a distance.


    “Young master, forgive us, but we are loyal to the Luo Branch!”


    “Hmph.” Long Chen snorter. “The Luo Branch is simply a bunch of trash wishing for death.”


    Reaching out in front of him, Long Chen withdrew his sword from his spatial ring. Unlike Damien’s, it was arge broadsword. Its design was ornamental, its de shining in the sunlight that peaked through the foliage.


    The hilt was covered in golden designs on a white base. A long golden streak ran through the middle of the double-edged de, whose length was around 2 meters long. With such arge sword, one would expect equivalent weight, however Long Chen wielded the massive de with a single hand.


    “Come, then. Allow me to show you the difference between us.”


    The surrounding cultivators also drew their weapons, simultaneously attacking Long Chen.


    ‘Heavenly Cloud Steps.’


    A small white fog materialized beneath Long Chen’s feet. Slightly pushing against the ground, he shot through the crowd of cultivators.


    His movements were light as a feather, yet contained speed faster than the eye could see. He seemed to blend with the air with every step, randomly appearing in a different ce.


    His elusive movements alone were able to spread panic within the crowd. Soon enough, attacks were being thrown into empty space, none being able to touch his figure.


    Fire pirs rose from the ground, shards of ice and spikes of earth charged toward him. With such arge crowd, it was impossible to userge-scale destructive attacks, so they were stuck using smaller ones. Still, the power contained within them was nothing to scoff at.


    ‘Heh, thest time it was recorded, Long Chen was only at the peak of 2nd ss. With this group of 2nd sses and my own strength, he has no chance.’ Long Bai thought as he watched the battle.


    Even seeing Long Chen’s mind-numbing skill, he had no fear. He was confident that Long Chen’s mana reserves would run dry soon. But as time passed, he felt an ominous feeling rise in his chest.


    It had been half an hour, but Long Chen was still actively evading every attack thrown at him. Continuously using a powerful technique should have emptied his reserves already, but he wasn’t even sweating.


    Suddenly, Long Chen spoke.


    “I’m getting bored already.”


    Making distance, he changed his stance into a more offensive one. “Try taking my moves then.”


    ‘9 dragons soar through the heavens!’


    Grabbing his sword hilt with both hands, Long Chen swung it down with all his might. His muscles bulged at the pressure of his swing, bing visible through his loose-fitting robes.


    When the sword made impact against the ground, a massive earthquake erupted. The ground shook and cracked, segmenting into hundreds of different parts.


    From the space below 9 of the cultivators in the group, fear-inducing roars could be heard. The earth exploded, letting forth 9 holy white dragon phantoms. Their jaws opened wide, mping shut on the 9 victims before they continued soaring into the sky.


    Long Chen quickly appeared behind the final cultivator and cleanly severed his head from his body. Thest thing that cultivator saw was 9 dragons in the sky, opening their mouths to let out mighty roars into the heavens. And out of the mouths of those dragons, 9 lifeless bodies falling to the ground.


    Paying no mind to the falling corpses that were soon to be meat paste, Long Chen turned to Long Bai, who was attempting to slowly back away, with a twisted smile on his face.