129: Chapter 129 Spirit Pill

The second opponent to step onto the ring was noticeably shorter than Kuwabara. He was short, wearing a black bodysuit with a white belt tied around his waist. The most conspicuous feature was the thick bandage wrapped around his right arm, extending from his wrist all the way up past his elbow.

Hiei. Hu Jinsi recognized him with just a single glance.

This guy was highly recognizable in the original work from his previous life; there was no need to look up any summaries on the forums.

Dragon of the Darkness Flame. The name surfaced automatically in Hu Jinsi's mind. It was one of the classic techniques he had watched on TV as a child, and it had been extremely popular among students at the time. But just as classic were the character's other two settings: short health bar, short mana bar.

Stamina had never been his strong suit; after using his ultimate moves once, he often had to rest for one or two matches to recover.

Although in the later stages of the original work, Hiei went to the Demon Realm and became a high-ranking officer under some big shots, making him very powerful, unfortunately, the timeline of this dungeon was strictly locked during the Dark Martial Arts Tournament. During this period, Hiei was basically at his lowest point in terms of combat power.

Moreover, he was still injured and hadn't been able to recover to his best condition. Hu Jinsi remembered the original work mentioning this point.

Hu Jinsi was also quite envious of Hiei's skills. Whether it was solidifying Demon Energy into physical weapons or that famous Dragon of the Darkness Flame, the power was impressive. But he was a Monk, and his career path followed the Lawful route of Chi and physical body. Hiei used Demon Energy, most of which was inherently chaotic; the two energy systems were completely different.

Even with the Water Blue Star dungeon consciousness acting as a conversion intermediary, it was highly unlikely that these types of Demon Energy skills could be converted into a version usable by a Monk.

So, at most, he could just watch the projections of the original characters in the dungeon, see them use their skills, and reminisce. Actually obtaining them was unrealistic.

The gong for the second battle sounded. Hu Jinsi did not rush to unleash any offensive skills in this match. Hiei, on the other side, was also in no hurry to Charge up, instead beginning to move rapidly across the arena, his figure leaving behind a trail of blurred afterimages along the edge of the ring.

Hu Jinsi ran along with him. He didn't unleash his full speed but kept it within a range that made Hiei feel he had a chance to catch up.

The two engaged in dazzling high-speed movement on the ring, their figures crossing, distances fluctuating between near and far. Hiei kept changing his position, attempting to find an opportunity to cut into Hu Jinsi's defensive blind spots.

Meanwhile, Hu Jinsi was using the opponent's high-speed movement to gradually drain his stamina.

At least in his impression, Hiei was never the type known for his stamina. Coupled with the fact that he was currently injured and not in his best condition, this kind of prolonged chase would only drain Hiei more than it would under normal circumstances.

The high-speed probing lasted less than five minutes. Hiei's speed slowed down significantly. His breathing rhythm changed, and the force of his footsteps landing became heavier than before. Hu Jinsi immediately noticed this change.

He did not give Hiei any opportunity to slow down and catch his breath; instead, he took the initiative to accelerate, closing in on Hiei further and forcing the opponent into close-quarters combat.

Even though his stamina was failing, Hiei was forced to pull himself together and keep up with Hu Jinsi's rhythm. He knew that if he fell behind first and allowed his opponent to take complete control of the rhythm, he would easily be wiped out in one wave.

He drew the short sword at his waist, black Faerie Fire wrapping around the blade, and slashed out several strikes towards Hu Jinsi in succession.

Hu Jinsi used his long staff to Block. The iron-wrapped ironwood staff traced a steady arc in the air, parrying Hiei's slashes one by one. In the rapid, close-quarters skirmish, Hu Jinsi also confirmed that the opponent's strength was indeed nothing special. It was at most at the level of fifteen points, the same as most high school sophomores before awakening.

This level of strength was even harder to fully utilize during high-speed movement. If it were a Soldier class like Lin Rui with twenty points of Strength, a single hit from a Charge would probably send Hiei flying off the ring.

Most of the power in Hiei's melee attacks relied on the Demon Realm Faerie Fire wrapped around that short sword. The pitch-black flames flowed on the blade, and every slash carried a scorching temperature.

But Hu Jinsi's ironwood staff was sturdy enough. That was the value of this staff; it might not stand out in other aspects, but it was exceptionally durable.

In the short-lived skirmish, even the short sword wrapped in Faerie Fire could do nothing against this staff for the time being.

Hu Jinsi kept up the high-pressure rhythm. His staff continuously thrust, parried, and swept from various angles, forcing Hiei to constantly change his defensive stance. During this high-speed, high-frequency suppression, Hu Jinsi also noticed that the force of Hiei's counterattacks was gradually decreasing.

Although the Faerie Fire on the sword was still burning, the speed and power of the slashes were a notch weaker than at the beginning.

He decided to increase the pressure further. Only when Hiei felt he had no way to retreat would the opponent take the initiative to change and release the ultimate move he had planned for.

During a rapid exchange, Hu Jinsi suddenly changed his rhythm. His previous attacks had been mainly for probing and consumption; although fast, the force was restrained. This time, the moment his staff blocked one of Hiei's sword strikes, he activated [Flurry of Blows].

The staff shadows surged. The first strike hit Hiei's left shoulder.

[-14]

Hiei was knocked off balance, and before he could steady himself, the second strike had already followed to his right flank.

[-13]

The third strike swept up diagonally from below, hitting his abdomen.

[-15]

This sudden change in rhythm was something Hiei clearly wasn't accustomed to. Carelessly, he took three hits in a row, and his health bar instantly dropped to one-third. His expression changed, and the agitation in his eyes overwhelmed his calmness.

Hiei made a judgment. He forced his power, Faerie Fire erupted beneath his feet, and he broke free from Hu Jinsi's entanglement, leaping several meters back and landing on the edge of the ring. He stood in the corner and began to unwrap the bandages on his right arm. Layers of white bandages were torn away, revealing the pitch-black arm beneath.

Demon Realm energy surged wildly from his arm, swirling and condensing into a rolling, purple-black vortex of flames.

Hu Jinsi stood at the other end of the ring, watching quietly. He did not chase after him. When he used to watch anime, he never understood why those villains didn't rush up and interrupt when the protagonist was charging up an ultimate move. But now, standing on the ring himself, he suddenly understood.

Waiting for the moment when the opponent releases their most prized technique is actually quite interesting. It wasn't that he wanted to be a villain, but because his original plan was to lure Hiei into releasing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

Only an enemy who has emptied all their ultimate moves is the most vulnerable. Moreover, the recovery time for this move was excessively long. He could afford to wait.

The Demon Energy on Hiei's right arm condensed to its peak. With a low shout, the entire purple-black flaming dragon detached from his arm and took flight. The dragon's appearance was that of a Chinese divine dragon, with pure black demon fire as its main body, surrounded by dark purple flame energy at the edges.

Its two eyes were blood-red, and its mouth opened, revealing dense, sharp fangs. Its body twisted and turned in the air, with fragmented black fire sparks constantly scattering around it.

The black dragon flew toward Hu Jinsi. The speed wasn't particularly fast, but it carried a heavy sense of oppression. The flames rolled, scorching the air on the surface of the ring until it distorted.

Hu Jinsi stared at the approaching mass of black flames. Just as the flames slowly flew in front of him, he suddenly moved. With two consecutive [Chi Torpedo]s, his body left two afterimages on the ring, instantly appearing less than a meter in front of Hiei.

A flash of shock crossed Hiei's dull eyes. He clearly hadn't expected the opponent to abandon defense at this moment and Charge directly in front of him. The Dragon of the Darkness Flame had already been released and was flying forward; it was impossible to defend in the short term.

Hu Jinsi did not hesitate. He released his long staff, formed his hands into claws, and swung them in succession. Two [Flurry of Blows], six claw shadows landed solidly on Hiei's body.

Hiei's health points were already at one-third; he couldn't withstand this kind of point-blank burst damage. His body stiffened in place, then fell backward, dissipating into a beam of white light on the ring.

That mass of black flames, having lost control, began to gradually disintegrate before it could reach the spot where Hu Jinsi had originally stood. The black fire sparks scattered, the purple-black flame energy faded, and finally, it completely disappeared into the air.

Hu Jinsi retracted his hands and straightened his body. He knew that the Dragon of the Darkness Flame had a second stage. In the original work, if this move was dodged, Hiei could control the black dragon to return to his body, swallow that power, and enter a stronger state. Even if he entered the second stage, Hu Jinsi was confident he could take him down.

But since there was such a clever way to do it, why go head-to-head?

Waiting for the opponent to release all their power from their body and then sneaking up to finish them off was a simpler way to solve it. He couldn't just stand there like a villain in an anime, stupidly waiting for the ultimate move to reach him, and if it missed, watch helplessly as Hiei controlled the black dragon to return to his body, swallow it, and enter the second stage.

He didn't want to repeat that kind of plot.

Hiei's figure completely dissipated on the ring.

The system prompt sounded; Hu Jinsi had won the second match of the best-of-five series.

He bent down to pick up the long staff from the ground and shook his wrist. This war of attrition was easier than he had expected, but it still took more than ten minutes to finish.

For the final match, according to Hu Jinsi's estimation, it was highly likely that the protagonist Urameshi Yusuke would appear. He had checked the information on the forums, and at least in the 100% difficulty records, he had never seen that old woman named Genkai appear on the competition field. Under the best-of-five format, there weren't many people left on the Urameshi team who could compete.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the system prompted that the opponent's third contestant had entered. A teenager wearing a green school uniform with hair sticking up in spikes walked onto the ring. He looked about the same age as Kuwabara, but his build was sturdier than Kuwabara's, and his face carried an impatient air.

Urameshi Yusuke. Hu Jinsi silently recited this name in his heart.

The protagonist at this period was indeed in a relatively weak stage of the entire anime. He had not yet awakened his Demon Realm bloodline and had not mastered the ability to transform. He hadn't even mastered the various forms of the Spirit Gun.

Hu Jinsi remembered that in the original work, it wasn't until the later stages that Urameshi began to show his true potential.

And as for him now, he was just a delinquent teenager fighting on instinct.

The gong for the start of the battle sounded.

Urameshi Yusuke didn't talk nonsense and charged straight toward Hu Jinsi. His footwork was more agile than Kuwabara's, but that was all. The trajectory of his punches was straightforward, with no changing moves and no feints. Hu Jinsi sidestepped the first punch, already having a judgment in his mind.

This protagonist's strength was really very average. In terms of physical condition alone, he was only slightly stronger than Kuwabara. As for fighting skills, he was only slightly better than a street delinquent. There was no systematic combat training, no footwork, no techniques for generating force; he was purely relying on raw recklessness to fight.

But Hu Jinsi knew that most of his strength was concentrated in that Spirit Gun, which could only be fired four times a day. That was the real threat.

Hu Jinsi actually had the confidence to burst out shortly after the start and quickly eliminate Urameshi with Flurry of Blows. But he held back. He wanted to see the actual effect of the Spirit Gun.

After all, he had been hesitating about whether he needed to redeem this skill.

Especially after obtaining [Supernatural Meditation (Incomplete)], the experience gap was no longer the main issue.

He could invest all the points earned from the next dungeon run into skill exchanges.

If the effect of the Spirit Gun was good enough, redeeming a ranged attack skill would be a very practical addition for a monk.

Hu Jinsi did not rush to attack, but instead began to apply constant pressure on Urameshi.

His long staff thrust out continuously, forcing Urameshi to constantly retreat, dodge, and Block.

Under this pressure, Urameshi soon gave up the intention of continuing to trade blows with Hu Jinsi.

Realizing there was no chance of winning in close-quarters combat, he chose to create some distance.

After standing firm, Urameshi brought his right index and middle fingers together.

Pure, pale sky-blue spirit energy rotated and compressed at high speed at his fingertips, gradually condensing into a ball of light the size of a marble.

The sphere was translucent; inside, one could see spirit energy swirling and rolling constantly, while the periphery was surrounded by a ring of fine, fragmented blue spirit light filaments, like a miniature nebula.

With a flick of his wrist, the light sphere was launched, dragging a long, thin, pale blue tail of light as it flew at high speed through the air.

Hu Jinsi used the speed advantage of [Unarmored Movement] to dodge the attack sideways.

The Spirit Gun flew past his side, blasting a small crater at the edge of the arena.

Looking at its appearance, this Spirit Gun was indeed quite good.

Although the speed wasn't as fast as imagined, it was acceptable.

At least overall, it was much better than the [Mans Ki Blast] that dropped in the last dungeon.

But Hu Jinsi wasn't stupid enough to take a hit head-on just to test its damage capability.

That wasn't necessary.

Since he had already seen the effect of the skill the opponent released, Hu Jinsi did not intend to hold back any longer.

Whether he saw the remaining three Spirit Guns the opponent had didn't matter anymore.

He already had a clear idea of the basic form and power of the Spirit Gun.

He directly activated [Unarmored Movement], his figure leaving a trail of afterimages on the arena as he instantly closed the distance to Urameshi Yusuke.

Urameshi clearly hadn't expected the opponent's speed to suddenly skyrocket; before he could condense a second Spirit Gun, Hu Jinsi's attack had already arrived.

[Flurry of Blows], three consecutive strikes hit Urameshi's chest and abdomen.

[-15]、[-14]、[-16]

Urameshi was beaten back repeatedly, his body hunched over like a shrimp.

Hu Jinsi didn't pause; his right hand formed a claw, and [Touch of Death] precisely clamped onto Urameshi's throat.

He didn't use force to crush it, just held the position, preventing Urameshi from breathing or condensing spirit energy.

A few seconds later, Urameshi's body went limp and dissipated into a white light.

The system prompt sounded.

Congratulations to Hu Jinsi for winning this match. Since Hu Jinsi's team had already achieved three victories in the best-of-five format, the team he led successfully advanced to the finals.

...

When the matches were all over, Hu Jinsi glanced at the time display in the corner of his vision.

8:17 PM. The semifinals were over, and it wasn't completely dark yet.

If he wanted to, he could rest in the preparation room for half an hour to recover his stamina and Chi, and could easily finish the finals tonight.

But upon second thought, he dismissed this idea.

If he finished the finals tonight, he would have to be teleported out of the preparation room immediately.

And the accommodation conditions in the preparation room were the most comfortable in the dungeon, with a sofa, shower, and large bed all available.

After being teleported out, he would have to return to that drifting little boat to spend the night if he started a new round of combat.

Sea breeze, swaying, and cramped space—it couldn't compare to the preparation room at all.

Rather than rushing to finish, it would be better to rest early tonight and get refreshed.

Finish the finals tomorrow morning, and after that, bring the Dire Wolf out of the dungeon and find a place to have brunch. That would be comfortable.

Thinking of this, Hu Jinsi directly gave up the option to continue the match.

He selected to teleport back to the preparation room in his vision.

With a flash of white light, he was teleported back to that familiar room.

The sofa was still in its original place, and the half-finished bottle of water was still on the coffee table.

The first thing to do upon returning to the preparation room was to clean up the Dire Wolf.

The Dire Wolf had been running wild on the beach by the sea today, and its iron-gray fur was mixed with quite a lot of sand, and its claws were also full of sand.

Hu Jinsi rummaged through his backpack for the pet cleaning brush he had prepared earlier, let the Dire Wolf lie on the floor, and began to brush its fur.

The Dire Wolf was very cooperative, spreading its four paws out with its belly on the ground, making comfortable purring sounds in its throat.

The brush went from its neck to its back, and then to the base of its tail, with sand grains falling off with a rustling sound.

After brushing, Hu Jinsi used a wet towel to wipe the Dire Wolf's paws and face.

The cub shook its head, shaking off the last layer of fine sand, then stood up, walked back and forth in the room twice, and only after confirming it was clean did it contentedly lie back on the sofa.

Hu Jinsi didn't stay idle either.

He walked into the shower room, turned on the faucet, and let the hot water wash over him.

Although the enemies in the dungeon were all projections, the environmental experience was very real; the water flow and temperature were incredibly realistic.

He washed away the day's sweat and dust and changed into spare clean clothes.

After everything was tidied up, he walked to the sofa and sat down next to the Dire Wolf.

The cub nudged against him, staring at him with its amber eyes.

Hu Jinsi rubbed its ears and then brought up the dungeon's point exchange page.

...

His main purpose today was to check how many points were required to redeem the skills that the members of Urameshi's team had used.

The result was a bit unexpected.

Some of the points required for these skills from Urameshi's team were not very expensive.

Calculated, [Spirit Gun] actually only required all the preliminary round points, plus the points earned along the way from the round of 64 to the round of 16, which was enough to redeem it.

Of course, the points Hu Jinsi currently had on hand, even if he won the finals, would still not be enough to redeem it.

After all, he had exchanged his points from before the semifinals for general experience.

And contrary to this, these skills were split into many smaller skills.

A single redemption could not possibly obtain all of their abilities.

For example, what Hu Jinsi could redeem now was only the initial version of [Spirit Gun].

More advanced forms didn't even appear in this dungeon's exchange list.

[Spirit Gun: You extend your index finger and thumb in a pistol gesture, condense your own Chi at your fingertips, and shoot a golden force projectile.

Cost: Free to use, 1 use per day (number of uses increases with skill proficiency, maximum 4), all uses recover after completing a short rest.

Range: 20 meters / straight line.

Damage: 7-17 force damage (damage increases with Perception and level).]

As for the Shotgun Spirit Gun and Great Spirit Gun that had appeared in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament in the anime, neither appeared.

Hu Jinsi pondered over these exchange conditions for a while and had a question in his mind.

He asked the World Consciousness directly.

The feedback he received left him a bit speechless.

The World Consciousness replied that this dungeon stipulated that all participants could only redeem skills from enemies they had fought in the arena.

And it must be a skill that they had personally used against the participant to be included in the exchange list.

If the enemy didn't use a certain skill, the system didn't consider that you had witnessed it, and naturally, it wouldn't provide it for redemption.

This really disgusted Hu Jinsi.

According to this logic, if he encountered Urameshi Yusuke in the next dungeon, he would have to hold back significantly.

He would have to hold back until the opponent used all their skills before he could unlock and redeem the advanced versions he hadn't seen.

But the problem was, Hu Jinsi himself didn't know when the opponent would use what skill.

This mechanism was simply making things difficult for people.

In comparison, the redemption conditions for classmate Kuwabara's [Spirit Sword] were even more outrageous.

The amount of points it required was not points from a certain stage, but the total points from an entire dungeon run.

Adding up all the points from the qualifiers all the way to the finals was just enough to redeem this one skill.

This difficulty was even more excessive than what Hu Jinsi had just complained about.

Because for most teams, they would definitely take turns participating in matches.

It was impossible for all the match points to be taken by the same person.

Except for the very few freaks like Hu Jinsi who soloed the entire dungeon, others completely lacked the prerequisites to redeem this [Spirit Sword] skill.

Of course, it wasn't completely impossible.

Hu Jinsi calculated that at 250% difficulty, the point rewards for this dungeon would increase significantly.

As long as one could participate and win 50% of the matches, the points would be enough to redeem this skill.

But to some extent, this method wasn't much easier than just soloing at 100% difficulty.

After all, the enemy strength at 250% difficulty was much higher.

[Spirit Sword: You concentrate your spirit, extending powerful spirit energy outward from your palm to form a psionic weapon shining with blue light.

This sword is forged from your life energy, especially lethal to Yokai/spirit-type enemies, and can change its form according to your will.

Cost: 1 Chi, lasts 15 minutes.

Subsequent maintenance cost is 1 Chi per 30 minutes, and it can last until you lose consciousness, voluntarily dismiss it, or become exhausted.

Nature: The Spirit Sword is treated as a magical melee weapon and has the Psionic property.

You are automatically proficient with it.

Damage: The base damage of the Spirit Sword depends on your Perception, and the damage type is force damage. When you perform Flurry of Blows, you can use the Spirit Sword instead of unarmed strikes to attack.

Exorcism: When the target is a supernatural creature such as a Yokai, Undead, Fey, or Fiend, the Spirit Sword deals an additional 8 force damage to it. In addition, the Spirit Sword's attacks are considered silvered and magical against these creatures.

Ever-changing: When summoning the Spirit Sword, you can choose to shape it into the form of any simple weapon or monk weapon you are familiar with.

Changing the form does not affect damage, but it does affect the weapon's reach.

You can change its form again while maintaining the Spirit Sword.]

Looking at the luxurious skill panel of the [Spirit Sword], it would be impossible to say that Hu Jinsi wasn't tempted at all.

The effect was indeed very good; for a monk like him, having an extra magical melee weapon that could change form at will could significantly boost his combat power.

But the redemption conditions were too harsh.

For the current Hu Jinsi, he definitely had to prioritize redeeming [Spirit Gun].

After all, he didn't lack the ability for melee damage now.

Flurry of Blows, Touch of Death, and the ironwood staff—his close-range burst and sustained output were already sufficient.

If he wanted this melee skill, he could come back to this dungeon to farm it anytime later.

The dungeon's cap was over level 20, and he wouldn't be able to exceed this level before the end of his summer vacation.

So there would still be opportunities for [Spirit Sword] in the future.

As for Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Hu Jinsi glanced at the exchange list, and sure enough, there was no version that a monk could use.

He couldn't be bothered to carefully observe Hiei's other skills.

Things in the Yokai energy system were useless to him even if he took them.

After reviewing this information, Hu Jinsi closed the exchange page.

The Dire Wolf had already fallen asleep beside him, its iron-gray fur rising and falling slightly with its breathing.

He looked down at the time; it was past nine in the evening.

Thinking that he had to get up early tomorrow to finish the finals, he decided to rest as early as possible.

Only by being in good condition could he face the first battle tomorrow morning.