68: Chapter 68 You either marry me or I'll beat you to death.

Wang Lin's heart sank to the bottom.

He ran forward with all his might, but a high wall blocked his path.

It was over three meters high, and the top of the wall was bare, with nowhere to grab onto.

A dead end.

Good opportunity; in his previous life, he was a parkour enthusiast.

He did not slow down.

He tapped his toes against the wall several times, used the momentum to propel his body upward, grabbed the top of the wall with his arms, flipped over, and landed steadily on top of the wall.

The movement was clean and efficient.

Just as he was about to jump down, a gust of wind came from behind him.

He looked back.

That woman didn't climb or use any leverage; her silver figure leaped directly into the air.

She tapped her toes in the air several times, her long hair flying in the wind like a silver bird, gracefully vaulting over the high wall.

"What the hell is this?"

"...Lightness Skill?"

Just as Wang Lin jumped down from the wall, the woman was already standing in front of him.

Wang Lin looked at the emblem on her chest:

A silver badge engraved with a pair of crossed swords and a scale.

His pupils constricted slightly: "Are you from the Holy See?"

"Yes."

Wang Lin fell silent.

The Holy See was a special group of people.

They were not Awakened, nor were they Calamities; they called themselves "New Humans."

While ordinary humans struggled to survive in the wasteland, Awakened grew stronger by devouring cores, and Calamities grew stronger by devouring Mist Beasts.

This group chose another path: Ancient Martial Arts.

A fighting style handed down from the old world.

They didn't cultivate Calamity Power, but rather Qi and blood.

Ten thousand Qi and blood points equaled Level 1, twenty thousand equaled Level 2, and so on.

There was no upper limit, no bottleneck, only day after day, year after year of grueling training.

They were trained from childhood, learning to kill as soon as they could walk.

They were proficient in all eighteen kinds of martial arts: blades, spears, swords, halberds, fists, feet, elbows, and knees.

Some time ago, a Level 3 knight from the Holy See killed a Level 5 Awakened with his bare hands.

Later, some people analyzed that the knight used Tongbei Fist.

An Ancient Martial Art that could strike internal organs directly through skin, muscle, and bone.

No matter how strong your defense was, whether it was Vajra Transformation or Petrification, you couldn't block it.

Because that power didn't strike from the outside, but exploded from the inside.

"You chased me for several streets; is there something you need?" Wang Lin asked.

Lu Zhiyi on the other side said: "You watched me bathe."

"According to the rules of the Holy See, you either marry me or you get beaten to death by me."

If this were his previous life, Wang Lin would have thought this was a windfall.

A pretty girl chasing you, saying she wants to marry you.

Such things were usually standard for the protagonist's halo in novels and movies.

But this was the wasteland, this was the camp, this was a dog-eat-dog world.

Wang Lin began to take it seriously.

"Sorry, women only affect the Speed at which I draw my sword."

Lu Zhiyi raised an eyebrow.

"It seems you don't intend to choose."

Her hand moved slowly toward her waist, her slender fingers resting on the sword hilt.

Wang Lin's pupils constricted slightly.

This was the "gathering momentum" in Ancient Martial Arts, hiding all power within slow movements,

waiting for the moment you let your guard down to strike with thunderous force.

It could also be called "Sword Drawing Technique."

Wang Lin stared unblinkingly at that sword: "I choose three."

"Three is to gouge out your own eyes."

Wang Lin's gaze never left the sword: "It seems I have no choice then?"

Lu Zhiyi's fingers tightened slightly on the sword hilt: "No, you have already chosen. You choose death."

The moment the last word fell, the sword at her waist moved.

The silver sword light flashed in the moonlight, as fast as lightning.

Sword Drawing Technique: the purest, most lethal, and most unreasonable move in Ancient Martial Arts.

All power, Speed, and technique were condensed into that split second of the sword-drawing motion.

Wang Lin could only see a silver arc being drawn from Lu Zhiyi's waist.

His body instinctively leaned backward.

Shadow Shapeshifting activated in a split second, his upper body turning into a mass of black mist.

The silver sword passed through his "body" without hitting anything substantial.

The black mist parted on both sides of the blade and gathered again behind him.

That sword strike missed; a flash of surprise crossed Lu Zhiyi's eyes.

Her sword did not stop; it changed direction in mid-air, slashing horizontally,

its Speed even faster than before, the angle even trickier, as if she had long anticipated that Wang Lin would dodge and had prepared the second strike.

Before Wang Lin's black mist could re-condense, the silver sword had already sliced through his shadow.

His chest felt a chill; it wasn't the sword, but sword intent.

The sword intent slammed straight into his ribs.

"Bang—"

Wang Lin's body flew backward, his feet leaving the ground, and slammed heavily against the wall behind him.

But he was not injured.

Because the moment the sword intent touched his ribs, he used Petrification.

Wang Lin stood up again and brushed the dust off his body.

A hint of surprise appeared on Lu Zhiyi's face: "You actually blocked my sword; it seems you do have some skills."

Wang Lin flexed his neck, making a few cracking sounds.

Lu Zhiyi stared at him for a few seconds: "Marry me, or die?"

Wang Lin said in a deep voice: "I, Wang Lin, never kill women."

"It seems today, for your sake, I have to make an exception."

Before his words faded, his two arms began to change, turning into two thick Tentacles in the blink of an eye.

The surface of the Tentacles began to harden, turning from black to grayish-white; Superpower [Petrification].

Then [Blade God] activated.

The two stone arms slashed out two grayish-white arcs, one from the left and one from the right, hacking toward Lu Zhiyi.

Lu Zhiyi did not retreat.

Her silver sword drew a circle in front of her, nonchalantly catching Wang Lin's first slash.

The blade and the stone arms collided, sparking a string of sparks that were particularly dazzling in the night.

Her wrist turned, the blade sliding down the side of the stone arm, dissipating most of the force,

while her other foot stepped forward, her body's center of gravity shifting forward, the sword tip thrusting directly at Wang Lin's throat.

Wang Lin dodged to the side, and the other stone arm swung up from below, hacking at her waist.

Lu Zhiyi lowered her sword blade, steadily blocking the strike.

Her expression was very relaxed, as if she were sparring with a beginner:

"Not bad blade technique. Unfortunately, your blade technique is too crude."

"You're using street-level moves, the level of a street fight."

Wang Lin did not answer.

He retracted his two stone arms, took a step back, and created some distance.

"Then watch closely."

First blade: Flow Breaker.

The stone arm slashed horizontally; the Speed wasn't fast, but the angle was tricky, sealing off all of Lu Zhiyi's escape routes.

The blade sliced through the air, emitting a low, wailing sound.

The name of this blade technique was Flow Breaker, meaning that with one strike, even a river could be severed.

Lu Zhiyi's sword met it, and the two weapons collided in mid-air, emitting a crisp, metallic clang.

Her wrist shook slightly.

Wang Lin's blade hit the weakest part of her sword, almost knocking it out of her hand.

A flash of surprise crossed her eyes, but her sword did not stop.