12: Chapter 12 Blood Lock Cheat? One Force Breaks All Laws!

A foul wind hit his face; it was the stench of rotting plants mixed with old, accumulated blood.

The moment Qin Ji overlapped with that massive tree shadow, the air seemed to freeze for an instant.

Immediately after, the darkness in the entire area surged violently like boiling asphalt.

"Swoosh—!"

The shrill sound of something tearing through the air pierced his eardrums.

It wasn't one, nor was it two.

The massive canopy of the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress shook violently, and hundreds of dark green vines poured down like a torrential rain, sealing off all of Qin Ji's dodging space from every direction.

Each vine carried enough kinetic energy to shatter rock, weaving into a despair-inducing web of death in the air.

Qin Ji did not retreat.

His pitch-black eyes reflected the sky full of whip shadows, and the corners of his mouth curled into an excited arc, the look of one encountering prey.

"Too slow."

Lightning burst forth.

Qin Ji's figure left an afterimage in place, and he charged forward instead of retreating, like an arrow released from a bow, rushing straight up into the dense rain of vines.

The iron sword in his hand had long been dyed a blinding blue-white by violent thunder, and with a flick of his wrist, he drew a fan-shaped curtain of lightning in the air.

Sss, sss, sss, sss—!

The dense cutting sounds were teeth-grinding.

Those vines, as tough as steel cables, shattered, charred, and disintegrated the moment they touched the curtain of lightning, just like a hot knife through butter.

Broken vines flew across the sky, falling with sparks that were still burning.

- 1355!

- 1355!

Even though Qin Ji's movement technique was fast to the extreme, two tricky vines still broke through the sword curtain and lashed fiercely onto his shoulder and back.

But Qin Ji's body merely swayed slightly.

【Hardened Skin (Elementary) triggered! Forced damage reduction 50!】

【Thunder Body Protection triggered! Paralysis counter-damage!】

To him at this moment, this bit of damage was merely an insignificant tremor on his health bar.

Instead, the two vines that struck him were cracked inch by inch by the recoil force the moment they touched him, and their surfaces were covered in fine electric arcs, freezing them in mid-air.

"Found you."

Taking advantage of the gap in the vine attacks, Qin Ji's keen gaze pierced through layers of branches and leaves, locking onto the eerie red light behind the tree trunk.

Nine blood-red vines were coiled in the shade behind the tree trunk, each with a dark red tumor-like head at its tip, exposing an eerie, mocking expression at Qin Ji, enough to make one's sanity plummet.

This was not just a weakness, but the "brain" of this monster.

Qin Ji stomped hard on the ground with his toes, causing the already ravaged soil to explode into a deep pit.

Borrowing this reaction force, he transformed into a bolt of blue lightning, instantly crossing dozens of meters to flash behind the tree trunk.

"Laughing? Let's see how you laugh now."

The iron sword was raised high, and thunder roared.

This was no longer a probing basic attack, but a full-power strike that Qin Ji had been saving up for a long time.

Boom!!

The sword edge accurately slashed onto the tumor head that was laughing the loudest.

Critical Hit!

- 15740!!

A terrifying damage number, bright red to the point of black, shot up into the sky.

That tumor head didn't even have time to scream before it was directly vaporized by the high temperature of the lightning, with even its fluids instantly evaporated.

Following that was the second sword strike, the third sword strike...

Qin Ji's attack speed was so fast that it left afterimages on the retina.

He was like a tireless meat grinder; every swing of his sword took away a head, and every critical hit was accompanied by a massive amount of lifesteal recovery.

In just five seconds.

All nine heads exploded.

The massive HP of the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress plummeted crazily like a dam releasing floodwater, and in the blink of an eye, only the last layer of health remained—10%.

"It's over."

Qin Ji flipped his wrist, preparing to deliver the final blow.

However, right at this moment, a sudden change occurred.

Hum—!

A blindingly rich green light suddenly erupted from the broken trunk of the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress.

The branches and leaves, which had originally been withered and dying, grew crazily in that instant; the broken vines sprouted new buds, and the depleted health bar instantly refilled at a speed that defied logic!

100%!

Fully healed and revived.

The sword edge that Qin Ji had been preparing to slash down hovered in mid-air, and he raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Health-locking and full recovery?"

Looking at the BOSS in front of him that practically had the word "scoundrel" written on its face, the mockery in his eyes gradually turned cold. "Interesting. Playing such a cheap mechanic in the Newbie Village, no wonder no one could solo Hell difficulty in the past life."

If it were an ordinary player, their mentality would probably have collapsed by now.

They had worked hard for half the day, seeing victory in sight, only for the BOSS to heal to full in a second; this sense of despair would be enough to make anyone smash their keyboard.

But Qin Ji was not an ordinary player.

He didn't even take a step back; instead, he placed his left hand on the hilt, gripped the sword with both hands, and the muscles all over his body bulged like taut steel cables.

"Since you can heal to full, then I'll just hit you until you can't heal anymore."

"As long as the damage I output exceeds your recovery limit, this will be a dead end for you."

Qin Ji took a deep breath, and a certain power accumulated within his body was completely detonated.

【Greedy Grasp · Active Effect Activated: The next attack deals True Damage equal to current Strength x300%!】

At this moment, the iron sword in his hand was no longer common iron, but a Blade of Judgment carrying a will of destruction.

The space around the sword blade produced visible distorted ripples due to the excessively high energy density.

"Die... for me!!"

He slashed down with his sword.

There were no fancy techniques, only the pure release of power.

Rumble—!!!

This time, the sound was no longer the clashing of metal, but a roar like a landslide or an earthquake.

A ten-meter-long Sword Qi of lightning pierced through the trunk of the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress, slamming into the rock wall behind it without losing momentum.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

The Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress's health bar, which had just refilled, along with its massive body, appeared so comical under this single sword strike.

The rich green light didn't even have time to trigger its healing effect again before it was completely shredded by the violent Sword Qi of lightning.

Crack.

A crisp cracking sound rang out.

The Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress's human face mask, pieced together from countless corpses, suddenly disintegrated. Immediately after, its massive body, dozens of meters tall, split down the middle, turning into scorched charcoal and light particles flying all over the sky, collapsing with a boom.

【Killed Hell difficulty Boss: Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress!】

【Triggered "Greedy Grasp"! Plundered unique passive: Withered Wood Meets Spring (MAX)!】

【Withered Wood Meets Spring (MAX): When HP is below 20%, instantly recover 50% HP and gain 3 seconds of invincibility. Cooldown: 1 hour.】

Qin Ji looked at the newly added passive skill on his panel, and the cold sneer at the corner of his mouth finally turned into a satisfied arc.

This was what he wanted.

A god-tier life-saving skill.

With the death of the BOSS, several dazzling rays of light erupted from the ground; these were the luxurious drops unique to a Hell difficulty first clear.

Qin Ji stepped forward, his gaze passing over the equipment emitting purple light, directly locking onto a round, smooth stone the size of a baby's fist that was emitting a lustrous white glow.

【Elementary Life Soul Stone】

【Category: Special Consumable】

【Effect: After use, increases the user's natural lifespan by 30 days (valid in the real world).】

【Description: A miracle stone that transcends rules, the equivalent of life.】

"It really dropped."

Qin Ji reached out and held the warm Life Soul Stone in his palm, feeling the massive vitality contained within it, his eyes becoming somewhat profound.

Lifespan.

This was something all the rich and powerful were willing to trade billions of assets for.

In his past life, an Elementary Life Soul Stone was once hyped to a nine-figure astronomical price on the black market, even triggering bloody conflicts in reality.

And now, it was lying quietly in his palm.

"This is only the beginning."

Qin Ji backhanded the Life Soul Stone into his backpack and conveniently picked up a skill book and a few pieces of equipment nearby.

【Skill Book: Vine Strangulation (Mage/Druid)】

【Black Iron-grade Treant Set (Heavy Armor)】

Just at this moment, a series of urgent System prompts exploded in his ears, and also rang throughout the entire Huaxia server.

"Ding! Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to player 【Hidden Name】 for completing the dungeon 【Twisted Jungle (Hell difficulty)】 for the server first clear! Time taken: 14 minutes and 21 seconds! Hereby announced, recorded in history forever!"

"Ding! Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to player 【Hidden Name】..."

"Ding! Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to player 【Hidden Name】..."

The continuous three-time blood-red bold announcement was like dropping a depth charge into a calm lake.

At this moment, countless players shouting for parties at the dungeon entrance, and guild elites being chased by monsters in the wild, all stopped what they were doing, staring blankly at the line of large text drifting across their retinas.

"What the Hell? Hell difficulty? I can't even pass the first stage of Normal difficulty!"

"14 minutes? Are you kidding me! It takes longer than that just to run the map, right?"

"Hidden Name? It must be one of those big shots from 'Snow Emperor' or the 'Futou Guild', right?"

"Impossible! The elite team of the Futou Guild was just livestreaming their wipe, they hadn't even seen the second BOSS!"

The world channel exploded instantly, and the message refresh speed was so fast that you couldn't even see the IDs.

As the culprit behind all this, Qin Ji had already closed all communication channels.

He stood in the center of the devastated ruins, with the huge, not-yet-extinguished remains of the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress beneath his feet.

The setting sun was like blood, shining on him through the gaps in the broken canopy, coating the iron sword in his hand with a layer of dark golden radiance.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze crossing the gradually dissipating fog boundary of the dungeon, looking toward the distant main city, his fingertips gently rubbing the warm Life Soul Stone, as if holding the key to the highest throne of this world.