Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?
Chapter 379: Master, You’d Better Stick Close

Chapter 379: Master, You’d Better Stick Close

That blood-red streak was also a javelin.

It was over ten meters long, its shaft wrapped in black ghostly spirits, and with terrifying might, it instantly tore through the front of the flying vessel.

Those ghostly spirits had blocked his spiritual perception, which was the only reason it had gotten so close undetected.

No doubt about it—this javelin had been thrown by the Tiger King.

But how could a Tiger King at peak Foundation Establishment throw something this powerful?

There was only one possibility—the Tiger King had broken through to the Demon Core Stage in the past three days.

There were more than a few Golden Core Ascenders aboard the flying vessel. They could still survive such a strike, but the weaker ones would definitely be affected—some might even die on the spot. Like Senior Chen, for example.

“Danger!” was all Wang Shouyi had time to shout.

At this point, whether or not the vessel exploded didn’t even matter. He could only hope that this shout would at least let the girl next to Senior react in time.

But Wang Shouyi’s concern was unnecessary.

The moment the javelin shattered the vessel’s deck and ripped through a few slow-to-react Ascenders, Li Qingran had already flashed in front of Chen Huaian.

So fast that even Chen Huaian hadn’t reacted yet.

In the blink of an eye, a seemingly delicate figure had already appeared in front of him.

“Master, don’t move!”

Li Qingran’s voice was firm. She raised her arms, palms together, and pushed forward.

Silver-white sword qi surged around her. She stood like an unshakable shield in front of Chen Huaian.

BOOM——!

To Chen Huaian, it felt like a firecracker went off next to his ear.

In his vision, the javelin tip exploded the instant it struck Li Qingran’s hands.

The remaining shaft split open like a peeled banana,

One fragment pierced into the ship’s floor,

Another snapped the wooden railing and continued flying far into the distance.

From the moment the javelin pierced the ship to when it exploded in front of Chen Huaian and Li Qingran—all within the span of a few breaths.

The next second, the flying vessel split in half like it had been cut by a massive blade, both halves plummeting to the ground.

Chen Huaian was just about to summon his sword—

Then his vision blurred, and he found himself already standing on Li Qingran’s Su Xian Sword.

The girl in a white dress stood in front of him, piloting the flying sword.

It seemed to be her first time taking someone else along—her stance was a little unsteady.

She must’ve felt his gaze from behind because she turned and gave him a tight-lipped smile.

A gust of mountain wind blasted toward them, and the baseball cap on Chen Huaian’s head was immediately blown off.

“Why didn’t you activate a wind shield for the sword ride?” he asked instinctively.

“Master and Pavilion Lord taught me this,” Li Qingran said without turning around, her voice fuzzy in the wind. “Your disciple understands—sword cultivators shouldn’t fuss over such dainty things. We should ride the fastest flying sword, catch the fiercest wind, let our hair dance wild behind us, and live free and carefree.”

Chen Huaian: “???”

Hold up—he never taught her that!

What kind of bizarre ideas had Su Qinian been feeding his precious disciple?!

Not using a wind shield while sword flying was clearly just that stingy old guy trying to save spiritual energy!

“Master, your disciple’s going to descend faster now!”

Chen Huaian had just said “Okay”—

And the next second, his mouth was blown into a megaphone by the rushing wind.

…

…

“Senior, I’m truly sorry. This was my oversight that led us to this situation.”

Somewhere in the Qinling Mountains, broken pieces of the flying vessel were scattered all around. Chen Huaian and Li Qingran were sitting peacefully under a tree, while Wang Shouyi stood before them, full of guilt.

“No need to be like that, Brother Wang. Slaying demons and evil was always dangerous work.”

Chen Huaian didn’t think the ambush was a big deal. He comforted him: “See? This Venerable One is totally unharmed, isn’t he?”

“That’s thanks to Sister-in-law’s protection,” Wang Shouyi sighed and shook his head. “But now we’ll have to travel to the Demon-Locking Tower on foot. The wilderness is full of demons. If we fly, we’ll likely be ambushed again.

Golden Core cultivators can still manage in the air, but Foundation Establishment ones are just targets. Not to mention the Tiger King, that hidden threat. You never know when it’ll throw another javelin—it’s hard to sense them coming. Our best option is to use the forest cover and inch our way toward the tower.”

Li Qingran sat with her chin in her palms, listening quietly.

Then she asked, “Why does flying make you a target? Don’t you guys have any airborne or defensive-type divine abilities?”

“Defensive divine abilities?” Wang Shouyi blinked in confusion. “What’s that? Aren’t cultivation methods just divided into inner techniques and martial skills?”

Inner techniques raise cultivation and true qi—core for training.

Martial skills were sword arts, saber arts, fist techniques—methods to apply that qi.

Wang Shouyi had never heard of anything else.

When flying, Ascenders had to rely either on strong enough cultivation to form solid body protection qi—or rely on defensive magical tools.

“Ahahaha!”

Chen Huaian jumped in, smiling. “What my disciple meant was techniques and martial arts that inherently offer defensive effects. Like your own Mountain-Crushing Sword Form—it has defensive moves, right?”

Wang Shouyi suddenly understood and nodded. “Ah, I see!”

He cupped his fists toward Li Qingran and said with a grin:

“Sister-in-law, you may not know—very few of us get to train in martial arts that come with special abilities.

Most inner techniques just raise qi and cultivation, while martial arts tend to lean entirely into attack or defense.

Most of us can only manage one martial art—splitting focus to study a second is too much. So most people pick offensive techniques and barely touch defensive ones.”

“Oh, got it.”

Li Qingran realized she’d misspoken.

She glanced at her Master carefully from the corner of her eye, and only relaxed when she saw his expression was unchanged.

But she couldn’t help thinking to herself—

This world’s cultivation system is way too backward.

These guys were already Golden Core level. Their swords were just ordinary weapons, and they didn’t even know what divine abilities were. No wonder it took three or four of them to bring down one demon of the same realm.

In Cangyun Realm—

A demon beast’s naturally strong physique wasn’t that big a deal.

Most cultivators could fight evenly or even solo a demon beast of equal level using divine abilities and spiritual tools. At worst, they could at least survive. Some geniuses could even fight multiple enemies at once.

Only demons with truly rare, noble bloodlines were exceptions—those were nearly impossible to beat without a team.

Wang Shouyi left.

That javelin had killed seventeen Ascenders.

If Li Qingran hadn’t stepped in, the death count would’ve been higher.

There were still a lot of Ascenders behind them.

Wang Shouyi, after tallying the casualties, made a vow to create a more meticulous plan—he’d make sure no more lives were lost before reaching the Demon-Locking Tower.

Meanwhile, Li Qingran was starting to feel that these Ascenders were really unreliable.

“Master, once we start hiking up the mountain, you better stick close to me.”

“Disciple, I’d love to stick close,” Chen Huaian teased. “But what if a demon pops out and yanks me away? What can I do then?”

He was starting to feel like Tang Monk.

And Li Qingran was the Monkey King protecting him on his journey to the West.

“Don’t jinx it, Master!”

Li Qingran rolled her eyes and pouted. “Careful your words come true!”

Chen Huaian sighed silently.

He wasn’t wrong.

Li Qingran had only descended as an avatar—if he got snatched, she might not be able to hold him back. She could only use magic to interfere, but magic wasn’t as fast as reaching out with a hand.

【Kachak! Ding ding ding!】

His phone suddenly chimed with a notification.

He thought someone was calling.

But when he pulled it out, he saw the Digital Girlfriend game had launched itself.

A pop-up appeared on the screen:

【Detected that the player is in a potentially dangerous environment. Please choose an insurance plan!】

〈1〉Go full reckless mode. As long as you’re not dead, just keep pushing. Reject all insurance plans. (Accident Rate: 70%)

〈2〉Cowardice is wisdom. Retreat your real body into the Small World and ‘remote control’ Li Qingran in the outside world. (Limited-Time Feature) (Accident Rate: 0%)

〈3〉Recharge ¥19999 to unlock Hand-Holding Mode. The player and the Digital Girlfriend avatar will enter a hand-holding state to boost safety until she exits Spirit Roam Beyond the Void mode. (Accident Rate: 30%)

…

In the real world, he was just a low-level Foundation Establishment guy.

All things considered, Option 2 was the safest. Why hadn’t he thought of that before?

He could hide in the Small World and direct Li Qingran remotely.

Two realms apart.

Even immortals would just have to watch helplessly.

But when he saw the “Limited-Time Feature” label—he had a realization.

This was a chance to teleport his real body into the Small World. Normally, that wasn’t even allowed.

So what was there to hesitate about?

Go with Option 3!

If you hesitate even one second, it means you don’t want to hold your precious disciple’s hand enough!

…

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