The other members of the Ni Tian guild seemed disheartened by their leader's crushing defeat. They glared resentfully at Gu Fei and Huo Qiu before silently following their leader away.

Huo Qiu, emboldened by the victory, whistled and booed. The online gaming expert he once admired was now reduced to one word in his mind: bah!

"Drunk Bro, Drunk Bro!" After the Ni Tian people had dispersed, Huo Qiu had already established a new idol.

"How did you know he was behind you?" Huo Qiu asked.

"Because of the murderous intent," Gu Fei smiled.

"Murderous intent... is that really a thing?" Huo Qiu muttered to himself.

"Of course," Gu Fei nodded. "My sense of murderous intent isn't quite refined yet. My fourth uncle is the best. For example, if he's sleeping there, and you walk around him or make noise, he'll still sleep soundly. But as soon as your attention is focused on him, he'll wake up immediately!"

"You really know martial arts!" Huo Qiu said.

"Not martial arts, it's *gongfu*!" Gu Fei corrected.

"What's the difference?"

"*Wushu* is for strengthening the body; *gongfu* is for defeating enemies and protecting the country," Gu Fei said with a sigh. This was the very point of disagreement between him and his father. His father always insisted that they practiced *wushu*, but Gu Fei felt that it was clearly *gongfu*.

"Protecting the country... is there a need for that now?" Huo Qiu said.

"No," Gu Fei laughed, "that's why I'm playing online games!"

"Oh... can I learn it?" Huo Qiu perked up.

"You..." Gu Fei hesitated.

"Is it because I'm too old?" Huo Qiu was a little disappointed. He was already in his twenties. According to some *wuxia* novels, the protagonist should already be famous at this age. If he only started learning martial arts now, his wife would be snatched away before he even made a name for himself.

Unexpectedly, Gu Fei shook his head. "*Gongfu* should only be formally learned after the body has fully matured. At least fifteen or sixteen years old. You're about the same age as me, how can you be too old? It's just that learning *gongfu* takes a lot of time, at least eight to twelve hours a day. Do you have that much free time?"

"No," Huo Qiu replied without thinking.

"Or you could use your time in the game..."

"No need, no need, I'd rather not learn it, let's continue the game!" Huo Qiu hurriedly interrupted.

Gu Fei smiled wryly.

At this moment, the six vagrants by the pond had respawned. Gu Fei picked up the carving knife he had dropped earlier, preparing to go and kill the enemies. Huo Qiu said from the side, "Drunk Bro, the monsters here are too high level. I don't have your skills. I'm going to practice somewhere else."

"I'll carry you!" Gu Fei said.

"I'm here to play the game, not to be carried!" Huo Qiu said with great ambition.

"Alright, then go!" Gu Fei laughed.

"Drunk Bro, level up slower, don't leave me too far behind!" Huo Qiu waved as he ran. "If you're still online later, let's go back to town for a drink."

"Alright, alright!" Gu Fei replied.

The two parted ways. Gu Fei continued to farm monsters in this leveling area. He was very excited about the battle with Jian Gui just now. It had been a long time since he had had the opportunity to fight someone like that. Gu Fei liked the feeling of that moment, that instant between victory and defeat. Although this opponent's fighting skills were quite crude, in "Parallel World," a highly realistic game that required combat, sooner or later everyone would master certain fighting skills, and that was when it would really be interesting.

As for these NPCs in front of him? Gu Fei listlessly knocked them down. Computers were always computers. This rigid attack method, used again and again, would never work. Sooner or later, all players would discover the routines of computer attacks. For example, that Jian Gui just now, with his mind and reactions, would eventually become an expert.

By the hillside pond, Gu Fei farmed monsters for a full two hours. In his eyes, he wasn't fighting monsters, he was just practicing his *gongfu* routines. He liked this feeling of sweating profusely and being completely immersed. He didn't find his repetition boring at all. The reason he had been able to persevere when the other members of his family had given up *gongfu* was because Gu Fei himself was full of love for *gongfu* and experienced endless joy from it.

After knocking down another six vagrants, Gu Fei had reached level sixteen. He scooped up some water from the pond and washed his face. The hot sweat on his face was stimulated by the cold water, making him feel extremely refreshed. Gu Fei gave a sincere compliment to the realism of the game for the first time. This feeling of sweating and the cold touch was really great.

Just then, Gu Fei received a notification that a short message had been sent. He opened his inbox and, sure enough, it was Huo Qiu: "Drunk Bro, Drunk Bro, what level are you?"

"Level 16," Gu Fei replied.

"Ah! Ah! So fast, I'm only level 10." Looking at the text, Gu Fei could feel Huo Qiu's wailing. However, it took him two hours to reach level 10. It seemed that in Parallel World, fighting monsters above your level was a good way to level up quickly!

"Drunk Bro, Drunk Bro, are you done? I've saved some money. Come back to town and I'll buy you a drink!" Huo Qiu sent another message.

"Okay!" Gu Fei replied and began to clean up the six guys he had knocked down. A small amount of coins, some flowers and plants of unknown use, and then the carving knives. Gu Fei had collected more than a dozen, and there was no more room to put them.

Although it was completely realistic, as a game, the game characters still had to have a backpack to store things. In Parallel World, the backpack was designed as a pocket. The items you picked up could be thrown into the pocket attached to the right waist, and they would be stored in the backpack and would not fall out. When you wanted to take something out, you would put your hand into the pocket and feel the neat arrangement of spaces inside. When your hand reached into a certain space, the item in that space would naturally be held in your hand. When your hand came out of the pocket again, the item would be taken out. It felt as magical as Doraemon.

Gu Fei packed up, climbed up the hillside, and looked around to identify the direction back to Yunduan City.

Unfortunately, he saw a guy leveling up by the pond at the foot of the mountain. He used Stealth, came behind a vagrant, launched a Backstab, then frantically stabbed while facing the monster's attacks. He knocked one down and quickly ran away to rest. After his health recovered, he repeated the trick.

The dagger in this person's hand emitted a faint blue light. Gu Fei smiled, recognizing that this person was Jian Gui. His level seemed to be in his twenties, so it was suitable for him to fight monsters and level up here. However, a group of six vagrants was not suitable for players to fight alone. Apart from Gu Fei, who had abnormal skills, only players like Jian Gui, who were good at calculations, could handle it.

There were only three vagrants beside the campfire that should have had six. When the fourth one respawned, Jian Gui would immediately come forward, Stealth, approach, Backstab, forcibly attack, retreat, rest, wait for respawn, and then go again.

The way Jian Gui attacked was the same as Gu Fei's, using a repetitive routine based on the characteristics of the NPCs. Gu Fei couldn't help but admire him in his heart.

But Gu Fei soon discovered that there was another person watching Jian Gui's performance on the hillside not far from him.

This person was wearing a close-fitting purple robe, which showed off her figure well. It was obvious that she was a female player. From the side, Gu Fei couldn't see her appearance clearly. He only saw that she was dragging her left arm with her right hand, and gently resting two fingers of her left hand on her lips, watching Jian Gui at the foot of the mountain with great concentration.

Unexpectedly, a girl also knew what was good. Gu Fei smiled. At this time, Jian Gui had just finished cleaning up a vagrant and retreated to a resting place. He touched his pocket, seemed to find that his backpack was full, and after letting out a sigh, he raised his head and immediately discovered the two people watching him on the hillside. After a moment of hesitation, he turned and left.

I wonder if he recognized me from this distance, Gu Fei thought to himself. He didn't have any special iconic equipment like Jian Gui's Frost Memories.

Having lost their target, the two also chose different directions to leave. Gu Fei noticed that the direction the girl was walking was basically the same as Jian Gui's. He smiled in his heart: Could it be that Jian Gui was about to have a romantic encounter? Although he was a little gossipy, he thought that Huo Qiu was still waiting for him in the city bar, so he gave up the idea of ​​following them to see what would happen.