The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

For the first time in a thousand years, the Stone Gate of Wooden Man Alley was closed.

Elder Wang’s face was ashen as he gazed at the floor littered with the severed limbs of wooden men, remaining silent for a long while.

Damn it all!

’Just who was the soulless bastard who did this? Did he have some kind of blood feud with these wooden men, as if they’d murdered his father and stolen his wife?’

In his decades managing Wooden Man Alley, he had never encountered such a shameless scoundrel.

While the wooden men in the alley were occasionally damaged, it was always minor. A situation like this—a complete massacre of every last one—was truly a first.

"Investigate!"

Elder Wang gritted his teeth. He was determined to hunt down the perpetrator.

He glanced at the wreckage on the floor again, a headache throbbing. It would take at least three years to get Wooden Man Alley running again. His only hope of avoiding punishment from the Law Enforcement Hall was to find the culprit.

Just the thought of Dong Wanjun, a man who had killed countless people, made Elder Wang’s legs tremble.

...

"What’s going on with Wooden Man Alley? Why is it closed?"

"Maintenance and repairs?"

"Never heard of that happening before."

...

The entrance to Wooden Man Alley was packed with disciples who had come to train.

But when they arrived, they found the Stone Gate sealed shut and were informed that Wooden Man Alley was temporarily closed.

However, with Elder Wang himself making an appearance, the disciples had no choice but to disperse.

Most of them were Outer Disciples. Who among them would dare provoke an Elder with actual authority?

...

「Wan Jun Peak, a small courtyard on the mountainside.」

Bai Yuan was fighting a grin that was harder to suppress than the recoil of an AK in one of the shooter games from his past life.

He glanced at his panel.

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Occupation: Demon Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer, Cook]

[Skills: Cooking (Master), Demon Seeking (Proficient), Demon Control (Expert), Tiger Form Crane Style (Master), Blood Tiger Saber (Expert), Soul-Hooking Step (Proficient)...]

[Enhancement Points: 1583]

Overnight, his enhancement points had skyrocketed to "1,583"!

The number of enhancement points he’d gained from Wooden Man Alley was simply absurd. Bai Yuan’s eyes danced with excitement.

’I hit the jackpot!’

He felt that coming to the Divine Mansion Sect was definitely the right choice.

’Cultivation Techniques? Spirit Pills?’

’None of that matters. Wooden Man Alley was my real prize.’

"Spend points!"

[You have practiced the Blood Tiger Saber for eighty years. Your saber technique has reached a state of perfection.]

...

[You have practiced the Blood Tiger Saber for one hundred years. Your saber technique now mirrors the grace of its original master.]

...

[You have practiced the Blood Tiger Saber for one hundred sixty years. Your saber technique has finally reached the Master realm!]

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Occupation: Demon Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer, Cook]

[Skills: Cooking (Master), Demon Seeking (Proficient), Demon Control (Expert), Tiger Form Crane Style (Master), Blood Tiger Saber (Master), Soul-Hooking Step (Proficient)...]

[Enhancement Points: 474]

The Blood Tiger Saber had finally reached the Master level!

Instantly, the Blood Tiger Saber’s Evil Qi surged within him. It felt like a ferocious, ancient tiger, overflowing with malevolent energy, threatening to burst from his body as the faint roar of a tiger echoed within.

His Tiger Form Crane Style activated on its own, and a stream of pure energy enveloped the Evil Qi, gradually calming it.

Just as with his Tiger Form Crane Style and Cooking skills, every skill underwent a fundamental transformation upon reaching the Master level.

Upon raising his Blood Tiger Saber to the Master level, Bai Yuan gained a very special ability—Tiger’s Baleful Aura.

This "Tiger’s Baleful Aura" allowed him to project the Evil Qi from his body, disrupting an opponent’s mind during a fight.

In a one-on-one duel, life and death could be decided in a flash.

Unleashing the Tiger’s Baleful Aura could make an opponent lose their focus for three breaths of time. The Black-faced Ancestor had used this move to kill countless enemies; it was nearly impossible to defend against. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

After elevating the Blood Tiger Saber to the Master level, Bai Yuan naturally broke through the Strong Organ Pass.

The five organs were the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. After breaking through the Strong Organ Pass, he could clearly hear the powerful thumping of his own heart, and his physical abilities had increased several times over.

A Martial Artist who had passed the Strong Organ Pass would experience a massive increase in appetite and digestive efficiency, greatly amplifying the effects of medicinal pills and food.

Therefore, Strong Internal Martial Artists could completely overwhelm Yijin Martial Masters in both strength and endurance.

Bai Yuan could feel this profoundly.

If his former self had faced a Strong Internal Martial Artist head-on, his chances of victory would have been less than fifty percent.

Feeling the surging power within him, he was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

In two and a half years, he had grown from a simple Hunter in a small town to a Strong Internal Martial Artist, standing as an equal to major figures like the Gang Leader of the Iron Saber Gang and the Flying Eagle Castle Lord. He had earned it all through his own efforts.

He stared at the number "474" next to his remaining enhancement points on the panel.

Even after upgrading the Blood Tiger Saber to the Master level all at once, he still had over four hundred enhancement points left. ’I, Lao Bai, have never been so loaded in my entire life!’ he thought.

Without a second thought, he dumped all his remaining enhancement points into Demon Seeking.

[You have practiced Demon Seeking for thirty years. Your skill level has improved by leaps and bounds.]

...

[You have practiced Demon Seeking for forty years. Your perception and Body Technique have increased dramatically.]

...

[You have practiced Demon Seeking for sixty years. You have finally reached the Expert level!]

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Occupation: Demon Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer, Cook]

[Skills: Cooking (Master), Demon Seeking (Expert), Demon Control (Expert), Tiger Form Crane Style (Master), Blood Tiger Saber (Master), Soul-Hooking Step (Proficient)...]

[Enhancement Points: 0]

Demon Seeking had finally reached the Expert level.

Once again, unfamiliar knowledge flooded into Bai Yuan’s mind.

His understanding of demons now surpassed even that of the Demon-slaying Envoys from the Xuan Yang Court’s Demon Slayer Guard. Simultaneously, his perception and Body Technique had more than doubled.

Huanglong Prefecture was nothing like Qinghe.

Innumerable demons hid here, and the majority of the Divine Mansion Sect’s bounty missions involved them.

This was the exact reason Bai Yuan had raised his Demon Seeking skill to the Expert level.

Using a Demon Hunter’s skills in a small place like Qinghe was like learning the art of dragon-slaying only to find there were no dragons to slay. Only at the Divine Mansion Sect could the advantages of a Demon Hunter be fully realized.

With his strength greatly increased, Bai Yuan felt completely satisfied.

He decided to head down the mountain.

He’d long heard that the Instructor Hall of the Divine Mansion Sect housed a collection of a million tomes, containing every Cultivation Technique under the heavens.

His "system" had already set him on the path of cultivating myriad techniques. When it came to Cultivation Techniques, the more the merrier. You could never have too many skills, and for him, the trouble of switching between them was nonexistent.

Just as he reached the foot of Wan Jun Peak—

"Have you guys heard?"

"Heard it? I just heard a rumor, that’s all."

"Someone chopped up all the training dummies in Wooden Man Alley overnight. Elder Wang is furious and has sworn to find the culprit."

"No wonder the gate was shut in my face when I went to Wooden Man Alley today."

...

A few disciples from Wan Jun Peak were whispering among themselves.

They kept their voices low, thinking no one could overhear them.

Too bad for them, they’d run into Bai Yuan.

Thanks to his Demon Seeking skill, Bai Yuan’s hearing had become freakishly sharp, so he heard every single word they said with perfect clarity.

’Didn’t they say you didn’t have to pay for any damage to the wooden men?’

He grumbled to himself.

’That Elder Wang is so damn petty.’

’It was just a few training dummies, no need to search the ends of the earth for me. He’s the one who said no compensation was needed. So much for his word!’