Here is the full English translation of Chapter 3 (Parts 1 & 2). I've refined the flow to ensure it matches the professional standards of platforms like Royal Road or WebNovel, while keeping the "System" mechanics clear.
Chapter 3: The Price of Blood
Part 1
Broken Fang Ridge never forgave carelessness, and as twilight fell, it turned into a literal meat grinder. After his stunning breakthrough to the 6th stage of Body Tempering, Xuan Li's senses had sharpened to a frightening degree. The world was no longer just a picture—it had transformed into a layered scheme of data. The youth could hear a bone fracturing under the jaws of a nocturnal predator half a kilometer away. He could feel the subtlest shifts in temperature within the cold currents of the mountain wind against his skin.
His backup meridians, constructed by the System, pulsed with an excess of energy. The 2nd-rank Twin-Tailed Shadow Panther core, safely tucked into the inner pocket of his blood-soaked robe, radiated a faint but palpable warmth. For an ordinary Outer Peak disciple, this was a fortune—a guarantee of a comfortable life for a year. But in this primordial forest, wealth was a beacon for those accustomed to taking what belonged to others.
It was time to return. Xuan Li moved quickly, a silent, jagged glide over ravines and the trunks of fallen millennial trees. He took care to leave no tracks, using his renewed physical strength to leap over patches of damp soil.
Suddenly, the System interface before his eyes flashed with a warning, a pulsing orange light overriding his natural vision.
[Critical Warning. Directed observation detected.]
[Multiple human signatures (3 objects). Distance: 42 meters. Azimuth: East, South-East. Status: Organized Ambush.]
[Anomaly Analysis... Objects are using low-order Qi-suppression artifacts ("Cloaking Veil").]
Xuan Li instantly cut his stride. Not a single unnecessary sound. He slid smoothly onto one knee, merging with the thick shadow of a massive, mossy boulder. His breathing slowed to once per minute; his heart rate plummeted.
These were not the arrogant disciples of the Zhao clan. Local aristocrats were too proud and lazy to crawl in the mud with stealth artifacts, waiting hours for a victim. These were scavenger mercenaries—true vultures who patrolled the borders of Broken Fang Ridge, stalking lucky but exhausted cultivators.
"You can stop hiding, kid. We know you're there," a raspy, gravelly voice echoed from somewhere above. The sound seemed distorted, as if the speaker was intentionally using a sound-dissipation technique to hide their exact location. "Мы felt the spike of breakthrough energy and the sweet scent of fresh 2nd-rank demonic beast blood. You got lucky today. Но luck must be shared."
From a thick branch of a nearby tree, a tall, wiry man dropped as silently as a falling leaf. Half of his face was covered by an ugly, crimson burn scar that had tightened the skin. In his hands, two curved daggers with unusual serrated edges gleamed dully—ideal weapons for leaving jagged, unhealing wounds.
Simultaneously, two more stepped out from the dense undergrowth on the flanks. To the left was a burly, bald giant, fiddling with a heavy, spiked iron crowbar. To the right was a small, stooped, agile man clutching a compact tactical crossbow. The tip of the loaded bolt glowed with a faint greenish hue in the moonlight.
They acted in perfect synchronization. No unnecessary words, no foolish posturing. A triple semi-circle, cutting off Li's only safe path back to the sect.
[Initiating Opponent Analysis...]
[Target 1 (Leader / Scar): Body Tempering — 7th Stage (Peak). Reaction Speed: High. Energy Type: Wind Qi (Acceleration).]
[Target 2 (Vanguard / Bruiser): Body Tempering — 6th Stage. Increased muscle and bone density. Armor: Hidden metal plates under clothing.]
[Target 3 (Marksman): Body Tempering — 5th Stage. Warning: Bolt tip is treated with 2nd-rank paralytic alchemical toxin ("Widow's Tear"). Probability of total motor failure upon entering bloodstream: 94%.]
"Drop the spatial bag, your weapon, and everything you managed to cut off that carcass," Scar smirked, playing with his daggers. His eyes remained cold and predatory. "Do it without any tricks, and we might just decide not to break your legs. Consider it a valuable lesson."
Xuan Li knew the price of such words. In the eyes of these mercenaries, he saw an absolute, calm thirst for murder. Wandering vultures never leave witnesses from the major Sects. The moment he handed over the core, a crossbow bolt would pierce his throat.
He slowly rose to his full height. His expression remained hauntingly calm, like a still surface of water.
"Seventh, sixth, and fifth stages," Xuan Li said in a flat, lifeless voice, smoothly drawing his old, notched hunting dagger from its sheath. "Three pieces of wandering trash think they can dictate terms?"
It wasn't youthful bravado. Xuan Li needed to break their cold calculation. He needed to infuriate the leader, to force a reckless lunge and break their perfect formation.
It worked. Scar's face contorted, the scar on his cheek flushing with blood. Authority in scavenger bands was held solely by fear, and this brat had just publicly spat on it.
"Tear him to pieces!" the mercenary barked.
Part 2
It all began in a fraction of a second.
The heavy thrum of the crossbow string snapped. The Bruiser charged forward with a guttural roar, swinging his monstrous spiked crowbar for a massive, crushing blow capable of tearing a man in half. Simultaneously, Scar used his Wind Qi technique to slide sideways like a blurred shadow, intending to get behind Li and deliver a lethal strike to his blind spot.
[Projectile trajectory calculated. Initiating evasion maneuver.]
The world around Xuan Li slowed down. The System traced a pulsing red line in the air—the flight path of the poisoned bolt. With an unnatural, almost liquid grace, Li snapped his torso to the left. The projectile whistled a millimeter from his temple, shearing off a lock of black hair, and thudded deep into the bark of a tree behind him. The alchemical poison immediately caused the wood around the impact site to blacken and hiss.
But there was no time for relief. In that same heartbeat, the Bruiser's shadow loomed over him. The iron crowbar sliced through the air with a heavy hum.
The System instantly highlighted the impact zone. Blocking this strike with an old hunting dagger would be pure suicide—the cheap steel would simply shatter, and the kinetic force would break both of Li's arms.
Instead of retreating, Li dove forward, right under the big man's raised arms, entering dangerous proximity. He didn't use his dagger. Instead, he used the opponent's own momentum. Infusing his new leg meridians with energy to the limit, Xuan Li slammed his shoulder hard under the Bruiser's ribs while simultaneously performing a surgical sweep of his support leg.
The mercenary's massive frame, caught off guard by the "brat's" agility, tumbled forward by the inertia of his own swing. He crashed down directly into the line of fire of the marksman, who was frantically reloading his crossbow.
"Damn it, get out of the—!" the small man shrieked as the flying Bruiser slammed into him, pinning him into the thorny bushes.
Two were off-balance. But the main threat was not with them.
His instincts, sharpened by the sixth stage, screamed of danger. The hair on the back of Li's neck stood on end.
[Critical threat from behind! Warning: Physical speed of the host is insufficient for total evasion. Difference in cultivation level is too great. Recommendation: Minimize critical damage.]
The System was ruthless in its accuracy. Scar was a veteran killer at the peak of the seventh stage. His Wind Qi made him 1.5 times faster than Li. Evasion was impossible.
Xuan Li gritted his teeth and spun on the spot, instinctively throwing up his left arm to protect his neck and heart.
Scar's curved serrated dagger, aimed for the kidney, sliced deep into the youth's forearm. A blinding, pulsing pain flared. Hot blood sprayed onto the dry autumn leaves. The tissue was torn down to the bone.
Scar didn't stop to celebrate the first hit. Sensing blood, he turned into a whirlwind of stabbing and slashing strikes.
Xuan Li retreated step by step, desperately parrying the attacks with his short blade. The ring of clashing metal tore through the night silence of the forest. The youth was working at the absolute limit of his body's capabilities. The System continuously streamed invaluable data into his mind: the microscopic shifts in Scar's center of gravity, the contraction of his shoulder muscles, the angle of his blade.
But that data meant little if the flesh couldn't keep up. Li's body was too slow. This was the moment of harsh truth: the System was a perfect navigator, but if the engine of the car was weak, it wouldn't win the race.
"You're damn good for a sheltered sect pup!" Scar spat, breathing heavily but continuing to press Li toward a sheer cliff. "But your real combat experience is zero! Die!"
Zero experience? The icy thought flashed through Xuan Li's mind, suppressing the waves of pain from his shredded arm. Let's see how your experience handles an algorithm.
Li realized he would lose in a prolonged fight. The blood loss would make his movements even slower. He needed a trap. A mathematically perfect bait.
He intentionally made a gross error. Taking another step back, Li "accidentally" tripped over a thick tree root. His balance broke, his arms instinctively flew up, completely exposing his defenseless chest and stomach.
Scar's eyes flashed with predatory glee. It was a killer's instinct—to strike at an open breach. The mercenary let out a triumphant roar and made a deep, swift lunge forward, pouring all his remaining Wind Qi into his right dagger. He wanted to end the fight with one precise strike to the heart.
It was his fatal mistake.
[Opponent has lost center of gravity. Attack inertia: 100%. Possibility of canceling strike: 0%. Counterattack vector is perfect.]
Xuan Li didn't try to dodge or block this lethal lunge. He stepped directly into the blade.
He allowed the enemy's dagger to slide tangentially, tearing through his robe and leaving a long, shallow, but bleeding gash across his chest. In exchange for this wound, he gained something far more valuable—distance.
With his bloodied left hand, overcoming the infernal pain in his severed muscles, Li caught Scar's wrist in a death grip, locking his weapon in place. With his right hand—a short, explosive movement without a wind-up, infused with all the gathered Qi of the sixth stage—he drove his hunting dagger upward.
The blade entered exactly under the mercenary's jaw, punched through the palate with a sickening crunch, and sank deep into the brain.
Scar's eyes widened in mute shock, then rolled back. His body jerked in a spasm.
Xuan Li fastidiously ripped the blade out with one sharp tug and shoved the heavy, limp body of the scavenger leader aside.
A ringing silence fell.
The two remaining mercenaries—the Bruiser and the small marksman—who had just untangled themselves and scrambled to their feet, froze. Their leader, a veteran of the seventh stage who inspired terror across the Outer Peak, was dead. Killed in a minute by some nameless youth who hadn't even broken a sweat.
Xuan Li breathed heavily, trying to calm his racing heart. Dark blood flowed thickly down his left arm, dripping onto the fallen leaves. The wounds burned like fire, but the cold adrenaline was still numbing the shock. He slowly, very slowly, turned his head toward the remaining scavengers.
In his black eyes, there was no youthful rage, no intoxicating triumph of a victor. There was only a mechanical, icy void. The void of a system that simply evaluates the next corrupted piece of code before deletion.
"Well," Li said softly, almost gently, shaking the blood from the blade of his dagger. His voice echoed through the silenced forest. "Who's next?"
The Bruiser swallowed hard. The color of his face turned an ashen grey. He looked with horror at the corpse of his boss, then at the blood-soaked demon with the knife, slowly unclenched his fingers, and dropped his heavy crowbar. Without making a sound, the giant turned and, with a panicked, almost animalistic wail, bolted into the depths of the forest, crashing through the bushes.
The small marksman, whose legs were shaking from primal terror, didn't even bother to pick up his crossbow. He let out a choked squeak and followed the Bruiser, vanishing into the night.
Xuan Li didn't pursue them.
[Perimeter Analysis... No active threats detected.]
[Host Status: Multiple moderate damages to muscle tissue and vessels recorded. Blood loss: 8%. Immediate coagulation and treatment with alchemical ointments recommended.]
As soon as the tension broke, Li let out a muffled groan and slumped to the ground, leaning his back against the rough trunk of a tree. His left arm hung limply. This had been a dirty, heavy, and incredibly dangerous fight. A fight that taught him the most important lesson of this new life: the System and perfect calculations alone were not enough. A cunning and experienced enemy could negate the difference in technique with pure speed and brutality. If he wanted to survive in this world, he didn't just need to hoard energy; he needed powerful combat techniques for movement and defense.
Gritting his teeth, the youth tore a long strip from the hem of his robe. Using his teeth and his right hand, he tied a tight tourniquet over the deep wound on his forearm until his vision blurred, stopping the bleeding. Then he forced himself up and approached Scar's corpse.
Rule number one: the winner takes all.
Quickly and methodically searching the cooling body of the mercenary, Li found a small, worn spatial pouch. Inside were about thirty low-grade spirit stones—a decent find for an Outer Disciple. But of much greater interest was another find.
From an inner pocket of the dead man's jacket, Li pulled out a strange metal token. It was cast from a dark alloy, and an etched skull pierced by three arrows was engraved on its surface.
[Object Analysis... No matches found in the Burning Plum Sect base database. Alloy structure indicates belonging to underground guilds of the Southern Provinces.]
Li thoughtfully ran his finger over the cold engraving. Scavengers rarely wore identification marks. This Scar was not just a drifter. Perhaps he worked for someone bigger who had interests near the Sect's territory. Xuan Li hid the token in his pocket. This information could become either a dangerous problem or a useful ace in the hole later.
Taking the trophies and wiping his faithful dagger on a clean patch of the dead man's clothing, Li looked toward the sect. The sky in the east began to brighten almost imperceptibly, hallowing the dawn.
The forest seemed to retreat respectfully, acknowledging his right to live. Xuan Li turned and, limping slightly, vanished into the predawn mist. The first real hunt of his new life was over. Now he had to return to the serpent's nest of the Burning Plum Sect and convert the spilled blood into real power. And, more importantly, hide his true level until he was ready to challenge those behind his fall three years ago.