Absolute Destiny Game.

Chapter 547 First Test of Immortal Might
As the group of Styx River bandits rode their ghost catfish mounts, roaring as they chased within a hundred meters, they could even see the dark bloodstains remaining on their weapons and the greedy, cruel expressions on their ferocious fish heads.

Xiao Jie remained firmly at the bow of the boat, but slowly raised his right hand and gently pressed it down towards the surging surface of the Styx River in front of him!
"Celestial Technique - Great Whirlpool!"

This technique borrowed some principles from how the dragon spirit manipulated water, but relied more on the immortal's power of "controlling the five elements with will," directly using his divine sense to drive the vast Styx River! Its power and control precision were incomparable to when he was a mortal, instantly increasing by several levels!

Rumble——!
As if his words were law, the moment his palm struck down, the previously slow-flowing Styx River suddenly roared! A massive, bottomless whirlpool formed at a visible speed and rapidly expanded, instantly covering the entire river surface for miles around! The center of the whirlpool was pitch black, emanating a terrifying suction force, while its edges were filled with turbid waves, like a gigantic maw that devoured everything!

The skeletal fish demon bandits charging at high speed had no time to react. They and their mounts were instantly swept into the sudden, terrifying vortex! No matter how panicked they roared and cursed, or how desperately they urged their Netherworld Catfish mounts forward, it was all in vain before the overwhelming power of the vortex. Like snowballs falling into boiling water, they were swept along by the raging current, helplessly spinning and being dragged toward the abyss!

Even the ghost-headed wooden boat under Xiao Jie's feet was being pulled violently by the gravitational pull of the edge of this huge vortex, and it looked like it was about to follow in his footsteps and be dragged into the vortex!

"Immortal! Immortal! The ship! Our ship!" Liu Tong and the ghost soldiers were terrified and shouted frantically.

Seeing this, Xiao Jie felt slightly embarrassed. It was the first time he had used such a large-scale immortal technique at full power, and he hadn't quite mastered the strength, almost getting himself killed as well.

Fortunately, his control over energy and matter through "Intentional Five Elements" had reached an almost instinctive level. With a slight thought, the water flow on the side of the huge whirlpool near the wooden boat immediately became relatively calm, even generating a gentle pushing force that cleverly counteracted the suction. It was as if an invisible hand was steadily pushing the ghost-headed wooden boat away from the edge of the whirlpool, out of the danger zone.

The unfortunate group of skeletal fish demons weren't so lucky. Dragged relentlessly towards the center of the whirlpool by the raging current, their struggles only deepening their descent. Watching the black dots thrashing desperately in the whirlpool, Xiao Jie no longer hesitated, his loosely clenched right hand into a tight fist!
"grind!"

As if receiving an irresistible command, the water flow at the center of the whirlpool and around it instantly changed from a violent rotation to a terrifying compression from all directions! It felt like being on the bottom of a deep sea and suddenly experiencing all the water pressure!

A series of teeth-grinding cracking sounds rang out. The Netherworld Catfish and Skeleton Fish Demons, swept into the center of the whirlpool, didn't even have time to let out a final scream. Their fragile bones, swollen flesh, and even the hard bone spikes of their mounts were all squeezed, twisted, deformed, and finally exploded under the terrifying pressure of the surging water! They turned into clumps of filthy matter mixed with broken bones, rotten flesh, and black soul energy, which were instantly washed away by the surging Styx River, disappearing without a trace, as if they had never existed!

However, amidst this overwhelming force, with a deafening bang, a pitch-black figure burst forth from the violently rotating and squeezing wall of water! It was none other than the fish-demon leader wearing the skull crown! It looked utterly wretched, its bone armor mostly shattered, revealing the dark blue skin beneath, but it had indeed withstood the fatal blow! Its body was covered in a layer of dark, iron-like, constantly flowing, strange fluid; clearly, it was this bizarre magic that had protected it and allowed it to survive by sheer luck!
The fish demon leader, having escaped the whirlpool, glanced at Xiao Jie, who stood calmly at the bow of the ship, with extreme fear and resentment flashing in his eyes. Without hesitation, he stomped on his half-crippled ghost catfish mount and was about to plunge into the depths of the River Styx to escape!

"Still want to run?"

Xiao Jie wasn't about to let it escape; he wanted to capture it alive to find out the current situation in the Underworld. With a casual wave of his hand, the Styx River beside him instantly coalesced into a gigantic, semi-transparent hand made entirely of water, the size of a house. It suddenly reached out and grabbed the fish demon leader who was trying to escape by diving, pulling him out of the water like an eagle snatching a chick, and then dragging him onto the deck of the ghost-headed wooden boat.

Seeing no hope of escape, the fish demon leader's ferocity was unleashed! It let out a strange, piercing roar, its muscles bulging, and a burst of dark light suddenly erupted. Using some unknown magic, it managed to break free from the giant water hand's restraints! Wielding its heavy bone hammer, it charged towards Xiao Jie, who was right in front of it, with a frenzied, suicidal momentum!
"You're courting death!" Xiao Jie had originally intended to capture someone alive to extract some information, but seeing how uncooperative the other party was, he didn't bother with further words. He didn't even use any fancy magic; with a mere thought, a dragon's roar echoed from the sword sheath on his back, and the Demon-Slaying Sword automatically unsheathed and landed in his hand! He casually swung it forward—

A condensed, crescent-shaped sword aura, gleaming with a chilling light, slashed out silently through the air!

Pfft——!
The sword energy sliced ​​through the fish demon leader's body without any hindrance, like a hot knife through butter!

The massive, charging body suddenly froze, then split cleanly in two, falling to the left and right! The wounds were smooth as mirrors, without a single drop of blood flowing out; only dense black ghostly energy hissed and quickly dissipated. Before the two halves even hit the ground, they turned to ashes and vanished without a trace, leaving only the skull helmet and bone hammer that clattered onto the deck.

"Huh?" Xiao Jie was somewhat surprised. "Was my casual sword strike... a bit too high in damage?" This leader had over three thousand health points. Did his seemingly casual sword strike really kill it instantly? Speaking of which, how much damage did that sword strike do? Why isn't there even a damage number displayed?

As he was wondering, he suddenly felt a strange energy, invisible and intangible yet real, gathering from the places where the skeletal fish demons had been annihilated. As if drawn by something, it transformed into strands of extremely fine, almost transparent golden threads, which rapidly entered his body.

Xiao Jie was taken aback and subconsciously tried to control the strange energy surging into his body, but found that he couldn't grasp it at all! It seemed to exist between existence and non-existence. Even with his divine sense and methods as an immortal, he tried to intercept it, but it was like trying to grab smoke with his bare hands. He could only watch helplessly as it merged into his limbs and bones and eventually flowed into his dantian immortal essence.

"I refuse to believe it!" Xiao Jie's competitive spirit was ignited. He once again exerted all his divine sense, his hands forming a ball, and the immortal spiritual energy highly condensed in his palms, forming a miniature gravitational field that forcibly bound the few strands of golden silk that followed into his palms for a short time!

The few strands of gold thread swirled and struggled in his palm, emitting a warm and strange vibration.

He looked at the golden energy in his hand, which kept trying to merge into his body but was temporarily suppressed, and he was incredibly surprised. He now understood what it was!

This must be what they call "experience points," right?

Previously, when playing games on a computer screen, he could only see the experience bar grow and the numbers jump, without any real feeling. Now, entering this world in his true form, he discovered that this "experience value" was such a strange form of energy! It felt somewhat like the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, yet even more ethereal, elusive, and difficult to discern, its essence impossible to truly touch or understand. Even with his immortal abilities, he could only temporarily imprison it in his palm for a moment using his powerful divine sense and energy. In less than a minute, those strands of golden silk seemed to pierce through the spatial barrier, completely merging into his body and disappearing.

"Well, I've learned something new." Xiao Jie shook his head helplessly and withdrew his immortal power. However, the fact that he could briefly hold onto experience points meant that the power of immortals could indeed influence or even interfere with the underlying rules of this so-called "game system" to some extent. That was an interesting discovery.

"Immortal! Truly remarkable! This has broadened my horizons. I am in awe! I am in awe!" The ghost official Liu Tong was now filled with awe and worship, leading the surviving ghost soldiers forward to pay their respects. The immortal's methods, which had just overturned rivers and seas and annihilated powerful enemies with ease, had completely won them over.

Xiao Jie smiled slightly, feeling quite pleased with himself. Indeed, impressive skills! Despite being only level 39, dealing with these level 40+ monsters was as easy as child's play. Only now did he truly understand why the Mortal Taoist was so obsessed with becoming an immortal, and why he was so overjoyed and lost his Dao heart upon achieving it.

The feeling of wielding immense power and disregarding mundane threats is indeed captivating.

He composed himself and pointed to the two relics on the deck, asking, "Have these pirates been entrenched here for a long time? Judging from your tone, they seem to be the underworld emperor's men?"

Liu Tong hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the Immortal, most of these river bandits are vassal forces under that false emperor. Although the Skeleton Fish Demon Clan is not a direct legion of the false emperor, its chieftain and most of its tribes have long sworn allegiance to him. Therefore, these damned fish demons often attack our patrol fleets and transport ships on the River Styx, plundering souls and supplies. They are the most despicable! They are demons and evil creatures born from the Yin energy of the River Styx mixed with the resentment of the drowned. They are naturally unaffected by the erosion of the soul by the waters of the River Styx. On the contrary, they can use the Yin energy of the River Styx to cultivate. They are like fish in water here and are extremely difficult to deal with."

Xiao Jie thought to himself, "This King of Hell is really feeling a bit stifled, being bullied like this on his own turf."

The journey that followed was indeed smooth sailing, without any further setbacks. Xiao Jie, however, was somewhat reluctant to leave and wanted to encounter a few more groups of bandits to practice and gain experience—he felt that the generous experience boost he had just received had brought his level 39 experience bar to a critical point, and he might break through to level 40 at any moment. Unfortunately, until the outline of a huge city appeared on the dark horizon in the distance, no more foolish individuals came to their deaths.

"Immortal, look! The 'Forget-the-River Terrace' is just ahead! Beyond the Forget-the-River Terrace lies the 'Netherworld City'! Lord Yama handles his affairs in the Netherworld Palace within that city!" Liu Tong pointed ahead, his voice filled with excitement, as if he had returned home with a sense of peace.

(End of this chapter)