Chapter 1

In the stark white room, a young man stared at the sword case in front of him, his expression extremely peculiar.

The sword case was gray, square, and resembled a wooden box, covered with curved patterns. Due to its age, it appeared somewhat dark and worn.

In the world of Light and Dark Warriors, this was a very ordinary piece of equipment, but its former owner was far from ordinary.

The world of Light and Dark Warriors is divided into twelve levels of Light and twelve levels of Darkness. Each level is a world, each level has a king, and the twelfth level is ruled by an emperor. The former owner of the sword case was the Dark Emperor Li Canghai, the master of the twelfth level of Darkness and the lord of Zangwu City. Countless challengers fell to his Zangshen Sword, and the defeated warriors' equipment filled the entire city, hence the name Zangwu City. As for the city's original name, no one remembered it anymore.

However, now, Li Canghai's Zangshen Sword hangs in the hall of the Light Emperor, becoming a monument to the Light Emperor's glory. Only this sword case was passed on to Bai Cangdong.

Heaven knows, Bai Cangdong is just a minor figure living in the lowest level of the twelfth level of Light, struggling for his life every day. He was just an unnamed soldier whom Li Canghai saved on his way to duel the Light Emperor. Why, after Li Canghai's defeat and death, did he send the sword case to him and leave a message for him to defeat the Light Emperor? Only heaven knows.

"Let me defeat the Light Emperor, I don't know if I'm crazy or if Li Canghai is crazy." Bai Cangdong looked at the sword case and softly said, "Equipment."

The sword case suddenly emitted an ancient and vast light, rose into the air, transformed into a stream of light, and shot into Bai Cangdong's body, then appeared on his back.

Equipment is a necessity for survival in the world of Light and Dark Warriors. People here do not change in appearance after reaching the age of twenty, but their life balance changes. Each person's life balance is displayed on a life mark on their heart. When the life balance runs out, they die.

The only way to gain life balance is to kill the Undead, who coexist with humans in the world of Light and Dark Warriors. It sounds contradictory, how can the Undead be killed? In fact, the Undead can be killed, but they can be resurrected at altars. As long as the altars are not destroyed, the Undead can be resurrected repeatedly, hence the name Undead.

Human bodies are weak. Even if they can strengthen their bodies through longevity techniques, they are still no match for most Undead. Only with equipment can they easily kill the Undead.

Opening the combat ranking of the first level of Light, the first place is the King of Light, followed by various dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons. Then come the ordinary soldiers. Dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons all have titles, which can be seen in the combat ranking. Ordinary soldiers have no titles, only the word "soldier" is displayed, and only the individual can see their name.

Bai Cangdong scrolled down from the top of the combat ranking. He did not see his name among the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, or barons. Even among the ordinary soldiers, he only saw his name after several billion positions.

"Really a pain, you are the equipment of the Dark Emperor, even if it's just a sword case, at least you should have raised my combat ranking a bit. Not to mention advancing to a duke, marquis, earl, or viscount, even a baron would be fine. After all this, there's no improvement at all." Bai Cangdong hid the sword case, looked at his life mark, and saw that he had less than two years of life balance left.

Bai Cangdong was a premature baby, born with a life balance of less than twenty years. His parents died early, leaving him to struggle alone, fighting for his life every day.

"Ah Dong, are you going to hunt the Little Knife Demons again?" As Bai Cangdong walked out of his room, a neighboring boy shouted, his voice tinged with mockery.

Bai Cangdong lived in Daolun City, where there were many Little Knife Demons, a type of Undead. Although Little Knife Demons are very weak and can be easily killed by ordinary people, few people are willing to hunt them. The main reason is that the chance of gaining life balance from killing a Little Knife Demon is only about one percent.

Another reason is that Little Knife Demons are very agile, making it very difficult to catch them. Therefore, many people prefer to travel further to hunt other Undead that are easier to gain life balance from.

Bai Cangdong was mockingly called the "Little Knife Demon Terminator" because he had been hunting Little Knife Demons for years. It's not that he didn't want to hunt other Undead that were easier to gain life balance from, but he had no equipment and was no match for the powerful Undead, so he could only hunt Little Knife Demons.

Leaving the city, he walked a short distance to a grassland taller than a person. Little Knife Demons appeared here, hiding in the grass. When someone passed by, they would throw their small knives. Although they usually missed due to the small size of the knives, the knives were coated with a poison that caused extreme pain for three hours, which is one of the reasons few people were willing to hunt Little Knife Demons.

The "Little Knife Demon Terminator" Bai Cangdong knew that to hunt Little Knife Demons, he had to be better at hiding and enduring than they were. He silently slipped into the grass like a black cat at night, crouching in one spot, his eyes scanning like a leopard, his ears perked up, not missing any slight sound.

"Click!"

The moment he locked onto a target, Bai Cangdong's right hand swiftly flicked, and a steel spike shot out in a straight line, piercing a Little Knife Demon hidden in the grass and pinning it to the ground.

The Little Knife Demon let out a惨叫, its body suddenly turning into countless light points and disappearing without a trace.

Bai Cangdong licked his lips in frustration, knowing that Little Knife Demons rarely left life balance, but he still held great hope each time he killed one.

He pulled out the steel spike and crouched back in the grass. In no time, he had hunted seven or eight Little Knife Demons, each time the steel spike striking with deadly accuracy.

"Life balance!" After killing another Little Knife Demon, its body disappeared, leaving a light ruler on the ground with markings.

Bai Cangdong touched the light ruler, which immediately merged into his body, and he felt his life mark gain a unit of life balance. His mood improved significantly.

The smallest unit of life balance is a "unit." Little Knife Demons usually leave one unit of life balance, at most four units.

After a day of hiding in the grass, he had hunted nearly a hundred Little Knife Demons and gained eleven units of life balance. Compared to before, his luck seemed better today.

"Clank!"

Bai Cangdong was about to hunt a few more Little Knife Demons and return to the city for a meal when a Little Knife Demon that had returned to the altar left something on the ground.

"Equipment!" Bai Cangdong's eyes widened as he looked at the small knife on the ground, less than a foot long.

Bai Cangdong had been hunting Little Knife Demons for years but had never seen one drop equipment, nor had he heard of anyone else getting equipment from hunting Little Knife Demons.

He picked up the small knife and silently said, "Equipment." The small knife immediately glowed and merged into Bai Cangdong's body, and his life mark gained some information.

"Pain Knife: Causes extreme pain for a period of time to the injured." Although it was a very low-level piece of equipment, it still made Bai Cangdong very happy.

Such a low-level piece of equipment could be exchanged for half a month's food expenses.

However, before Bai Cangdong could be happy for long, the sword case, which he had hidden, suddenly appeared on its own, opened, and sucked the Pain Knife inside.

The Pain Knife disappeared, and the information on the sword case, which originally only said "sword case," now had three more words.

"Defective Sword Case!"

No matter how Bai Cangdong commanded the sword case, it did not spit out the Pain Knife, as if it had completely disappeared.

On the sword case, some words appeared. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be a martial technique.

"Pain Knife Technique: Wounding without killing, causing pain without death, a thousand cuts, endless suffering..." Bai Cangdong was overjoyed. If there was anything more precious than equipment in the world of Light and Dark Warriors, it was undoubtedly martial techniques.

The world of Light and Dark Warriors is a world with a very clear hierarchy. Having different titles means having different powers. Martial techniques are something that ordinary soldiers rarely have access to. Whenever an ordinary person obtains a martial technique, they cherish it like their life, practicing it secretly, hoping to use it to improve their combat ranking and gain a title, becoming a person of high status overnight.

"You... you... you... come over... Baron Malong has something for you to do..." Just as Bai Cangdong was about to leave the grassland and return to Daolun City, he was stopped by a group of over ten people.

"Shit!" Bai Cangdong cursed silently but had to go over and listen to their orders, as one of them was a baron. In the world of Light and Dark Warriors, being one level higher means the other person has the power to decide your life or death, and can take your life without any reason.

"What does Baron Malong need?" Bai Cangdong asked helplessly.

"Lord Malong is going to kill a Giant Rock Demon, and you all must follow him to clear the Little Rock Demons." The lackey barked at everyone, putting on airs.

"Damn, making us, who don't even have equipment, deal with the Little Rock Demons, this is clearly using us as cannon fodder." Bai Cangdong cursed silently.

The Giant Rock Demon is well-known in the Daolun City area, with the strength of a baron. After being killed, it takes about a month to resurrect from the Undead altar.

Along with the Giant Rock Demon, a group of less than a hundred Little Rock Demons also resurrect. Although each is only a soldier level, they are extremely tough and powerful, and because they move in groups, ordinary people are no match for them.

Many barons like to hunt Giant Rock Demons because they drop a full-body armor called "Giant Rock Demon's Hardness," which is a baron-level piece of equipment with an astonishing hardness, almost comparable to a viscount's armor. Therefore, many barons want to possess one.