Chapter 344: Ten Thousand Souls Banner, Watch Me Play Dirty! |
[Year Six, Age Thirty.]
[Extracting trait tags…]
[Extraction successful!]
[「Knight's Safe Zone」 (Purple Epic): When you fall into water, no matter how severe your injuries, as long as your body still vaguely resembles a human form, you won't die and will slowly recover to a non-life-threatening state.]
[Adjust trait tags?]
[Yes/No]
"Isn't this a life-saving god-tier skill? The only catch is that it needs water. So, I'll just carry some water with me, right?"
Chen Yi decided to equip this tag.
Everything was unknown in the Real Realm. If he ran into any danger, at least he'd have a chance to survive.
[You replaced 「Running Playlist」 with 「Knight's Safe Zone」.]
[In the following days, you passed by many mines.]
[In every mine, large numbers of disheveled, bony, half-naked workers swung pickaxes, mining ore.]
[There were Overseers wielding whips, urging them to work.]
[The Overseers wore fine clothes, some even clad in leather or iron armor.]
[You noticed that the mining workers were all humans, but the Overseers were not.]
[The Overseers came in all sorts of strange forms.]
[Most were roughly humanoid, but they all had extra parts on their bodies, marking them as other intelligent races.]
["So the Real Realm is a multi-racial mix? But all the laborers are human? That Ji Wuqing wasn't wrong—humans really are in a low position here…"]
[You could sense these people weren't friendly toward humans, so you couldn't ask them for information.]
[You left quietly, without drawing the attention of anyone in the mines.]
[After some time had passed.]
[From a dirt slope, you spotted a village in the distance. Thin wisps of cooking smoke rose from it, and a wide river flowed nearby. From afar, it looked like a freehand landscape painting.]
[With your Qi Transformation realm eyesight, you could clearly see people moving about in the village.]
["They're humans. They look very simple. I can go ask for some information."]
[Just then, your entire field of vision turned red.]
[This was 「Traffic Light」 warning you—danger was coming!]
[Before you could react, a sinister woman's voice came from behind you.]
["Hehehe… You there, human, carrying so many high-level artifacts, aren't you afraid someone will rob you?"]
[Your heart sank. 「Traffic Light」 had only just activated, and she was already right next to you, which meant she was incredibly fast.]
[In the Real Realm, having speed like that meant something obvious.]
[You turned around.]
[It was a short woman, probably only about a meter tall. Her entire body was curled up, wrapped in a large cloak that was two meters long.]
[From the wrinkles on her face, you could tell she was an old hag.]
[The old hag held a snake-head staff artifact, a greedy gleam in her eyes.]
["I've seen countless artifacts in my time. Those few on you aren't spiritual treasures, but I can tell they're no ordinary items. They might even rival some spiritual treasures. How strange. On this third-rate star, how did a Qi Transformation cultivator like you get so many good things? Are you from another planet? That's even stranger. Who would willingly come here to rot in jail?"]
[The old hag rambled on and on.]
[A bead of sweat rolled down your forehead.]
[You knew you'd been targeted.]
[You also knew this person had a higher cultivation level than you.]
[Because her short, small body was floating in mid-air!]
[She could fly!]
["Why aren't you talking? Afraid I'll steal your stuff? Heh, well, congratulations—you guessed right."]
["Whoosh!"]
[At lightning speed, you fully activated the Lightning-Chasing, Thunder-Racing Boots on your feet, stepping on a chain of electric arcs and shooting off like a bolt of lightning.]
[The old hag was completely calm.]
["Trying to run? Foolish."]
[She raised her snake-head staff, and a dark purple aura enveloped her body. Part of that aura flowed to the snake head and sprayed out.]
[Using the staff as a brush and the purple light as ink, she traced a giant, unfamiliar character symbol in the air in the direction you were running.]
[You didn't recognize that character, but it felt vaguely familiar, like the divine marks used by the Ancient Wasteland Survivors.]
[Except the divine marks used by the Ancient Wasteland Survivors were golden, while the one the old hag drew was red.]
[You made a sharp turn, trying to avoid the divine mark, but the mark moved on its own and slammed into you.]
[You didn't feel anything unusual, but when you turned your head, you found yourself right next to the old hag.]
[Behind you, there was an identical divine mark.]
["This…"]
[The old hag had drawn two identical divine marks! If you ran into one, you'd come out of the other!]
[One was in the direction you were running, and the other was right beside her!]
["Bang!!"]
[The old hag swung her snake-head staff in what seemed like slow motion, but her timing was perfect—it hit you the moment you emerged from the divine mark next to her.]
[You felt as if a mountain had slammed into your stomach. Your insides churned violently, and a long-forgotten, searing pain made you dizzy and disoriented.]
[Thankfully, in that critical moment, you activated your 「Simulation Clone」 and summoned Chen Five right at the point of impact.]
[Using his Martial Saint-level physical body as a meat shield, he absorbed most of the impact force.]
[Chen Five let out a miserable scream. "Is that what a clone is supposed to be used for?!"]
[Chen Five disintegrated on the spot.]
["Pfft!!"]
[You spat blood as you were sent flying backward, crashing violently into the slope behind you and carving out a massive cave.]
[Rocks shot into the sky, and dust billowed up.]
[This was exactly why you had chosen to run without hesitation earlier.]
[This old hag was a human!]
[The hundredfold damage reduction from 「The Most Severe Father to Non-Humans」 didn't apply. Fighting someone stronger than you when that wasn't active was a terrible matchup.]
[Before, when you fought ferociously against non-humans, this trait was crucial. Not fearing death was like playing a wheelchair build—maximum error tolerance.]
[「Civil War God」 had been replaced earlier, so you weren't carrying it.]
[But you figured even seeing her weaknesses wouldn't help much, because the gap in cultivation realms was too vast.]
[That single strike from the old hag's staff knocked all your artifacts off you, scattering them on the ground.]
[The old hag leisurely began picking them up.]
["Oh? This banner is a spiritual treasure. I misjudged it. How strange. How did a human obtain a spiritual treasure in the Southern Star Realm?"]
[Before the old hag could grab the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, your furious voice echoed from the cave.]
["Put down my Ten Thousand Souls Banner!!"]
[The hidden effect of 「Irritable Constitution」 triggered successfully. You entered the "Extreme Rage" state.]
[You have entered Stage One of the "Extreme Rage" state. The effect of 「Super Saiyan」 "Super One" has taken effect.]
["Boom!!"]
[With a violent sonic boom, you shot out like a rocket, your hair standing on end in golden spikes.]
[The old hag didn't even lift her head. She simply turned slightly and dodged your attack.]
[You reacted quickly as well, countering with the Shattering Star Ripple Finger.]
[The old hag spun her snake-head staff and blocked them all.]
["Why have you changed your appearance? Could it be that you're not human?"]
["None of your business!!"]
[You stomped a giant boulder to pieces, accelerated in the opposite direction, raised your 「Qilin Arm」, and used the Stellar River Divine Art to continue your assault.]
["Old Wan!"]
[The Ten Thousand Souls Banner, which had been motionless, suddenly struck.]
["Soul-Piercing Strike!! Hahaha! Old hag! Didn't see that coming! I have an Artifact Spirit!!"]