Chapter 146: One Bamboo Sword, and Another Bamboo Sword
Chapter 146: One Bamboo Sword, and Another Bamboo Sword
“Go! Go!”
“Ai, Fang Geyin, your flying sword missed! Hit its seven-inch spot!”
Ye Rong sat cross-legged atop the Cast Snow Sword’s light. He opened the Recording Spirit, activated its automatic recording function, and started filming the battle scene before him. At the same time, he yelled loudly in encouragement.
He had just killed the Ghost-devouring Taoist and wanted to rush forward to help finish off the Heishui Xuanshe faster. But he found there was absolutely no need for him to join anymore; the fight was about to end.
Snap!
It sounded like a mirror cracking. The Heishui Xuanshe was finally struck hard on the head by a mass of Pale Flame from Graceful Dream Butterfly. With a thunderous crash, it fell.
As the giant serpent collapsed, the floodwaters filling the Stone Chamber abruptly receded, disappearing to who-knew-where.
Ye Rong glanced at his Player Log. This Heishui Xuanshe had given him over twenty thousand Experience Points. Truly befitting a level 60 Elite Monster—tough to fight, but the experience was rich indeed.
The Heishui Xuanshe practically exploded with loot, gifting them a super-sized goodie bag. It left behind four bone beads, two flying swords, a total of seven pieces of Fifth-Tier equipment. It perfectly worked out to one piece each, besides Blood Colored Poppy and Fang Geyin, eliminating the need for any tedious distribution choices.
A thought flashed through Ye Rong’s mind. He chose one of the Fifth-Rank bone beads. He’d just seen that crafting a Mysterious Feminine Pearl required a bead-type magical treasure. Whether he’d succeed in crafting it later or not, preparing early was never a mistake.
Profound Nether Bone Pearl, Fifth-Rank Magical Treasure.
With the water realm summoned by the Heishui Xuanshe gone, Ye Rong’s three-hundred-zhang expanse of marsh naturally lost its doubling effect. It soon reached its time limit and dissipated automatically.
“Yijian, this was all thanks to you back there. Otherwise, whether we would’ve managed to get through that smoothly is still unknown,” Blood Colored Poppy said, still visibly shaken.
He had, at best, expected Yijian Kurong to delay the Baiman disciples for some time. He’d even braced himself for the worst-case scenario of a party wipe here. Yet, Yijian’s performance surpassed everyone’s wildest hopes. Before the five of them could finish off the Heishui Xuanshe, he had turned the tables and wiped out all twelve Baiman disciples by himself.
Facing twelve capable Baiman disciples simultaneously—even Graceful Dream Butterfly wouldn’t confidently claim victory, let alone outperform what Yijian Kurong had pulled off.
The gazes the others turned on Ye Rong also shifted, filled with astonishment and disbelief. No matter what methods he had used, the plain fact before them was that twelve Baiman disciples lay dead as a group, wiped out, while he stood there perfectly unharmed.
“That water elemental magic was terrifying! We absolutely mustn’t fight him in water areas in the future!”
Similar thoughts arose in the minds of the others. They had all glimpsed bits of that earlier battle, witnessing firsthand the spectacular sight of countless water currents crashing towards them, aquatic beasts churning within the waves. It was like witnessing the River God’s wrath, rivers and streams turning upside down.
Ye Rong himself felt relief. After the Sect Minor Competition, when choosing his reward, he had picked the Green Dragon Ornate Feather Robe, that Ninth-Rank Daoist robe, specifically because of the Golden Cabinet Water Manor and Dujiangyan Waters considerations.
It truly hadn’t disappointed his expectations; it had far exceeded them. Without that robe, he couldn’t have gotten through earlier so easily.
“We’ve defeated this Heishui Xuanshe. The next level down holds the Barren God Giants and the Mechanism Blueprint hidden in the Ancient Tomb’s third layer.”
What existed within the Ancient Tomb’s third layer, whether there was still a guardian Boss, were all unknowns. Blood Colored Poppy’s expression held both joy and worry. If there truly was another guardian Boss, judging by the patterns of the first two layers, the Boss on the third layer would likely be a terrifying monster their group simply couldn’t handle.
“Let’s just go down! Have we come all this way just to retreat and cower now?” Fang Geyin shouted loudly and stepped forward first towards the teleportation light mirror.
“Fang Geyin is right. I overthought it, no need to be so cautious and hesitant now,” Blood Colored Poppy admitted.
The group checked their equipment. Anyone who needed it consumed various pills to replenish themselves, ensuring their condition was at its peak.
“All disciples of Tianshu Hall must assemble at the Main Hall entrance before the hour of Shen for an important meeting! Attendance is mandatory!”
Ye Rong froze. He had suddenly received this Sect notification out of the blue, with absolutely no warning.
What major event could prompt the Sect to gather all Tianshu Hall disciples right now?
“Yijian, is something the matter?” The Long-Legged Lady asked with concern, noticing his pause.
“Nothing,” Ye Rong shook his head and followed the group again.
It was now only about twenty minutes until Shen hour. If he dropped out of the party right now and used the Green Leaf Bamboo Talisman to teleport back to the Sect, he could make it just in time. But quitting now would break his promise to his teammates and make the effort thus far all for nothing; he wouldn’t get the thirty thousand taels of silver Herbal Hall had promised.
That was thirty thousand taels of silver! It represented money Ye Rong would have to save for a very, very long time.
“I’ll aim to finish the tomb exploration quicker! Worst case, I’m a few minutes late. As the Chief of Tianshu Hall, I must have some privilege, right?”
The moment they entered the third layer of the Ancient Tomb, dozens of sky-scraping, incredibly conspicuous Mechanical Puppets came into view immediately. These were the Barren God Giants, the main objective of their trip.
These Mechanical Puppets were clearly damaged and defunct, standing inertly frozen in place.
Separating Ye Rong and his companions from the Barren God Giants were hundreds of dull-looking wooden puppets. Each held an identical bamboo sword, blocking their path.
Blood Colored Poppy tentatively attacked. A streak of starlight smashed hard onto one puppet. It merely staggered back two steps. His expression first shifted dramatically, but quickly returned to normal as he realized these puppets moved incredibly slowly.
“These Mechanical Puppets just have ridiculously strong defense! With this speed, they can’t hit us at all! We’ll break them one by one!” he yelled, charging directly into the crowd of puppets, not even waiting for the Taiyi Five Smoke Net defense from the Long-Legged Lady.
Watching his teammates excitedly “bullying” these slow defenders, Ye Rong forced a wry smile. How inconvenient. Just when he wanted to rush through the third layer quickly, he was saddled with this time-consuming, grinding task requiring slow, meticulous clearance.
“No choice, fight hard!”
Ye Rong let out a clear cry, throwing himself into the fray as well, as if these Mechanical Puppets were ancient enemies he owed a blood debt to. His pair of flying swords unleashed a level of precision and ruthlessness he hadn’t even shown against the Ghost-devouring Taoist. Each sword thrust sought out the pivotal weaknesses in the puppets.
Although these puppets’ defense was strong, they were, after all, mechanical constructs with unavoidable design flaws. Heavy attacks concentrated on the joints of their limbs left them missing arms or legs, wobbling precariously before Ye Rong finally wore down their defense and shattered them with a final blade strike.
Clang! The bamboo sword dropped from its hand. Ye Rong, of course, didn’t miss it. Flying swords being dropped as loot upon defeating an enemy – that was only logical!
Cold Bamboo Sword, Fourth-Rank Flying Sword.
Ye Rong glanced at it briefly before stuffing it into his Universe Pouch. The bamboo sword was indeed a product of Zhushan, part of a complete set from bottom to top.
Zhushan flying swords were famously easy to obtain in the Far Shore. Early on, most disciples in the sect already had a Fourth-Rank bamboo sword. Unfortunately, this corresponded to their attributes being notoriously terrible. It was unique in the Far Shore for a Fourth-Rank flying sword to have absolutely no attached spell.
The only special attribute involved was needing to collect a certain number of specific bamboo swords to form a particular bamboo sword array.
Even Fifth-Rank flying swords from Zhushan were less popular at auction than some well-attribute Fourth-Rank swords from other places.
Seeing that these puppets dropped Zhushan-series bamboo swords, Ye Rong’s interest plummeted. But adopting a ‘waste-not’ attitude, he collected them anyway. They had to be worth some money.
He quickly understood what “Zhushan flying swords are easy to get” meant. Smashing four puppets dropped three Cold Bamboo Swords! With the number of puppets here, the accumulated bamboo swords could probably form a formidable formation.
“Holy! Buy one, get one free! Getting two at once like this?”
Ye Rong fought so fiercely he quickly pushed deep into the puppet ranks, encountering a few larger models holding bamboo swords wreathed in arcs of lightning. For him, it just took a little extra grinding time.
This type of puppet, when defeated, dropped two bamboo swords! Ye Rong nearly teared up. Why didn’t you big-shot Bosses drop like this earlier during those fights?
Thunder Bamboo Sword, Fifth-Rank Flying Sword; Yin Bamboo Sword, Fourth-Rank Flying Sword.
Even if the bamboo swords had poor attributes and were virtually worthless, this drop rate was something that left Ye Rong feeling deeply unused and strangely disconcerted.
“If the heavens gift it to you but you don’t take it, you’ll suffer backlash. If the System Deity gives it to you, you don’t take it…that’s basically fighting against your own wallet!”
…
Qingcheng, Qixia Peak, before the Sect Main Hall.
“What’s going on? Shen hour has passed! Where is Yijian Kurong?”
Long Wushuang paced back and forth, his tone loud and clearly dissatisfied.
“Exactly! Making fifteen of us wait for him alone is just too unacceptable!” someone immediately echoed. These people weren’t just opposing Yijian Kurong; they were opposing whoever held the position of Chief of Tianshu Hall. If someone else sat there, they would act the same way.
Of course, most remained silent, simply waiting quietly.
After all, Yijian Kurong would remain the undisputed Chief of Tianshu Hall for at least another two and a half months. Why play the bad guy and offend him needlessly? Annoying him enough that he left an extremely poor evaluation for players within their faction could sink their path to becoming Inner Hall Disciples.
“Since everyone else is already here, why wait just for him? Let’s start the meeting!” Long Wushuang declared sharply, his brows furrowed. He strode purposefully towards the tightly shut doors of the Main Hall, intent on entering ahead of schedule.