Chapter 158: Merit Tasks, Arrow-Type Magical Treasures

Task One: Kill five Ghost Children under Nether Saint Xu Wan of Mount Beimang, retrieve their ghost tokens, and submit them.

Task Two: Collect three Extreme Yin Snow Lotuses from Min Mountain Snow Ridge; they must be the ones with nine full petals.

Task Three: Obtain control of an overseas Immortal Manor, hand it over to the sect to serve as Qingcheng’s overseas branch estate.

Task Four: Slay the Red Chi Dragon causing chaos in Taihu Lake, retrieve its Inner Elixir, and submit it.

None of these four tasks were easy to handle. Ye Rong’s face grew darker as he read them. He felt like kicking the Merit Stele.

Nether Saint Xu Wan of Mount Beimang was a figure on par with a Demonic Path cult leader. His Ghost Children might not be high-Level, just uniform Level 80 Elite Tier NPCs.

Ye Rong had been to Min Mountain Snow Ridge twice before, but the Extreme Yin Snow Lotuses grew only atop the ridge’s peak. The thousands of Snow Howlers up there had been alerted by his last visit. Without truly earth-shattering skills, anyone trying to enter would likely be vaporized by a single blast of Renwater Ice Thunder upon arriving.

As for helping the sect acquire an overseas Immortal Manor to serve as Qingcheng’s branch… never mind whether he had the ability; even if he actually got hold of one, he probably wouldn’t want to hand it over. The Merit Stele task reward likely wasn’t worth even one-tenth of an Immortal Manor.

The last task, the Red Chi Dragon in Taihu Lake, was an ultra-powerful monster of sub-dragon lineage. Though not comparable to the Coiled Hornless Dragon in the Tuo River, it was still a Level 100+ Elite Tier monster, possibly even Rare Grade.

It could probably spit him all the way back from Taihu Lake to Mount Qingcheng.

Difficulty-wise, killing the Red Chi Dragon might even top the list of the four tasks. Only when the average Player Level increased by thirty or so more Levels could they hope to defeat it through sheer numbers.

“Damn it, after struggling like mad to hit one hundred thousand Merit, I can’t even accept a single task?”

The Merit Stele didn’t list the rewards for these tasks, but there was no time limit for completing them. The catch: a Player could only accept one Merit Stele task at a time.

They couldn’t accept a new task until the current one was completed, nor could they abandon it.

Unwilling to give up, Ye Rong logged onto the Forum and searched frantically using keywords related to these tasks. He hit the official site to check if any disclosed monster information included Mount Beimang Ghost Children or the Red Chi Dragon.

“Got it! Mount Beimang Ghost Children happen to be one of the few NPCs with fully disclosed info!”

Mount Beimang Ghost Child: Elite Tier NPC, Level 80. Taiji Heart Sutra Level 20. Skills: Yin Phosphorus Poison Arrow, Yin Devil Grand Grasping Hand. Magical Treasures: A set of eighty-one Blood Fiend Banners; one string of eighteen White Bone Skulls.

When Ye Rong saw this information, he knew he was completely out of luck. These weren’t just useless Level 80 trash. They had Heart Sutra, Skills, and Equipment fully developed – truly worthy NPCs backed by Ghost Path Saints.

Moreover, Ghost Children usually appeared near Mount Beimang and always traveled in groups of three to five. Ambushing them sneakily was practically impossible.

After deliberating for a long while, Ye Rong decisively accepted the fourth task: kill the Red Chi Dragon in Taihu Lake and retrieve its Inner Elixir.

“This task has no time limit anyway. Better grab it first. Even if the chance of success is only one in ten thousand, it’s worth a shot.”

…

Inside the Five Peaks Residence, Senior Brother Chen Taizhen gently ran his hands over Ye Rong’s equipment, appraising every piece.

“Disciple Yijian, some of these are Demonic Path Magical Treasures. It’s better to use them sparingly to avoid contamination from evil Qi and demonic intent. If you insist on using them, find a high-ranking Buddhist master first to cleanse the Demonic Qi clinging to them.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Senior Brother.”

Ye Rong nodded. This time, he’d amassed a pile of equipment needing appraisal all at once. Of course, for the Bamboo Swords acquired in the Ancient Tomb, he just picked a few as representatives. Appraising them all would’ve used up every single appraisal slot he had.

Once he left the Five Peaks Residence, he stopped to examine the equipment one by another.

Black Bramble Thorns was just a common Second-Rank Demonic Weapon, destined for the Hidden Sword Pool trash pile. Not even worth refining using the Blood Sword Sky-Bursting Art. Even if it became a Third-Rank Flying Sword, what good would it do him?

As for the Fifth-Rank Magical Treasure, Profound Dark Bone Pearl, dropped by the Heishui Xuanshe, it was just a smooth orb, tinged with white, bone-like material. It could transform into a curtain of Profound Dark Water granting Defense Value 600. It also produced Profound Dark Heavy Water, each drop weighing a thousand pounds, aiming to overwhelm foes with force.

“This thing is useless right now, but it can be used to refine the Mysterious Feminine Pearl later. Exactly what’s needed for a pearl-type Magical Treasure.”

Based on the Profound Dark Bone Pearl’s stats alone, earning a spot in Ye Rong’s Talisman Slots would be tough.

But once refined into the Mysterious Feminine Pearl, everything would change. The top defensive treasure among the Seven Treasures of Hundred Venoms, its resilience was immense and near-indestructible. It also greatly amplified spells like Yin Devil Grand Grasping Hand and excelled at defiling opponent’s Magical Treasures and Flying Swords, forcibly snatching weapons and armor.

Once Ye Rong gained the necessary refinement skills later on, it would absolutely prove invaluable.

Thousand Spider Silk Pouch, Third-Rank Magical Treasure. Could hold up to thirty-six Insect Gus. Releasing them in battle took just a thought.

“So this Thousand Spider Silk Pouch was actually designed specifically for storing poisonous insects or Gus? That’s pretty rare. I’ll keep it. Pity I’m not a Five Venoms Disciple, or it’d be quite useful.”

Cultivating and refining poisonous insects or Gus never yielded just one or two. Having a huge swarm follow you around was impractical, hence the need for Insect Pouches like this.

High-grade brocaded Insect Pouches could even store hundreds or thousands of poisonous insects or Gus. In battle, without needing other Magical Treasures, simply releasing the pouch let the insects swarm out to attack, leaving their master free to kick back and watch.

As for the three types of Bamboo Swords – both Fourth-Rank and Fifth-Rank – their stats were pitifully low. Ye Rong truly understood now why the Far Shore community called the Bamboo Sword series the number one trash.

Whether Fourth-Rank (Yin Bamboo Sword, Cold Bamboo Sword) or the slightly higher-rank Thunder Bamboo Sword, their attributes lagged nearly fifty percent behind other Flying Swords of the same Rank.

Furthermore, the distinguished Fourth-Rank Flying Swords, Yin Bamboo Sword and Cold Bamboo Sword, had absolutely no additional spells attached. Their sole special attribute hinged on gathering a full eighty-one bamboo swords to form a specific Sword Array.

Eighty-one Yin Bamboo Swords formed the Yin Bamboo Great Array: the sword-wielder gained +500 Speed within the array and could gather Yin energy from Heaven and Earth, infusing the swords to add 50 points of Yin damage.

Eighty-one Cold Bamboo Swords formed the Cold Bamboo Great Array: trapped Players had Speed reduced by twenty percent. It possessed the Reversing Cold Light Sword skill (damage 600-650).

But even with Bamboo Swords being cheap, gathering eighty-one identical ones held difficulty. More critically, activating the Sword Array consumed True Qi at a terrifying rate.

Looking at himself: if equipped with eighty-one Cold Bamboo Swords to activate its array, Ye Rong estimated lasting maybe five or six seconds before running completely out of True Qi, collapsing the array.

“Seems the Bamboo Sword Arrays aren’t for ordinary folks to wield either.”

The Fifth-Rank Thunder Bamboo Sword had slightly better attributes, finally boasting attached spells: Orthodox Five Thunder Method – could unleash five bolts of Lightning with damage ranging 50-300; Shocking Thunder Sword Light – instant Speed boost of fifty percent, lasting ten seconds.

Similarly, eighty-one Thunder Bamboo Swords formed a Thunder Bamboo Great Array, granting +300 Speed, +200 Attack Power, and the skill Ten Thousand Thunders Clamor, capable of weaving a net of Lightning.

His own sect’s proudest skill was precisely this Bamboo Sword crafting art. Zhushan Players probably struggled daily, forced to use these Bamboo Swords for leveling and fighting. Their only consolation: Zhushan’s Chief Disciple, Windlike Man, ranked among the strongest Players in Far Shore.

Under his lead, Zhushan’s elite disciples were reasonably capable, definitely presentable.

Compared to those small sects lacking even a single superpower, Zhushan was doing pretty well.

Lastly came the Nether Toxic Bone Arrows. Ye Rong had picked up loads of these little bone arrows in the Ancient Tomb, hoping to assemble a full set. Fate, however, disappointed him on that count, though it brought another surprise.

Nether Toxic Bone Arrow, Second-Rank Arrow-Type Magical Treasure. Required a matching bow. Poison damage 40-45, and explosion effect – upon hit, affected everything within three Zhang. Usage limit: 3/3.

“Arrow-Type Magical Treasure? That’s bizarre! Pity I own no bow, or I’d test it out.”

It was Ye Rong’s first encounter with Arrow-Type Magical Treasures. He’d also never seen Players using bow-based treasures before. Definitely a rarity.

Don’t be fooled by the Nether Toxic Bone Arrow’s pathetic attack power. Its damage calculation differed from other treasures: it added to the base attack of the bow used—the combined damage from the Arrow-Type treasure and the bow being the final output.

Wielding a Fifth-Tier bow with matching Fifth-Tier arrows would likely outperform a pure Seventh-tier Magic Treasure, achieving truly terrifying results.

One Player in the top thirty of the Heavenly Ranking wielded a crystalline longbow. Any arrow shot through it gained an added freezing effect.

Another advantage of bow-based treasures: pairing them with different arrows yielded varying effects, adaptable to different battlefields for tremendous versatility.

High offense, wide applicability, and long attack range – add up all these merits and the value of bow-based treasures skyrocketed. Sadly, such treasures were scarce, especially higher-tiered ones.

This scarcity explained why super-strength Players wielding bow-type Magical Treasures were vanishingly rare, adding to their mystique.