Chapter 50: Short-Sightedness and Shallow Ambitions

Yan Qing pressed the teapot, poured out the first brew, and discarded it. He then poured the second brew and took a sip. At first, it tasted slightly astringent, but the aftertaste was long-lasting and lingering, somewhat resembling Tieguanyin.

His life had certainly improved of late; he had even acquired a complete set of tea utensils. Over the past couple of days, banquets had been held daily, filled with rich meats and delicacies, leaving him with no choice but to drink some tea to cut through the greasiness and prevent constipation.

Logically speaking, shouldn't he also be considered a game character? After all, his name was listed in the character slot. But why did none of the other game characters need to take a dump, yet he alone retained such a backward function?

Or could it be that Ye Si and Jiang Shi had been secretly relieving themselves when he wasn't playing?

Lost in these rambling thoughts, Yan Qing watched as "Jiang Shi" returned to the Qian family carriage.

Qian Gongyu had just finished bathing, her hair still radiating moisture as she wore a thin, lightweight silk nightgown. Upon seeing "Jiang Shi," she pinched her nose and said, "You're reeking of sweat. Go take a bath right now; the water is still hot."

When "Jiang Shi" went to wash up, the steam instantly obscured the entire screen, leaving Yan Qing able to see only a few parts, such as the head, shoulders, and arms. At that moment, Qian Gongyu walked in again, leaned against the side of the wooden tub, and asked, "Jiang Shi, are you planning to go to the Jie family or the Shang family? It should be the Jie family, right? After all, their terms are much better."

"Did you overhear?"

"You two were chatting right by the doorway. I caught a little bit of it."

After the banquet concluded, Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuanshao had very tacitly approached one after the other to recruit "Jiang Shi." The terms offered by Shang Xinlei were undoubtedly the lowest: requiring five years of service to the Shang family before three tokens would be bestowed. Jie Yuanshao's offer was considerably better—four years of service in exchange for four tokens, and these four tokens could be chosen freely, picked at will from the Jie family's treasury.

However, both of them indicated that these were merely the baseline offers. Once they contacted their respective families, they would undoubtedly be able to offer even more superior conditions. Nor did they require "Jiang Shi" to give an immediate answer; once the three-day trial of the Mansole Woodland concluded, they were certain their families would attach even greater importance to "Jiang Shi."

Their recruitment efforts were primarily intended to demonstrate that they valued "Jiang Shi" just as much as Qun Yushu did.

Yan Qing cared little for serving noble houses. As a player battered and bruised by hardcore single-player games, he was already long accustomed to running around helping NPCs unclog toilets for the sake of a fraction of an advantage. Provided the price was right, whose toilet wasn't worth unclogging?

As long as the other party cooperated with integrity, Yan Qing was more than happy to trade labor for compensation.

Yet these people were all far too stingy, clutching their tokens tightly and refusing to let go, withholding them until a certain number of years of service had been fulfilled. But Yan Qing needed tokens right now to boost his combat power!

As for waiting a full year of work just to receive a token...

In the game *The Courier*, no matter how unskilled, casual, or derelict of a player one might be, as long as they persisted in playing for three hours every day, they were bound to reach the fourth tier in less than half a year. Even if cultivating to the fourth tier in this world proved somewhat more difficult and required twice the time, a single year would still be more than enough for Yan Qing to advance to the fourth tier.

Once I've reached the fourth tier of Foundation Establishment, would I still need your ordinary, white-tier tokens that are only good for selling to shops?

This was precisely why Yan Qing had directly appraised the "Guardian Jade Pendant" handed over by Qun Yushu—he naturally understood just how precious the game's basic function of "insight into all intelligence of a token" was in this world. It was equivalent to becoming the only literate person in a sea of illiterates; let alone becoming a public intellectual, becoming a prophet would be more than enough.

He also knew that once this ability was exposed, "Jiang Shi" would draw even greater covetous gazes.

Yet as long as the benefits were safely in hand, that was all that mattered.

Shang Xinlei had complained that "Jiang Shi" ought not to have displayed her appraisal ability, while Jie Yuanshao had gone so far as to bluntly state that "Jiang Shi's" unyielding arrogance and razor-sharp exposure were utterly short-sighted.

They could not comprehend why "Jiang Shi" was so desperately thirsty for tokens, nor why she refused to bide her time and build up her strength in pursuit of long-term benefits.

After all, to the overwhelming majority of people, biding one's time and accumulating strength steadily was undoubtedly the correct path; life was only lived once, after all, and one should look further ahead.

It was just that their "long-term view" was far too shallow in Yan Qing's eyes.

What Yan Qing was chasing was not some mere fourth tier of Foundation Establishment, but the highest-version seventh, eighth, and even ninth tiers. As long as he could scrape together enough equipment to survive the early-game beginner phase, he wouldn't mind offending every single aristocratic clan in this world in the slightest—though the aristocratic clans here monopolized resources, and plundering their gold coins was merely acting on behalf of heaven, Yan Qing had no intention of draping the cloak of justice over his actions. He was simply being ruthless by any means necessary.

Single-player gamers were simply built this way: as long as game mechanics permitted, whether through deception, theft, or robbery, whichever method worked best was the one employed. Game NPCs might label such practices as crimes, whereas players called it efficiency.

"The conditions they offered aren't great. I'll wait until the Mansole Woodland concludes and see what superior terms they come up with then."

"You call those conditions not great?" Qian Gongyu clicked her tongue in amazement. "Still, that's fine... Then you'll still be staying with me these next couple of days, right?"

"Of course, Eldest Miss."

"Heehee."

"Eldest Miss, tomorrow let's use our tokens to spar with one another."

"Ah? Oh, um... alright then."

Suddenly remembering something, Qian Gongyu ran off barefooted, only to run back just as barefooted, holding a box in her hands. "This is the spirit jade Xinlei gave me. Now that you've changed classes to become a courier, Jiang Shi, let's split it evenly!"

"This was given to you, not me, and besides, I'm not short on spirit jade."

"You're not short on it?" Qian Gongyu looked this way and that, before a sudden realization dawned on her. "Oh, you must have hidden the spirit jade inside your storage token."

She lowered her head to look at the box, her voice growing somewhat dejected. "That's true too. You have both weapon tokens and storage tokens; at a glance, you're clearly the descendant of some noble bloodline with high status. How could you possibly be short of spirit jade to use like I am..."

"Still, what's given for free shouldn't be refused."

"Jiang Shi" reached out and took half of the spirit jade from the box. "Consider this as the Eldest Miss's fee for hiring me as a bodyguard."

Qian Gongyu was momentarily stunned, feeling somewhat amused and exasperated. "This fee is way too high; spending three thousand spirit jade in just a few days..."

"But I'm worth it."

Qian Gongyu blinked, leaning against the edge of the tub to look at "Jiang Shi." Her eyes shimmered with rippling light as she gave a shallow smile and said, "That's true too."

...

Early the next morning, in the clearing before the entrance of the Mansole Woodland, three distinct groups of people had formed.

The largest group naturally consisted of the circle formed by the descendants of prominent families. The Mansole Woodland was a secret realm that lasted for three days; missing even a single day was equivalent to automatically giving up, so they had to continue stepping into the woodland today.

From time to time, they cast glances at the four individuals of "Jiang Shi," their eyes filled with a mixture of envy, jealousy, and resentment—they envied that the four of them didn't have to suffer in the woodland, they were jealous that "Jiang Shi" could influence the Mansole Woodland, and they resented even more that she simply refused to share this secret technique with everyone. How could they not resent the fact that a mere commoner with a black belt had used this to climb right above their heads?

The second group comprised Jie Zilong, Chen Linchuan, and Qun Yushu. The three of them would enter the Mansole Woodland together; if luck was on their side, they would form a single team, and if luck failed them, they would be assigned separately, as no one had yet managed to figure out the underlying rules by which the Mansole Woodland distributed teams.

The final group was none other than the four members of "Jiang Shi."

"Let's get going," Jie Zilong said. "They've already formed their teams anyway, and even if they entered alongside us, we wouldn't be assigned to the same group."

"Then I'll have to trouble the two seniors," Qun Yushu said with a smile.

Chen Linchuan accepted a heavy spear from an attendant and took the lead, stepping directly into the dense fog of the woodland, with the other two following closely behind. Once they had entered, "Jiang Shi" and her companions also set off, though even if they didn't enter together, they would still end up arriving at the exact same sanctuary.

Yet Qian Gongyu seemed entirely unaware of this, tightly locking her arm around "Jiang Shi's" arm. Upon seeing this, Shang Xinlei immediately grabbed "Jiang Shi's" other arm, while Jie Yuanshao, noticing this scene, hesitated for a moment before also reaching out to grasp the sleeve of Shang Xinlei's garment.

Passing through the brief shroud of dense fog, the sanctuary once more materialized before their eyes.

The sanctuary remained exactly in the state they had left it: the blade-fighter statue, the stone house, the ruined wooden crossbow, and the shattered perimeter wall. For some reason, upon arriving in this perilous place, Qian Gongyu felt her entire body relax, as though this place were somehow safer than the outside world.

Simultaneously, a new message popped up in the game:

"You have entered the Mansole Woodland."

"Based on your level, you are currently eligible to acquire the following milestone information:"

"Bronze Hunter: You have cleared the fifth stage of the Mansole Woodland."

"Silver Hunter: You have cleared the tenth stage of the Mansole Woodland."

"Gold Hunter: You have cleared the twentieth stage of the Mansole Woodland."

"Lord of the Woodland: You have cleared the ninety-ninth stage of the Mansole Woodland."