Chapter 63: Winds Rising

When the tribal leader fell, only three of the five advanced statues remained, and all the low-level statues had their durability reduced to zero.

Qian Gongyu and the others did not participate in the final battle; the immense gap in strength could not be bridged by mere courage. Any random chain from the tribal leader could have torn them to pieces. They stood outside and waited quietly, watching Jiang Shi walk back in triumph from the battlefield, carrying two iron-blood longswords.

"Are you alright?" Jiang Shi asked.

Covering the beast fur on her face with a somewhat embarrassed expression, Qian Gongyu muttered muffledly, "I'm fine, it'll fade in a couple of days..."

Suddenly, Jiang Shi squatted down and touched Qian Gongyu's tail. Startled, Qian Gongyu covered her backside, her face turning completely red. "Jiang Shi, what are you doing!? You, you, you, do you still remember that you're my bodyguard?"

"Big Miss, my bad-o."

"Why did you add an '-o'?! Totally devoid of sincerity!"

"Jiang Shi," Jie Yuanshao let out a long breath, "we did it."

"Yes, we did it." Jiang Shi walked over and gave Jie Yuanshao a generous hug. "Thank you all for accompanying me on this adventure."

Jie Yuanshao was taken aback for a moment, but soon returned the embrace. She seemed to have never engaged in such an intimate gesture before, and her movements were somewhat stiff.

Then Jiang Shi went over to hug Qian Gongyu: "Big Miss, sorry for the trouble these past few days."

"Eh? Eh?" Qian Gongyu's tail stood straight up, completely flustered. "It, it wasn't really much trouble... just a tiny bit..."

Before Jiang Shi could even walk over, Shang Xinlei launched herself into a hug. She squeezed Jiang Shi tightly and whispered in his ear, "Jiang Shi, do you consider me someone you can rely on now?"

Yan Qing, the Thief of Homes, was slightly startled, only then realizing that Shang Xinlei was responding to their previous conversation. He would have loved to stubbornly reply, "I don't need to rely on anyone," but remembering Qian Gongyu and the others fighting for their lives, his heart softened uncontrollably.

Playing games was always like this; when you met good teammates to fight side-by-side with, you couldn't help but wonder if you could form a permanent party.

[I really yield to you guys.]

Shang Xinlei's eyes lit up: [That means—]

[Depends on whether you or the Jie family makes a higher offer. I am very expensive, you know.]

Ignoring the chattering Shang Xinlei, Yan Qing opened his system notifications. He still had many things to handle.

['Silver Hunter' milestone achieved.]

[The next wave of monsters will attack in 54:35]

[You have comprehended <Advanced Footwork>, current level: 10]

[You have comprehended <Advanced Dual-Blade Technique>, current level: 5]

[Your Vitality increased by 1]

[Your Divine Soul increased by 1]

[Your Agility increased by 1.5]

[You have leveled up to Level 20!]

[Congratulations player for reaching Level 20. Do you wish to undergo the second class advancement immediately? Note: The class is related to the player's gaming experience and skill proficiency.]

Yan Qing took a deep breath, unable to suppress the excitement in his heart.

He hadn't expected that the first alt to undergo second advancement wouldn't be "Night Four," but rather "Jiang Shi," who had been born just four days ago!

It was safe to say that choosing the Woodland Messenger class was the absolute right decision. Just spending a day grinding skill proficiency in the Somnus Woodlands was enough to rival over a dozen days of hard work by "Night Four"!

Three boxes appeared on the screen, listing three optional classes:

[Dual-Blade Messenger (Rare)]
[Attribute Bonus: Vitality +8, Divine Soul +2, Agility +10]
[Dual-Blades (Blue Trait): When simultaneously wielding two longswords as weapons, each valid attack inflicts 3 points/second of bleeding damage for 10 seconds, stackable up to 10 times.]
[Demon Dance (Blue Trait): For every 5 consecutive attacks, your next attack is guaranteed to trigger a critical hit.]

/

[Blade Messenger (Precious)]
[Attribute Bonus: Vitality +10, Divine Soul +2, Agility +8]
[Blur (Blue Trait): Triggering a perfect dodge grants you one frame of absolute blur status, allowing you to evade even large-scale area attacks.]
[Flash Raid (Blue Trait): After triggering a perfect dodge, your next attack can dash up to ten paces forward.]
[Flawless Blade (Golden Trait): Triggering five perfect dodges without taking any damage places you in the Flawless Blade state. In this state, the damage dealt by all your melee attacks is multiplied by 2. Taking any damage exits this state. This state has a built-in cooldown of 600 seconds.]

/

[Roaming Messenger (Precious)]
[Attribute Bonus: Vitality +20, Divine Soul +10, Agility +10]
[Woodland Kinship (Golden Trait): When you are in the Somnus Woodlands, all your attributes are temporarily +50.]
[Somnus Blessing (Golden Trait): During chest settlement in the Somnus Woodlands, you gain one extra selection opportunity.]
[Woodland Roaming (Golden Trait): As long as there are more than one thousand trees within a radius of one kilometer around you, you are considered to be in the Somnus Woodlands.]

One rare class, two precious classes!

Although Yan Qing knew that rare classes would start appearing from the second advancement, he hadn't expected his luck to be this good today. All three classes were above standard, each with its own strengths and not a single dud among them.

The Dual-Blade Messenger was clearly the most steady choice, offering stable output enhancement and reliable trigger conditions. Choosing it guaranteed no losses.

The Blade Messenger heavily tested player skill. Blur and Flash Raid could only be considered icing on the cake, but the Flawless Blade golden trait was a qualitative transformation, doubling all damage. However, its trigger conditions were exceptionally harsh, and once damaged and forced out of the Flawless Blade state, one had to wait ten minutes to trigger it again. If the player lacked skill, the Flawless Blade golden trait would effectively be non-existent.

The Roaming Messenger was an upgraded version of the Woodland Messenger. Not only did "Woodland Kinship" upgrade from Comprehension +50 to all attributes +50, but the "Woodland Roaming" trait also filled this class with infinite possibilities—as long as one could ensure the surrounding area was filled with trees, all attributes would remain permanently boosted by 50 points! Not to mention that the Roaming Messenger provided the highest base attribute bonuses; other classes only added 20 base points, while this one directly added 40 points!

There were valid reasons to choose any of these classes, and all of them had their uses. Which one should he pick?

By the time Yan Qing finished handling his business, the others had rested enough. Shang Xinlei stood up and stretched. "Let's go back."

"Alright," Jie Yuanshao said. "Jiang Shi, Qian Gongyu, don't say a word later. Shang Xinlei and I will handle it."

"Let's hurry, I'm starving," Qian Gongyu said, rubbing her stomach. "I'm always extra hungry after transforming."

"Don't forget to take the blood artifact." Shang Xinlei tucked the loop-shaped blood artifact into her waist belt. "Whether we get a legendary token in the future depends on this. Oh, and Big Miss Jie—"

"I know, I'll keep it a secret. Externally, I'll only say this is a first-tier advancement token."

The four of them passed through the thick fog, returning from the Somnus Woodlands to the real world. At this time, the sun was setting in the west, close to twilight. Fire basins had been lit in the camp, casting an orange-yellow glow across the jungle.

Undoubtedly, a large crowd was waiting outside. Spotting Jie Zilong in the distance, Jie Yuanshao waved and called out, "Third Uncle, we—"

"Halt!"

With a sharp shout, dozens of crossbowmen stationed throughout the camp raised their divine-mechanism crossbows, aiming at "Jiang Shi" and the others. The pricking sensation of a murderous aura instantly made Jie Yuanshao and the others' scalps go numb. Liang State's divine-mechanism crossbows were forged from fine iron produced in secret realms. A single crossbow bolt might not pierce a defensive token, but dozens of bolts firing in unison could instantly shred even a second-tier defensive token!

Yet, following the fear came towering rage. Walking in the front, Shang Xinlei's voice held not a shred of fear: "I am Shang Xinlei of the Shang family! Who dares to harm me? Who dares to kill me?!"

"Xinlei, calm down."

Hearing this voice, Shang Xinlei froze for a moment. Following the sound, she saw the sickly pale young man standing among the crowd, and asked in surprise, "Eldest Brother? Wh-why are you here?"

"You've accomplished such a monumental deed here, how could I not come?" Shang You coughed, smiling slightly. "Don't rush, Commander Lu is just investigating a case; he won't wrong you."

"Yuanshao," Jie Zilong also said, "it's fine, listen to what he has to say first."

With both close relatives speaking up, Jie Yuanshao and Shang Xinlei naturally had no way to refute them further. Yet, facing the current formation, they faintly sensed that the matter had completely spiraled beyond their control, as if... the Seven Great Families had reached a consensus.

Lu Wangji stepped forward from the crowd. He beckoned with his hand, and someone carried a bedding roll onto the grass. Upon seeing it, Qian Gongyu felt a wave of nausea and vomited—the bedding wrapped up a shattered, mutilated corpse!

Moreover, the person had been subjected to extremely cruel treatment either before or after death, with dozens of blade scars hacked into the body, yet miraculously preserved in a state of being broken without falling apart completely.

"At noon today, someone discovered that the Luo family's second young master was murdered in the camp. The culprit's methods were cruel, defying state laws, subverting social hierarchy, and murdering a scion of a noble family in a manner akin to venting fury," Lu Wangji said indifferently. "Through interrogation, a servant was found who witnessed the Qian family's bodyguard, Jiang Shi, wandering near the Luo family second young master's carriage that night."

"The Somnus Camp is under the emperor's direct jurisdiction. As the emperor's personal guard, this official temporarily assumes the duty of interrogation to uncover the truth of this matter. Now, I need to inspect Jiang Shi's sabers to see if they match the blade marks on the corpse."

"Jiang Shi, please cooperate with this official's investigation."