Chapter 63: The Wind Rises
When the tribe leader fell, only three of the five advanced statues remained, and all the lower-tier statues had their durability reduced to zero.
Qian Gongyu and the others did not participate in the final battle. The vast difference in strength wasn’t something courage could bridge. The tribe leader could easily tear them apart with a single chain.
They waited quietly outside, watching Jiang Ten return triumphantly from the battlefield with two Ironblood Long Blades in hand.
"Are you alright?" Jiang Ten asked.
Qian Gongyu awkwardly covered the beast fur on her face and muttered, "I’m fine, it’ll fade in a few days..."
Jiang Ten suddenly squatted down and touched Qian Gongyu’s tail. She jumped in fright, clutching her rear with a flushed face, "Jiang Ten, what are you doing!? You—you—you, do you still remember you’re my guard?"
"Young Miss, I was wrong, okay?"
"Why did you add 'okay'! That’s completely insincere!"
"Jiang Ten." Jie Yuanshao let out a long sigh. "We did it."
"Yes, we did it." Jiang Ten walked over and gave Jie Yuanshao a big hug. "Thank you all for taking this risk with me."
Jie Yuanshao was stunned for a moment, then awkwardly returned the hug. She seemed unaccustomed to such intimate gestures.
Then Jiang Ten went to hug Qian Gongyu. "Young Miss, sorry for troubling you these past few days."
"Eh? Eh?" Qian Gongyu’s tail stood up straight, and she seemed flustered. "It—it wasn’t that much trouble… just a little bit…"
Before Jiang Ten could approach, Shang Xinlei had already thrown her arms around her. She held Jiang Ten tightly and whispered into her ear, "Jiang Ten, do you now think I’m someone you can rely on?"
Yan Qing from the Thieves’ House was briefly stunned before recalling this was Shang Xinlei’s response to an earlier conversation. He wanted to reply stubbornly, ‘I don’t need to rely on anyone,’ but thinking of Qian Gongyu and the others fighting desperately softened his heart.
That’s how games were—once you found good teammates who fought by your side, you couldn’t help but wonder if you could stay a team for life.
「You really got me this time.」
Shang Xinlei’s eyes lit up: 「So you’re saying—」
「Depends on which of you and the Jie Family offers a better price. I’m expensive, you know.」
Yan Qing ignored Shang Xinlei’s chatter and opened the system interface. He still had a lot to take care of.
「‘Silver Hunter’ milestone achieved.」
「Next monster wave will attack in 54:35」
「You’ve comprehended ‘Advanced Footwork’, current level 10」
「You’ve comprehended ‘Advanced Dual-Blade Technique’, current level 5」
「Your Vital Energy and Blood increased by 1」
「Your Spirit Soul increased by 1」
「Your Dexterity increased by 1.5」
「You’ve reached level 20!」
「Congratulations on reaching level 20. Would you like to initiate your second job change now? Note: Class depends on gameplay experience and skill proficiency.」
Yan Qing took a deep breath, unable to suppress his excitement.
He hadn’t expected the first character to reach Second Job Change wouldn’t be ‘Ye Si’, but this four-day-old ‘Jiang Ten’!
It just proved how right the choice of the Woodland Messenger class was. Just one day of skill grinding in the Mansu Woodland with ‘Jiang Ten’ equaled more than ten days of hard work with ‘Ye Si’!
Three selection boxes appeared on the screen, listing three available classes:
「Dual-Blade Messenger (Rare)」
「Attribute Bonus: Vital Energy and Blood +8, Spirit Soul +2, Dexterity +10」
「Dual Blades (Blue Trait): When wielding two long blades, each effective strike inflicts 3 bleed damage per second for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 10 times.」
「Ghostly Dance (Blue Trait): After every 5 consecutive attacks, your next strike will always be a critical hit.」
/
「Blade Messenger (Precious)」
「Attribute Bonus: Vital Energy and Blood +10, Spirit Soul +2, Dexterity +8」
「Blur (Blue Trait): After triggering a Perfect Dodge, you enter a one-frame absolute blur state, allowing you to evade even large-area attacks.」
「Blink Assault (Blue Trait): After triggering a Perfect Dodge, your next attack can dash up to ten steps.」
「Flawless Blade (Gold Trait): After triggering five Perfect Dodges and taking no damage, you enter the Flawless Blade state. In this state, all your melee attacks deal double damage. This state ends upon taking any damage and has a cooldown of 600 seconds.」
/
「Wandering Messenger (Precious)」
「Attribute Bonus: Vital Energy and Blood +20, Spirit Soul +10, Dexterity +10」
「Woodland Kin (Gold Trait): While in the Mansu Woodland, all your attributes temporarily increase by 50.」
「Mansu’s Blessing (Gold Trait): When opening treasure chests in the Mansu Woodland, you gain one additional selection.」
「Woodland Roam (Gold Trait): When more than a thousand trees are within a one-kilometer radius, it counts as being in the Mansu Woodland.」
A rare class and two precious classes!
Yan Qing knew that rare classes started appearing after the second job change, but he didn’t expect to get this lucky—three options all above standard, each with their own strengths, and none of them useless.
The Dual-Blade Messenger was clearly the safest choice, offering stable damage boosts and reliable triggers. Choosing it guaranteed no loss.
The Blade Messenger, however, was very technical. Blur and Blink Assault were just icing on the cake, but Flawless Blade was a gold trait that could fundamentally change combat. All damage doubled—yet the activation condition was harsh, and once damaged, the state would end and require ten minutes to reactivate. If the player lacked skill, Flawless Blade might as well not exist.
The Wandering Messenger was an upgraded version of the Woodland Messenger. Not only did Woodland Kin boost all attributes by 50 instead of just comprehension, but the Woodland Roam trait made the class endlessly versatile—so long as trees were nearby, the attribute boost remained. Not to mention, Wandering Messenger had the highest base stat bonus: other classes only added 20 points total, but it alone added 40 points!
There was logic in choosing any of the three classes. All had their uses. So which one was the best?
By the time Yan Qing had finished handling everything, the others had mostly recovered. Shang Xinlei stood up and stretched, "Let’s go back."
"Mm," Jie Yuanshao said. "Jiang Ten, Qian Gongyu, don’t say a word. Let Shang Xinlei and me handle it."
"Hurry up, I’m starving." Qian Gongyu rubbed her stomach. "I always get super hungry after transforming."
"Don’t forget to take the Blood Weapon." Shang Xinlei fastened the Iron Throwing Ring to her waist. "Whether we get a Legendary Token later depends on this. Oh, Miss Jie—"
"I know, I’ll keep it hidden. We’ll only say it’s a First-Stage Token."
The four of them passed through the Dense Fog and returned from the Mansu Woodland to the real world. Outside, dusk had fallen. Campfires lit up the camp, casting an orange glow across the jungle.
Without a doubt, a large crowd was waiting outside. From afar, Jie Yuanshao saw Jie Zilong and waved, saying, "Third Uncle, we—"
"Halt!"
With a stern shout, dozens of crossbowmen across the camp raised their Divine Crossbows and aimed at Jiang Ten and the others. The killing intent prickled their skin, making Jie Yuanshao’s group’s scalps go numb. The Liang Kingdom’s Divine Crossbows were forged from fine iron sourced from Secret Realms. One bolt might not break through a defensive token, but dozens at once could pierce even Second-Stage defenses instantly!
But after fear came overwhelming rage. Shang Xinlei stepped forward, her voice defiant, "I am Shang Xinlei of the Shang Family. Who dares harm me? Who dares kill me?!"
"Xinlei, calm down."
Hearing that voice, Shang Xinlei froze. She turned toward the sound and saw a sickly pale young man in the crowd, and asked in surprise, "Big Brother? Why are you here?"
"You’ve caused quite the stir here. How could I not come?" Shang Yue coughed and smiled gently. "Don’t worry. This is just Lu Xiaoqi investigating a case. He won’t falsely accuse you."
"Yuanshao," Jie Zilong also said. "It’s alright. Let’s hear what he has to say first."
With both of their close relatives speaking, Jie Yuanshao and Shang Xinlei couldn’t argue further. But the current scene made them feel things had spiraled completely out of their control. It felt like... the Seven Great Clans had reached a consensus.
Lu Wangji stepped out from the crowd and motioned with his hand. Someone brought over a folded blanket and laid it on the grass. The moment people saw it, Qian Gongyu immediately gagged and vomited—it contained a mutilated corpse!
The body had been subjected to extreme cruelty, either before or after death. It bore dozens of blade wounds, yet the body remained horrifyingly intact.
"Today at noon, someone discovered that the Luo Family’s Second Young Master was murdered in the camp," Lu Wangji said flatly. "The killer’s methods were brutal, defying law and status, murdering a noble heir in what seemed like a rage-driven act."
"According to interrogation, a servant saw Jiang Ten, guard of the Qian Family, wandering near the Luo Family’s carriage that night."
"This camp is under the direct jurisdiction of the Son of Heaven. As his personal guard, I am temporarily responsible for interrogation to uncover the truth. I now need to inspect Jiang Ten’s blade to see if it matches the wounds on the corpse."
"Jiang Ten, please cooperate with this investigation."