Chapter 75: Foundation Arrival
The sky had completely darkened, and the braziers in the camp were lit, turning the night into a chaotic gray.
The assassination of Lu Wangji, the killing of Zhou Ye, the beheading of Chen Linchuan, the severing of Qun Yushu's arm—any one of these events alone could shake the entire Court of Liang, overturn countless lives, and necessitate a redivision of many interests. Yet now, they had all occurred in quick succession, as if naturally ordained, and no one paid them any heed.
The servants, soldiers, and young scions in the camp were so miserly with their attention that they didn’t even glance at the losers of the confrontation. Everyone held their breath, focusing solely on the single victor, waiting for her to declare her will.
The noble clans had lost. The Third-Stage Messenger had fallen.
The commoner Black Band had won. The Second-Stage Messenger stood firm atop the woodland.
When the unbelievable unfolded before their eyes, everyone swiftly accepted the reality. Some fled, some trembled in fear, but even more wore expressions of heartfelt approval. When the weak make progress, you praise her; when she matches you, you feel uneasy; when she surpasses you, you grow jealous and even hostile; but when she tramples those you recognize as the strong, you begin to revere her.
Dignity was merely a product of circumstance. One moment, it demanded you despise her; the next, it insisted you respect her. The Nine-Rank System, levels, bloodline—those deeply ingrained social imprints forged over countless years—vanished in that instant, leaving only the instinctive yearning for strength... People were not as rational as they imagined.
Perhaps the one with the most complicated feelings was Jie Yuanshao.
At first, she felt sympathy and indignation for Jiang Ten's suffering. But after Jiang Ten rejected everyone's goodwill and, defying all taboos, attempted to assassinate Lu Wangji, even she believed Jiang Ten had gone mad beyond redemption. Killing Lu Wangji meant offending the Court and the noble clans—not merely foolish, but a suicidal madness.
Until Jiang Ten produced the Legendary Token: Bingzi Pepper Forest.
Unlike the emotional Shang Xinlei and Qian Gongyu, Jie Yuanshao, though deeply shocked, wanted very much to feel happy for Jiang Ten. Yet no matter how she tried to reason with herself, she could not ease the torment gnawing at her heart like ten thousand ants.
This emotion peaked when Jiang Ten slew Zhou Ye and Chen Linchuan. When Jie Yuanshao saw her pass by Jie Zilong, a dark thought—one even she dared not believe—arose in her mind: she was hoping Jiang Ten would kill her third uncle.
If Jiang Ten killed her third uncle, Jie Yuanshao would have an excuse to hate her without guilt, to sever all past ties completely.
But Jiang Ten didn’t.
Shang Yue and Jie Zilong were nearly unscathed. Everyone knew Jiang Ten spared them out of consideration for her. But precisely because of that, Jie Yuanshao felt suffocated, as if drowning in a sea of crushing, tangible pressure.
What’s wrong with me? I should be grateful to her. So why does it hurt so much inside? Am I... am I even... hating her?
Suddenly, her right hand was grabbed by something soft and furry, pulling her back from the suffocating depths to the clear and open camp. Jie Yuanshao turned her head and saw it was Qian Gongyu’s hand. Due to her transformation, her hand had become a fluffy paw, and being held like this felt like being tightly hugged by a tanuki.
So gentle it melted the heart.
"Are you okay?" Qian Gongyu asked, eyes full of concern. "Yuanshao, you look really upset."
Shang Xinlei gave them a glance. With her innate sevenfold perceptive mind, she naturally noticed the shift in Jie Yuanshao’s emotions. But this wasn’t something she could interfere with. Often, emotions couldn’t be reasoned with.
There was no malice. She sincerely wished for her to become better. But when that “better” surpassed all expectations, discomfort followed.
Shang Xinlei wasn’t particularly magnanimous herself, but she had the Thieves' House, many opportunities, and more importantly—she knew Yan Qing. In her understanding, Jiang Ten was subordinate to Yellow Dog, and she, Red Snake, held the same rank as Yellow Dog. So no matter how high Jiang Ten climbed, she could never surpass her. That was why she could calmly accept Jiang Ten’s meteoric rise.
That’s what friends were like—messy when close, messy when estranged.
Shang Xinlei reached out and rubbed Qian Gongyu’s tiger ears, thinking how wonderful it would be if everyone were like her. Qian Gongyu impatiently shook her head, but Shang Xinlei insisted, leaving her no choice but to give in.
Suddenly, the camp erupted in noise. They looked up and saw Jiang Ten ‘looting corpses’. She didn’t care at all that everyone was watching, squatting down to search Zhou Ye and Chen Linchuan’s bodies for tokens.
The Zhou and Chen clan members stirred restlessly at the sight. None dared to speak ill of Jiang Ten, so they called out to Qun Yushu, Shang Yue, and Jie Zilong. But all three were either maimed or beaten into defeat. Seeing that Jiang Ten wasn’t desecrating corpses, they let her be.
After finishing her looting, Jiang Ten walked toward the Total Scoreboard. As she passed by Shang Xinlei and the others, she neither turned her head nor paused her gaze for a moment.
Fearing Qian Gongyu would act rashly, Shang Xinlei quickly grabbed her arm. "Don’t speak. Jiang Ten is ignoring us for our sake. She has no standing left in Liang now. The Qun Family, Zhou Family, Chen Family... even the Shang Family and Jie Family won’t let her go. Being friendly with us would only harm us."
"I know," Qian Gongyu replied, surprisingly composed. "I’ll align my story with yours. We’ll all state that Jiang Ten isn’t really close to us—in fact, she didn’t talk to us much. We barely knew her." As she finished, her mood inevitably sank again, and her round ears drooped.
"Though I want to console you by saying it's just her personality," said Shang Xinlei, "to be honest, I think Jiang Ten never intended to make friends in the first place. She only wanted to participate in the Mansu Woodland and leave right after it ended. Her aloofness comes from her total disinterest in forming bonds."
"I think so too..."
"That's why you should feel proud." Shang Xinlei rubbed Qian Gongyu’s head. "Such an ice-cold beauty who had locked away her heart, in the end, was conquered by you, and even chose to stay for your sake."
"Ah? Me?" Qian Gongyu pointed at herself, stunned. "That can’t be right—she didn’t join my family. She joined either your family or the Jie Family!"
"To her, is there really a difference between the Shang Family, Jie Family, Qun Family, and Chen Family? Do you think she had a particularly good relationship with any of us? Then why did she accept our offer in the end?" Shang Xinlei wrapped an arm around Qian Gongyu’s shoulders. "It’s because she’s close to you. She joined our families for you. She stayed for you, silly tiger."
"I don’t believe you. Xinlei, you’re always sweet-talking me." Qian Gongyu looked doubtful and turned to Jie Yuanshao. "Yuanshao, you say something."
Jie Yuanshao squeezed Qian Gongyu’s fluffy paw and nodded. "About seventy percent of the reason Jiang Ten agreed was because of you. The remaining thirty percent was due to her positive relationship with us and the generous conditions offered by our families. By the way, since when did you start calling me by name? Quite bold of you. But..."
"If you’re willing to transform into a tiger every time you see me, I’ll allow you to call me by my name."
"So now you understand, right?" Shang Xinlei grabbed Qian Gongyu’s shoulders, showing a sly smile. "As long as we win you over, it’s the same as winning over Jiang Ten. Hehehe, little head of the Qian Family, you won’t be escaping our clutches from now on!"
Qian Gongyu shivered, hugged herself, and took two steps back, wearing an expression as if she were surrounded by two lecherous women.
Suddenly, a rainbow lit up in the distance.
"Jiang Ten: 11200 points" —this line of text transformed into a radiant rainbow that wove into a brilliantly glowing crystal treasure chest before Jiang Ten. Just from the appearance of the chest, one could tell her reward far outshone the others. Although it was only two thousand points more than the second-place Shang Xinlei, breaking the ten-thousand-point threshold upgraded the quality of her reward by an entire tier, which was only natural.
Three glowing orbs emerged from the crystal treasure chest. From left to right, they were a secret technique book, a token, and an unknown marvel shaped like a command medallion. Due to the distance, they couldn’t see clearly what lay inside the orbs. Before they could get closer for a better look, Jiang Ten had already made her choice—she took the secret technique book on the far left.
"Eh?"
Many people were surprised, because Jiang Ten had already comprehended the Secret Technique: Shadow-Split Blade during the previous battle. For her, a secret technique wasn’t an urgent need. Comparatively, a handy token might be of greater value. More importantly, given her lowly origins and limited exposure, could she really discern which reward was the most valuable?
Only Shang Xinlei vaguely guessed why Jiang Ten chose the secret technique book.
At that moment, thunder and fire suddenly erupted outside, followed by a roar of thunder that surged from afar—
"Beast, surrender your life!"
The night seemed to be torn apart. A blade arc formed of thunder slashed across more than a hundred steps with unabated might, like divine judgment descending upon Jiang Ten!
Even though the distance was far enough, the hair on Qian Gongyu and the others instantly stood on end. They felt as though they had brushed shoulders with death. The terrifying power compressed to its limit left their minds completely blank. When they snapped out of it, all they saw was a deep chasm on the grassland.
—A chasm carved out by that blade arc!
A single slash split heaven and earth, manipulated the heavens, and altered the terrain!
"She actually survived."
Only then did everyone notice a man standing atop the camp tent. He had a fine beard and long mustache, sword-like eyebrows, and a commanding presence in his robe armor. In his hand was a broad saber. He looked both like a gallant bandit and a fierce military general. Gazing coldly at the Jiang Ten who had just escaped death, he spoke in a frosty voice, "You missed your best end—what follows will be a fate worse than death."
"Greetings to the Thunder King of the Underworld Prison." Jie Zilong and the others immediately dropped their weapons and kneeled on one knee.
"Greetings to the Thunder King of the Underworld Prison!" Everyone in and outside the camp who was still alive exerted their utmost to display their reverence.
"Thunder King of the Underworld Prison, Chen Liexia," Shang Xinlei said with extreme difficulty, revealing his strength:
"Fourth-Stage Messenger, Foundation Realm powerhouse!"