Treasure Artifact: Zhuge Divine Crossbow

Treasure Artifact: Zhuge Divine Crossbow

"What exactly happened just now?"

"You clearly didn't do anything. Why did that bandit keep fixating on you? Even until I killed him, you were still his primary target. Only when I blocked his path to attack you did he swing his blade at me?" After touching the bandit's corpse, the dropped items were automatically distributed into their backpacks. Youyou finally voiced her doubts.

Ye Weiming shook his head with a bitter smile. "I just learned a very powerful sword technique, but it's troublesome to activate. Still, judging from this, its taunt effect is top-notch."

Youyou immediately understood. "You wanted to test the power of that move?"

Ye Weiming nodded awkwardly. After all, he was wasting both of their time to test his martial arts.

Yet Youyou did not mind in the slightest. She waved a hand. "Keep testing. I'll protect you. This time, I won't use my hand crossbow. I'll just play with him slowly using my fists and feet."

What loyalty!

Eager to experience the active effect of Tai Shan's Secret, Ye Weiming did not stand on ceremony with her. He immediately began counting on his fingers again. The West Lake Bandit he locked onto instantly bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, roaring as he charged over.

With Youyou cooperating this time, Ye Weiming did not need to worry about his own safety at all. He focused solely on solving the math problems that popped up in the system interface.

One problem, two problems, three problems... five problems...

By the time Ye Weiming reached the seventh problem, the West Lake Bandit had been beaten to death by Youyou.

Youyou was a Tang Clan disciple who specialized in hidden weapons. How much power could her fist-and-foot Kung Fu possibly have? To lower her Attack Power, she had not even worn gloves.

But even so, by the time that West Lake Bandit kicked the bucket, Ye Weiming still had not successfully activated Tai Shan's Secret's active effect.

The practical value of this move was plain to see!

However, through this experiment, Ye Weiming discovered something remarkable: Youyou's fist-and-foot Kung Fu was genuinely impressive. This did not contradict her earlier claim that she had not learned any fist-and-foot Kung Fu, because she was not using in-game skills at all. Instead, it was more like real-world fighting techniques. Her attacks received no bonuses, but their speed and ferocity left the weapon-wielding West Lake Bandits completely unable to resist.

"Again!"

Before Ye Weiming could apologize, Youyou had already rubbed her fists together and told him to pull another mob.

The third bandit was beaten to death by Youyou when Ye Weiming reached the eighth math problem.

The fourth died on the ninth problem...

The fifth, ten problems...

The sixth, still ten problems...

Only when the final West Lake Bandit in the corridor had been beaten down to less than 100 HP by Youyou did Ye Weiming finally move. His body followed his sword, and the Dragon Spring Sword in his hand became a streak of light that plunged straight into the bandit's heart.

Xi Shi Holding Heart!

Instant kill!

Sheathing his sword, Ye Weiming silently recalled the sensation of that thrust. Tai Shan's Secret's active effect was actually this wondrous?

Just now, after completing the calculations for all ten math problems, he had suddenly felt as though divine inspiration had struck. It was as if everything around him was within his calculations. His enemy had nowhere to block and nowhere to evade his attack. When he followed with that thrust, every muscle and every thread of internal energy in his body had been perfectly mobilized. The coordination between internal energy and muscle had reached an indescribable level.

At that moment, he felt that he had completely grasped his opponent's life and death!

What an incredible Tai Shan's Secret!

But its activation requirements were way too damn ridiculous!

Seeing Ye Weiming standing there with his sword, a look of intoxication on his face, Youyou could not help glancing at him. Then she said, "I've noticed that this sword technique you just learned isn't very practical."

Ye Weiming nodded helplessly. "I noticed that too."

He glanced at the skill's proficiency.

Proficiency: 1/1000

Not only was this cultivation method's active effect difficult to activate, but weren't its leveling requirements far too harsh?

After all that trouble, it only gave him 1 point of proficiency?

It seemed this cultivation method was not meant to be trained this way. He could only pile cultivation points into it.

Then, as if recalling something, he added, "Now it seems the only noteworthy thing about this move is its tyrannical taunt effect. If this skill were in an ordinary online game, it would absolutely be a tank's ultimate skill. There'd be no need to worry about OT at all. I just don't know whether it works on players too."

"We'll know if we try." Youyou was clearly a woman of action. She immediately took several steps back. "Set me as your attack target and test it."

Ye Weiming nodded slightly, fixed his gaze on Youyou, and began counting on the fingers of his left hand. Youyou's eyes suddenly widened, and her body retreated several steps almost without thinking.

Seeing this, Ye Weiming quickly stopped calculating and asked, "How did that feel?"

Youyou gave Ye Weiming a lingeringly fearful look. "Terrifying. When you activated the skill, I felt as if something horribly frightening had locked onto me. It was like... having a gun pointed at my head? Maybe even scarier!"

You make it sound like someone has pointed a gun at your head before.

Ye Weiming silently noted down her description, then waved a hand. "Since this move isn't practical, let's stop practicing it. Clearing this map is more important."

As for Tai Shan's Secret's absurd activation conditions, Ye Weiming did not take them too seriously. Even without its active effect, its passive bonuses alone were already powerful enough.

One had to learn to be content.

As the saying went, men and women working together made the job less tiring. One ranged fighter and one melee fighter also made for a sound tactical combination. Ye Weiming's swordsmanship was nimble and sharp, and he could push ahead at the front without taking damage. Behind him, Youyou fired her hand crossbow in rapid succession. She did not need to worry about positioning at all and could simply stand still and attack to her heart's content.

They cleared the enormous underground palace in less than two hours. All that remained was the BOSS Chen Ming in the palace's main hall.

Seeing from afar that the only BOSS was pacing back and forth in the main hall, Ye Weiming could not help laughing. "Isn't this underground palace instance's final stretch designed a little too simply? The BOSS doesn't even have a single guard. Normally, he should at least have two or three elite monsters guarding him, with another dozen ordinary mobs surrounding him. That would be a BOSS-worthy scene."

But Youyou, following behind him, said seriously, "This isn't an ordinary BOSS. Take a closer look at his level."

At her words, Ye Weiming turned his gaze toward the roaming BOSS.

Chen Ming

Level: 30

HP: 6500/6500

...

At a glance, Ye Weiming immediately frowned. "Level 30! Are you kidding me? How could a BOSS of this level appear in this underground palace?"

It was no wonder Ye Weiming was shocked.

Under normal circumstances, games tried to balance the levels of BOSSes and ordinary mobs when designing instances. For example, the bandits in this underground palace were slightly higher level than those outside, around level 11 to 13. Then the BOSS on the same map should be around level 15, and at most could not reach level 20. Otherwise, it could only mean there was a problem with the map's design.

Low-level players would have no qualifications to challenge the BOSS, while high-level players would gain no experience from fighting these low-level mobs. So tell him, what level of players was this map even designed for?

If Chen Ming were a hidden BOSS, that would be one thing. After all, many hidden BOSSes were not meant for players leveling on that map. But as the leader of those mobs, Chen Ming did not look like a hidden BOSS at all!

Logically speaking, a game like Eternal Chivalry, which had received government endorsement and been designated as the sole entertainment project for interstellar immigration, should not make such a low-level mistake.

Yet this mistake had appeared right before their eyes.

Could you believe it?

"Because this BOSS's level is inflated." At that moment, Youyou cleared up Ye Weiming's doubts. "Do you see the hand crossbow he's holding? It's called the Zhuge Divine Crossbow, one of the Tang Clan's ten strongest hidden weapons. It's a treasure-grade artifact. When I accepted the quest, my master told me that with this crossbow in hand, Chen Ming's strength would rise by fifteen levels. She told me to be extremely careful."

Actually, I originally wanted to call this equipment tier "famous artifact," but it felt strange. Driven by a powerful desire to survive, I ultimately chose "treasure artifact."

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