Conflict

Wu Maru Ryu looked at the swordsman and shield bearer and said, "Go out and call Ruo Kou to come in. You'll split his bounty with him. Any problem with that?"

The swordsman and shield bearer nodded, "No problem."

The swordsman and shield bearer returned the way he came, and soon a new swordsman and shield bearer came in. Yan Qing then understood why Wu Maru Ryu had ordered a batch of reserves—when someone on the battle squad couldn't hold on, they could immediately go out and replace them.

During this break, Yan Qing pretended to wander around, letting 'Yan San' brush against the edges of the family soldiers' corpses to pick up all the dropped items. Not to mention the food materials, he also got 500 Spirit Jade. Yan Qing was quite excited. If he could gather 9000 Spirit Jade in the next few days, then even if the theft failed four days later, he could pay the fine and get through!

Probably because many soldiers were injured, the team's morale was a bit low. Wu Maru Ryu realized that this couldn't continue, so he took the initiative to talk to 'Yan San': "Yesterday at the city gate, you clearly stabbed me, but it had no effect. Do you know why?"

Yan San: "Why?"

Wu Maru Ryu: "Because I have this mask, Relic · Evil Spirit Mask."

Wu Maru Ryu took off the mask and held it high above his head. This mask, which looked like it was just made of iron, suddenly emitted a dark aura, attracting everyone's attention.

The game also popped up information:

"Evil Spirit Mask"
"Rank: First Evolution"
"Equipment Requirements: 5 Vitality, 5 Soul"
"Effect · Evil Spirit Protection: At the moment of being attacked, summon an evil spirit to help you resist damage. Each point of Spirit Power can offset 25 points of damage. Each trigger consumes at least 1 point of Spirit Power, and at most 4 points of Spirit Power."
"Effect · Evil Spirit Entanglement: Continuously wearing the Evil Spirit Mask will gradually increase your Vitality and weaken your pain, but your appearance and figure will also gradually become demonized."
"Evaluation: If you want to survive, you always have to pay something."

Wu Maru Ryu said loudly: "As long as your strength is enough to evolve into a Herald, and you have enough merits, then any of you can exchange for this Evil Spirit Mask, become an Evil Spirit Knight whose strength far exceeds ordinary people, and from then on, ordinary people's bows and crossbows can no longer hurt you!"

"And if you want to improve your strength, the best way is through actual combat, bloody battles, and fierce battles! Besides the Secret Realm, where else can you fight without any worries? Nowhere!"

"Back then, I also followed General Duan into the Secret Realm to fight, and it was only through near-death experiences that I honed the Crescent Moon Saber Technique to the extreme, and was able to evolve into a Martial Dao Herald. As long as you have enough experience and hone your skills to the extreme, you can also evolve into a Herald!"

Wu Maru Ryu's words clearly boosted the morale of the crowd.

However, Yan Qing looked at Wu Maru Ryu's words 'hone your skills to the extreme' and 'Martial Dao Herald', and a thought popped into his mind—

Could it be that all the cultivators in this world who can evolve are doing it by brute force?

Although Yan Qing hadn't played "The Herald," he also knew that one of the highlights of this game that allowed it to top the MMORPG charts was that it had an evolution every ten levels.

The system would provide three evolution classes for players to choose from every ten levels, based on the player's combat style, weapon selection, and even mission experience in the game. There was no doubt that hardcore players would plan their strategies to maximize the benefits of each evolution, while other casual players who didn't like to play high-difficulty dungeons could also experience new game fun every ten levels.

Generally speaking, players would immediately evolve once they reached level ten, but if the player just didn't evolve, the system wouldn't force them.

In order to attract new players, "The Herald" didn't charge new accounts before their first evolution, and only required them to buy a monthly card after evolution. If players never evolved, they could play for free and ruthlessly fleece "The Herald."

But there was one exception.

That was when a player's skill was honed to the extreme, such as level 10 Basic Spear Technique, level 10 Basic Saber Technique, level 10 Basic Calligraphy, level 10 Basic Musical Instrument, and the character's level was ≥10, then the system would force the player to evolve into a 'hidden class'—Martial Dao Herald or Scholarly Dao Herald.

At this time, free-to-play players would mistakenly believe that they had triggered the game's hidden class, and would rush to buy a monthly card to continue playing...

Then they would soon discover: Hey? Why isn't my hidden class particularly powerful?

It was simple, because all of this was "The Herald's" scheme to attract new players.

The Martial Dao Herald and Scholarly Dao Herald are indeed hidden classes. Any un-promoted player who maxes out any basic skill will automatically be promoted. However, the strength of these two hidden classes is just so-so, not worth wasting time to specifically promote.

But the promotion system belongs to the players, and the people of this world obviously don't have the 'level 10 choose promotion' treatment. Yan Qing can easily come to a conclusion: if the people of this world want to undergo their first promotion, they probably have to max out their basic skills to create miracles.

Taking advantage of the high morale, Wu Maru immediately led them to continue advancing. They didn't see anyone in the mansion's central garden, but Wu Maru went directly behind the rockery and opened a hidden trapdoor, revealing a passage leading underground.

Although he hadn't played this dungeon before, Yan Qing guessed that they would have to go to other rooms to find clues to discover the existence of the underground passage. But Wu Maru and the others had already thoroughly researched this dungeon, so naturally they took the correct route directly.

Going down the tunnel, they entered a martial arts training ground. The weapon racks were full of white steel sabers and spears. A full eight fully armed armored retainers were sparring inside. They had the name "Elite Retainer" above their heads. As soon as Wu Maru stepped into the training ground, they immediately rushed over to trigger the battle.

At this moment, Wu Maru pulled 'Yan San' to his side, "You and I will block the staircase. Retreat and you die! Survive, and you will be a Centurion Knight!"

It would be impossible for five ordinary soldiers to hold back eight retainers, but if they used the terrain advantage of the staircase, only two people would be needed to block the retainers, while the archers behind could shoot from a high position, which was simply a perfect tactic.

But the question was who would block the staircase!

The previous two waves of ordinary retainers were already difficult to deal with, and the "Elite Retainers" here were stronger in both appearance and name. Moreover, there was almost no room to dodge at the staircase, so they had to fight head-on!

Wu Maru, the Martial Dao Herald with a protective token, was naturally not afraid, but the other Centurion Knights were just mortals. Even if they won against this group of elite monsters who exchanged injuries for injuries, they would be covered in wounds.

At this time, Yan Qing finally understood why Wu Maru was so good to 'Yan San', even pulling him into the Centurion Barracks without any review. Even if 'Yan San' had high Vitality and strong combat power, it was still too preferential... It turned out that it was for filling the line at this staircase!

It was foreseeable that the place with the highest casualty rate in this dungeon should be here, and the ones who would be injured would definitely be the Centurion elite soldiers, otherwise they would not be able to stop the elite retainers. So when Wu Maru was strolling around and found that 'Yan San' actually had the combat power of a Centurion Knight, he must have been extremely happy—there was such a high-quality line-filling baby among ordinary people!

Even now, Wu Maru didn't forget to draw a pie, hoping that 'Yan San' would fight to the death.

Fortunately, I'm using a small account, so it doesn't matter if I die, and...

If 'Yan San' really survives and finishes this dungeon, then it's hard to say who will have the final say.

However, after one round of engagement, Yan Qing felt bad.

The elite retainer lost 10% of his health, and 'Yan San' lost 7% of his health. Although there were archers in the back row, the archers prioritized attacking the retainers in the back who were not participating in the battle, so 'Yan San' could only deal with the enemy alone.

It seemed that he still had a health advantage, but the problem was that when this elite retainer died, the second elite retainer would fill the position, unless the archer team killed all six retainers behind before 'Yan San' killed the elite retainer—but judging from the change in health, the archer team's output was not high enough to reach this point.

This can't go on... But retreating is impossible, the sword and shield soldiers behind are blocking the retreat... Sword and shield soldiers?

With a thought, Yan Qing threw away his spear and punched the sword and shield soldier behind him!

"Bastard!"

"How dare you—"

Just when Wu Maru and the others thought that 'Yan San' had betrayed them, 'Yan San' picked up the sword and shield of the soldier behind him. During this period, he was hit by two swords from the elite retainer, but when he held the sword and shield to hold the line, his health immediately stabilized.

You have comprehended Basic Saber Technique, current level is 1

You have comprehended Basic Shield Technique, current level is 1

You have comprehended...

The saber technique and shield technique kept leveling up. The elite retainer went from being able to knock off 3% of his health to not even being able to break through his shield's defense later on.

When all eight elite retainers fell, 'Yan San's' saber technique and shield technique both reached level 5, and his level also rose two levels in a row to level 9, only one step away from promotion!

However, 'Yan San's' behavior of attacking his comrades obviously aroused dissatisfaction among the crowd. It was just that they didn't act out of consideration for the battle just now. Now that the battle was over, the soldier whose sword and shield were snatched immediately came over and raised his fist to hit 'Yan San': "You motherf—"

Yan Qing triggered a slow-motion state with a perfect dodge, and then knocked him down again with two punches, and even learned a new skill.

"You have comprehended 'Basic Fist Technique,' current level is 1."

Seeing that 'Yan San' actually dared to fight back, some archers in the rear drew their bows and aimed at him. However, 'Yan San' looked around without the slightest fear, picked up his spear, and sneered at the soldier who had fallen to the ground, "If I had died just now, would it have been your turn to take my place? If I held out until the end, wouldn't I have saved your life? And you actually repay kindness with enmity?"

The soldier's eyes were bloodshot, looking like he wanted to pounce and bite someone, but Yan Qing wasn't afraid at all—he wasn't even there.

"I blocked the enemy, and you still aim your arrows at me?" 'Yan San' took out another meat bun and ate it, sneering, "Good, good, this is the Centurion Knights. If you have the guts, wait for me to finish this bun and see who will die here!"