Interlude: I'll Kill You Within Three Days
November 18, 2032.
Temporary Border Area: DD· Dead Puppet Agency
Royal Court Area · Baihua Courtyard
Jiang Xueming came to learn Pankrasin combat skills, has to graduate early because the areas ahead can no longer be explored.
He broke through Beowulf's gatekeeper's defenses and entered the magnificent Hall of Statues, where he fought hundreds of rounds with a pair of twin monsters. After successfully passing the challenge, he evolved again and went to the Curiosity Museum to face the Peacock King, where he almost lost his life.
According to Ghost, this Peacock King is one of King Solomon's familiars, a demon lord with a name and title in Purgatory. Xue Ming already knows what happened in the Council of Five Kings and also knows the BOSS's intention: to graduate from this hellish place as soon as possible.
After leaving the Curiosity Museum, you'll find the Academy of Sciences in the central courtyard. There are no powerful individuals here, but there are over forty "oil monsters" in the form of lions and tigers—they have no facial features, and their bodies are covered in writhing slime. Like the Death Giant of Niflheim, they are controlled by death runes. According to the information provided by Ghost, the master of the palace once attached great importance to scientific research, and a lot of rotting flesh was sent to the Academy of Sciences for research in an attempt to save the giants' lives. This place has become a major area of psionic contamination.
Xue Ming avoided the group of lions and tigers, as she was no match for them for the time being, and did not want to provoke these extremely dangerous and powerful creatures. She then went to the core area in front of the Royal Court, which was the temporary stronghold of the Stardust Warriors. The brave and skilled girls were stationed near the Hundred Flowers Courtyard.
They were all enormous, standing over seven feet tall and more than two hundred centimeters, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and powerful builds. They had no extra hair; they were soldiers who had been locked away in the Ancestral Palace half a century ago.
Such exaggerated physiques allow them to wield all sorts of strange weapons. The essence within them is either taken from monsters or obtained by devouring their dying companions and converting their power into their own.
Upon learning this news, Xue Ming's previous conjecture was indirectly confirmed.
Ghost's name is strange; he might not be a single person, but rather a group of people.
The Stardust Warriors guarding the gates of Hell within the Dead Puppet Agency, like their enemies, are aggregates of life. No wonder Lord Mads of Maddes is in the same state; these strange life forms have absorbed far too much elemental matter. It is remarkable that they have not fallen into madness and can maintain their conscious self. Occasionally, they exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia.
When the Dead Puppet Agency faces a cataclysmic disaster, all life around the Royal Court will become food for the monsters. The enemies Xue Ming previously faced, including Beowulf was still able to maintain his sanity, were all puppets of the Death Rune.
These powerful beings devoured the weak, maintaining a delicate psychic balance that allowed minds to be preserved.
Initially, this area was garrisoned by more than four hundred soldiers, but now only a few dozen Stardust Warriors remain. They may not remember their real names, but they still remember their comrades' dying wish: to completely seal the demons deep within the Royal Court in the inner city.
The older women here all have the figures of protein queens. Years of fighting monsters have given them superhuman combat skills. When the gunsmith arrived at the Hundred Flowers Garden, the leader was quite surprised.
It's important to understand that the Stardust Warriors always operate in groups. Every time they venture deep into the Royal Court to repel demons, the sisters must support each other, using their numerical advantage to ensure absolute success. Even the gatekeeper Beowulf's exceptional martial arts skills were honed through being ganged up on by his Stardust Warriors sisters.
The gunsmith actually managed to reach the front of the Royal Court all by himself; he must be the most powerful VIP at the station in decades.
Victor doesn't count, because this traveler never intended to fight head-on; instead, he sneaked in using his Soul Power.
Maddes was even less of a threat. Years ago, the inner city wasn't this dangerous. The monsters were like newborn babies. Beowulf was still a human hero in the traditional sense, an ordinary king who had drunk from the Fountain of Youth. Back then, his Pancrassian tactics hadn't been subjected to such brutal trials.
After half a century of evolution, the number of creatures in the inner city has dwindled. The dead runes have clearly divided the elements, and all the powerful life forms are confined to their designated areas, unable to find anything new to eat. They have already devoured all the other creatures in their respective zones.
These monsters, imprisoned by the Death Rune, stabilized in form, transforming into various fashionable demons in mythology, becoming blurry shadows in the skulls of giant emperors. The process of [Holy Transformation] of the eclogite in the Mimir Hot Spring Market is similar; it can create entirely new mythological life.
In their quest to seize the elemental essence from other regions, these monsters employ every trick in the book, deceiving the area restrictions controlled by Rune to steal a piece of flesh from other monsters. Unbeknownst to them, the Stardust Warriors' forms are also slowly changing.
These girls had white hair and beards, red eyes, and gradually grew to nearly two meters tall. They had eye-like tattoos growing on their arms, resembling Odin's warrior priests and wine-serving maids.
On the seventeenth day after entering the inner city, Jiang Xueming suffered a major setback in the Hundred Flowers Courtyard and finally gave up exploring further.
This is the garden of the giant emperor, divided into front and back areas. The surrounding gardens extend into the harem, and the trees on the outer perimeter will actively attack intruders.
Every forty minutes, a diligent gardener can be seen passing by the front-line outpost, engaging in a brief firefight with the Stardust Warriors, before disappearing from sight.
This gardener had a single horn on his head and pale skin, resembling a vampire. He had a handsome face but no lower limbs; his lower body tissues were all intertwined with the dense shrubs. Looking at the flowerbeds, grass, and trees, the flowers and fruits grew and withered rapidly, as if the laws of time did not apply here.
Conventional firearms cannot kill this monster; its life is practically tied to the entire garden. The plants will also transform into monstrous dragon-like forms to attack intruders, making it impossible to enter.
Xue Ming decided to end his studies and cultivation to return to the ironworks to forge weapons. Although the Holy Mother promised him that he could retrieve Mingde's remains after one hundred days, he had to help Xiao Qi resolve the troubles at Lieyang Fort before that.
The return journey was much easier. The Stardust Warriors protected the "little guy" from the station in the middle of the line, forming a tall human wall around him. Xue Ming immediately felt safe.
They walked and talked. The woman in charge was a talkative person who had completely forgotten her real name; her code name was Black Panther Luna.
"Gunsmith, the boss wants you to fake your death. If you're dead, will you still be able to take orders?"
Looking at Luna's tanned skin and her sharply defined muscles, Jiang Xueming felt a strong spiritual pressure and said, somewhat embarrassed, "Let's add each other on WeChat. I can't take online orders, but I have private jobs, and I have apprentices who can continue making swords and spears."
Luna waved her arms casually, taking one step that was equivalent to three steps for Xue Ming, and replied with a smile, "That's fine! That's fine!"
Two evil dragons, a male and a female, blocked the way to the central courtyard. They were coiled in the fountain pool next to the eunuch's residence. Upon seeing the Stardust Warriors' group, the two dragons immediately stretched out their bodies to spew poisonous mist and evil fire.
Xue Ming had already fought them before and suffered a lot.
Six female warriors charged and leaped in the ranks, three to a group, pinning down the evil dragon couple, grabbing their necks, and strangling their burning throats. As the slightly glowing dragon lungs swelled, the two groups swiftly restrained their forelimbs and used their knives to cut open the scales. Purple-green demonic fire and black blood splattered out, and the two long serpents became limp mud, sliding into the muddy pool.
"You guys can handle this, can't you?" Xue Ming exclaimed in amazement at the scene. He had suffered a lot in the Central Courtyard. When he had to order SD to deal with these two evil dragons, he was usually overwhelmed and unable to defend himself. Once he was hit, he was in a life-threatening situation.
"It's different!" Luna, the leader, tossed her short hair and said with a smile, "It takes six people to subdue them. If we had more powerful weapons, maybe four people could handle it. Besides..."
Luna bent down, her eyes, as big as copper bells, fixed on the gunsmith, her pupils the size of an infant's fist.
"We need to try other weapons too. What if Brooklyn and Nana (the male and female dragons' names) get bored one day and complain about our dissection methods, blaming us for not having enough tricks? We need to come up with some new ways to die!"
Jiang Xueming gave an awkward yet polite smile, "Hehehehehe"
Upon reaching the Twin Pavilions, the grotesque twins climbed down from the statues again, without attacking. They had no facial features and were very similar to the Flash Butterfly, both being naked humanoids with black wings. They moved between the statues, making way for each other.
Without any fighting, the Stardust Warriors crossed the Twins' territory and arrived at the Curiosity Museum in the central courtyard.
The cages that once held various rare beasts were now empty. Xue Ming remembered that there was a powerful warrior here, the Peacock King Andrianfu.
You can see this demon in the front hall of the Curiosity Museum. He is about the same height as the Stardust Warriors. He is covered in gray-green bird feathers, wears a crown woven from animal teeth, and has a necklace made of three rare animal tails around his neck. His bird feather cloak is covered with black eye patterns.
He couldn't speak human language, and when he was fighting with Xue Ming, he liked to yell incoherently. The sound he made was like the sharp cry of Eagle Falcon, carrying a terrifying sense of nerve damage.
The moment the Stardust Warriors stepped out of the Curiosity Museum, the Peacock King remained in a fighting stance. He wielded two swords, both divine weapons forged from animal bones, and his sword-wielding posture was meticulous, a Pankrasin fighting style created through years of sparring with Beowulf.
His waist balance was exceptional, allowing him to stand ramrod straight. His left hand held the sword in front of his chest in a defensive stance resembling self-inflicted injury, while his right hand held the sword at his hip, as if he were about to castrate himself in an offensive stance. These two movements were extremely deceptive. When Xue Ming first saw this sword technique, he was completely baffled and couldn't understand it at all—this stance and sword-holding posture were beyond the comprehension of humans.
This time, the Peacock King turned his head slightly. His mummified black face writhed inside his hood, revealing eight eyes. When he saw Luna, the leader, he raised his hands in surrender and made way for the Curiosity Museum. He also pulled out the sign for the Academy of Sciences and tossed it aside, seemingly hoping that Luna wouldn't cause him any trouble.
Luna, protecting Jiang Xueming, threw a flirtatious wink at the Peacock King: "So good!"
Outside the inner city area, there were still some scattered monsters and grotesque creatures roaming around in the palace alleys. These monsters often jumped over the city walls and ran into the city area of Dead Puppet Agency. They were wild beasts that escaped from the Curiosity Museum. When the Stardust Warriors shot them, they immediately turned into mud and were dragged back to the deeper part by the Death Runes.
Upon returning to the doorway, Beowulf awoke from his mummified state, his flesh swelling like an inflating balloon, reverting to his twilight years. He prepared to raise his shield and sword to fight the enemy, but the Stardust Warriors brandished their spears in a menacing display, and the sisters roared in unison. The old king still refused to retreat.
It seems even the wolf king has his pride; he teaches the Pankras to these girls, for a teacher cannot easily admit defeat.
"Beowulf!" Luna shouted.
The wise king did not reply, his movements stiff as he struck the shield with his sword.
Luna called out again, "Beowulf! I'm going back to the camp! Don't block my way!"
The wise king pointed his sword at Jiang Xueming, seemingly unwilling to accept defeat and wanting to continue the fight.
Luna patiently explained, "This guy's a blacksmith! Let him go back, and he'll make you some weapons! Okay?"
King Beowulf then made way, and one of the sisters at the back of the group walked a little slower, wanting to chat with her teacher a bit more. This sister was the youngest of the Stardust Warriors, the last member to "become a Heroic Spirit," and had a lively personality.
She knelt down beside Beowulf and took out the gunsmith's work.
"Look! Old man! This was made by the blacksmith! Play with this! It's powerful!"
It was a Vepr12 shotgun with a sawn-off barrel, a double-shot, double-feed mechanism, made by cutting and merging two guns together and redesigning it, capable of firing sixteen shotgun shells in succession.
The order information submitted by the younger sister was for light infantry weapons specifically designed to deal with large, unarmored monsters. Jiang Xueming, with a try-it-out mentality, developed this experimental model.
Beowulf took the gun and fired at the wall of the doorway for a long time. The bursts of dragon breath bullets illuminated the old man's face and revealed the smile on his face.
"Wow!!! Luna! This thing is so much better than the sword and shield!"
Back at the front-line outpost, Grape Brother, who was stationed on the outskirts of the inner city, brought bad news.
The situation at Lieyang Fort is dire. Battle reports from this border town indicate that, in addition to the remnants of the Warband, there are monsters being raised by the Immortals, just as the Skull and Bones Society previously raised the Corrupted Dragon. Perhaps George Joshua is creating Apostle units. In the intricate network of waterways, even more powerful monsters seem to be lurking—this is Chairman Joshua's reliance, his ultimate trump card.
Ghost packed Jiang Xueming's luggage, leaving the tent and food supplies in the inner city, and told Xue Ming to travel light and head to Lieyang Fort as soon as possible.
"Ready, kid?"
Jiang Xueming looked at the things flying everywhere in the room, all caused by the Ghost. Toothbrushes and towels were being stuffed into suitcases, and puffs of black smoke were billowing around clothes and other odds and ends. He confidently replied, "It's ready!"
Although he didn't reach the deepest part of the Royal Court, this journey has honed him to his best condition once again.
He could not cross the Garden of Flowers, not even the Stardust Warriors could pass through this forbidden zone of life. According to Professor Victor's investigation report, the owner of the Garden of Flowers is [Andusia], a horned demon god who can manipulate vegetation and become one with the entire garden.
Even the Hell Highway couldn't hypnotize such a powerful plant community. The warriors couldn't defeat this forest, so the Giant Emperor built this vibrant courtyard around his palace to prolong his life.
But that's enough; the power we've gained is sufficient.
Having shed the name of gunsmith, Jiang Xueming entered a new phase of his life, crossing the threshold of thirty.
After the age of twenty-five, the body's metabolic rate and various indicators decline. This condition is accompanied by various nerve damages and repeated regeneration of lost limbs and body tissues, all of which make the gunsmith weaker and weaker.
He is a preacher who can teach knightly combat techniques to countless students, but if he is to continue pursuing the path of knightly combat techniques, the VIPs of the underworld probably cannot be his teachers—no one can teach the War King how to fight.
Now that Xue Ming has found his own Pankrasin fighting style, when a new psionic change occurs, even the Steel Heart cannot withstand this intense spiritual pressure and simply shatters in two.
His [Soul Power] has reached a new level. Things are progressing much faster than expected. As always, this student's suction power is amazing, and he completed the evolution in just over half a month.
Xue Ming picked up his suitcase and greeted Ghost.
I have to go.
Ghost quickly called out, "I have a little gift for you, gunsmith!"
Jiang Xueming asked in confusion, "There are also gifts?"
Ghost transformed from the black smoke into human form and reached into the leather chain. A clown mask quickly condensed in the dark smoke—it was Flash Butterfly Armor's helmet.
"You drove me home to visit my family, so I have to pay you."
The black and white mask is ceramic armor with a diamond coating.
Jiang Xueming accepted it without any hesitation.
Ghost led the gunsmith to the mirror and handed him a razor.
Jiang Xueming shaved his beard and hair, and looked young again.
Spirit Calamity was brewing in the mirror. More than twenty faces emerged from behind Ghost, floating behind the two of them, all with expectant and hopeful expressions.
Ghost said, "We old fogies can only live in the past; the future is in your hands."
Jiang Xueming: "George Joshua?"
Ghost: "That's right."
Jiang Xueming: "Kill him within three days."
Luna lifted the curtain and shouted, "You're so awesome! I love it! Remember the new order!"
Ghost quickly ushered the leading lady back to the female soldiers' dormitory, then awkwardly greeted her upon returning.
"Gunsmith, I'm sorry."
Jiang Xueming: "Don't call me the gunsmith, the gunsmith is dead."
Ghost: "What should we call it then?"
Jiang Xueming put on the mask, already aware of the various changes that had occurred in Lieyang Fort.
"I am nameless, and nameless people shouldn't have names; I am not a person."
He picked up his luggage again, and the tent flap was pulled open by the steel cat.
[Sweet Fragrant Dream] floats beside Xue Ming, bidding farewell to these ghosts.
It pressed against its chest; the keyhole had disappeared, and the empty space had been filled with metal. This armor was perfect.
"--See you again someday!"