Su Liuyue and Su Changhuan were ambushed as they entered Frost City's inner city, and their ambusher was none other than Su Lanlan, a member of their Su Family's collateral branch.
She did not know much of the inside story about Su Lanlan, only that she was the younger sister conceived after Su Changhuan's father lost control of himself while drunk. But this younger sister was unwelcome in Su Changhuan's branch and was eventually moved to the fringes of the Su Family's collateral branches, with a little capital to live on. Later, because of certain incidents, Su Changhuan had killed her himself.
Su Liuyue had no interest in getting involved in the battle between these half-siblings. She had come to Frost City for one purpose alone: to take away the Hall Within a Hall in the City Lord's Manor.
Although the level 999 elder had already died, he was still an elder of their Su Family, and what he left behind certainly could not be allowed to fall into outsiders' hands. But when she reached the main gate of Frost Main City, she stopped.
"Zhou Heng?"
Su Liuyue's pupils contracted, and her grip on her greatbow tightened slightly.
A useless good-for-nothing like Su Hai, who lacked both ability and fighting spirit, might not immediately remember who Zhou Heng was, but how could someone like her, who spent years out on missions, miss a major event within the family?
Su Ming, the young master of the main direct line, had seemingly shown no fury over Su Ling's death, but the Capture Order he had issued for Zhou Heng made it clear that he was already enraged.
So the moment she saw Zhou Heng, she became wary.
After all, she was a level 70 Longevity Family player, while Zhou Heng, according to the Appraisal results, had only just reached level 20.
An ordinary level 20 player was playing a flute in front of her, a level 70 Longevity Family player-and he was even playing "March of Xia Kingdom." She knew perfectly well what that meant.
He was not afraid of her at all. He might even have been waiting specifically for her.
If it was the former, she was absolutely certain she could capture Zhou Heng alive. But if it was the latter, she would have to be doubly vigilant.
"Were you waiting for me?"
After a moment of silence, Su Liuyue spoke in a low, hoarse voice. As she spoke, she involuntarily raised her greatbow a little farther forward.
Zhou Heng did not respond, continuing to play "March of Xia Kingdom" on his flute.
Ordinarily, this tune was incredibly stirring, brimming with uplifting inspiration, but as it reached Su Liuyue's ears now, it sounded like a death knell played by the Grim Reaper beside her ear.
I can't let him finish! I can't let him finish!
Su Liuyue's feminine instincts screamed within her, as though something bad would happen once Zhou Heng finished playing.
Su Liuyue's gaze sharpened, and she decided to follow her intuition. Without hesitation, she rotated her greatbow, then switched her hand and foot into position. Her right hand, which had been holding the bow, moved back to draw the string, while her left foot swiftly rose to the side, taking over from her right hand and kicking the bow outward. With that push and pull, she forced the greatbow open.
As the greatbow was drawn, an invisible arrow appeared within it, crystal clear and laced with a chilling aura.
But just then, the flute abruptly fell silent, and a notification appeared on her retinas.
[You listened to the melodious flute] [You were affected by an unknown power] [Level temporarily reduced by 10] [Your Attribute Skills will retain all level 60 values]
As the notifications appeared, Su Liuyue discovered in shock that her attributes were falling bit by bit, soon dropping to level 60 standards.
What did level 60 amount to?
At this level, an ordinary player had 15,160 total attributes. Even as a Longevity Family player, whose family resources and class gave her base attributes 2.5 times those of ordinary players, the gap between her current attributes and her level 70 attributes was still enormous.
After all, from level 61 to level 71, each level granted 10,000 random attribute points. A single level was more powerful than dozens of earlier levels.
Su Liuyue Level: 60 Class: Greatbow Archer (☆☆☆☆) Attack: 50-100 Magic: 13,000-26,000 Health: 2,900,000/2,900,000 Mana: 200,000/200,000 Armor: 3,000 Attack speed: 1.0/s Movement speed: 7.0 m/s Water attribute reduction: 2,000 Fire attribute reduction: 2,000 Wind attribute reduction: 2,000 Lightning attribute reduction: 2,000 Ice attribute reduction: 4,000 Wood attribute reduction: 1,500 Light attribute reduction: 600 Dark attribute reduction: 600 Experience: 0/100,000 Arrowbearer's Longevity (S) Choose an archer-type class. Attack speed is fixed at 1.0/s. For every additional 1.0/s attack speed, damage multiplier +10%, movement speed +10% Every 10,000 attacks permanently increases health by 100 Each hit on an enemy grants one "Arrowbearer" mark. Three consecutive hits trigger an explosion, dealing true damage equal to 2% of the target's maximum health
Looking at her plummeting attributes, Su Liuyue's expression turned exceedingly grim.
Her talent was not particularly good among the many S-rank talents, so before reaching her seventh advancement, her main task had always been increasing her health.
Compared to Su Changhuan's level 60 attributes, hers were on the weaker side.
The stage where she truly came into her own was levels 65-70. Many of her skills and abilities belonged to that range.
With all but a handful of her skills locked, killing intent surged in Su Liuyue's eyes. She released the bowstring, loosing the arrow she had held ready.
Seeing Noble and Merciful Gentleness take effect, Zhou Heng rose to his feet. Facing the incoming arrow, he drew his Flood Dragon Horn Bow without hesitation, drew back an arrow, and, the instant she fired, aimed at her arrow and fired one of his own.
Bang!
Their arrows collided in midair. Zhou Heng's arrow was as fragile as paper and could not stop hers at all. But rather than panic, Zhou Heng rapidly drew his bow again, unleashing the maximum attack speed provided by his Vast Sky Cloud Bracers and other equipment. With an attack speed of 4.4/s, his bow draws were lightning-fast, sending four arrows flying in an instant.
Su Liuyue neither dodged nor ducked, taking Zhou Heng's arrows head-on.
-0!
-0!
-0!
Seeing that Zhou Heng's attacks could not pierce her defenses, Su Liuyue's unease faded a little. Wasn't it a little too naive to think he could kill her, a level 60, at level 20 with means like these?
When she raised her head to look at Zhou Heng, intending to mock him for this, her pupils abruptly contracted. She stared in utter disbelief at the damage number floating above his head.
Her bow was a magic bow that dealt ice-element damage. Every arrow she fired could trigger her passive skill, Frost Freeze, reducing movement speed by 50% for 3 seconds while also dealing an additional 20% magic damage.
Her magic attack was 13,000-26,000. Although this arrow had not critically hit and had only rolled the minimum attack, with her passive skill Frost Freeze factored in, her actual damage should have been 15,600.
At the same time, her actual attack speed was 6.0/s. With the enhancement from her talent, Arrowbearer's Longevity (S), her final damage could increase by another 50%. In other words, this arrow should have dealt 23,400 ice attribute damage when it struck Zhou Heng.
The damage number floating above Zhou Heng's head was 23,350, which meant his ice attribute reduction was a pitiful 50. But that was not the point. The point was, why was he still standing perfectly fine after taking her arrow's 23,400 ice attribute damage? Was this really the sort of health a level 20 player should have?
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