The situation grew increasingly dire.
The wording of the battle reports from the north grew increasingly tactful, and the signs of whitewashing grew ever more obvious. The reports could lie, but the front line steadily shifting southward could not.
Great Zhao was retreating at every turn.
The price of rice in the capital had quietly risen by fifty percent. Some sharp-nosed wealthy merchants had already begun selling off their property, preparing to flee.
The oppressive sense of a mountain storm brewing stirred a trace of urgency in Chen Ye as well.
He lay low.
Aside from occasionally making a move to rob the rich and aid the poor, or punish the wicked and protect the innocent, he spent most of his time cultivating.
The abandoned city wall became his best training ground.
Finally, late one night, Chen Ye casually flicked his hand. Three flying knives shot out in a triangular formation and buried themselves in the trunk of a large tree a hundred paces away.
All three knives had sunk into the trunk to exactly the same depth.
After flickering for a moment, the panel changed.
[Name: Chen Ye] [Class: Nightwalker (lv5)] [Talent: Child of Shadow] [Skills: Deft Hands lv10, Swift Blade lv10, Running on Eaves lv10, Shadow Concealment lv5, Throwing lv5] [Class: Nightwalker has reached lv5 (maximum level). Advancement requirements met. Change class?]
Finally!
Without hesitation, Chen Ye immediately chose yes.
In an instant, three brand-new class options appeared before Chen Ye.
[Option one: Mechanism Master] [Description: All things are chess pieces, and heaven and earth are the board. Gears, mortise-and-tenon joints, runes, and formations are all playthings at your fingertips. You are the master of all intricate creations.] [Class talent: Clear Mechanism Heart-your mind can resonate with any mechanical creation, instantly discerning its construction, operating principles, and core weaknesses. You can not only dismantle them but also turn them to your own use, even seizing control of an enemy's mechanical traps.] [Option two: Netherwalker] [Description: You travel beneath the Nine Netherworlds, keeping the dead and ancient corpses as your companions. You are the end of tombs, the sole traveler through forbidden lands of death.] [Talent: Yin-Yang Ghost Eyes-you are born with eyes that perceive yin and yang, capable of seeing through falsehoods, illusions, and disguises. They can also perceive the feng shui and dragon veins of tombs, the core points of mechanisms and formations, and the resentment and Sha Qi lingering around ancient objects.] [Option three: Thousand-Faced Thief Saint] [Description: Your face is your strongest weapon. Your identity is every living soul in this world. A faceless god walking among humanity, an ever-changing shadow moving unseen through the world.] [Class talent: Soul Seizing and Shadow Stealing-you can steal and imitate the identity of a target you have come into contact with, including their appearance, voice, build, mannerisms, and even their distinctive bearing. While imitating him, you are him and he is you; even heaven's secrets cannot distinguish you, nor can gods and ghosts tell you apart.]
Once again, there were three completely different class paths.
First was the Mechanism Master. Just reading the description of Clear Mechanism Heart set Chen Ye's imagination running wild.
Heavily guarded mechanical treasure vaults, deadly trap-and-crossbow formations, and he would need only a glance to find the flaws in their mechanisms...
In a world full of ancient ruins, it would undoubtedly be a divine skill.
Unfortunately, this was not such a world.
At least, Chen Ye had yet to discover the existence of any mechanical treasure vaults.
Next was the Netherwalker. Much like the Mechanism Master, it was an imposing class with major limitations.
But these were chaotic times; there simply wasn't that much time to develop.
So that left only one: the Thousand-Faced Thief Saint!
In fact, this class had appeared once before, under the name Thousand-Faced Guest.
But Chen Ye had still been weak then, and the Thousand-Faced Guest's talent had been nowhere near as powerful as it was now. Thus, Chen Ye had chosen the Nightwalker instead.
Now Chen Ye's stealth capabilities had been maxed out, and he had made up for his weakness in ranged combat. What he lacked were some means of adapting to different situations.
As it happened, the Thousand-Faced Thief Saint's talent and abilities were both perfectly suited to his needs.
Thus, Chen Ye selected the Thousand-Faced Thief Saint with barely a moment's hesitation.
In an instant, as a vast amount of information flooded into him, the class panel underwent an enormous change.
[Name: Chen Ye] [Class: Thousand-Faced Thief Saint (lv1)] [Talent: Soul Seizing and Shadow Stealing-you can steal and imitate the identity of a target you have come into contact with, including their appearance, voice, build, mannerisms, and even their distinctive bearing. While imitating him, you are him and he is you; even heaven's secrets cannot distinguish you, nor can gods and ghosts tell you apart.] [Skills: Deft Hands lv10, Swift Blade lv10, Running on Eaves and Walls lv10, Shadow Concealment lv5, Throwing lv10.] [New skills unlocked: Bone Alteration (lv1), Sound Mimicry (lv1)] [Bone Alteration]: Allows minor changes to one's skeletal structure, adjusting height and build. [Sound Mimicry]: Allows imitation of sounds one has heard, including human voices and the calls of birds and beasts.
Chen Ye fell into thought.
The information that had flooded into his mind had taught Chen Ye a great deal.
First, the Soul Seizing and Shadow Stealing talent was indeed immensely powerful. Through contact and observation, it could copy every detail of another person's physical mannerisms. The more ordinary the target, the less time it took to copy them and the more lifelike the result.
Second, this class change had actually come with two new skills that complemented the talent. They were truly formidable.
Chen Ye walked over to a puddle and looked at his reflection in the moonlight. Then, with a thought, something wondrous happened.
The muscles in Chen Ye's face began to squirm and rearrange themselves. His cheekbones rose slightly, his nose became more prominent, and his jawline hardened.
In just a few breaths, Shaojun Fang Tao's face was reflected in the puddle, indistinguishable from the real thing.
Interesting!
Next, Chen Ye tried several other people and found that he could imitate some perfectly, while his attempts at others left something to be desired.
This was closely related to how familiar he was with the person.
Finally, almost as a joke, Chen Ye began imitating Little Bell of the Cai Character Gate. He wanted to see the limits of his talent and whether he could imitate only men.
A moment later, Chen Ye stared blankly at the fair-skinned young woman in the puddle.
The effect of this talent combined with the skills truly defied the heavens. Even the height was perfectly replicated.
But then Chen Ye shuddered and hurriedly returned to normal.
A beautiful woman was naturally a pleasure to look at, but only when it was someone else.
If he actually turned into a woman himself, the feeling would give him goosebumps.
In any case, after advancing to Thousand-Faced Thief Saint, Chen Ye felt much more at ease.
No matter what the coming chaotic times brought, he at least had the means to secure a place for himself and make a living.
Moreover, Chen Ye surmised that as the situation worsened, the capital's fragile balance would soon be shattered. By then, the city might fall into chaos before the steppe cavalry even arrived.
And events did unfold much as he had expected. As one piece of bad news after another arrived, Emperor Yang Zhao's psychological defenses were moving step by step toward collapse.