CSMCDB - Chapter 112
Chapter 112
[...Someone is following you.]
Wen Yuncheng controlled her Mechanical Wings to continue forward, her hand resting on the storage ring hanging on her chest. Fu? Just passing by? Or was it that person from before...
"Kid, you sure run fast... Mechanical Wings?"
It was that unlucky red-clothed woman from before! She really held a grudge! Wen Yuncheng felt a moment of regret. If she had known, she wouldn't have gloated or even said a word. Still, the woman was only a Star Spirit 1st Layer; she wasn't afraid.
"What do you want?"
"Originally, I just wanted to teach you a lesson... but ah~ I didn't expect you to be Wen Yuncheng... Star Power Mutation, first place in the Youth Tournament, you must have gotten quite a few opportunities on that stone staircase just now, right? There's no Protector of the Nation to save you this time-" As the red-clothed woman spoke, she casually approached Wen Yuncheng, who continuously put distance between them. "Capturing you alive is worth three hundred contribution points and four million Star Stones!" Before her voice had even faded, the woman lunged at Wen Yuncheng like a bolt of lightning!
What was that saying? Don't turn down free experience points when they come knocking!
If they were in some narrow building, Wen Yuncheng might have had a bit of a headache and needed to maneuver around the woman. But now? Wen Yuncheng activated the small shield on her chest, enlarging it to block the woman's attack. In the blink of an eye, with a series of whooshes, she deployed one Star Cannon after another from her oversized storage ring! Wen Yuncheng acted quickly, and since she was in the air, twenty Star Cannons fell one by one, kicking up a cloud of dust! At the same time, Number One appeared on the ground. Wen Yuncheng ordered the twenty Star Cannons to fire simultaneously, while she instantly swapped places with Number One, recalling both him and the Blue Flower Shield.
The red-clothed woman had thought Wen Yuncheng was just a Star Lord 1st Layer, and that the Blue Flower Shield could only block her assault for a second or two. However, in that one or two seconds, the situation had changed dramatically!
Watching the red-clothed woman get engulfed by twenty Star Power energy blasts, Wen Yuncheng didn't stop. She activated her Mechanical Wings and retreated rapidly, deploying the remaining twenty-five Star Cannons on the open ground as she moved. After the first wave of energy exploded, the second wave of twenty-five Star Cannons took aim at the woman, who had fallen to the ground, and fired!
"Tsk, was it really necessary? I mean, why did you have to do this?" Wen Yuncheng lamented as she tossed a Stun Grenade over. She tapped the bracelet on her wrist, and a black phantom instantly coiled around the woman. The woman was a Star Spirit 1st Layer, after all. Although Wen Yuncheng didn't feel threatened, she still had to prevent the woman from using some trump card to escape.
As for playing dead, that trick would never work on her. Wen Yuncheng waited until the mission prompt appeared, confirming she had received the 530 experience point reward, before quickly retrieving her Star Cannons. She looted the storage ring from the woman's ghastly corpse before tossing out a Flame Exploder to completely incinerate her. Then, she used the Mountain River Seal to smash a hole in the ground, threw the remains inside, and carelessly filled it with dirt. Finally, she threw a grenade to infuse the deep pit with the aura of a Star Power explosion before quickly departing.
With such a mess, and the ashes buried under a large crater that looked like the aftermath of an attack, Wen Yuncheng didn't believe anyone would bother digging it up. Even if they did... they couldn't possibly know this person was from "Fu," much less that she was the one who did it.
Brilliant.
Wen Yuncheng flew for more than a dozen miles before slowly deactivating her Mechanical Wings. She examined her new spoils and found that this person... was surprisingly poor.
She was clearly a Star Spirit 1st Layer, yet her Star Stone card only had 1,370,000? Wen Yuncheng rummaged through the storage ring three or four times and only found a single Yellow-rank Spirit Treasure, which was a scimitar. There were quite a few pills for replenishing blood, restoring Star Power, and aiding cultivation... but they were useless to her. Wen Yuncheng also found a few sets of clothes in the ring, each with a small character for "Fu" embroidered on the corner with a special stitch. Oh, and there was a token. Wen Yuncheng sensed it; its internal structure was similar to a Star Stone card, likely used for recording contribution points within "Fu."
Wen Yuncheng only took the pills, Star Stones, and the Yellow-rank Spirit Treasure before casually tossing the storage ring away. The other items inside could easily bring her trouble, and who knew if the ring itself was marked. She had to be wary of anything obtained from "Fu." The Secret Realm wasn't the Imperial Capital, and Wen Yuncheng wasn't short on the money for a storage ring.
So people from Fu... really did manage to sneak into the Secret Realm. Wen Yuncheng scratched her head. It made sense. If that woman hadn't revealed her own identity, Wen Yuncheng wouldn't have been able to confirm she was from "Fu," unless she killed her to see if she gave experience points.
"Three hundred contribution points and four million Star Stones? I already have seven million Star Stones on me. 'Fu' is way too stingy," Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but complain. She was the champion of the Youth Tournament, after all.
[...If you hadn't used the excuse of a Star Power Mutation, Fu would have at most put a bounty of one hundred contribution points on you, without any Star Stones.] 1947 was exasperated. What did Fu see in Wen Yuncheng? They were interested in her special constitution, her Star Power Mutation, and the fact that she had reached the Star Lord 1st Layer so quickly despite it! A genius? Lin Jinyu was also a genius, and so were the children of the Protectors. Looking across the entire continent, there were plenty of geniuses!
"Hah, I'm just complaining because I can't stand Fu. If they offered tens of millions for my bounty, I could at least curse them for being filthy rich."
It wasn't that Wen Yuncheng hadn't considered keeping the red-clothed woman alive to pry some information about "Fu" from her, but the woman was a Star Spirit 1st Layer, making her difficult to control. Besides... maybe she was getting arrogant, but after seeing that Star Venerate-level old man from "Fu," Wen Yuncheng felt the red-clothed woman's rank within the organization couldn't be that high. She probably wouldn't have known anything important.
After that interlude, Wen Yuncheng continued to try her luck in the Secret Realm. The red-clothed woman had served as a reminder, so Wen Yuncheng had 1947 keep watch on their surroundings. If she encountered anyone, she would walk instead of using her Mechanical Wings. These Mechanical Wings were too conspicuous. Those guys might not recognize Wen Yuncheng's face, but they would definitely recognize the Mechanical Wings!
Only that old man, who had just emerged and seen nothing of the world, would be ignorant of their existence.
-If only she could improve the blueprints and provide them to the Empire for mass production, then it wouldn't be so strange for her to use them herself. But that involved issues of energy conversion and propulsion. Even if she were to improve them, 1947 would have to rack its brain first and then teach her step-by-step.
...After this Secret Realm trip is over, I'll try to modify them when I have time.
Wen Yuncheng wandered for two days before finally spotting a proper-looking building. She hurried over, only to find that many people had already gathered outside.
After asking around, Wen Yuncheng learned that the opportunity here was trial-based. The benefits you could gain depended entirely on yourself. Entering the main gate would reveal an iron chain bridge, and crossing it would begin the challenge.
"Big brother, then why aren't you giving it a try?" Wen Yuncheng asked, puzzled after hearing the explanation and seeing such a large group of people waiting around.
"Once you're on the bridge, you can't turn back... I wanted to wait for the people who went in for the trial to come out and see what the situation is like before going. But the first group that rushed in still hasn't come out." The man sighed and didn't hide anything, telling Wen Yuncheng directly, "I don't know how dangerous it is, so I don't dare to risk it rashly."
Setting aside the dangers of the trial itself, just look at how many people were gathered outside. What if you narrowly survived the trial and obtained some great opportunity, only to be hunted down and killed for your treasure the moment you came out? It was just something that couldn't be said aloud. For now, everyone was relatively harmonious, but that might not be the case once someone emerged with a treasure.
Wen Yuncheng estimated the general area of the inner hall. It should be no problem to deploy twenty Star Cannons in an instant. She mentally rehearsed the possible scenarios. She currently had three defensive Profound-rank Spirit Treasures, so buying time to set up her Star Cannons wouldn't be an issue. As for the defensive scroll Lin Jinyu had given her, Wen Yuncheng didn't even consider it. Unless it was a life-or-death crisis, she would keep that scroll carefully stored away.
Having made her decision, Wen Yuncheng stepped onto the iron chain bridge and walked toward the other side. The bridge was an extreme test of balance. As soon as she stepped on it, the chains swayed. Of the three iron chains, two were at her sides and one was under her feet. The pit below the bridge was originally ordinary stone, but after Wen Yuncheng got on, raging flames suddenly erupted from within! If she fell, she would be burned to a crisp, if not killed. Not to mention, a restriction was placed on her the moment she stepped on the chains, making it impossible for her to turn back.
Balance, control, and speed-not one could be lacking. Because as time passed, the temperature of the iron chains rose rapidly! If you dawdled and moved slowly, you probably wouldn't even be able to hold onto the chains by the halfway point.
After safely reaching the other side, Wen Yuncheng raised her hand and pressed it against the closed gate. A wave of Star Power rippled from the gate. The scenery before her changed, and Wen Yuncheng arrived in a sealed space.
A small world within the Secret Realm's world?
[...] 1947 suddenly felt awkward. It seemed to have guessed what would happen next.
A phantom appeared opposite Wen Yuncheng, which gradually solidified-into Wen Yuncheng's own image!
Wen Yuncheng blinked. She suddenly realized that in this kind of Secret Realm with no low-level restrictions... she was a bit too overpowered.
The "Wen Yuncheng" opposite her had no trace of Star Power fluctuations; only her physical attributes were the same as Wen Yuncheng's. Although it could use the various Spirit Treasures Wen Yuncheng currently possessed, it... had no skills.
Fighting against oneself was supposed to be a very distinctive part of a trial. But for Wen Yuncheng, it had a completely different flavor.
Wen Yuncheng watched her double take out the Mountain River Seal. She raised her hand and threw a Stun Grenade to stun the imposter, used Launching Slide to send it flying, and created distance with a Piercing Kick. Then, three grenades exploded, followed by a Flame Exploder to finish the job!
The imposter dissipated less than three minutes after it appeared.
Wen Yuncheng waited quietly for the next round of the trial, but the space seemed to have malfunctioned, as it didn't change at all. Hmm... could it be that my moves were so slick I broke the trial?
[...You were too fast. It hasn't processed it yet.] Although this trial had its own set of procedures, it also had to construct itself based on the challenger's information. When Wen Yuncheng crossed the iron bridge, the trial constructed the first stage and the subsequent stages. Clearly, the second stage hadn't finished constructing yet.
1947 sighed. This kind of rigid, non-sentient trial really is no good; it can't adapt to the situation. If it were in charge of this trial, would it have to worry about the stages? What? You're too fast and I haven't finished constructing the next stage? Since you're so amazing, I'll just slightly modify someone else's stage for you to make do. The challenger won't know what they're going to face anyway.
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