Chapter 229: The Prohibited Item Makes Its Move

Faction No. 7's dice roll not only caught Yan Jing's attention but also caused a massive uproar among the outside crowd.

"It's happening, it's happening! He's entered that magistrate's territory, and it looks like a Combat Grid!"

"That shadow is definitely Yan Jing!"

"All we know right now is that an ordinary Third Tier is slightly stronger than thirty percent of a Fourth Ring Domain captain. Zhou Xian is stronger than the long-haired guy, who's way stronger than thirty percent of a Fourth Ring Domain captain."

"Zhou Xian is far stronger than thirty percent of the long-haired man, and Jiang Yao is weaker than one hundred and twenty percent of the long-haired man. Once we get Yan Jing's data, we'll have a solid baseline for the top-tier combatants in this competition."

"Damn, what a show."

"Who do you guys think takes it? The Fourth Ring Domain captain or Yan Jing?"

"What kind of stupid question is that? You should be asking how long it'll take the captain to win."

"Ten seconds, maybe. I hear that woman is the strongest of her generation in the Precognition Society."

"Five seconds. My backers told me she's terrifying. She isn't any weaker than Zhou Xian."

In the crowd, Lin Xiaoran held a camera, originally aiming her lens at the smoke woman and the tall, sturdy woman preparing to fight. Spotting this new development, she fired off a few quick shots, grabbed the sleeve of a man in a pristine white trench coat beside her, and excitedly dragged him toward the No. 113 Regional Grid.

"Hurry up, let's go! The biggest news of the day is about to drop," Lin Xiaoran urged the man beside her. His name was Zhao Dongchuan, and the two were childhood friends.

Lin Xiaoran had been sent to the Fourth Ring Domain by her father at a very young age, only returning home when she was fifteen or sixteen. Her family originally intended for her to walk the path of a seer. Rarity bred value, after all, and seers were highly sought after in the Fifth Ring Domain.

However, she would rather die than submit. She stubbornly joined a newspaper instead, which ultimately led to a bitter falling out with her family.

Zhao Dongchuan was a friend she had met back in the Fourth Ring Domain. The two had practically grown up together.

Eventually, Zhao Dongchuan successfully established a foothold in the Precognition Society, while she returned home.

"The biggest news? I wouldn't go that far."

Zhao Dongchuan smiled, letting Lin Xiaoran pull him by his sleeve. "Captain Xu's strength is nothing ordinary."

"Oh?"

Lin Xiaoran stopped in her tracks and blinked. "Captain Xu? Is that woman's full name Xu Qiao'er?"

She had been present during the Surface and Inner Worlds summit the other day. She had heard the president of the Precognition Society refer to the captain of the team entering the Inner World as "Qiao'er."

"Yeah, that's her name."

Zhao Dongchuan nodded.

Lin Xiaoran nodded in return. "Is she strong?"

"Very strong," Zhao Dongchuan confirmed.

"Compared to Zhou Xian?"

"Hard to say. I think she's stronger than Zhou Xian."

"So you're saying she's already been chosen as the Fourth Ring Domain's seed?"

"Umm, I can't talk about that."

A distinct flash of disappointment crossed Lin Xiaoran's face.

Her attempt to fish for information had failed.

If she could expose the identity of the Precognition Society's seed for this generation, the news would undoubtedly blow up.

Zhao Dongchuan couldn't help but find her reaction amusing. "So now you know why I said it might not be huge news. If you ask me for an estimate, Captain Xu will finish this in five seconds, tops. No more than that. And that's assuming she doesn't use any powerful offensive methods."

"Wrong!"

Lin Xiaoran suddenly raised her camera, pointing it at Zhao Dongchuan. "Let's make a bet."

"We bet on whether Xu Qiao'er can defeat a thirty-percent strength Yan Jing within twenty seconds."

"Twenty seconds?" Zhao Dongchuan nodded. "Sure."

He didn't even ask about the stakes.

"Then it's settled," Lin Xiaoran said. "If Xu Qiao'er can't win within twenty seconds, you have to give me proof of whether or not she's the seed."

"And if she wins within twenty seconds, you set the stakes."

"Then treat me to three meals," Zhao Dongchuan replied.

"Deal!"

Soon, the crowd gathered at the No. 113 Regional Grid.

Upon entering Tranquil Valley, everyone sensed that something was wrong.

This Domain seemed different from Stone Mountain.

Any sound made here was amplified to an extreme, practically becoming a deafening roar.

Moreover, it was teeming with all sorts of eerie entities: massive, pale old men's faces, giant cranes with Buddha-like ears, tentacles disguised as grass, and even towering giants. "Any sound made here will become deafeningly loud, attracting the gaze of those eerie creatures and shadows—"

An accompanying Inner World resident spoke in a hushed tone. "If you want to keep your volume normal, just lower your voice."

"Don't look at those eerie creatures and shadows. Pretend they don't exist."

Even so, some players suffered a drop in their already paltry twenty points of Mental Immunity Value due to their wavering focus. It took them some time to gradually adjust.

The group hurried as fast as they could, finally arriving just before the fight began.

They saw a woman in a long white dress wielding a longbow as pale as a crescent moon, standing far apart from the shadow bearing Yan Jing's likeness.

"The timer starts the moment either side makes a move," Lin Xiaoran whispered.

"Got it."

Zhao Dongchuan nodded.

Aside from the two of them, the smoke woman, the tall and sturdy woman, the high schooler-looking man, and Fan Jue—all of them had come to this grid to watch this focal battle.

In the next instant, Yan Jing's shadow moved.

The hem of his advisor robes fluttered as his figure vanished from the spot in a flash.

So fast!

The exact same thought flared in the minds of everyone present.

The speed Yan Jing's shadow exploded with absolutely surpassed that of an ordinary Third Tier.

More importantly, they didn't sense any fluctuations of weird energy.

In other words, this was purely physical speed.

How could he be this fast?!

Xu Qiao'er was clearly startled, her brown pupils contracting.

Her ability was precognition. However, aside from the third Ritual, the precognition granted by her first two Ritual abilities was closer to meticulous calculation, relying on an opponent's various data points.

She had appeared motionless just now, but she had actually already used one of her Day Selection Ritual abilities: See Through.

Yet she never expected that right after she finished analyzing his weird energy fluctuations, her opponent would deliver such a shocking blow.

His combat style actually relied entirely on pure physical prowess.

In the next fraction of a second, watching Yan Jing close in on her, she swiftly raised the longbow in her hands and drew the string taut.

Her second Day Selection Ritual ability: Arrow - Destiny. Terrifying weird energy erupted. A pure white arrow howled through the air, transforming into a Silver White ribbon of light that directly struck the chest of Yan Jing, who was mere inches away.

The reason its name contained the word "Destiny" was because the moment the arrow was fired, its trajectory was locked onto a predetermined location based on all present conditions, impervious to any interference along the way.

It was a fated arrow; the exact point of impact was decided the instant it left the string.

Combined with See Through at such a close distance, it was completely impossible for Yan Jing to dodge.

Swoosh— The arrow's sharp shriek grew deafening under Tranquil Valley's amplification. Weird energy instantly proliferated, threatening to detonate Yan Jing's body.

The crowd witnessed this scene, silently lamenting how fast it all happened.

"It's over," Zhao Dongchuan said softly.

"Tch—"

Lin Xiaoran pursed her lips.

So he really couldn't do it after all?

But right at that moment, a cry of surprise rang out from the center of the grid.

Everyone's eyes went wide.

The arrow had indeed struck Yan Jing's chest, and shadow-like liquid oozed from the wound. Yet, it didn't explode, nor did Yan Jing's speed noticeably decrease. A split second later, he reached for Xu Qiao'er's throat.

"!!!"

Xu Qiao'er's initially dismissive gaze vanished as her scalp instantly went numb. Streaks of weird energy erupted within her right eye.

In a flash, Yan Jing's figure fractured into thousands of afterimages in her vision, representing every possible movement he might make. Immediately after, those afterimages vanished rapidly, leaving only a single trajectory.

Slanting downward from above—he would grab her neck and smash her into the ground.

However—even though she foresaw Yan Jing's next move, Xu Qiao'er lacked the physical stats to evade it.

The reason was exactly the same as why she had been able to hit him.

They were simply too close!

Thus, amid a subconscious gasp, weird energy flickered around her body, and the phantom image of a white jade crown materialized above her head.

Calming rite.

Blinding light bloomed alongside the weird energy, and Xu Qiao'er's figure instantly reappeared several meters away.

Upon her collarbone lay a mangled, bloody handprint. One could even see the jagged edge of bone protruding through the torn flesh.

"Fuck!"

Someone blurted out in shock. The voice morphed into rolling thunder, drawing a swarm of eerie creatures rapidly closer.

It wasn't until a bystander clapped a hand over the speaker's mouth that the eerie creatures finally stopped.

"How is that possible?" Zhao Dongchuan muttered.

Taking an arrow from Xu Qiao'er at point-blank range, and he didn't immediately go down???

Furthermore, a mere grab packed that much power?!

Just as everyone reeled in shock, the situation in the center of the Regional Grid rapidly changed once again.

A pitch-black Thorn Spear materialized in the hands of Yan Jing's shadow. With a forceful stomp, his figure fractured into multiple afterimages once more as he closed in on Xu Qiao'er.

Swish—

Every single afterimage swung the spear in their hands, tearing through the air like a black flood dragon aimed straight at Xu Qiao'er.

Xu Qiao'er's gaze darkened. Weird energy surged violently around her, instantly conjuring nine Silver White arrows upon her bow.

A split second later, the white arrows rained down upon Yan Jing like streaks of rainbow light in a torrential storm.

Even though they weren't as close as before, the barrage of arrows was overwhelmingly dense. As they struck the ground, they immediately triggered violent tremors.

The eerie creatures were lured in once again. Giants began to bellow. The entirety of Silent Valley seemed to spring to life in an instant.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

Yan Jing spun the spear in his hands into a defensive barrier. Enduring the barrage of brilliant light, he forcefully pressed forward until he was just a few meters away from Xu Qiao'er.

Then, he abruptly thrust his spear!

Xu Qiao'er's expression remained detached. The jade crown above her head flared with light once more, and she reappeared several meters away.

Immediately following that was another tempest of radiant light plunging from the sky.

"It really is over this time."

Zhao Dongchuan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

It was easy to foresee that from here on out, Yan Jing would never again get the chance to close within two meters of Xu Qiao'er.

"But I still won."

Lin Xiaoran pulled out a stopwatch. Shockingly, the time displayed had already passed two minutes.

"..."

Zhao Dongchuan sighed helplessly.

Xu Qiao'er had underestimated her opponent. If she had fired a nine-arrow volley right from the start, she wouldn't have ended up in such a state.

"What are you sighing for? Did you forget that this is just one of Yan Jing's shadows?"

Lin Xiaoran's quiet remark hit him like a bucket of cold water.

Zhao Dongchuan jolted in shock.

He had almost forgotten—this was just a shadow!

At thirty percent strength, how could he possess such speed and power?!!

Then, in reality, that man named Yan Jing's true strength...

At the thought of it, a slight chill crept down his spine.

He suspected that he wasn't the only one who had forgotten; even Xu Qiao'er, right there in the Regional Grid, might have momentarily lost sight of that fact.

"This thirty percent strength setting probably seals off certain abilities. You can't just assume his current speed and physical strength are exactly thirty percent of his original peak."

Mu Wan offered her own conclusion from the side. After a pause, she added, "Of course, it might not be one hundred percent either."

While the crowd discussed, the battle in the distant Regional Grid was nearing its conclusion.

By now, the speed of Yan Jing's shadow was growing slower and slower.

That thick white arrow lodged in his chest had ultimately taken a massive toll on him.

Xu Qiao'er had blinked a total of four times, kiting him until he lacked the strength to push forward anymore.

At last, he slowly ground to a halt.

Opposite him, Xu Qiao'er pulled her bowstring taut.

She had also just realized that the opponent facing her was merely a shadow of that Yan Jing—a shadow of an obscure, unknown figure from a remote city in the Fifth Ring Domain—yet it had managed to push her to this point.

Her current mood was a mix of humiliation, unwillingness, and even anger, but above all else, it was disbelief.

She couldn't think of any other word to describe it besides disbelief.

However, it was finally coming to an end.

She drew her bowstring to its limit, and a beam of white light as thick as a pillar violently shot forth.

This was a guaranteed hit. There was no other possibility.

But from within that blinding brilliance, a spherical object concealed in the light rolled smoothly all the way to her feet.

The exact moment that shadow was annihilated by the radiant light...

A crisp snap of fingers resonated through the sky, amplified by Tranquil Valley.

Then, right before everyone's eyes, a withered, pitch-black Thorn suddenly bloomed in full glory.

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

Thorns as sharp as blades instantly skewered half of Xu Qiao'er's body. Sprays of blood geysered into the air. Nourished by her blood, withered black blossoms bloomed one after another, swaying gently in the passing breeze.

"Ahhhh—!"

Xu Qiao'er's agonized scream echoed through the sky.

Her beautiful eyes widened in terror. Red blood vessels rapidly crawled across her sclera until both eyes were entirely bloodshot, leaking tears. Those Thorns were draining the blood from her body to fuel the blooming of flowers that seemed to originate from the netherworld.

In that moment, it felt as though a horde of malicious ghosts were tearing at her body, devouring her flesh, intent on dragging her into hell.

It wasn't until the jade crown above her head flashed with light once more.

Only then did her figure finally blink several meters away, swaying precariously on her feet.

Her white dress had been perforated with densely packed, bloody holes. Droplets of blood, sparkling like gems, fell continuously, forming a pool of blood at her feet.

The spectating crowd was dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Meanwhile, by the Lake tens of thousands of li away from Bianliu County...

Within one of the two golden Curtains confronting each other in the sky, a human male wearing Daoist robes looked at the outcome of the game he had bet on and sighed inwardly.

"What kind of garbage Prohibited Item is this? It can't even accurately simulate thirty percent of his strength. Did it forcefully nerf him just for the sake of game balance?"