(Green Equipment)
Level: 5
Class: Witchcraft Poison Master
External Attack: 15-30
Internal Attack: 30-60
Weight: 2
Durability: 90/90
Bonus Attribute
Internal Attack: +4
Item Description: A common weapon used by disciples of the Wuling Sect, mainly used for digging holes, scooping pits, grave robbing, scratching faces, and relieving itches.
Looking at this sharp claw, Ceng Jing Shu Guang shook his head inwardly. Using this thing to scratch an itch? Just how itchy would you have to be? Anyone without self-harm tendencies wouldn't even be able to bring themselves to use it.
He hurriedly equipped the claw in his hand and allocated all 36 attribute points assigned by the system into internal energy. Looking at the attribute panel now:
ID:
Level: 8
Class: Witchcraft Poison Master (East Continent, Tier 1)
Health: 264/264
Internal Energy: 644/644
Stamina: 100/100
External Attack: 16-31
Internal Attack: 31-115
External Defense: 12
Internal Defense: 55
Dodge: 10
Hit: 15
Critical: 1.7
Attack Speed: 1
……
Although the attack power of a Level 5 green weapon wasn't exceptionally high, it was equivalent to the attack power of a Level 10 white item. With an upper attack limit of 96, dealing with Level 10 wild boars shouldn't be too strenuous.
"Many thanks, Senior Sister! With this lethal weapon, this junior won't return until I've torn that villa to the ground!"
"No, no, Senior Sister is sending you to deliver a letter, not for a 'forced demolition'. You can't touch a nail house's property..."
"Hehe, this junior is off! Senior Sister, wait for my good news!"
"Don't forget to buy some Gu Insects over there. The Gu Insects are very cheap. Senior Sister relies on this to make a little pocket money for rouge and face powder. Business is tough these days..."
"Understood, Senior Sister, I'm heading right over."
What kind of world is this anyway? Those bastards in charge of quest design, how did they manage to design a perfectly good quest into this wretched state? The village chief started selling umbrellas, and this Bai Susu hooked up with the general store owner to sell bugs. Once we get into the city, will there be NPCs selling themselves?
Thinking of this, black lines sprouted all over Xiao Yu's head, and he seemed to see three big characters: --...
The quest scene finally came to a temporary close, and Bai Susu turned around and walked toward the other players.
After finishing the conversation with Bai Susu, Xiao Yu noticed a dozen or so red cauldrons on the ground. At a glance, he could tell what they were. Wisps of light smoke drifted from the cauldrons, but the surrounding venomous bugs were pitifully few—not nearly enough to go around—and some players were already cursing angrily.
Standing in front of Bai Susu was a burly man. As Xiao Yu's gaze swept over him, he saw the man's hands fiercely grab at the two plump mounds on Bai Susu's chest. Before his hands even touched the flesh, a scream rang out, and the burly man collapsed straight to the ground, twitching all over, rolling around incessantly, and quickly tumbling into the Stagnant Water Pool...
Pervert! Beast!
Xiao Yu cursed inwardly, treading on the muddy path as he walked over.
By this time, the rain had stopped, though the sky remained overcast. Although the ground was still slick, the post-rain air felt exceptionally crisp, and visibility reached much further than before.
Before long, Xiao Yu found him. After stating his purpose, the grocer pulled out a bundle of oiled paper bags from the very back of the shelf.
"One hundred per bag, how many do you want?"
"How many do you have?"
"How many do you want?"
"I want as many as you have!"
These Gu Insects didn't take up space in the inventory, could be stored in cauldrons, were essential items for a poison master, and were very cheap—10 copper coins for 100 insects. To help Bai Susu get more rouge and face powder, Xiao Yu wanted to buy out all the Gu Insects here.
"I have as many as you want!" The grocer seemed never to have met someone who could brag so shamelessly. Looking at this fellow drenched like a drowned rat, he didn't look like a wealthy person at all.
"Damn it, what are you acting all high and mighty for? You're just an NPC! Tell me, how many packs do you have?"
"1,000 packs, one gold coin. Can you afford it?" The grocer's eyes were filled with provocation.
A fire flared in Xiao Yu's heart.
"Damn it, judging people by their cover! I'll take the lot!"
With that, a gold coin appeared in Ceng Jing Shu Guang's hand. He gave it a gentle flick, and it landed straight into the grocer's pocket.
The grocer was dumbfounded: "Holy crap, a wealthy patron! Ignoring the life and death of your fellow sect brothers—you've got guts! Are you sure you're buying them all?"
"Nonsense! Do I even need to say it?"
Xiao Yu wore a smug expression, thoroughly satisfied with the look on the grocer's face. That'll teach you to judge a book by its cover. Feeling foolish now, aren't you? As he spoke, he reached out and took the 1,000 packs of Gu Insects from the grocer's hands.
Just then, the system prompt sounded.
Ding!
System Prompt: Congratulations on buying out all the Gu Insects at the grocer's and becoming a Wuling Sect disciple! Level +1.
You could even raise your skill level this way? Ceng Jing Shu Guang was overjoyed. Just as he wanted to check his skill attributes, the system prompt sounded again. This time, it wasn't the same as before—it was a server-wide announcement.
Ding!
Server-wide Announcement: A trial disciple of the Wuling Sect, in order to win the favor of their senior sister, exhausted all family property to buy out all the Gu Insects accumulated in the novice village over ten years! The resulting consequence is: they have become a Tier 2 disciple of the Wuling Sect! For the next half hour, there will be zero Gu Insects available for purchase at this location. All Wuling Sect disciples, please practice self-sufficiency! For any special needs, please solve them with your own hands!
"Damn it, I'm losing my mind!"
Xiao Yu was dumbfounded. What kind of situation was this? Buying some bugs could trigger a server-wide announcement? Was anyone even allowed to play this game anymore?
Ding ding ding ding ding...
As soon as the system announcement went out, Xiao Yu's private chat exploded like a frying pan, with dinging sounds ringing one after another.
He opened it to take a look.
"Bro, epic!"
"To disregard fellow sect ties for a woman, you've got guts!"
"Haha, Brother Guang, you're famous!"
"Idol, I worship you!"
"Brother Guang is mighty!"
"Damn it, are you even letting us play? Just wait, I'll kill you every time I see you!"
"You motherfucker are truly sick in the head!"
"Kid, watch your back. Our 'Ends of the Earth Pavilion' won't let you off! Don't let my guild members catch you!"
"Bro, you seem like a real man. Come join our guild..."
……
These were all messages sent by unfamiliar players, and Xiao Yu's head was spinning. Buying a few bugs could offend a whole gang of people—was this game playable? Out of sight, out of mind; he scrolled through a few messages, wanting to block them all, when a message from Xiao Yueya came through.
"I didn't expect you to really go all out for a woman. If you could do that for me, I'd definitely marry you. Is that Bai Susu pretty?"
Damn it, where did all this come from?
"She's an NPC, what do you think?"
Xiao Yu replied to Xiao Yueya, then hurried away from the grocer and walked toward the pharmacy.
Arriving at the pharmacy and opening the medicine list, Ceng Jing Shu Guang got a fright.
The prices of these medicines were way too high! A single bottle of the lowest-tier health potion actually cost 10 copper coins. A medicine box could hold ten bottles of potion, which came out to 1 gold coin! And internal energy restoratives were even more expensive—20 copper coins a bottle, making a box cost two silver coins. It really wasn't something ordinary people could afford.
Although his wallet ached, Xiao Yu still bought ten sets of internal energy potions and two sets of health potions. Then he found the equipment merchant, sold off some unnecessary white equipment dropped by the Pig King, and ran over to the auction merchant to consign the remaining green items except for the Zither Master's weapon. Only then did he tighten his belt and sprint toward the Wild Boar Forest.
The Wild Boar Forest was located directly south of the novice village, a very large forest where the primary monsters were Level 10 wild boars.
Xiao Yu ran while thinking about killing a few monsters along the way to experience his newly learned skills, but after running for a long time, he didn't even get a single chance to strike. The entire wilderness was packed with people; monsters were killed the exact moment they respawned, with the system's monster spawn sounds and the monsters' death rattles sounding almost simultaneously.
Looking at the server population now, it had already broken five million!
After running for a bit longer, he saw a dense forest appear in the distance, and the monsters nearby changed to mountain wolves. Only here did the surrounding players finally thin out a bit.
"So frustrating, I didn't get to hit a single monster the whole way here!"
Ceng Jing Shu Guang didn't break his stride, plunging straight into the woods.
As soon as he entered the forest, the system prompt sounded.
Ding!
System Prompt: Welcome to the Nether Realm!
In *God Tribulation*, whenever players crossed map boundaries, the system would provide a prompt. The monsters in this Wild Boar Forest were all around Level 10; low-level players couldn't survive here at all. The moment he stepped into the forest, the player-outnumbering-monster dynamic flipped completely. Aside from a few groups in the distance who looked like they were leveling in parties, other players were basically nowhere to be seen.
Finally, a chance to fight monsters! Raising his head, he saw a wild boar rooting around in the dirt not far away. Xiao Yu checked its attributes—
Level: 10
Health: 700
Attack: 80
Defense: 60
Other Attributes: None
……
A Level 10 wild boar's defense certainly wasn't low. Let's test out the firepower first. Ceng Jing Shu Guang waved the black iron claw in his hand and unleashed a skill right at the wild boar.
Three bolts of cold light flashed through the air, landing accurately on the unsuspecting wild boar. Struck by the ambush, three streams of blood immediately erupted from the boar's body, followed by a mournful squeal.
"16!"
"15!"
"14!"
Three eye-catching numbers flashed in succession, and a chunk of the wild boar's health bar instantly vanished.
The wild boar's reaction was quite fast. Before Xiao Yu could swing his second claw, it had already charged forward. Lowering its pitch-black head, it thrust the two sharp tusks protruding from its mouth directly toward him.
Ceng Jing Shu Guang retreated unhurriedly, flipping his hand at the same time to wedge a Gu Insect between his fingers. Locking his eyes on the wild boar's outstretched snout, he slapped it downward.
"Mad Gu!"
"16!"
"15!"
Ding!
System Prompt: The wild boar has been attacked and entered the bleeding state. For the next three seconds, attack damage received will be doubled.
To his surprise, using a Gu attack on a monster for the first time immediately triggered the bleeding state. Looking at the wild boar's health bar, a full tenth of it had been drained. Meanwhile, Ceng Jing Shu Guang's timely retreat had successfully evaded the wild boar's attack! At the same time, he unleashed another Wind-Breaking Claw.
"MISS!"
The wild boar attacked again. Ceng Jing Shu Guang alternated between Wind-Breaking Claw and Mad Gu, slashing and slapping in quick succession, rapidly beating the wild boar down to low health. He himself had only been hit by the wild boar once, losing 30 health points.
The poison master class belonged to mid-to-long-range combat, but because his level was only 1 level, the Gu Insect deployment range was limited, coupled with the need to practice skill proficiency, Xiao Yu opted for melee combat. Without worrying much about micro-management, he disposed of the wild boar using a semi-mobile, semi-stationary approach.
The wild boar bit the dust, dropping two copper coins and a wild boar bristle. Xiao Yu scooped everything into his inventory and advanced toward his next target.
The two-level level suppression was completely offset by the Level 5 green weapon. Every wild boar death yielded over 200 experience points. Slashing and slaying all the way along his path, by the time he caught sight of the 'villa' purchased by Li Yunlong in the woods, Ceng Jing Shu Guang had already risen to Level 9.
"You call this a villa? It's clearly a thatched hut!"
Standing in front of the 'villa', Xiao Yu was left somewhat speechless.
These were two dilapidated thatched huts. The straw on the roofs had rotted away due to old age, and the roof was full of holes. Beside the hut were two rocks, next to which stood a sign with the two characters 'Latrine' written on it. No wonder Bai Susu called it a 'half-bathroom'—so that was literally what it was, an open-air public toilet.
The area around the thatched hut was dead silent, not a single wild boar in sight. Ceng Jing Shu Guang stepped forward and walked into the house. The moment his foot crossed the threshold, before he could even figure out what was happening, a rush of wind came from his left—the sound of a weapon cleaving the air.
"Whoosh!"
A flash of cold light gleamed. Out of pure instinct, Xiao Yu's body lunged fiercely forward. Without even turning his head, he raised his hand and slashed a claw backward.
(New book, please add to your favorites~)
0012 As Maggots to Bone Kills Feilong (Part 2)
As the young woman spoke, she also toggled on PK mode, laying her zither horizontally across her chest. Plucking the strings with her fingers, she produced a 'clang' sound, unleashing [Pluck String].
[Pluck String]: A basic Zither Master skill. Plucks the strings to produce pleasant zither music, dealing damage to a single target. Attack power is weakened when encountering obstacles!
"21!"
The zither notes struck Ceng Jing Shu Guang. The moment the bright red numbers popped up, Wuji Yanyan's fingers continuously strummed the strings, playing a soul-stirring melody: [Will Follow Tune].
[Will Follow Tune]: A basic Zither Master skill. Strokes the zither with one hand to play a melody, using zither music to indiscriminately damage a large area of enemies ahead. Attack power is reduced when zither notes encounter obstacles!
The zither notes pierced the air, sending out ripples of blue light. Xiao Yu retreated several steps, running outside the range of the zither attack.
Seeing his wife take the initiative to help out, Wuji Feilong felt extremely embarrassed: "Wife, I've got this! No need to help!" As he spoke, this fellow popped a bottle of health potion and attacked again with his long spear.
Xiao Yu knew this fight was unavoidable, so he stopped holding back. Facing Wuji Feilong, he unleashed another Wind-Breaking Claw. Wuji Feilong sidestepped, dodging two of the three strikes from [Wind-Breaking Claw], and had only 15 health points shaved off the top of his head.
"Just how long is this going to take?"
Fighting while moving, Xiao Yu grew secretly anxious. After a few rounds, he realized this Wuji Feilong was also an old hand at gaming. Although not quite an expert, his technique during attacks and evasions was decent. Especially since this guy had a massive health pool—estimating at least 500-plus points. Every time he knocked half of it away, the guy would chug a potion, and his health would quickly refill. This battle was fundamentally a war of attrition.
Wuji Feilong was even more frustrated. The more eager he was to show off, the less accurate his spear thrusts became. After several rounds, his opponent had only been stabbed by him once.
Fighting back and forth made his heart pound with trepidation. The guy in front of him seemed to be a master of operations; if this war of attrition kept up, once the potions in his own bag ran out, he'd basically be finished.
Wuji Yanyan on the sidelines also noticed something was amiss and couldn't help shouting, "Husband, do you need help?"
Hearing this, Wuji Feilong grew even more frustrated, thinking to himself: Do you even need to ask? Can't you tell I'm locked in a potion battle here? But with you asking like that, how can I possibly have the face to let you help?
"No need!" Wuji Feilong gritted his teeth and replied, his voice sounding quite macho.
"Husband, go for it! Kill this kid, and your wife will take good care of you tonight..." Not noticing anything wrong with Wuji Feilong, Wuji Yanyan cheered him on from the side.
Wuji Feilong had grievances he couldn't voice. He felt as though every spear thrust he made was stabbing at empty air; the fellow in front of him was more agile than a monkey, changing locations the moment he scratched with a claw, making it impossible for him to land a hit.
"Young hero, you must protect me! If we really can't beat them, let's just surrender, don't push yourself..." Li Yunlong kept repeating these words from the side. Xiao Yu's head was spinning from listening to it, and he felt the urge to strangle the man.
"Classmate Feilong, stop fighting. You can't beat me. Potions are so expensive, you really are willing to spend money on women."
Xiao Yu wanted to persuade Wuji Feilong to stop, thinking it would save time, but somehow the words sounded thoroughly aggravating.
"Damn it, if you've got guts, stop dodging! Fight me head-on!" Wuji Feilong was already anxious, and hearing Xiao Yu put it that way made him even angrier.
Xiao Yu scratched out another claw and sidestepped: "Alas, do you have any brains? I'm an internal energy class with low health and low defense, and you're an external energy class with high health and high defense. Fight you head-on? How do you even have the face to suggest that?"
"Get lost! Damn it, stop making excuses. Grandpa just has more health, so what? If you've got the ability, put me in the ground!" Wuji Feilong was growing desperate and exasperated.
"Put you in the ground? Is that hard? Aren't you worried your wife will become a widow?" Xiao Yu said leisurely. When it came to talking trash, he felt that once he got into the zone, he could talk someone down to their last cent.
"Screw your mother, if you've got the ability, stop dodging! Exchange a couple of moves head-on with grandpa!" Wuji Feilong was truly enraged. This fellow spoke unhurriedly and without panic, and that half-dead voice of his was enough to piss someone to death.
"Alright, then let's trade blows head-on. No running away!"
"Whoever runs is a grandson!"
"Good grandson..."
After unleashing a Wind-Breaking Claw from afar, Xiao Yu leaped forward to close the distance with Wuji Feilong, raising his hand to cast [Mad Gu].
Seeing his opponent finally stop dodging and dare to close in for a head-on fight, Wuji Feilong was overwhelmed with ecstasy. Casually chugging a bottle of health potion, he raised his long spear and countered with a Welcoming Wind Spear.
"32!"
Watching the bright red numbers pop up on his opponent's head, Wuji Feilong immediately followed up with a Chasing Wind Spear.
"42!"
After these two spear strikes, his opponent's health dropped by a quarter in an instant. Wuji Feilong was ecstatic; a few more hits like this, and his opponent would definitely bite the dust. Knowing he had low health and low defense and still daring to fight him head-on—wasn't this absolute idiocy?
Wuji Feilong was too busy rejoicing, alternating between his two skills. He quickly whittled away more than half of Ceng Jing Shu Guang's health. Just as he prayed for a critical hit to instantly melt his opponent, Wuji Yanyan's voice rang out from behind.
"Husband, be careful, heal yourself!"
Hearing this, Wuji Feilong finally noticed that his own health had plummeted to less than a fifth remaining! This terrified him, and he hurriedly replenished another bottle of potion.
"Sorry, you drank that potion way too late!" Ceng Jing Shu Guang said calmly.
"As Maggots to Bone!"
Manual control skill [As Maggots to Bone]—Xiao Yu unleashed it for the very first time!
[As Maggots to Bone]: A combo manual-control skill for poison masters, consuming all of the player's internal energy to bind the opponent with three Gu Insects. It prevents the target from regenerating health for 10 seconds, inflicts [Immobilize] for 5 seconds, disables skill usage for 5 seconds, and grants a certain probability of forcing them into a [Self-Harm] state.
This skill no longer belonged to the category of pure brainless button-mashing; it required micro-management. Though it only required a few simple positional adjustments, making a single misstep would render it impossible to execute.
Xiao Yu had waited for this moment for a very long time. Wuji Feilong drank potions as if money meant nothing—ferociously so. If he hadn't provoked him and made him lose his cool, there would never have been an opportunity to whittle him down to low health. And without bringing him to low health, even using [As Maggots to Bone] wouldn't guarantee a kill. After all, this move drained all his internal energy, leaving him unable to use his skills and forced to rely entirely on basic attacks.
Seeing his opponent fall into the trap, Xiao Yu didn't hesitate to slash out with his claws.
"10!"
"12!"
"11!"
"11!"