Chapter 26: The Second Recruitment Card, Jingni
[Author's Note: Many people in the comment section feel that a virgin Jing Ni is the most desirable, otherwise it's like being a successor.
Qing Jiao was heavily criticized. Then it was reported and taken down.
Changed, changed...]
——————
High above in the bloody, oppressive sky of the City of Slaughter, within a hall built of bone and drenched in shadow, the Slaughter King sat upon his throne.
He idly swirled a cup of 'Bloody Mary,' his face hidden in the gloom.
"You say the whelp from Spirit Hall, the one with the Angelic bloodline, is asking about the new arrival?" His voice was a low, guttural rumble.
A hunched, shadowy attendant shivered at his feet. "Yes, Your Majesty. The... the newcomer has been here a full year. He has already won 89 matches. He is... efficient. The Angel-blooded one, Hu Liena, is asking questions. She seems to be tracking his progress."
The Slaughter King let out a sound that might have been a laugh.
"Then this King doesn't mind," he sneered, "after that other kid completes a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughtering Field, letting the City of Slaughter have one more champion's corpse to display."
He had no intention of letting either of them leave.
"But... what about Spirit Hall?" the attendant whispered, terrified.
The Slaughter King snorted coldly, his contempt palpable. "Hmph. Spirit Hall? As long as those few old fossils, the Enshriners from the Elder Palace, don't make a move themselves and break the ancient rules, what can Spirit Hall do?"
He leaned forward, his blood-red eyes glowing in the dark. "That greenhorn Qian Xunji, alone? He can't do anything to this Seat. He is nothing but a plumed chicken, hiding behind his father's name."
At the same time, far below in the city's chaotic, reeking streets, Qin Xuan had already returned to his residence. It was a small, stone room, nondescript and identical to thousands of others, but it was his sanctuary.
He tightly shut the heavy wooden door and barred it. He carefully re-set the alarm bells—thin, nearly invisible silk threads connected to small, tarnished bells—before finally allowing himself to breathe.
A full year. He had been in this hell for one full year.
After a year of constant, brutal slaughter, of breathing air thick with the stench of blood and depravity, he opened the system panel again. His eyes were cold, reflecting none of the light in the room.
"Qin Xuan—"
"Age: 20"
"Spirit: Changming Sword"
"Cultivation: Level 60 (Spirit Emperor)"
"Spirit Ring Configuration: Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black"
"Physique Level: Spirit Saint (Low-Tier)"
"Mental Force Level: Spirit Douluo (Early-Tier)"
"Spirit Bone: Mind Condensing Wisdom Skull (60,000-Year)"
"Talent: SSS- (All Eight Meridians Connected)"
"Self-Created Spirit Abilities: Longitudinal and Horizontal Swordsmanship, Ghost Valley Breathing Technique"
"Emotion Value: 47,992"
"Blind Box: None"
"Lottery Draws: 12"
Qin Xuan was undoubtedly extremely satisfied with the progress of his physique. Reaching the Spirit Saint level meant his body was a full rank ahead of his spirit power. The True Dragon's Marrow had been thoroughly absorbed, and a year of nonstop, life-and-death combat had tempered his vessel to an absurd degree. His mental force, now at the Spirit Douluo level, was even more monstrous.
But when he saw the talent column, he couldn't help but frown.
SSS-.
Should he say that the gap between a top-tier Twin Spirit and a single Spirit is not just ordinary, but fundamentally large?
He had consumed an Immortal Herb, the Autumn Water Clear-Jade Lotus. He had used the Ghost Valley Breathing Technique to open all eight of his extraordinary meridians. He had greatly enhanced his talent and cultivation speed... yet, he still couldn't compare to Bibi Dong's innate SSS-level talent.
[Inorin's Note: The author implies Bibi Dong's SSS talent is inherently superior to the protagonist's SSS- talent, likely due to her being the chosen one of a god and possessing Twin Spirits.]
However, after a second thought, he quickly became relieved.
So what?
No matter how amazing a single Spirit is, and no matter how fast its cultivation speed, once one cultivates to the Titled Douluo level, the cultivation speed will still slow down to a crawl.
With all spirit rings and Spirit Bones in place, one can only improve at a snail's pace through arduous, decades-long cultivation, just like those Enshriners in Spirit Hall, stuck at their ranks for half a lifetime.
In contrast, Twin Spirits can attach nine additional spirit rings.
In the original work, Bibi Dong, with her exceptional talent, became the youngest Limit Douluo on the continent (before Tang San, the ultimate cheater) by relying on precisely this advantage.
Having understood all this, Qin Xuan no longer cared too much. He had his own, better path. He had the Blind Box Emotion System. There was no need to compete for a short-term advantage.
Developing discreetly, hiding his true strength, was the true path.
His brows slowly relaxed. Qin Xuan flipped the system page, opening the big, gaudy turntable for the lottery.
Looking at the 12 drawing opportunities he had accumulated over the past year—harvested from the terror, despair, and killing intent of his opponents in the arena—Qin Xuan pressed for a ten-draw without any hesitation.
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Durex Ultra-thin × 1]
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Durex Ultra-thin × 1]
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Durex Ultra-thin × 1]
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Durex Ultra-thin × 1]
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Durex Ultra-thin × 1]
"Damn it, what kind of rotten stuff is this?"
After drawing 'Bubble Gum,' as he mentally called it, five times in a row, Qin Xuan was so angry he wanted to curse. What the hell was all this?
Could it be that he used up all his luck when he drew the [Beauty-Fixing Pill] last time?
Does a real man need to use this? Who uses this, a real man? And where, in the City of Slaughter?!
Cursing the system's sense of humor, Qin Xuan silently put the five boxes of sheaths into the storage spirit tool at his waist.
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining Spirit Ring Age Enhancement Card 5,000 Years × 1 (Note: Only for spirit rings below 10,000 years; the spirit ring's age cannot exceed the user's tolerance limit)]
"Hmm, finally something good." His mood instantly improved. "It's very suitable for my fourth spirit ring. If my fourth ring is raised to 10,000 years, then my confidence in absorbing the Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's Neidan will be even greater."
A purple card appeared out of nowhere in front of Qin Xuan. He didn't put it into the system warehouse. With a thought, the card transformed into a purple light and automatically merged into his body.
His spirit power didn't increase much, only about 0.25 levels, but he could vaguely feel his physique and strength had improved somewhat. The 10,000-year ring was feeding back into his body.
If he were to release his Spirit in the outside world, he would surely find that his spirit ring configuration had changed from the original Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black to a much more terrifying Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Black, Black.
His fourth spirit ring, building on its original 5,000 years, had barely, just barely, reached the 10,000-year level.
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining [Thousand Gold Coat] × 1]
"Although the [Thousand Gold Coat] cannot disguise my Spirit and spirit rings like the [Phoenix Fire] item I saw before, it also possesses spirit power, can defend against miasma, resist ordinary blades, and automatically repair damage. So, it's better than nothing!"
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining [Brother Xiong Pill] × 1. Description: Ten years of grinding a sword, never bending.]
"If it didn't have that description... 'Ten years of grinding a sword, never bending'... it would be a good item. Hmm." A wicked smile crossed his face. "I'll leave it for Xiao Gang."
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining [High-Explosive Grenade] × 5]
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000, Congratulations to Host for obtaining [Golden Blind Box] × 1]
"Holy crap! This wave isn't a loss after all!"
He put the [Thousand Gold Coat], the [Brother Xiong Pill], and the five [High-Explosive Grenades] into the system warehouse. This left only the Golden Blind Box, which, like all rewards, could only exist for one hour.
Qin Xuan could no longer hide the smile on his face.
The previous two Golden Blind Boxes had opened up the Ghost Valley Inheritance and the True Dragon's Marrow. They had benefited him greatly.
What could he get now?
Qin Xuan opened the Golden Treasure Chest with a palpable sense of anticipation. The chest disappeared, and a single, heavy golden card appeared out of nowhere.
The golden light receded, revealing a woman. She was in a slim-fit metal battle suit with purple stripes, fish-scale armor on her legs and right arm. Her face was exquisite, her eyes cold, and she was holding the infamous Jingni Sword.
[Jingni]
[Age: 24]
[Spirit Power Level: 73 (Internal force converted to spirit power)]
[Spirit: Jingni Sword (Unawakened)]
[Talent: SS+]
[Spirit Ring Configuration: None]
[Physique: Spirit Grandmaster (Level 29)]
[Description: A female assassin from the Net Trap (Luo Wang) organization. True name unknown. Wielder of one of the "Eight Swords of the King of Yue," ranked first among the Heaven-level assassins. Her appearance is exquisite, her martial arts are extremely high, and she was one of the early, top assassins of the Net Trap organization with a very high success rate. During a mission to assassinate Wei Wuji, she unexpectedly became pregnant. Later, she was enlightened by an "unnamed expert" and decided to fight for herself.]
[Inorin's Note: Jingni and the Net Trap organization are from the The Legend of Qin (Qin's Moon) universe. The Jingni Sword is one of the Eight Swords of the King of Yue.]
[Mission: Please bring Jingni back before she gives birth prematurely.]
[Mission Time: 3 days.]
[Mission Difficulty: A+]
[Mission Reward: Jingni's absolute loyalty. One 100,000-year self-adaptive spirit ring. One 100,000-year self-adaptive left leg bone.]
"So, this is giving me a wife... and it's a buy one, get one free deal? With a 100,000-year spirit ring and Spirit Bone included?"
Qin Xuan's heart stirred. A Level 73 assassin with SS+ talent, plus those rewards... this was a massive jackpot.
Then he read the mission time again.
His heart plummeted.
"Only three days."
This meant he needed to achieve a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughtering Field and pass the Hell Road, all within three days.
"Damn it, what a rip-off!" he hissed, his good mood evaporating. "Three days! Let alone the Hell Road, it would be hard enough to even gather nine other people to participate in a single Hell Slaughtering Field match with me! They don't just run them back-to-back!"
He was at 89 wins. He needed 11 more. That was at least 11 matches. And that was assuming he could find opponents willing to fight him, the "Crimson-Robed Asura."
Then he had to challenge the Hell Road.
Am I... am I the kind of person who uses and abandons orphans and widows? He couldn't just leave a pregnant woman and her child in this hellish place called the City of Slaughter.
Could it be... do I have to go out and find a storage spirit tool that can store living beings? And then, after becoming a God of Slaughter... secretly sneak back and pick them up?
This was a logistical nightmare.
Just as Qin Xuan was thinking about how to possibly complete this A+-level mission, one of the silk threads he had strung up snapped.
Jingle-jingle-jingle!
The alarm bell connected to his doors and windows rang crisply.
Someone was coming.
Qin Xuan put away the golden recruitment card, his body instantly tensing. He melted back into the shadows of the room, his hand on his sword.
Soon, the rhythmic 'creak... creak...' of high heels rubbing against the stone ground came from the hallway.
A knock, sharp and precise, sounded from outside the room.
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