Chapter 161: The Strange

"Hell difficulty."

"Indeed, it's a bit too high."

Jiang Jian's expression turned slightly cold as he activated his faint Shenque spiritual essence, his body sharply sidestepping.

Barely avoiding a celestial soldier's halberd.

The next instant.

More halberds, brimming with fierce might, pierced toward Jiang Jian!

In this simulation, Jiang Jian's cultivated cultivation level was only 30% of the Divine Grant realm.

Facing these armored celestial soldiers.

His body dodged left and right.

For the moment, he had no chance to counterattack.

"This won't work."

Jiang Jian's gaze sharpened as he seized an opening to create distance.

He formed hand seals, and instantly, blazing crimson flames roared forth!

Pure Spirit True Flame!

In the game scenario, only Level 3 talents could be simulated.

The crimson sea of fire surged forward, engulfing a group of celestial soldiers, searing them fiercely!

But the spiritual energy infused was far too little.

Its destructive power was extremely limited.

"Roar!"

Several celestial soldiers burst from the fire, lunging at Jiang Jian!

The gap in Shenque cultivation was too vast.

"Pure Spirit!"

As his spiritual essence roared, Jiang Jian channeled his remaining spiritual energy and unleashed his talent's killing technique!

A stream of blood-red light tore through the air, speeding forward and piercing into a celestial soldier's eye socket.

The next instant, its skull exploded outright!

Blood-red specks scattered in all directions as Jiang Jian violently retreated, continuing to evade the soldiers' attacks.

Gradually.

Jiang Jian realized.

These celestial soldiers employed over a dozen different attack patterns.

If he could perfectly dodge each attack, his spiritual energy would instantly recover slightly.

But if over twenty celestial soldiers surrounded him at once.

No matter what he did, he couldn't evade them all.

"Although my spiritual essence cap is only 30% of the Divine Grant realm."

"But my Pure Spirit killing technique, if it strikes a vital point, is enough to kill an armored celestial soldier."

Realizing this.

Jiang Jian used the Pure Spirit fire sea to distract part of the armored soldiers.

Meanwhile, he seized opportunities to unleash his talent's killing technique, eliminating those soldiers who drew near first.

The battle situation gradually stabilized.

As time passed, the armored celestial soldiers grew fewer.

And Jiang Jian's spiritual energy had actually recovered to full!

Every time a celestial soldier swung his halberd, Jiang Jian dodged it by a hair's breadth.

The outwardly projected blade qi was neutralized by the blood-red light barrier.

A single blood-red light barrier couldn't block blade qi.

But Jiang Jian, with lightning-fast reflexes, condensed dozens of blood-red light barriers in rapid succession!

Nearly all the halberd blade qi failed to inflict any real damage.

"Roar!"

The last celestial soldier let out a furious roar before shattering into fine shards of light.

Jiang Jian walked to the edge of the scenario and tapped the holographic screen, directly activating the second challenge!

Boom!

On the Nine-Tier Tower, the second-level gate crashed open!

More armored celestial soldiers charged down, roaring!

These soldiers numbered over forty.

Their cultivation was nearly at the Spring Surge realm!

Each celestial soldier now possessed additional attack methods—either magical or martial!

Meanwhile, Jiang Jian's Shenque spiritual essence rose to 50% of the Divine Grant realm!

At the same time.

The Xuanshan Seal placed in the scanning unit unlocked.

However.

Within the game scenario.

The Xuanshan Seal, originally a Level 4 Divine Grant weapon.

Was simulated only as a Level 2 Divine Grant weapon.

"It's enough."

Jiang Jian waved his hand, and the bronze small seal landed in his palm.

Although the armored soldiers' combat power had greatly increased.

For Jiang Jian.

His 50% Divine Grant spiritual essence, combined with the Level 2 weapon Xuanshan Seal, significantly boosted his combat capability!

Boom!

The bronze seal transformed into a flash of green light and smashed directly onto a soldier's forehead!

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere!

The soldier's body froze, his expression dazed, his speed sharply reduced—he was clearly stunned.

In that instant, a stream of blood-red light swept past, shattering his skull outright!

The remaining soldiers roared in fury and charged faster!

Jiang Jian recalled the Xuanshan Seal, pouring spiritual energy wildly into it before hurling it forward again!

The bronze seal struck repeatedly at extreme speed.

The dozen or so soldiers in front were all slowed, their steps faltering.

Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Jian retreated rapidly, creating distance.

As a Level 2 Divine Grant weapon, the Xuanshan Seal could not enlarge.

Yet even though its size remained no larger than a fist.

Its control and suppression properties allowed Jiang Jian to easily stall the battle.

Time passed.

Many of the second-level armored soldiers had been cleared.

And with limited cultivation, Jiang Jian had to meticulously manage resources, precisely timing every spiritual energy recovery point to avoid being wounded.

His combat awareness, reaction speed, and battlefield adaptability were all strengthening!

Boom!

Third level!

Again, a group of Divine Grant realm soldiers.

But their weapons had all become Level 3 Divine Grant weapons!

A mere flick of the wrist could unleash blade qi dozens of meters long!

And each armored soldier now activated random talents, multiplying their combat power several times over!

Jiang Jian's spiritual essence rose to 70% of the Divine Grant realm.

The Xuanshan Seal remained a Level 2 Divine Grant weapon.

But his second talent, "Near Yet Far," unlocked instantly!

Jiang Jian stood still, gazing at the ferocious armored soldiers, his expression calm.

Streams of black light wove around him, shifting between reality and illusion, clearly visible.

"It's getting easier."

Jiang Jian smiled.

In that instant, dozens of blade qi attacks surged toward him!

These blade qi were ferocious and blazing, tearing through the air with piercing shrieks, covering every angle, sealing off all escape routes.

No way to dodge!

BOOM!

Whether blade qi or spell techniques, all struck the scene's structures!

Pavilions collapsed, stones flew in all directions!

Jiang Jian's figure dissolved into black light, vanishing silently.

The next moment.

He stepped out from nothingness, appearing dozens of meters away, and swung the Suspension Seal violently!

CRASH!

A mailed heavenly soldier froze in place, struck hard on the back of the skull—bones shattered outright!

BOOM!

A crimson stream of light surged in, flooding the cracks in his skull and exploding him into fragments!

Shards of light scattered.

The many heavenly soldiers turned, roaring in fury.

But their numbers continued to dwindle.

More than ten minutes passed.

The third-layer mailed heavenly soldiers were all annihilated.

This time,

Jiang Jian did not continue playing—he walked to the edge of the scene, beneath the holographic screen.

He swiped his finger and tapped "Exit Game."

"You have exited the Nine Layers of Heavenly Soldiers Tower."

A prompt sounded.

Jiang Jian opened his eyes and stepped out of the virtual pod.

"Three days remain until departure for Chang'an Prefecture."

He opened his identity device and checked the time displayed.

Jiang Jian mentally assessed whether his resource preparations had any omissions.

If one disregarded the impurity of Qi,

he could still bind one more divine-gifted weapon.

But cultivation at the Spring Surge stage was extremely difficult.

Any slightest disturbance—even the tiniest change—

would further slow his already sluggish cultivation pace.

"Divine-gifted weapons: maintain two, ensure Qi purity."

"Do not consider increasing for now."

"Technological equipment is also sufficient."

As he pondered,

Jiang Jian's peripheral vision caught a black-edged message.

The message kept flickering.

Its edges were an eerie black.

It was another encrypted message, visible only on the primary identity device.

The sender's name was one he hadn't seen in a long time.

Shi Shi Xuan.

Jiang Jian's expression hardened slightly as he opened the message.

Instantly,

a voice emerged.

"My mother died long ago."

Shi Shi Xuan's voice was hoarse, sounding strangely unnatural.

"But I found her."

"Somewhere else."

"It's cold here."

"She left me something—I need help."

"Will you come, my friends?"

"Jiang Jian, Liu Liu Tiezhu, Shan Ye, Yinyin."

"If you're coming, meet at 9 p. m. tonight by Shaoshui River."

"I'll take you there."

The black message ended here.

Even stranger:

The message vanished spontaneously from his identity device.

It could not be saved at all.

"In the past six months,"

"what has Shi Shi Xuan been through?"

Jiang Jian stared at the identity device, frowning. "There seem to be strange sounds around him."

At that moment,

a real-time message chimed.

Jiang Jian swiped to answer.

"Jiang Jian."

Yinyin's voice was clear and melodic. "Did you receive Shi Shi Xuan's message?"

Jiang Jian replied: "Yes."

Yinyin asked: "So what do we do? Go or not?"

Jiang Jian paused, then said: "What do Liu Liu Tiezhu and Shan Ye think?"

Yinyin chuckled lightly: "They both find it suspicious, but say they'll follow your lead."

She paused, then added, "Your sister is right here with me."

(End of Chapter)