Chapter 190: with translation of chapter title

Mu Yi is still receiving his first chain-linked task.

This thing on Zongwang Forum is considered a very pitfall-type task, divided into three kinds: one is early simple, later simple, the whole is just a miscellaneous task chain, very suitable for newcomers to transition.

The second kind has the task initiator as the Child of Destiny, early difficult, later simple; sometimes after passing the early stage, the Child of Destiny can just push through on their own, you just run errands and it's done, and the reward is still quite good.

The third kind is the most pitfall type: the task initiator is an ambitious ordinary person, early difficult, later difficult, basically it's about defying fate to change destiny; in the end it's either opposing the Child of Destiny or slaying a god.

The mortality rate for the third kind is basically 100%, with no miracles at all.

Fortunately, the public secret realm has a limit; Mu Yi estimates it should be the second kind, likely involving dynastic change or something.

Anyway, it doesn't matter; war itself is inseparable from politics, being a mercenary is also not bad.

"First go to Neutral Fort, I have shares in the Caravan Merchant Association; after this caravan's trading ends, we'll leave!" Xinya looked at Mu Yi and said.

"This is borrowed to you!" Mu Yi tossed the Wild Breath to Xinya.

"If something happens to you, it'll be troublesome; I hope you can protect yourself well!"

Mu Yi, having gotten a specialty for free, felt a bit guilty and sent a volume of Buddhist Sect scriptures on the Divine Foot Technique; on Zongwang, as the Buddhist Sect grew, some emerging martial monks tried to merge Buddhist divine abilities.

The martial arts master is not an ascetic; he is quite talkative, lacking the silence typical of ascetics, and responded to Mu Yi's conversation with ease.

After all, their paths share many overlapping similarities, able to seamlessly connect; among them, the Buddhist Six Divine Abilities such as Divine Foot Technique and Mind Reading are the easiest to merge.

"Zongwang Prompt: Attack Observation Imitation, you gained related information on 【inch force】; you mastered the prerequisite specialty 【unarmed attack】."

"Just deep into the wilderness for cultivation! The wilderness is boundless, very suitable for our practice! Your journey isn't also for this, right?"

As they went deeper into the wilderness, previously uncommon aberrant species and wilderness beasts appeared almost every other day; besides Mu Yi, other Rising Sun-level experts also began to take action successively.

Just as Mu Yi and the martial arts master were happily chatting, Parde's guards came to summon both of them.

"I have this!" Mu Yi shook his fist, "Compared to worrying about me, you should worry about your own future."

"【Unarmed attack】" is the prerequisite specialty for "【inch force】"; training in a certain way allows one to master the specialty of "【inch force】."

Mu Yi and the martial arts master Parde exchanged a glance; obviously the caravan ran into trouble again.

"If you said it was a gift rather than a loan, maybe it would earn more of my favor!" Xinya looked at Mu Yi somewhat speechlessly.

"What happened?"

"We will temporarily settle in a pioneering territory ahead, partly to replenish food and water, partly to conduct trade, but… we've been targeted!"

They are almost immune to most charm-type spells and mental-type spells, and their bodies are extremely strong, their combat style resembling that of warriors outwardly, but the difference between them is essentially fundamental.

Most martial monks renounce material things, resist temptation to strengthen their faith; warriors, however, firm their faith without emphasizing renunciation of material enjoyment; neither is superior, they just follow different paths.

These lords usually sell goods to caravans, which then transport them to other cities for sale; they also purchase some goods to sell to nearby pioneering territory lords.

"Lord Mu Yi, Lord Parde, please come this way!"

But what they didn't expect was that when they arrived, two other Rising Sun-level experts were also present: a mage and a priest.

"Hehehe!" Mu Yi didn't answer, just gave a light chuckle; to this world, he is destined to be merely a passerby.

As the saying goes, different paths lead to the same goal; the two chatted, each demonstrating their own strengths, and both gained quite a bit.

It's actually a high-grade wilderness secret treasure! This thing is the type you can encounter but not seek.

"Why does the master want to go to Neutral Fort?"

Among them, what interested Mu Yi most was a martial arts master; the martial arts master is an advanced profession of martial monks, completely relinquishing weapons and specializing in unarmed attack; among ordinary professions, it has the highest perception-will attribute.

Mu Yi bowed his hands to approach the martial arts master for conversation; he had no intention of converting to the Buddhist Sect, nor any thought of switching to a martial monk; he simply wanted to learn a bit of the 【inch force】 specialty from the other party to strengthen his melee ability.

Many skills do not burden the body; learning more is always good.

"Everyone, sorry to disturb your peace; this time we probably have to ask several of you to act together!" Parde frowned, looking like it wasn't a minor trouble.

The martial arts master was very calm; he could sense that steadfast will from Mu Yi.

The martial arts master returned the salute to Mu Yi in a steady manner, bending his waist and lowering his head, appearing very humble.

Such pioneering territories in the wilderness hold huge business opportunities; their customers are not only Neutral Fort but also the pioneering lords along the way.

For any unarmed attack, you can choose to inflict non-lethal damage without suffering any attack penalty, and within the maximum attack range, you can freely choose what damage effect your unarmed attack will cause.

"Sorry, I came only for the wilderness secret treasure!"

Mu Yi asked calmly; these days of calm were indeed the lull before the storm—such a huge fortune, it's strange if no one eyes it.

But indulgence in desire leading to wavering faith often occurs on both career development paths.

But not entering the territory means having to camp in the wilderness, and also needing to stay for a while.

"Don't get killed, I still hope you'll be my deputy in the future!" Xinya nodded.

Parde's face turned grim as he produced a sealed letter.

Caravans usually do not enter pioneering territories' lands, because that would mean paying a large sum of taxes; such a loss-making deal they won't do.

"【Unarmed attack】: All your unarmed attacks gain extra damage bonus, including but not limited to: fists, knees/elbows, feet."

"You gave this to me, what will you do?" Xinya asked curiously.

"Facing one's desires is also a form of cultivation; you are too humble, such steadfast will cannot be feigned!"

After somewhat speechlessly hanging the necklace around her neck, Xinya surprisingly lifted her head to glance at Mu Yi, feeling her physical quality greatly enhanced.

Although they could earn more by selling themselves, generally they do not engage in long-distance trade, because the wilderness lacks nothing but danger; in transit they easily encounter wilderness beasts, migrating aberrant species, and the most dangerous bandits.

And now, the caravan of the Caravan Merchant Association has already been targeted., it has been targeted.

"Hand over thirty percent of the goods to let you pass, otherwise all will be slaughtered—Wind Disaster Queltrasan."

"Wind disaster? Really a big trouble!"

The mage's expression shifted slightly; Wind Disaster is the only one among the Nine Disasters with a confirmed record of killing a Rising Sun-level mage.

Rumor has it that the opponent comes and goes like the wind, inherently an assassin-type profession, and suspected of possessing a wilderness secret treasure that can break spells; he has long been a major enemy that mages need to watch out for.

The mage somewhat regrets taking on this troublesome task, but thinking of Parde's promise of various experimental materials and large funds, he cannot help but grit his teeth and continue.

Mages are both rich and poor at the same time; the circulating currency on them absolutely cannot last more than a week.

They are a profession more suited to asceticism than martial monks; anyway they have no money to spend, so voluntary and involuntary asceticism seem no different.

The mage's face turned grim; given the enemy's tactics, he would definitely be the first target of a surprise attack, and he would have to stay fully alert for the road ahead.

He was even considering whether to eat and sleep together with the martial arts master; although he usually dismissed close combat as crude, when trouble really came, he had no choice but to rely on him.

"Be careful!"

Mu Yi suddenly turned his head toward a direction, feeling that someone was locking onto them.

A meteor streaked across the sky, flying straight down toward them, its target aimed directly at the mage.

"Arcane Missile!" the mage fired a barrage of arcane missiles, trying to intercept the meteor, but they had no effect whatsoever.

The arrow carried anti-magic power, and the arcane missiles encountered no resistance against it.

Mu Yi drew an arrow from his pack, eyes narrowed as he watched the meteor falling from the sky, and drew his bow to full draw.

When the object expanded from a speck to its full form, he released the bowstring, and the explosive arrow met the meteor in midair.

"Boom!"

Amid the roaring explosion, the two attacks canceled each other out in the air.

"It seems the enemy is even more cunning than we thought!"

Mu Yi reached out and snatched the letter from Bi Suo Er's hand, igniting it with incinerating fire, and indeed a faint spiritual ripple came through.

On a distant slope, Fengzai let out a muffled grunt and lowered his bow.

"No wonder they dared to organize such a large caravan; it seems not greed but sheer confidence drives them!"

Feeling the pain transmitted spiritually, Fengzai Quiertisan knew that his little trap had been destroyed.

That letter could enable him to launch an over-the-range attack; he had originally planned to directly take out the mage to give the caravan a show of force, but he hadn't expected it to be blocked.

"Come on, give them some time to think it over!"

The mage, who had just returned from the Gates of Hell, wiped cold sweat from his forehead, and a nameless fury flared in his heart; being so lightly regarded, he would not let it rest, and he would make that damned Fengzai know what a mage's wrath is.

Mu Yi drew his bow again and shot an arrow toward the direction from which the meteor had come.

The instant the arrow struck the ground, Mu Yi's perception through the arrow revealed the situation at the impact point.

An arrow was planted in the ground, as if mocking Mu Yi's counterattack.

"They're gone!" Mu Yi turned his head to look at the others.

One could say it's no surprise for a bandit who made a name for himself in the wilderness; even this first skirmish seemed to cast a shadow over everyone.

"What now?" Bi Suo Er also felt a bit flustered; Fengzai's surprise attack suddenly made his pressure feel much heavier.

"When soldiers come, we block them; when water comes, we earth it; continue with your previous plan, leave the fighting to us! Gather all the guards, and I'll take unified command." Mu Yi naturally took over command.

"Good, good, good! Then I'll leave everything to you!" Bi Suo Er clung to them like a drowning man grasping at a straw.

"Please have the three of you act together for these two days!"

Mu Yi gave a brief instruction, assigning the martial monk to protect the mage and the priest; the warrior-priest-mage combination usually yields excellent results.

Afterwards, Mu Yi gathered all the guards around the three of them, and also concentrated the caravan's most valuable goods, protecting them like an iron barrel.

The caravan was too large to cover its rear fully, so some trade-offs were necessary, at least ensuring that when faced with a feint attack, losses would not be too great.

On the contrary, proactively letting go of these things would actually help them better catch those opportunists trying to profit from chaos.

After wiping out those stragglers earlier, the bandit squad seemed to disappear, and Mu Yi had thought they had lost their way.

Now it appears they have been consolidated into a single force.

From the enemy's earlier surprise attack, one could tell they were a clever opponent.

Mu Yi hardly needed to think to know the enemy's next plan: they would likely launch simultaneous surprise attacks from the front, middle, and rear; regardless of winning or losing, they would surely seize a batch of goods in the chaos—a basically risk-free profit for them.

But having brains is good; having brains means they have logic, which makes dealing with those small, lawless gangs that act randomly even harder to defend against.

Moreover, Mu Yi had no intention of merely defending forever.

There's no logic in guarding against thieves for a thousand days when they only need a thousand days to steal.

The caravan arrived on schedule at the frontier territory's grounds; even before nearing the frontier, an alarm was raised, and soon someone came on horseback to check—surviving in the wilderness demands vigilance.

Sometimes, frontier territories that have been raided are not few.

After confirming it was a caravan, the frontier folk let them pass, and meanwhile someone came over to inquire about the goods.

Bi Suo Er then led several wagons into the interior of the frontier territory, while the main force remained stationed outside the lands.

Mu Yi followed beside Bi Suo Er; in a sense, Bi Suo Er's safety was also important.

Resupplying took time, so Mu Yi and company simply spent the night inside the frontier territory.

Mu Yi sat cross-legged in the small courtyard, meditating as he extended his perception to its fullest extent, ensuring he would miss no stir of wind or grass.

One must admit, guard duty is far more troublesome than war; you never know when the enemy will strike.

"Boom!"

Just as Mu Yi was pondering, he suddenly lifted his head; outside the frontier territory, a magical rumbling sound seemed to arise.

Mu Yi kicked open Bi Suo Er's door, threw him into the Reincarnation Barrier, and then rushed nonstop toward the caravan stationed outside the territory.

I hadn't expected them to come so fast; I had thought they would return empty-handed today and lie low temporarily, but instead they went the opposite way and launched another surprise attack.