Chapter 162

"It really is one of the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams, but why does this thing look a bit wrong???" Chu Danqing dug out a piece of equipment from under the broken water vat in Bai Xiaohe's maiden home's old mansion.

Her maiden home had been empty for more than ten years, so it was abandoned and in a mess.

No one would come here at all, so it was considered hidden, which was why it was kept hidden.

One of the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams was an Excellent-tier equipment; it actually had a negative state.

And it was very serious, but the effect was extremely powerful.

——

【Pu Lao Scroll · Sea Frontier】

【Type: Equipment · Atlas】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Durability: 100/100】

【Deep Sea Sounding Waves (Passive): Mana recovers 50 points per second when out of combat】

【Whale Song Entangling Soul (Passive): Movement speed on land -50%】

【Equipment Requirement: None】

——

【Nine Cauldrons of the World】

【9-piece set: Not activated】

——

(Note: Cannot be taken off after equipping a single piece; need to equip all set parts to activate set attributes or return to Paradise and consume 1000 Paradise Points per piece to uninstall)

Chu Danqing watched his trial mission change from (0/9) to (1/9).

This meant that the Pu Lao Scroll · Sea Frontier was not just the Sea-Suppressing Diagram, but also part of the Nine Cauldrons Diagram.

It represented the sea area part of the Great Shuo Dynasty, and the river and sea shipping routes outlined a dragon son with a shape like a dragon, a pair of sharp horns on both sides of its head, wings on its back, and a long tail.

"Mana recovers 50 points per second after being out of combat; 3000 mana per minute." Chu Danqing liked it very much.

But looking at the 50% reduction in movement speed on land, and the fact that it couldn't be unequipped after being equipped, he was conflicted.

"If there wasn't the out-of-combat setting, the value would be very high." Chu Danqing sighed and chose to equip it.

With the Pu Lao Scroll · Sea Frontier, Chu Danqing had enough mana to maintain the existence of all summoned objects.

Being able to summon them all for self-protection, he naturally wouldn't give it up.

As for the 50% reduction in movement speed on land, he actually didn't mind much.

He wasn't good at movement or reaction anyway, plus the three pieces of equipment—Swift Boots, Breeze Amulet, and Flowing Cloud Ring—which increased movement speed by a total of 30 points, a 50% reduction in movement speed was still faster than being naked.

The numerical value was low, so the percentage effect was naturally poor.

So the impact on Chu Danqing was really not big, but it was a fatal flaw for those melee-type, assassin-type, and warrior-type apostles.

There was a way to exempt it: just fly.

The negative passive referred to land; if your feet didn't touch the ground and you moved by flying, the reduction effect would be gone.

"The other eight scrolls of the Nine Cauldrons Diagram wouldn't be in this situation, would they?" Chu Danqing felt that if it were really like this, the set attributes of the nine-piece set might appear in two situations.

Either it would alleviate or directly eliminate the negative passive, or it would be like the Three Rings, where the set effect would merge into a single Fine-tier equipment.

Chu Danqing leaned more toward the latter; a series of A-rank difficulties, and producing a Fine-tier equipment was not an incredible thing.

After finishing the processing, Chu Danqing summoned all the summoned objects.

Once the number was large, it looked extremely crowded.

"Let's follow the plan; Ghost Resentment Mother, you take the Ghost Resentment Infants into my shadow." Chu Danqing said, and the Ghost Resentment Mother covered them with her bloody clothes and black robes, taking the forty-nine Ghost Resentment Infants into her arms.

Then she turned into a blood-red black shadow and merged into Chu Danqing's shadow.

In this way, Chu Danqing obtained the all-around protection of the Ghost Resentment Mother and Ghost Resentment Infants, and if anyone were to sneak attack Chu Danqing from behind, they would face them directly.

"Then there's the Son of Heaven; you go into the imperial edict and wait for orders." Chu Danqing continued.

The Son of Heaven rolled up the recovered imperial edict, and the ten Huang Jinlishi followed it into it.

Chu Danqing reached out and caught the falling imperial edict and hung it on his chest.

Then the enemies in front would be dealt with by the Son of Heaven and the Huang Jinlishi.

As for staying by his side for deterrence, Dabao and the Beast-Faced Armored Soldier were enough.

The Ghost Resentment Mother and the Son of Heaven were already strong; if they were to sneak attack and catch the enemy off guard, wouldn't they be even stronger?

Chu Danqing was open and aboveboard, but the enemy might not be.

Why couldn't Chu Danqing use the enemy's own methods against them when they sneak attacked and assassinated?

"Then it's time to find the ledger." Chu Danqing went through his mind: "Bai Xiaohe, as one of the side missions, has a Nine Cauldrons Diagram."

"Then in the clues provided by Yang Wenju, there should also be one."

"Secondly, there's Ge Da's identity; if we dig deep, we might be able to find some benefits." Chu Danqing quickly determined the next two lines.

Thinking in his mind, he got on the war chariot; he planned to visit Liu Bai first.

Liu Bai definitely knew the truth, and his act of saving Yang Wenju and Bai Xiaohe had brought him much closer to the other party.

Perhaps he could probe something from it.

Otherwise, he had no clues; Bai Xiaohe obviously didn't know much about her husband Ge Da.

After arriving at the Liu Fu, after being announced by the steward at the door, Liu Bai brought Yang Wenju to welcome Chu Danqing personally.

Yang Wenju's family business was sealed, and now he could only temporarily reside in the Liu Fu.

After being tortured and almost losing his life, Yang Wenju seemed much smoother, only taking some worthless things from his old mansion before leaving.

Therefore, those yamen runners and constables turned a blind eye and let him go.

If he really wanted to take something like land deeds, it would probably be hard to get away.

"Young Master Chu, please; I have already prepared good tea, just waiting for Young Master Chu's arrival." Liu Bai warmly welcomed Chu Danqing into the mansion and started chatting.

After chatting enough, Liu Bai asked: "Young Master Chu, you just went to get the Sea-Suppressing Diagram, right?"

He said it bluntly, and Chu Danqing didn't hide it: "That's right, the Sea-Suppressing Diagram is in my hands."

"That's good." Liu Bai let out a sigh of relief, then said: "If that group of insects really got it, they would definitely open up more smuggling lines."

"I just don't know who Young Master Chu is working for? My Liu family and Prime Ma Xiang are family friends; perhaps I can help a little."

Liu Bai's words were a blunt inquiry into Chu Danqing's background.

"When the late emperor ascended the throne, I saved the emperor and followed the dragon, later wiped out the Sanshan bandits, and also followed the army to quell the northwest chaos." Chu Danqing said with a smile.

This was indeed his identity setting, but because he changed worlds, it changed from him being the one who led it to being one of the participants, and a relatively marginal one at that.

"Later, the late emperor passed away, so I resigned from office and returned to my hometown to continue my work as a wandering warlock."

"Now you should know who I am."

Liu Bai thought for a moment, but didn't have much of an impression; mainly because besides the identity of a wandering warlock being more conspicuous, there were many people with similar encounters.

They were all close confidants of the late emperor; when the new emperor ascended the throne and the Empress Dowager held court from behind the curtain, these loyalists of the late emperor were cleared out.

Chu Danqing's so-called resignation from office looked more like an escape in Liu Bai's eyes.

But how did this explain the heavy cavalry at the port?

There were too many doubts in this.

"What about you, Martial Champion?" Chu Danqing asked back.

Liu Bai was definitely related to the hidden identity of Ge Da.

"Since Young Master Chu asked." The smile on Liu Bai's face faded, and his expression became serious.

"The North Star of the Sky, the gathering of thousands of peaks, the wind and clouds shake."

"The flag rolls over the Western Wilderness, the sun and moon shine together for eternity."

He said two lines of poetry, which made Chu Danqing feel completely confused, but there was not a single change on his face.

On the contrary, Dabao had its claws exposed, and seeing that Liu Bai was not prepared to make a move, it slowly retracted them.

Yang Wenju on the side was pale, obviously frightened.

"You... you... Brother Liu, are you a member of the Zhao Ming Society???" Yang Wenju said stutteringly.

The reason he was frightened was for two reasons: first, the Zhao Ming Society were rebels.

Second, Dabao exposed its claws, and he thought they were going to fight.

"So, Ge Da is also one of your people, and Prime Ma Xiang is too, right." Chu Danqing had never met Ge Da, nor did he know who this Prime Ma Xiang was.

But it didn't hinder him from following the conversation.

"Exactly, now the demon queen is in power, and the Great Shuo is precarious."

"First, she killed the reformists to block reform, and then she hollowed out the emperor to be extravagant and indulgent."

"My Zhao Ming Society is not rebelling against the world, but wants to eliminate the world's ills." Liu Bai said sonorously.

Chu Danqing nodded: "And then?"

He didn't understand why the other party suddenly blew up his identity to him.

Liu Bai was speaking from the perspective of the Zhao Ming Society; Chu Danqing believed the first two sentences, but he reserved his opinion on the last one.

Mainly because the smuggling line in Linyuan City was the Empress Dowager's private money, and the money collected eventually flowed to the Empress Dowager, which couldn't be faked.

Otherwise, how could Jia Simou, Qiao Huaiyuan, and others be fearless? The heavy cavalry came, and Jia Simou could still sit as steady as a mountain, showing that he had confidence.

"Young Master Chu is righteous and ran around to rescue Brother Yang and Bai Xiaohe, which allowed the two of them to escape."

"Such helping others with a drawn sword is definitely not a bad person."

"The Society Master, under the Emperor's order, came to my Linyuan City to pilot reform."

"Prime Ma Xiang is in the light, the Society Master is in the dark, borrowing this unjust case to weaken the demon queen's power."

"At the same time, restart the reform and rebuild the Great Shuo."

"It's just that when we came, the Society Master's news was leaked by a traitor in the society, so I want to ask Young Master Chu to protect the Society Master as he enters the city." Liu Bai stated his request.

The Zhao Ming Society noticed that the unjust case of Yang Wenju and Bai Xiaohe was very suitable as a breakthrough point; if successful, it would inevitably affect the Empress Dowager's group of forces.

At the same time, Chu Danqing also triggered a side mission.

【Side Mission: Escort Zhao Ming Society Master Chen Jiunan into Linyuan City before dark three days later】

【Trial Difficulty: A-rank (Heroic)】

【Trial Reward: Paradise Points × 10000, Attribute Points +4】

【Trial Failure: Paradise Points -20000, Random Attribute -1】

After Chu Danqing took a look, he chose to accept the mission.

"Of course no problem, but what about the benefits?"

"Scholar Yang and Bai Xiaohe are penniless, so I'll count on their gratitude."

"But your Zhao Ming Society is wealthy, so don't make me work for free." Chu Danqing was willing to lend a helping hand to the weak, but how could he work for free for a major power?

(End of chapter)