CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: SAVED CAO ZHI, AND EARNED... THE LUO GODDESS?

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

Although the game was difficult, there was no way Ren Suo would give up after finally reaching the year 222.

Moreover, in Ren Suo’s current save file, the Family Head characters for three consecutive generations were of a rare defensive type!

Aside from the uncontrollable factors in the game, Ren Suo believed that the best strategy to clear the game was to have a powerful defensive character.

It should be noted that after Ren Suo chose the "Cultivation" command, he had no control over the characters’ cultivation directions. Even if Ren Suo chose all attack options during Cultivation, there were eight possible Offensive Spells for characters: five melee forms and three ranged forms.

Melee forms: Group attack, two hits (Spear Form); single-target Attribute attack, three hits (Sword Form); single-target attack, four times critical hit (Axe Form); single attack that reduces damage each battle (Shield Form); single-target Attribute attack, can act twice per turn (Martial Form).

Ranged forms: Single-target attack, entire map range (Flying Sword Form); mid-range group Attribute attack, single hit (Spell Form); and three-mode attack for close, mid, and long-range (Bow Form).

Among them, the Shield Form, Martial Form, and Bow Form were naturally more interesting.

This time, the team that Ren Suo sent to Yiling to deal with the Flame Evil Spirits consisted of the Family Head ’Thunder Shield Axe’ Ren Ying, ’Burning Iron Hand’ Ren Wuxie, and ’Demon-Hunting Silver Wolf’ Ren Luoyang—precisely the combination that included Shield, Martial, and Bow forms.

System prompt: "On the way, Ren Luoyang saw a group of soldiers being chased by Cold Damage Copper Corpses ahead."

In the year 222, the remnants of the Jian’an plague from the early years had not dissipated. The ’typhoid epidemic’ over several years had resulted in nearly twenty million deaths. Even if only one in a thousand of those corpses turned into Typhoid Corpse Ghosts, there would be more than twenty thousand born from the resentment and filth of heaven and earth, fueled by resentment and feeding on blood!

Even though the Ren Family had been clearing them out for years, at most they had only dealt with a few thousand, so encountering them on the road was not unusual. As long as the Corpse Ghosts did not wander into the places where Spirits lived, and the Spirits didn’t inform the Ren Family Cultivators, the player wouldn’t be able to find these lost souls and ghosts.

Of course, initially, Demons and Corpse Ghosts would linger in the places where they died. Previously, Ren Suo relied on ’information’ from the villagers of Ren Family Village to learn where battles had occurred in the Central Plains and how many people had died. Later, after Ren Suo read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," he no longer needed any information to know where battles had concluded.

Encountering Corpse Ghosts in the ’?’ checkpoints on the road was quite normal, but running into soldiers...

Ren Wuxie said, "Family Head, judging by their equipment, they seem to be soldiers of the Wei Kingdom. Let’s just let them fend for themselves."

Ren Luoyang countered, "Wuxie, how could you say that? The leader of these soldiers is not weak; he’s also a powerful Cultivator. There’s a good chance he could escape alive. I think we should strike them when they’re down and ensure their complete annihilation."

... Ren Suo hadn’t expected these two to be so anti-Cao. However, the Ren Family seldom sided with the Wei Kingdom. In fact, only a few sided with Liu Bei; most people maintained a commoner’s perspective, merely observing. Cao Cao’s reputation among the populace was generally mediocre, especially since he had died a couple of years prior, and his son Cao Pi had subsequently usurped the Han Dynasty.

The Ren Family Members, inherently subjects of the Han Dynasty, naturally did not look favorably upon Cao Cao.

Even though this Han Dynasty was no longer the one the Ren Family pledged allegiance to, it was still the Great Han passed down from Emperor Guangwu.

However, when playing the game, Ren Suo had no political stance. Though these Corpse Ghosts weren’t numerous, they were still experience points and loot. So, he chose "Advance and slay the monsters and demons."

Ren Woxing (Ren Ying) declared, "Slaying monsters and demons is the destiny of us Cultivators! To battle!"

Entering the battle scene, Ren Suo could only control the Family Head character to fight.

However, ’Burning Iron Hand’ Ren Wuxie had already stormed into the Corpse Ghosts like a whirlwind, felling a Cold Damage Copper Corpse with an Attack of 34 in a single palm strike, then retreating like a breeze to avoid the encirclement of Copper Corpses!

Martial Form was Ren Suo’s general term for all ’Fist Palm Leg Foot Secret Techniques.’ Specifically, there were techniques like Fiery Palm Blade, Vast Sea Wild Ball Fist, and Wind God Leg. Aside from differences in Attribute damage, Ren Family Descendants who cultivated these types of martial spells could act twice in a battle turn.

That is, they could move twice and attack twice per turn, capable of both fighting and fleeing. Depending on the spell they cultivated, each point of Attack also added 0.1 to 0.3 to their Mobility Attribute, making them swift as the wind!

If there had been a family member who cultivated the Martial Form before the year 210, Ren Suo would have been confident enough to send them alone to deal with the Demons in a region.

Although Ren Suo couldn’t completely control other family members (even during battle), as long as he led them into battle with the Family Head, he could give guidance to that family member during the fight.

Afterward, even if Ren Suo’s Family Head character wasn’t in the battle, the battle AI of the family members who had received guidance would always remember Ren Suo’s instructions. For example, after Ren Suo had once advised Martial Form characters to use a kiting tactic—strike and then retreat—all Martial Form characters (including those Ren Suo hadn’t guided or who hadn’t even been born yet) would learn this tactic.

Having played "Assassin," Ren Suo was no longer surprised by game characters who would ’remember what they were taught, even taking notes and sharing them with classmates.’

And ’Demon-Hunting Silver Wolf’ Ren Luoyang took out the Inheritance weapon, the ’Heavenly Wolf Bow.’

The Heavenly Wolf Bow was the weapon used by the Ren Family’s first-generation Cultivator, Ren Tianlang, until his death. When Ren Suo executed the "Inheritance," allowing Ren Tianlang to pass his knowledge to a second-generation Cultivator, if the recipient was also a bow user, they could perfectly inherit the previous generation’s weapon and receive additional Attributes when equipping it.

"Heavenly Wolf Bow: Long-range mode Attack is 1.2 times stronger."

Ren Luoyang switched to long-range mode, his attack range covering the entire map, capable of single-target precision shots!

If the Martial Form was the most flexible of the melee forms, then the Bow Form was the most versatile among all forms. Bow-type characters could freely switch between close, mid, and long-range modes. The long-range mode was a single-target attack across the entire map, with damage second only to the Flying Sword!

The Wei soldiers, being chased by the swarm of Cold Damage Copper Corpses, saw the Ren Family Cultivators coming to their aid and turned to flee towards them.

After one turn, the distance between the two sides changed from long to mid-range. Ren Luoyang switched to mid-range mode, capable of attacking three individual targets at once!

If the distance got even closer, Ren Luoyang could switch to close-range mode and attack five times consecutively in one turn!

At that moment, Ren Ying also reached the front line, raising her shield and wielding her Giant Axe as she charged into the crowd of Corpse Ghosts with unmatched valor! The Cold Damage Copper Corpses immediately stopped their pursuit and turned to besiege Ren Ying instead!

The fleeing middle-aged scholar exclaimed, "This is suicide! Stop her quickly!"

However, after one round, Ren Ying was completely unscathed. Cooperating with Ren Wuxie and Ren Luoyang, she cleaned up dozens of the formidable Cold Damage Copper Corpses!

This was the true strength of a Shield-form Cultivator!

Shield-form Cultivators can only attack once, but they are the most formidable fortresses in battle. As long as the enemy’s Attack is insufficient, they simply cannot break through their Defense!

When ordinary Ren Family Cultivators are attacked, the formula ’Defense - Attack = Remaining Defense’ is used. The moment remaining Defense drops to zero, they enter a dying state.

Whereas for Shield-form Ren Family Cultivators, as long as the enemy’s Attack is not greater than their own Defense, they will take zero damage!

However, in this save file, the Family Heads had always been Shield-form Cultivators. When Ren Suo allocated Action Points to ’Defense’ during "Cultivation," the probability was high that the Family Head would cultivate Defense.

Combined with factors such as direct lineage and the same Magic System, each Family Head could inherit 40% to 50% of the previous Family Head’s Attributes.

Moreover, with each Family Head’s Cultivation benefiting from the "Unlimited Energy" effect, they had double the Attributes!

Therefore, Ren Ying’s current Defense Attribute had reached an immensely terrifying 75 points!

She was a true embodiment of Copper Walls and Iron Barriers!

And the spell cultivated by each Family Head, ’Roaring Tianzun Force,’ was essentially a constant, strong taunt spell. Its effects increased one’s own Attack and Defense by 30% and forcibly attracted the aggro of all enemies within 5 tiles.

With stats showing a whopping 97.5 Defense, Ren Ying simply couldn’t be shaken by this group of Cold Damage Copper Corpses.

After spending a few minutes completely disposing of the Demons, the middle-aged scholar they rescued came forward to express his gratitude.

"I am Cao Zhi, King of Juan City. Thank you all for saving my life. May I know the honorable names of my saviors? Alas, the Central Plains have long suffered from war and plague, and Demons roam freely. I just didn’t expect to encounter such danger even on an official road."

It’s just your good luck, Ren Suo thought to himself.

Yes, although Demons have been emerging in recent years, if regular armed forces were to drive them away, the Demons would not rush to their deaths but instead choose to hide in the mountains—organized military forces seemed to have a restraining effect on Demons. Therefore, as long as the warlords are willing to clear the roads, they can drive away the Demons. As for how to solve the problem of Demons hiding in the mountains, or what to do about the common folk who don’t live in cities... they’ll deal with these minor issues after they unify the land.

Having encountered historical figures like Lv Bu, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce, and Zhao Yun, Ren Suo felt no particular emotion upon seeing Cao Zhi, only a sense of, ’Ah, I remember now.’ In the year 222 AD, Cao Zhi was enfeoffed in Juan City. On his way there, he wrote his verses of love for his sister-in-law, the "Ode to the Goddess of Luo"...

Ren Woxing (Ren Ying): "The Ren Family, Ren Woxing."

Cao Zhi was greatly taken aback. "Are you all from the Ren Family, the Demon-Slaying Clan renowned across the land?"

After some polite exchanges, Cao Zhi ought to give some Gold and Silver as a reward, and this event should be over, Ren Suo thought.

However, Cao Zhi went on to say, "You are the Demon-Slaying Clan, concerned with the welfare of the land. You once declined recruitment from my royal father, clearly showing no desire for fame or fortune. I have no way to repay you, except..."

The household General behind Cao Zhi, also the strongest amongst all the soldiers, boasting an impressive Attribute of 19 Attack and 21 Defense (as revealed by Ren Ying’s Scouting), suddenly interjected, "Your Highness, could it be that you..."

Cao Zhi said, "If it weren’t for the help of the Ren Family Cultivators, even if I could escape with my life, my companions would surely have been devoured by the corpses. They are all my confidants; compared to them, what are other things worth?"

Ren Suo was taken aback—not because he was surprised by Cao Zhi’s talent for winning people over with his words, but because he was curious about what exactly Cao Zhi intended to give. He took a closer look at Cao Zhi’s character portrait. Hmm, he looked like a handsome middle-aged man. And the Ren Family Head, Ren Ying, was now just a teenage beauty. Could Cao Zhi be thinking of offering himself in marriage, trying to snatch Old Ren’s tender young cabbage?

Definitely not! Ren Suo had forgotten whether it was four or five Ren Family Descendants who had caused all sorts of trouble by falling in love or "tasting the Forbidden Fruit." Some had regretted their actions to the point of suicide, while others, heartbroken, saw their Cultivation speed plummet to less than 1... Even if the Family Head character was under his control, Ren Suo still felt a bit scared.

Cao Zhi said, "This is the Jade Pendant bestowed by my royal father, purportedly a Token of a deity. Alas, I am too dull to comprehend its power, only catching glimpses of the divine in my dreams. I can only remember their graceful movements, as if a startled swan or a leisurely dragon... To express my gratitude for saving my life and to ensure this treasure does not gather dust, I urge you not to refuse my token of thanks."

System Alert: "You have acquired the ’Goddess Jade Pendant’."

System Alert: "You have discovered the exact location of the Goddess of Luo!"

System Alert: "You can now conduct a Spiritual Exchange with ’Divine Being Mi Fei’!"

System Alert: "Spirits and Deities are vastly different! Divine Children, born from Deities, often possess exceptional Talents. When facing challenges, it is worth looking to a Divine Child for help."