Chapter 107: Clearing [Insect Race Calamity]

Battle Space.

Jiang Yan forcibly tore off the grotesque beetle gnawing at his cheek, flinging blood and bits of flesh along with the insect’s mouthparts. Red mist and a foul stench permeated the entire dim space.

Standing with his saber in hand, Jiang Yan’s wounds were deep enough to reveal bone. Endless swarms of the Insect Race rampaged around him. His rapidly recovering flesh couldn’t keep up with the accumulation of new injuries. His stamina had been pushed to its limit, and he was now swinging his saber purely on instinct.

Finally, Jiang Yan collapsed. At that very moment, the insect tide receded, and the ground trembled violently, as if something terrifying was about to emerge from beneath.

Jiang Yan encountered the final BOSS when he still had two lives remaining!

Reviving at full health, he watched warily as a milky-white tentacle extended from the ground.

Whoosh!

The white tentacle shot toward him.

“Perfect opportunity.”

“Yan Thunder Destruction Slash!”

Jiang Yan swiftly swung his saber. Five Doppelgangers were simultaneously summoned. Empowered by Dual Casting, they instantly multiplied into dozens of saber shadows. With the attack speed bonus from [Above the Saber Saint], Jiang Yan’s recovery frames became extremely brief, allowing him to unleash the Yan Thunder Destruction Slash at least three times per second.

Although the Yan Thunder Destruction Slash was only a Heavenly Grade Martial Skill with average power, its low energy consumption made it perfectly suited for high-frequency combat.

In an instant, countless thunder-infused saber strikes reached the underground, shattering the blood-stained, reddish-brown earth and turning it completely upside down.

Clang! Clang! Clang…!

Countless saber beams struck the milky-white tentacle. If not for the guaranteed armor-penetration mechanism of [Heaven Rewards Diligence], he likely wouldn’t even have scratched its surface.

This Mother Insect’s stats were off the charts.

However, Jiang Yan preferred this type of cumbersome, large BOSS with no special mechanics.

“Ding, congratulations on triggering the Instant Kill Law + Four-Leaf Clover. You have successfully slain the Greedy Fate Mother Insect.”

Compared to sheer numerical stats, Jiang Yan was more wary of those bizarre and peculiar mechanics.

Like Wuhuan’s Copy ability, or the special attack patterns of that True Intent expert in the Myriad Stars Tower.

In this Secret Realm, the most difficult part for Jiang Yan was the initial insect tide. As for the final Mother Insect, it was slain by Jiang Yan using the instant-kill mechanism before it could even fully emerge from the ground.

“Congratulations, Host, on successfully clearing the Instance [Insect Race Calamity].”

“You now have one opportunity for a Self-Selected Trait.”

“Ding, [Heaven Rewards Diligence] triggers the pity system. You have obtained one random Trait.”

Self-Selected Trait.

[Sword Saint Aptitude]: Your Talent in the sword path increases by 200%. When performing sword-type attacks, you gain a 50% damage bonus. When wielding a sword, your attack speed increases by 50%.

[Spear Saint Aptitude]: Your Talent in the spear path increases by 200%. When performing spear-type attacks, you gain a 50% damage bonus. When wielding a spear, your attack speed increases by 50%.

[Bone Expansion]: The number of your bones will increase to 300, and you can freely alter their form.

[Aperture Expansion]: Your Aperture Opening upper limit will be forcibly raised to 18 (human limit is 15). Simultaneously, when your Aperture Points reach the limit, it will greatly stimulate your body’s potential, with a 50% chance of obtaining a special Physique.

Jiang Yan looked them over for a moment. Was there even a choice to make here? The first two, sword and spear, were completely out of the question—straight to the reject pile. Next was [Bone Expansion], a rather bizarre Trait. Jiang Yan decisively dismissed it.

“I choose [Aperture Expansion].”

Jiang Yan only now realized that the upper limit for human Aperture Opening was fifteen. No wonder those Martial Artists who opened twelve apertures could be considered peerless prodigies—they were already infinitely close to the human limit.

With 【Aperture Expansion】, Jiang Yan’s future growth potential would surpass all humans on Tianyuan Star. Moreover, the 50% chance of Awakening a special Physique made Jiang Yan incredibly eager.

“Adding the 10% from Four-Leaf Clover, I’ll have a 60% chance of Awakening a special Physique.”

For a true gambling addict, what’s the difference between a 60% chance and 100%?

“Ding, congratulations on obtaining the Orange Trait 【Rootless and Driftless】.”

Rootless and Driftless: When you deal ten instances of damage to others (non-sustained damage), you gain 0.1 seconds of untargetable status.

In this state, you cannot attack. You can choose to end the untargetable status when it triggers.

Jiang Yan: “Untargetable status is here?”

Jiang Yan carefully examined the Trait description and found that while untargetable was powerful, it had significant limitations. It would trigger immediately after he dealt ten instances of damage to someone and couldn’t be saved to use as a skill.

Moreover, the inability to attack while untargetable meant this Trait could only be used defensively.

But Jiang Yan was still very pleased.

“Although it’s only 0.1 seconds, if used well, it can completely avoid a lot of unnecessary damage.”

“And, combined with the reduced recovery time from Above the Saber Saint, my attack speed will be extremely fast, allowing me to trigger 【Rootless and Driftless】 more frequently.”

“If… I also add 【Instant Kill Law…】”

Jiang Yan’s breathing grew rapid as he immediately thought of a Trait Combination.

【Above the Saber Saint】 increases saber swing speed.

【Peerless Realm】 further increases saber swing speed.

【Blade Bearer】 increases saber swing speed even more.

【Multiple Casting】 increases attack frequency.

【Rootless and Driftless】 improves survivability.

…

Combining the above Traits and Talents with 【Instant Kill Law】 + 【Four-Leaf Clover】 would allow him to instantly kill anyone he encountered, making it overwhelmingly unfair.

With such a high attack speed, as long as his opponent couldn’t instantly kill him like the True Intent experts in the Myriad Stars Tower and deny him casting opportunities, he could sweep through everything.

Jiang Yan felt as if he had returned to his past life, playing roguelike games and building decks. That thrill of instantly killing everything was the most addictive.

Of course, even the most powerful deck could be instantly wiped out by a BOSS.

And Jiang Yan’s current situation was exactly that. As long as his opponent lacked the ability to instantly kill him, Jiang Yan was practically invincible.

Jiang Yan exited the Battle Space.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard a commotion in the living room, as if he were in a construction site.

Frowning, he walked out of his room.

He saw two grown men wrestling. Cheng Wu had one hand digging into the eye socket of another unfamiliar man, while the unfamiliar man was no less fierce, using both thumbs to frantically rub a glowing Aperture Point on Cheng Wu.

“Damn it, did Master ever tell you not to dig into someone’s asshole during a fight?”

“Fuck! Only kids dig into people’s eye sockets! You let go first!”

“You let go first!”

“I’m not letting go! What if you go back on your word? You let go, then I’ll let go!”

The scene was too beautiful; Jiang Yan almost couldn’t bear to watch.

At that moment, another room that had been empty for a long time suddenly opened, and another unfamiliar man walked out.

Jiang Yan fixed his gaze and saw that this person was pale and thin, appearing somewhat frail and delicate, not much like a Martial Artist but rather resembling a poor, weak scholar suffering from malnutrition.

Jiang Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, his keen intuition allowing him to sense a very sinister Aura emanating from Pei Qin.

Dark, filthy, seemingly containing all the filth and grime of the world.

He extended his hand, ignoring the two men wrestling on the ground, and smiled as he stared at Jiang Yan: “Brother, my name is Pei Qin. What’s yours?”