68: Chapter 68 Sword Saint Liu Qingtian

s-rank talent Upgrade?!

Lin Muyang was inwardly stunned as he looked at the description of the fifth skill newly awakened by the Angel Maid, Elena: "tears of the angel".

As long as "tears of the angel" was used, it could actually permanently increase the talent grade of a Class Transferee or their summon by one level!

Doesn't this mean that as long as enough "tears of the angel" could be obtained, the talents of Lilia, Elabess, and even Elena herself could be raised from S-Rank to SS-Rank?

Perhaps in the future, it might even be possible to reach levels beyond SSS-Rank?

"However, such a heaven-defying effect must surely have some restrictions on its use..." Lin Muyang quickly calmed down and analyzed rationally, "And the most critical question is, how do I make her cry?"

He turned his head to look at the somewhat airheaded Angel Maid beside him, who was currently curiously examining the secret realm environment, and fell into deep thought.

Beat her until she cries?

That certainly wouldn't do; Lin Muyang didn't consider himself that kind of person, and he couldn't bring himself to bully his own partner.

He simply asked Elena directly: "Elena, can you use this 'tears of the angel' skill now? I mean, can you cry out tears?"

"Master, I... I will try."

The Angel Maid was very obedient and immediately tried hard to furrow her small face, attempting to squeeze out a few tears. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to have the talent for crying on command; no matter how hard she tried, her eyes remained dry, without a hint of tears.

Her emotions just weren't in the right place!

Right now, she had arrived in a brand-new world and met a master and companions she liked; she was full of curiosity and a little excitement. Asking her to suddenly feel sad and cry... she wasn't a professional actress, hadn't learned how to get into character instantly, and really couldn't do it!

Seeing this, Lin Muyang sighed with some regret.

He really wasn't very good at manipulating a girl's emotions or making them cry.

So, he quietly asked Lilia, Elabess, and Ao Qingyan through their mental link, wanting to hear their opinions: "Tell me, how can I make a girl cry?"

Lilia answered the fastest, with a unique line of thinking: "Don't give her roasted rabbit! Starve her for a few meals, and she'll definitely cry from hunger!"

Elabess's suggestion carried the unique perspective of a succubus: "Master, if you intentionally ignore her and don't talk to her, making her feel neglected, empty, and lonely, would she be sad enough to cry?"

Ao Qingyan's answer was as cold and concise as ever: "...I don't know. I rarely experience that kind of emotion, and I have never cried."

Fine.

After asking around, the suggestions from these three young ladies were more unreliable than the last.

Lin Muyang had to give up on asking for help and rack his own brain.

Watching Elabess and Ao Qingyan take turns unleashing powerful Origin Skills to clear monsters, Lin Muyang suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with an idea.

How about finding some touching TV shows or movies for the Angel Maid to watch later?

In this era, literary works were still prosperous, and there was no shortage of classics known as "tear-jerking artifacts"!

When the time came, he would carefully select two with twisty plots and heartbreaking endings to show her and see how it went.

Of course, using this method to obtain tears might be a bit slow, and it felt a bit underhanded.

But for now, Lin Muyang couldn't think of any other gentler or more effective way.

"We are still clearing the Dungeon, so it's not suitable for her to be distracted by watching movies... Let her watch them slowly after we get back." Lin Muyang shook his head and temporarily shelved the matter.

Not long after.

This level 38 platinum-grade team secret realm was completely cleared by him and his squad with overwhelming force.

And his level finally rose to 35, thanks to the generous twenty-fold experience reward!

This level meant that he had unlocked a new God-Tier Aura slot, and he could now activate eight Auras simultaneously!

"Calculating the time, those guys from Qinghe City who were chased away should be coming back soon, right?"

"They will very likely set up an ambush outside to block me..."

"However."

"I can now activate eight God-Tier Auras at the same time. My strength is not what it used to be. Even if I encounter an ordinary level 100 expert head-on, I might not be without the power to fight."

Lin Muyang wasn't overly worried, but he had prepared thoroughly for the potential conflict!

【Divine Concealment Aura】, activated continuously!

Maintaining his stealth state, he took the young ladies and prepared to leave the secret realm!

Outside Qinghe City, in a level 30-40 secret realm area about sixty kilometers away.

The vortex of the team secret realm entrance that had just been cleared fluctuated slowly and finally dissipated into the air. But surprisingly, no figures appeared from the secret realm...

Lin Muyang and the young ladies had indeed left the secret realm, but they were in a state of perfect stealth the entire time.

Lin Muyang had originally prepared for a battle at any moment.

However, when he came out in stealth and cautiously observed his surroundings, he found that the situation outside was completely different from what he had expected!

As anticipated, those aggressive Qinghe City "big shots" who wanted to settle scores with him were nowhere to be found...

The sky around them was silent.

There was only one person.

An old man who looked ordinary, with white hair and a white beard, was quietly hovering in mid-air.

If this old man were truly ordinary, it would naturally be impossible for him to stand in the air so easily. This subtle ability to fly alone was enough to show that he was by no means an ordinary person.

"This guy..."

"Who is he?"

A trace of vigilance rose in Lin Muyang's heart instantly.

Although they were in a state of 【Divine Concealment】 the entire time, he instinctively felt a faint sense of danger! This seemingly ordinary old man...

Gave him a feeling of being unfathomable!

"Little friend, since you've come out, why still hide?"

The white-haired old man seemed to be able to see through the void, smiling faintly in the direction where Lin Muyang was. He was holding a mobile phone in his hand, seemingly browsing something.

Lin Muyang quietly activated the 【Divine Sight】 Aura and took a peek at the old man's phone screen from a god's-eye view.

What was displayed on the screen were photos from last night of him punishing the twelve thieves from Qinghe City! In the photos, the twelve people were lying on the ground in a mess; although they weren't dead, they were all seriously injured and crippled.

This made Lin Muyang somewhat puzzled.

Could this old man really have come to investigate this matter?

But.

This matter clearly didn't result in any deaths! It shouldn't have alarmed any top-tier experts, right?

In the Xia Kingdom, if a malicious homicide occurred, especially one involving multiple deaths at once, it was indeed possible to attract a Nation-Guarding Level Expert to investigate in person—not because they had nothing better to do, but because some of them possessed special means to backtrack the crime scene and lock onto the real culprit within minutes.

Because of this, the public security within the Xia Kingdom could be maintained so well; otherwise, killing and looting in the wild would have long been commonplace.

But Lin Muyang had deliberately controlled his strength yesterday and hadn't taken any lives! Logically speaking, it shouldn't have involved a person of this level!

He calmly used 【Divine Sight】 to probe the white-haired old man's information, and the result shocked him—Level 257!

This was undoubtedly a Nation-Guarding Level Expert!

And the old man's profession was displayed as "Swordsman".

"Within the Xia Kingdom, a Swordsman of this level..."

"Could it be that legendary Sword Saint, Liu Qingtian?"

Lin Muyang guessed inwardly.

In any case, the person in front of him definitely had the ability to kill him instantly!

Lin Muyang didn't dare to be careless in the slightest.

He immediately activated two life-saving Auras, 【Holy Hourglass】 and 【Void Body】, allowing himself and all the young ladies to instantly enter a state of absolute invincibility, though they were also unable to make any moves!

He wasn't sure if the other party possessed any strange means, so opening invincibility directly was the safest choice!

"Not bad, little friend can remain so calm in the face of this old man. It seems you are quite confident in your abilities..."

Before the old man finished speaking.

Several sword Auras that looked simple and unadorned but actually contained terrifying power appeared out of thin air. As if they had a life of their own, they instantly surrounded the Dragon Lady, Ao Qingyan, who was not far behind Lin Muyang!

???

Lin Muyang was a bit confused.

What method did this old man use to discover Ao Qingyan?

"Rest assured, this old man has no malice toward you."

"However, under this old man's 'Sword Heart Clarity', you have nowhere to hide!"

The old man stroked his snow-white long beard, his tone filled with absolute confidence.

Lin Muyang looked at Ao Qingyan, who was surrounded by sharp sword lights and was staring at him, and thought rapidly.

The other party seemed to only be able to detect Ao Qingyan's presence and couldn't perceive anyone else?

Thinking about the most significant difference between Ao Qingyan and the other young ladies...

Lin Muyang quickly guessed that this might be related to the old man's professional characteristics as a top-tier swordsman? Was it because Ao Qingyan also used a sword?

"How about it, little friend, didn't expect that, did you?"

The white-haired old man put down his phone and said with a gentle smile on his face: "This old man is Liu Qingtian. Now, can this old man and young fellow have a good talk?"

Unexpected.

It really was unexpected...

However, Lin Muyang indeed didn't feel any malice from the other party.

With a thought, he temporarily lifted the 【Holy Hourglass】 state only for the Elf Lilia, letting her fly flexibly around the area, and even deliberately circled Liu Qingtian several times.

The result.

The old man had no reaction to Lilia's presence.

"Confirmed."

"He really can only perceive Auras or existences related to 'swords'?"

Lin Muyang confirmed inwardly.

He glanced at the diamond-grade longsword worn at Ao Qingyan's waist and didn't let her make any moves for the time being.

Since this old man thought he could see through his whereabouts...

Then why not play along and follow his lead?

It was a good chance to hear what exactly this Nation-Guarding Level Sword Saint had come to him for.

"Go ahead and speak."

At Lin Muyang's signal, Elabess once again mimicked her sister's unique mature woman voice, the sound circling from all directions, making it impossible to locate the source.

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingtian nodded slightly, his expression seeming to relax a little.

Facing a junior with such bizarre abilities and completely untraceable movements, even he felt significant pressure!

Fortunately, the other party carried a sword, allowing him to vaguely sense the position through his Sword Heart!

He waved his hand, and the sharp sword Auras surrounding Ao Qingyan dissipated quietly, as if they had never appeared.

"Originally, this old man came to Zhongnan City to investigate another matter..."

"However, since fate has brought us together by chance, it is a good opportunity to have a chat with you."

Sword Saint slowly spoke to the seemingly empty space in front of him.

As it turned out, he had originally heard from his granddaughter Liu Hongyuan that she had encountered a mysterious expert in Zhongnan City who could inexplicably make her fall into a deep sleep at a critical moment during an auction from a distance.

Even the well-informed Sword Saint had never heard of such an ability!

Thus, after finishing his immediate tasks, he personally rushed to Zhongnan City to investigate.

As it happened, he ran into people from the neighboring Qinghe City provoking and causing chaos at the border of Zhongnan City.

He inquired about the situation with several administrators of Zhongnan City and learned that a peerless genius had emerged locally who could solo clearing genius high-difficulty secret realms and possessed various unfathomable abilities!

Not only could this person achieve perfect invisibility, but most importantly, they also mastered various terrifying Aura skills, such as large-area deceleration, large-area silence, and large-area attack debuffs!

Similar information was naturally provided in large quantities by Shen Yanshan.

Facing the Nation-Guarding Level Sword Saint, Shen Yanshan told him almost everything he knew, laying out all the facts.

Even so, no one still knew the true identity of that genius!

Therefore, Sword Saint was driven by curiosity on one hand, and on the other, he genuinely wanted to meet this brilliant junior to see if he could recruit talent for the country or at least build a friendly connection.

He followed the trail all the way to the vicinity of Qinghe City.

He happened to encounter a group of strong individuals from Qinghe City who were using precious magic scrolls to set up formations and construct barriers, clearly intending to set a trap to capture that genius...

Seeing this, Sword Saint went up and scolded the group severely.

The big shots from Qinghe City felt very aggrieved!

Twelve of their own skilled members had been crippled and their futures ruined, yet they couldn't even get an explanation; were they not in the right?

As a result, they were reprimanded relentlessly by Sword Saint.

"If you want an explanation, why are you going to Zhongnan City's territory to cause trouble?"

"Right now, no one can determine the identity of that genius, so how can you be so sure that he is definitely from Zhongnan City?"

"Perhaps that genius was just passing through from another place; both of your cities are victims, having had your Dungeon resources robbed by him?"

Sword Saint's words made everyone from Qinghe City suddenly realize the truth, and they looked at each other in dismay.

Damn. As expected of a Nation-Guarding Level Expert, his perspective on issues is truly sharp and unique!

Immediately, the group from Qinghe City realized their mistake... Indeed, they shouldn't have arbitrarily placed the blame on Zhongnan City.

One by one, they began to reflect deeply...

There was no other way. They had to reflect; the crime of actively inciting disputes between cities is quite serious in the Xia Kingdom.

If it were strictly investigated, none of them would escape punishment.

Fortunately, Sword Saint had a decent temper and directly stated that the matter would end there, and he would handle the follow-up.

Hearing Sword Saint's account, Lin Muyang was also a bit speechless.

He had originally deliberately shown mercy to those twelve people to avoid causing deaths, which would have attracted the attention of a Nation-Guarding Level Expert responsible for investigating homicides. Unexpectedly, he didn't attract a homicide expert, but instead attracted this Sword Saint of the Xia Kingdom...

Lin Muyang realized immediately. The "other matter" that Sword Saint mentioned was likely related to Liu Hongyuan, whom he met at the auction yesterday!

Of course, this was not important now. Anyway, the other party probably wouldn't connect the dispute at that auction with him, the "solo clearing genius" at this moment.

"Little friend, I am actually looking for you this time because I have a favor to ask."

The white-haired Sword Saint's expression became serious: "In the southwest border region of the Xia Kingdom, a level 45 epic-level secret realm has recently opened!"

"You should know that any secret realm that reaches epic quality has an inherent characteristic..."

"Any Class Transferee whose level exceeds the secret realm's level by 3 levels (i.e., above level 48) cannot inflict effective damage on the monsters within. Even when the secret realm's time limit expires in the future and the monsters spill out into the real world, this rule still applies!"

"There are only nine days left until the secret realm's time limit expires. Once the time limit is exceeded, the secret realm will collapse, and all the monsters inside will swarm into reality..."

"By then, facing these bizarre Epic-Rank Monster, we old guys have the levels, but are completely powerless."

"This batch of monsters will likely cause immeasurable huge losses and casualties to the entire southwest region of the Xia Kingdom!"

A level 45 epic-level secret realm? Hearing this, Lin Muyang felt a stir in his heart.

He was naturally willing to challenge a high-quality secret realm. That was an excellent opportunity to obtain rare resources and rapidly improve his strength!

The higher the quality of the secret realm, the greater the probability of dropping origin skill book and rare materials!

Moreover, monsters in an epic-level secret realm had a high probability of dropping legendary-grade items for Lin Muyang! Even if it were just an ordinary legendary-grade skill book, it would be an invaluable treasure on the market!

However, what slightly surprised Lin Muyang was that at this stage, a level 45 epic-level secret realm could already pose a nationwide threat?

"It seems that the level threshold for the appearance of high-quality secret realms is decreasing year by year..."

Lin Muyang was thoughtful. He was clear about this special rule for secret realms above epic-grade. Only Class Transferees with matching levels could effectively deal with them.

No matter how high the levels of others were, at most they could rely on their own defensive power to ensure they wouldn't be killed by these monsters, but wanting to clear these monsters for society? It was simply impossible.

At most, they could only provide some beneficial or auxiliary Aura or buffs to those Class Transferees who met the level requirements, making their battles a bit easier...

However, those were Epic-Rank Monster! Even the weakest cannon fodder among them was not something that ordinary Class Transferees could deal with!

Take this level 45 epic-level secret realm for example. A single minor monster running out of it would likely require at least fifty elite Class Transferees between levels 40-48 to group up and surround it, and they would also need high-level support classes to provide powerful buffs to even have a chance of killing it.

Not to mention that when monsters from a Dungeon or secret realm swarm into reality, their numbers often produce a certain "expansion effect"!

For example, there might originally be only 200 monsters in a secret realm. Once the time limit expires and they swarm into reality, the actual number of monsters that appear will definitely far exceed 200!

"So that's the matter you're asking for my help with."

"A level 45 epic-level team-based secret realm... Within the entire country, there probably aren't many top experts who happen to be stuck in the 40-48 level range and have an SS-Rank Talent, right?"

Lin Muyang already had a plan in mind. However, he couldn't just agree so easily. Since the other party was here to ask for his help... they had to show some sincerity and provide some benefits, right?

Sure enough. Sword Saint continued: "Currently, we have been searching and coordinating with all our might and have barely found four Class Transferees with SS-Rank Talent, plus one extremely rare Class Transferee with SSS-Rank Talent, whose levels all happen to be stuck between 40 and 48."

"It is a pity that the maximum number of people for that epic-level team-based secret realm is 13. We only have 5 people now, which is far from enough. And for those whose talents or equipment do not meet the standards, entering is basically equivalent to suicide..."

"If you, little friend, are willing to help, with the various magical abilities you have displayed, perhaps there is a chance to lead those five to successfully clear that secret realm?"

"Of course! The official authorities will absolutely not let you exert effort in vain."

"As long as you are willing to take on this heavy responsibility, afterwards we can specially approve a 'National Special Contributor Pass' for you. With this pass, all secret realms and Dungeons across the country will be unconditionally open to you, allowing you to enter and exit freely!"

"In addition, if any rare resources are obtained through official channels in the future, they can be prioritized for you to exchange."

"Not to mention anything else, the country's strategic reserve currently stores several origin skill book for different professions. As long as you are willing to help resolve the crisis of this epic-level secret realm, after the matter is accomplished, you can choose any one of them to take away!"

It must be said that the conditions offered by Sword Saint... were indeed quite attractive!

Regarding that pass, Lin Muyang was not particularly concerned; after all, relying on [Divine Concealment] and various speed-boosting Aura, he could already enter and exit most places freely, and no one could catch him.

Of course. With an officially certified pass, acting would naturally be more convenient; at least he wouldn't encounter the trouble of being intercepted and questioned at the entrance of a Dungeon again.

It was just that Sword Saint specifically offered him the choice of an origin skill book as a reward; the intention behind this was probably not as simple as just a reward!

"Letting me choose an origin skill book myself, is this an attempt to probe my true profession?"

"Interesting." A faint, imperceptible arc curled up at the corner of Lin Muyang's mouth.

What a pity... This Sword Saint of the Xia Kingdom probably never dreamed that he was not a single-class professional at all, but a Summoner who could contract with young ladies of multiple races! As long as an origin skill book of any profession was useful, he could take it to study or give it to the corresponding young ladies to use!

Thus, Lin Muyang, through the voice simulated by Elabess, put forward his own conditions: "Two books. Also, if you want me to take action, there is no need for others to cooperate; I will go in alone."

If these two requirements could be met... Lin Muyang would be willing to take action and go meet that epic-level secret realm!

And for Sword Saint, Lin Muyang bargaining and wanting two skill book was completely reasonable and negotiable.

The key was, what did his later request mean?!

An epic-level secret realm, wanting to go in alone?! Isn't this just looking for death?!

Even the Sword Saint, who was a Nation-Guarding Level Expert and had seen many storms and waves, was shocked by Lin Muyang's astonishing request and was momentarily speechless, his face filled with incredulous astonishment!