119: Chapter 119 Who's Behind the Scenes? The Demon Martial General and the Golden Ring

The cold wind was like a blade, swirling fine ice crystals and slamming them against the rocks with a tooth-grinding grating sound.

Qin Ji stood atop the snow-capped mountain peak, his robes fluttering loudly in the gale. He didn't act immediately, but instead looked down at Ice Snow City below like an ice sculpture. His purple-gold pupils reflected the city lights, yet held no warmth, only calculation and assessment.

"Snow Emperor really doesn't treat us ordinary players like humans! No matter what, if he dares to attack Ice Snow City, he must give us an explanation!"

In the regional channel of Ice Snow City, there was already a barrage of curses.

"Exactly, if he's so capable, why doesn't he attack Tianxing City? To put it bluntly, he's just picking on the weak and fearing the strong. Garbage!!"

"It's truly rotten luck to be on the same server as Snow Emperor. I was halfway through my class advancement quest, and now it's all ruined. Let's go, quickly return to the Newbie Village to hide!"

Complaints, curses, and panic—various negative emotions spread through the city like a plague.

Qin Ji scanned these messages expressionlessly, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly in a mocking arc.

An explanation?

Only the weak need explanations; the strong only care about results.

He slowly raised the jiu he long bow in his hand. The moment the bowstring was pulled back, the surrounding violent snowstorm seemed to be forcibly suppressed by some force, and a brief vacuum actually appeared.

Twang—!!

A crisp sound of the string even drowned out the howling wind.

A feathered arrow shot through the air. It didn't fly in a straight line but traced a bizarre spiral trajectory in the sky. Wherever it passed, the air was violently compressed, forming a visible white airwave.

Boom!!!

The feathered arrow slammed hard against Ice Snow City's defensive array.

The pale blue light curtain trembled violently, and countless runes flashed crazily at the impact point, trying to neutralize the terrifying piercing power. However, this arrow seemed to carry an unstoppable will, forcibly drilling a ripple several meters in diameter into the light curtain.

Following that, a second arrow, a third...

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

A rain of arrows fell like a waterfall.

Every arrow that landed would take out a large swath of NPC mages chanting Spells on the city walls. Guards in heavy armor tried to raise their shields to block, but before Qin Ji's panel attack power of over twenty thousand, the fine iron shields were as fragile as thin paper.

Shields shattered, people died.

The city wall instantly turned into a living hell, with screams and explosions intertwining.

However, Qin Ji's brow furrowed slightly.

Too weak.

Compared to the intensity of the desperate resistance in Black Wind City, the defense of Ice Snow City was practically like paper. Although the defenders on the wall were fighting back, both the firing rate of the arrow towers and the efficiency of the magic arrays carried a sense of "perfunctoriness."

"As expected."

Qin Ji lightly rubbed the bowstring, the killing intent in his eyes receding slightly, replaced by a playful look of someone who had seen through the chessboard.

That hypothesis was confirmed.

There is internal discord within the Star Kingdom.

Whether it was the previous Black Wind City or the current Ice Snow City, not a single truly powerful high-Rank NPC had appeared. Even City Lord-level experts had yet to show their faces to take charge.

There was only one most intuitive reason—someone wanted him to make a scene.

Someone was using his hand to stir up the waters of the Star Kingdom.

Just then, a shrill alarm sounded throughout the city, followed by the familiar blood-red server-wide announcement as scheduled.

[Ice Snow City Regional Announcement: The City Lord has issued a "Sure-kill Order"!]

[Since player "Snow Emperor" has maliciously attacked Ice Snow City, a city-wide bounty is now issued!]

[Mission Objective: Kill Snow Emperor.]

[Mission Reward: For each kill, obtain Free Attribute Points +1000, and Random Silver Equipment ×1!]

Whoosh—!

The players who were still cursing just now were instantly silenced, followed by an even more frantic commotion.

One thousand points!!

Black Wind City only gave five hundred points, but Ice Snow City actually doubled it!

"How is this a bounty? This is clearly giving out benefits!"

Qin Ji looked at the enticing reward numbers, and the smile on his face grew even wider.

These main city NPCs weren't fools. After the battle of Black Wind City, they had likely guessed that such bounties would eventually fall into the pockets of Qin Ji's own people. Yet they still untiringly issued bounties and even raised the stakes.

What did this mean?

It meant the person issuing the bounty was eager for him to become stronger.

"The cause of this siege was King Abra's ban. My attack on the city is a slap to the King's face. Yet these people behind the scenes not only don't stop it but instead send me resources through bounties..."

Several names quickly flashed through Qin Ji's mind.

Leona? That woman has ambition, but she doesn't have the energy to influence the border's main cities yet.

Excluding her, the remaining suspects are only those two—Qing Fuyun or Princess.

One is an aristocrat backed by Queen Fiodingyu, and the other is the Eldest Princess who holds real power. Either of these two has the foundation to pull this off.

But a Princess's power is usually concentrated in the royal capital, Tianxing City; it's difficult for her to directly interfere in local military and political affairs. Those who can directly give orders to the border's main cities are only the head of civil officials and the head of military generals.

Prime Minister Kesenluo.

Grand Marshal Lorraine Muyuan.

"Could it be these two causing trouble behind the scenes?"

Qin Ji thought to himself. Although rumors said these two had always been at odds, in the face of massive political interests, there was no hatred that couldn't be set aside. An enemy's enemy is a friend; if their common goal was aimed at King Abra, then joining forces wouldn't be surprising.

However...

"No matter who is setting the board, since you dare to deliver the meat to my mouth, I'll dare to eat it until not even the bones are left."

Qin Ji sneered, and his movements abruptly stopped.

Seeing Ice Snow City's defensive array fully activated and countless players rushing out of the city gates with bloodshot eyes, he not only didn't continue attacking but instead put away his long bow and stood with his hands behind his back.

Attack?

There was no need.

Compared to breaking into an empty shell of a city for some fixed pay, it was clearly more cost-effective to cash in the bounty on himself.

"Monkey, time to work."

He said flatly in the party channel.

...

Half an hour later.

In a hidden canyon within the Blade Territory.

As the last light of magic dissipated, Qin Ji's figure slowly fell, then resurrected on the spot in a burst of white light.

This was the tenth time.

Standing opposite him was Monkey, whose hand holding the staff was currently trembling slightly. Not because of fear, but because of excitement—the kind of excitement from getting rich overnight.

Black Wind City's bounty was five hundred points, and Ice Snow City's bounty was one thousand points.

After completing two waves of bounty missions, Monkey had obtained a total of fifteen hundred Free Attribute Points in one go!

And that wasn't all.

Monkey possessed the Saint-Grade talent [Super God Growth], which would multiply the gains from attribute points. With the talent's boost, these fifteen hundred base attribute points were converted into a staggering seventy-five thousand points of actual panel gains!

From this one operation alone, Monkey's HP skyrocketed by one hundred and fifty thousand!

At this moment, Monkey stood there like a human meat mountain. Although he still looked thin on the outside, the terrifying data hidden under his skin was enough to make any current Shield Warrior delete their account in shame.

Armor, magic resistance, attack, magic power, attack speed... an all-around improvement with no blind spots.

Qin Ji looked Monkey up and down, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.

"That's about enough."

He suddenly spoke, "Monkey, your attributes are now overflowing. A pure Mage class or Warrior class won't be able to perfectly unleash the potential of your attributes."

Monkey was stunned and scratched his head: "Brother Hao, what should I do then? I can't just change my class to a super minion, can I?"

Qin Ji shook his head, his gaze deep: "I've thought of a hidden class that's very suitable for you—Magic-Martial Heavenly General."

"Magic-Martial Heavenly General?" Monkey looked bewildered.

"This is a special hidden class. Its rating is only Heaven-Grade, not even Saint-Grade."

Qin Ji explained patiently, "The reason the rating isn't high is because it has a fatal flaw—it requires the practitioner to have Dual Cultivation in magic and martial arts. In other words, your physical attack must be high, and your magic power must also be high; otherwise, the skill damage you deal will be like scratching an itch."

Speaking to this point, Qin Ji paused and looked at Monkey with a smile: "Who in their right mind would distribute precious Free Attribute Points equally? A warrior adding intelligence is brain-dead, and a mage adding strength is seeking death. So this class has always been seen as useless."

"But..."

Monkey's eyes suddenly lit up, and he blurted out, "But I'm different! I have so many attribute points I don't know where to spend them!"

"Exactly."

Qin Ji nodded, "This class is garbage on anyone else, but on you, it's an existence not inferior to Saint-Grade, or even surpassing it. Magic-martial Dual Cultivation means you can enjoy the double bonuses of both physical and magic at the same time. Every one of your auto-attacks can carry a magic explosion, and every Spell can trigger a physical critical hit."

It was tailor-made.

Although Qin Ji didn't know the full walkthrough for the Magic-Martial Heavenly General, he happened to know the trigger clues for this hidden class from his past life.

Ding—

Qin Ji directly sent a piece of complex information to Monkey.

"These are the prerequisite trigger conditions for the Magic-Martial Heavenly General class advancement quest. Go to these coordinates and find an NPC called the 'Mad Blacksmith.' Show him your attributes, and the rest of the quest process will naturally trigger."

Looking at the quest information, Monkey nodded excitedly: "Got it! Don't worry, Brother Hao, I'll definitely get it!"

Having said that, Monkey suddenly seemed to remember something and mysteriously pulled out a ring emitting a pale blue glow from his backpack, handing it to Qin Ji.

"Brother Hao, this dropped just now when I was killing you... ahem, doing the mission. I saw the attributes were pretty insane, so you take it."

Qin Ji took the ring. The moment his fingertips touched it, a wave of cool water vapor brushed against his face.

[Water Spring Ring (Gold Grade)]

Equipment Requirement: Rank 25, All Classes

Attribute 1: Magic Power +3999

Attribute 2: Magic Penetration +10%

Attribute 3: Spell Vamp +5%

Attribute 4: Water Domain (Passive): Reduces the magic resistance of all enemy units within a fifty-meter radius by 50 points.

Attribute 5: Health +10000

Attribute 6: Mana +20000

Description: It is said that this was formed by a single tear dropped by the Goddess of Water into the mortal realm.

Qin Ji scanned the attributes, his eyebrows twitching slightly.

It was indeed top-tier.

A magic power bonus of nearly four thousand, plus percentage magic penetration and Spell vamp—for a mage at this stage, this was a Divine Artifact-level existence. Especially that twenty thousand mana and ten thousand health, enough to allow a squishy mage the capital to tank a boss.

Unfortunately...

"Useless to me."

Qin Ji shook his head and spun the ring on his fingertip.

Those magic attributes were all dead stats for an Archer like him; only the last two attributes adding health and mana were somewhat useful. But occupying a ring slot for just that bit of health and mana was too much of a loss.

"A Gold Ring. If only it were for a warrior or an Archer." Qin Ji felt a bit of regret.

"What should we do then? If you don't want it, Brother Hao, how about auctioning it?" Monkey suggested, "At this stage, this equipment can definitely sell for an astronomical price."

"Auctioning is too slow, and it's easy to be targeted by people with ulterior motives."

Qin Ji pondered for a moment, "Better to keep the benefits within the circle. Ask Frenzied Blade. Their guild has many mages; they should be very short of this kind of thing."

Saying that, he directly sent the attribute display of the Water Spring Ring to Frenzied Blade.

Almost the next second after the message was sent, Frenzied Blade's communication request popped up.

"Holy crap! Great God Snow Emperor, did you go and rob the treasury of a main System city?!"

Frenzied Blade's voice carried an undisguisable shock and longing, "This ring... these attributes... can this really be dropped at this stage?"

"Cut the crap." Qin Ji's voice was flat, "We're old acquaintances. One price, five hundred thousand gold coins. Do you want it or not?"

There was silence on the other end of the communication for about two seconds.

Five hundred thousand gold coins.

According to the current gold price ratio, this was definitely a huge sum. But Frenzied Blade only hesitated for a moment before replying decisively:

"I want it! Transferring the money immediately!"

Frenzied Blade was a smart man.

A Gold Grade ring usable by all classes at Rank twenty-five—what did that mean? It meant he could arm the head mage in his guild into a mobile turret.

Mages were weak in the early stage because they lacked mana, lacked damage, and had low skill Ranks.

And the twenty thousand mana provided by this ring not only solved the sustainability issue but, more importantly, could be used to grind skill proficiency!

Without mana restrictions, a mage could release skills infinitely. Even the most garbage skill would undergo a qualitative change once ground to max level.

The Berserk Guild spent an astronomical amount on mana potions every day. From a long-term perspective, this ring could even save the guild millions of gold coins in potion costs.

Frenzied Blade had calculated this account very clearly.

"Pleasure doing business."

As the System notification sounded, five hundred thousand gold coins arrived instantly.

Qin Ji sent the ring to Frenzied Blade via mail, and then Monkey approached again, holding two stones emitting rainbow-colored light in his hands.

"Brother Hao, there's also this. The extra rewards for the top three in the mission rewards: two Saint Grade Talent Awakening Stones."

Saint Grade Talent Awakening Stones.

These were the true priceless treasures.

Even Qin Ji's breathing couldn't help but pause for half a beat when he saw these two stones.

He reached out and took the two warm stones, his thumb lightly rubbing the intricate patterns on them. The afterglow of the setting sun spilled over the stones, reflecting a dreamlike luster that cast flickering light and shadow on his cold face.

"The wind is rising."

Qin Ji murmured softly, then suddenly clenched his palm, pocketing the two Awakening stones.

He turned around, his gaze piercing through the gap in the canyon, looking toward the distant wasteland gradually being swallowed by the night. The wind and snow whistled and circled behind him, as if crowning this king who was about to stir the entire world.

Since someone wanted to stir up the waters, he would be that wild Dragon that overturns the rivers and seas, poking a hole in this sky.