127: Chapter 127 The truth comes out: I am the Snow Empress! Forbidden Passive Skill: Heavenly Fire Meteor

The night was as dark as ink, shrouding the prosperity of Tianxing City in a sea of blue neon light. Before the floor-to-ceiling windows, Qin Ji slowly turned around, shifting his gaze from the city lights sprawling beneath his feet to the conflicted-looking Zhamalei at the office desk.

The air still vibrated with the tremor of his bold claim of a "30% annual return," but the quill in Zhamalei's hand hung over the document, hesitating to descend. Ink gathered into a bead at the tip of the pen, finally becoming too heavy and dripping onto the parchment, blooming into a glaring black stain.

"What? Still have concerns?" Qin Ji's voice was calm, yet it carried an invisible sense of pressure.

Zhamalei's fingertips trembled slightly as she quickly pressed the stain with blotting paper. When she looked up, a hint of struggle flashed in her eyes: "My Lord, although your financial strength is beyond doubt, the banking business is a bit of a hot potato. The current banking System in the Star Kingdom is nominally controlled by the major chambers of commerce, but the actual controllers are the people of the Eldest Princess, Princess's faction."

At the mention of this name, Zhamalei instinctively lowered her voice, as if that woman could have ears through the walls.

"The Eldest Princess has a firm hand. If we make a grand display of high-interest deposits, it would be no different from snatching food directly from her plate. By then, I'm afraid it won't just be commercial competition; it might even invite administrative intervention from the royal Family."

"Princess?"

Qin Ji's lips curled into a playful arc. He casually pulled over a chair and sat down, crossing his legs in a posture as relaxed as if he were discussing tomorrow's breakfast. "It's fine. If she has a problem, let her come find me directly."

Zhamalei's pupils constricted slightly, and the quill in her hand snapped with a crack.

She had sat in this position for ten years and was used to seeing all kinds of powerful figures bowing before royal authority. The former presidents of the Adventurers Guild—which one of them hadn't tried everything they could to worm their way into royal banquets? Yet the person before her not only wanted to touch the royal Family's cake but, in his words, completely disregarded that powerful Eldest Princess.

This was no longer just standing firm; it was a disdain akin to a dimensional strike.

"There are some things that you might not feel certain about just by hearing them."

Qin Ji saw her unease and lightly tapped his finger in the void. The ID name that had been in a hidden state slowly emerged above his head.

In that instant, a piercing cold wind seemed to blow through the office.

Two characters radiating a faint ice-blue light pierced into Zhamalei's retinas like an imperial decree from a sovereign ruling the world.

— [Snow Emperor].

"Clang."

The broken pen in Zhamalei's hand fell completely to the floor, rolling to the corner of the desk. She felt as if she had been struck by an invisible bolt of lightning. Her originally capable and upright body stiffened as she took a half-step back, bumping into the bookshelf behind her.

As an intelligence head, she knew the weight of these two words better than anyone.

It was a fierce reputation built upon countless amounts of blood and bones.

First, he used a single bow to slaughter the nine Silver Generals of the Wo Family, severing the line of that insufferably arrogant Family. Immediately after, he single-handedly captured Black Wind City, forcing that city of sin to change its flag. Not long ago, he even forced King Abra to lift the ban and even bestow rewards upon him while holding his nose.

This was a walking "rule-breaker."

She had seen many ruthless people, but a ruthless person who could rub the royal Family's face in the dirt and still get away with it was the only one in the entire server.

"So... so you are the Snow Emperor!"

Zhamalei swallowed hard with difficulty. The worry in her eyes vanished into thin air instantly, replaced by a kind of blind fanaticism. No wonder this Lord dared to offer a 30% annual return; no wonder he dared to say he would "chop off the hands of those who reached out."

Before this man, the so-called royal pressure was nothing more than a joke.

"Guild Master, I understand." Zhamalei took a deep breath, quickly composed her expression, and pulled out a new quill. Her tone became more determined than ever before. "Since it is your will, I will go all out. I will use all my hidden connections to operate at full strength and strive to have the banking System set up within seven days."

"Too slow."

Qin Ji shook his head and held up one finger. "Since we're going to seize business, speed is of the essence. I don't need those tedious wealth management or lending functions. In the Early Stage, I only need the two most core services—deposits and withdrawals."

His gaze was as sharp as a blade: "One day. I want to see long queues for deposits at the entrance of the Adventurers Guild before sunset tomorrow."

"One day?!" Zhamalei was stunned, but after meeting Qin Ji's unquestionable gaze, she swallowed the "impossible" that was at the tip of her tongue and gritted her teeth. "If it's such a minimalist model... even if I have to go without sleep or rest, I will get it done for you!"

"Go then."

Qin Ji waved his hand as if he were merely ordering a trivial matter.

Zhamalei bowed respectfully and withdrew. Her footsteps were hurried and forceful, clearly having entered a wartime footing.

...

When he left the Adventurers Guild, the streets of Tianxing City were still filled with players in a continuous stream.

Qin Ji pulled down the hood of his cloak and merged into the crowd.

The strategic layout for the bank had been set in motion; now he just had to wait for it to ferment. To establish true hegemony in this world, having money wasn't enough; one also needed absolute combat power.

Especially that thing called the "talent evolution flower"—he was determined to obtain it.

"Rank 50."

Qin Ji glanced at his experience bar.

As long as he reached Rank 50, he could unlock access to the vast majority of dungeons and reach the threshold for the second job advancement.

Leave the city, level up.

The wild monster zones outside the city were a shura field frightening at every step for ordinary players, but in Qin Ji's eyes, they were nothing more than mobile experience packs.

"Whiz—"

A feathered arrow pierced through the air, carrying a shrill whistling sound.

He didn't need any positioning or skill coordination at all. With his current attributes, even with basic attacks, every arrow fired resulted in the monster's instant death.

Elite monsters that originally required a team to farm were as fragile as paper before him.

Five hours later.

As the last Violent Demon Bear fell with a wail, a golden light soared into the sky from Qin Ji's body.

[System Prompt: Congratulations, your Rank has increased to Rank 50!]

The refreshing feeling of power filling his entire body made Qin Ji exhale a breath of turbid air. He casually opened the Rankings and glanced at the current situation.

[Rankings]

First: Snow Emperor, Rank 50 (100%).

Second: Godly Fatty Invincible, Rank 35 (92%).

Third: Jian Wushuang, Rank 31 (11%).

Fourth: Once Per Night, Rank 29 (65%).

Fifth: Pig-Butchering Idol, Rank 28 (93%).

...

A massive lead.

Except for him and his best friend Fatty Zhou, who possessed a hidden class, everyone else's Rank had been left behind by nearly twenty Ranks. This was an incredible chasm in the gaming world.

Qin Ji's gaze lingered for a moment on the name of the third place, "Jian Wushuang."

Memories of his past life came flooding back like a tide.

That was an exceptionally brilliant woman. In that desperate era of ragnarok, she alone guarded a city with her sword, protecting tens of millions of the Human Race as they retreated. Her elegance had once made countless people bow in admiration.

Unfortunately, heroes often die from backstabbing.

She guarded the city, but she couldn't guard against the knife thrust from behind.

"In this life, since I have returned, perhaps some tragedies should no longer happen." Qin Ji's gaze darkened as he pulled back his thoughts.

As for the others further down the list, most were lucky ones who had temporarily taken off by getting some early-game Divine Artifacts. For example, that Dream Chaser in the Mist relied on a Golden Scepter to run rampant before Rank 20, but as Ranks increased, the equipment advantage was gradually leveled out, and she had now fallen out of the top five.

He then casually opened the equipment rankings.

First: investiture of the gods.

Second: book of life and death.

Third: purification jade pendant.

Fourth: Lotus Treasure Lamp.

Fifth: Mysterious Gourd.

Of the top five slots, he occupied four of them.

Only that fifth-place "Mysterious Gourd" was a bit conspicuous. This thing had been gathering dust in his backpack; besides occasionally taking it out to play with, he couldn't see any Heaven-Defying aspect to it at this stage. How could it squeeze into the top five?

"Maybe it's a late-game Divine Artifact?" Qin Ji shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

Closing the panel, he sped towards the direction of Black Water Lake.

Rank 50 was the critical point for the second job advancement; without completing the class transfer quest, he couldn't continue to level up. But this didn't stop him from continuing to do the most important thing—

Stacking HP.

The Black Water Lake dungeon was densely packed with monsters that respawned extremely quickly, making it a Holy Land for attribute farming.

For the next three days, Qin Ji seemed to transform into a tireless killing machine.

Every basic attack was accompanied by a permanent increase in his maximum HP.

On the first day, the murlocs in Black Water Lake were nearly hunted to extinction. Qin Ji's HP surged by 1.5 million, and his total HP broke through the five million mark.

On the second day, as damage overflowed, his monster-clearing efficiency became even higher, but the dungeon's respawn speed couldn't keep up. The HP increase dropped back to 900,000.

On the third day, his HP increased by 500,000.

By now, Qin Ji's total HP was fixed at a terrifying number—6.4 million!

What kind of concept was this?

At this stage, wild BOSSes of the same Rank only had two or three million HP. As an Archer, if he stood still and let all the players in the server focus their fire on him, he would probably recover HP faster than he lost it.

What was even more terrifying was his basic attack damage.

Based on the True Damage bonus from his HP percentage, every basic attack arrow he fired now carried over 380,000 True Damage!

380,000 per arrow.

Never mind squishy mages; even if the server's number one tank, Fatty Zhou, stood here, it would just be a matter of a single arrow. If it landed a critical hit, the scene would be too beautiful to behold.

"Ding!"

Just as Qin Ji finished clearing a wave of murlocs, a crisp System notification sound broke the monotonous rhythm.

"Congratulations, you have completed Princess Princess's pre-quest scroll."

"You have obtained 100 Free Attribute Points."

"You have obtained [Blessing of the Gods] ×1."

It's finally here.

Qin Ji's eyes lit up. This was his true goal for grinding missions like crazy over the past few days.

The key item that could evolve a talent—the Blessing of the Gods.

Without any hesitation, he directly took out that ball of light radiating seven-colored divine radiance from his backpack and crushed it.

"Use Blessing of the Gods!"

Boom—

The sky seemed to split open, and crimson Divine Power poured down like lava, enveloping Qin Ji entirely.

"Ding, Fire God Zhurong is bestowing a blessing upon you..."

"Congratulations, you have learned the passive skill — [Heavenly Fire Meteor]."

Qin Ji hurriedly checked the skill panel.

[Heavenly Fire Meteor (Passive · 1-star)]

Effect: Your attacks have a 1% chance to trigger Heavenly Fire Meteor. When triggered, it summons one thousand meteor fireballs to fall from the sky, covering a hundred-meter radius. Each meteor deals damage equal to one of your basic attacks.

Cost: None.

Cooldown: None.

Proficiency: 0/100.

Looking at this skill description, Qin Ji's originally expectant expression gradually froze, finally turning into a giant question mark.

"This..."

Was it strong? It was outrageously strong.

No cost, no cooldown, full-screen AOE. Once triggered, it would be a nuclear strike of a thousand times his basic attack damage. With his current basic attack damage of 380,000, this was simply a nuclear strike.

Within a hundred meters, not a single blade of grass would remain.

But the problem lay exactly there.

Qin Ji looked at a group of murlocs that had just respawned in the distance, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

He relied on targeting them one by one with basic attacks to stack his HP!

If he fired an arrow and triggered this thing, all the monsters within a hundred meters would instantly be turned to ashes. How the hell am I supposed to stack attributes then?

This was hardly a blessing; it clearly stripped him of the joy of attribute farming.

"If only it could be toggled..."

The setting sun was as red as blood, staining Black Water Lake a tragic, dark crimson. Qin Ji stood upon a giant rock by the lakeside, his longbow lowered. His purple-gold pupils reflected the shimmering light on the water that had yet to dissipate, just like a god holding world-destroying authority yet caught in a dilemma, letting out a helpless and luxurious sigh in the evening breeze.