I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 330: Chapter 191: All for Nothing!

”Monk!”

Zheng Xiu wanted to rush forward and help. With Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault just ahead and the ”exit” within reach, there was nothing left to discuss. Even if the Monk was a secondary personality and killing Fan Yao was morally indefensible, Zheng Xiu wasn’t about to debate ethics with Fan Yao. Forget sentiment, relationships, or social graces—Zheng Xiu was firmly on Xie Yunliu’s side.

Several blades hacked down, striking Zheng Xiu’s body and ringing out with the clash of metal. The tenacious soldiers attacked in a flurry of wild slashes, but hitting Zheng Xiu was like striking stone—impossibly hard. One blade even shattered when Zheng Xiu simply flexed a muscle.

”Monster! Monster!”

The soldiers were both shocked and terrified, but the more demonic Zheng Xiu appeared, the more it ignited their primal fighting spirit. One by one, they charged forward, fearlessly throwing their bodies of flesh and blood in his path.

One soldier, struck by a bizarre idea, used another’s shoulders as a springboard, leaped high into the air, and latched onto Zheng Xiu’s head, trying to force him underwater and drown him.

In the blink of an eye, several heavily armored soldiers were clinging to Zheng Xiu, making it nearly impossible for him to move through the water.

With Zheng Xiu’s movement hindered, more soldiers saw an opening. They abandoned their current targets and splashed through the water to rush him. They piled on top of him, and the combined weight of their bodies and Armor made Zheng Xiu feel as if a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders.

Zheng Xiu was frustrated enough to spit blood. Swarm tactics, it seemed, were timeless.

The bandits had been utterly routed; they were useless.

Amidst the onslaught of the Military Array, the most active combatants—Cheng Xiao, Zheng Xiu, Xie Luohe, and Mr. and Mrs. Chu—had become the soldiers’ primary targets. Xie Luohe had a limited number of Arrows. Surprisingly, after the battle began, she was not fighting with her usual divine prowess. For some reason, she held her bow in her right hand and an Arrow in her left, weaving through the enemy ranks and using her bow as a shield and the Arrow as a melee weapon.

But even if Zheng Xiu felt Xie Luohe wasn’t as invincible as usual, her performance as an ”Archer” was, in the eyes of the soldiers, nothing short of monstrous.

With her bow and a single arrow, Xie Luohe advanced steadily through the water. From his position, Zheng Xiu couldn’t make out her exact movements. He could only see soldiers flying into the air one after another. PING! Another one went flying. No one could slow her down for even a moment; no one could withstand a single one of her attacks.

”Xie Luohe!”

His blood had long since dyed the standing water on the riverbed a pale red. He had bled more than enough. In other words, the entire riverbed was now filled with water mixed with his blood. It all contained a part of him and could serve as his ”medium.”

Zheng Xiu struggled to fling off one of the men clinging to him. With his free hand, he dipped his fingers into the river water and began to paint in the air.

”I’m here!”

Xie Luohe’s voice called back.

BANG! BANG!

She responded.

And two more men flew high into the air.

Zheng Xiu’s trembling brush tip, dipped in the pale red river water, traced sparkling lines of bloody light.

”Quick Sketch: Aerial Pavilion!”

In an instant, the painting was complete.

At the tip of Zheng Xiu’s brush, an exquisite pavilion supported by blood-red clouds appeared. The miniature, illusory painting flickered, half-hidden, half-seen.

With a flick of his wrist, the illusory ”pavilion” passed through the bodies of several soldiers, much to the horror of all who watched. It then bizarrely drifted over the ”human mountain” pinning Zheng Xiu down and floated leisurely toward Xie Luohe.

In the blink of an eye.

The illusory image of the pavilion, held aloft by blood-red clouds, suddenly expanded dozens of times. It solidified from illusion to reality, and a full-sized ”Aerial Pavilion” rose out of thin air.

”A fine painting!”

Xie Luohe let out a long cry of admiration, her eyes filled with unconcealed wonder and appreciation despite the chaos of battle. She used her bow to knock away the surrounding soldiers, then vaulted onto the cloud-borne tower, landing lightly on her toes as she took her place on high.

The nine-story tower held her steady, gradually floating higher into the air.

”You abomination! You’re courting death!”

After Zheng Xiu created the ”Aerial Pavilion,” a soldier had a flash of insight. He suddenly realized that all the Painter’s ”Demon Techniques” came from that strange brush. While the ”human mountain” had the Painter pinned, the quick-witted soldier took aim at Zheng Xiu’s brush and, with a savage snarl, swung his blade.

CLANG!

The Luohe Brush snapped in two.

Zheng Xiu was left holding half a bare metal rod; the bristled tip had been lopped clean off.

The moment Xie Luohe stepped onto the tower’s peak, her entire aura changed.

The moment she gripped her Longbow again, Xie Luohe seemed to transform into someone else entirely. She took all the remaining Arrows from her Quiver—twelve in all—nocked them at once, and slowly drew the bowstring taut.

For a moment, her every action was breathtakingly perfect—from the flick of her fingertips on the string to the proud, upright posture she assumed as she drew the Longbow. Everything was utterly seamless, a display of effortless mastery. Even the battle-hardened soldiers of the Divine Martial Army found themselves stopping mid-swing, staring dumbly at the woman on the Aerial Pavilion. Her form was the picture of Elegance, yet she radiated an infinite, murderous Will.

WHOOSH!

The Luohe Brush was broken, but the Bird Cage had not vanished.

Zheng Xiu wasn’t surprised. He was intimately familiar with the rules and restrictions of Miracle Techniques. The Luohe Brush was merely a Restriction required for the Casting, not the key to Cracking the Magic.

Once his Magic was cast, the Luohe Brush could shatter into a thousand pieces and the effect would not be broken.

”Get off!”

Zheng Xiu took a deep breath. His body shuddered as his Divine Power erupted, sending the dozen or so soldiers piled on top of him flying.

BOOM! A towering Pillar of water shot upward. It slammed into the Bird Cage, where it was instantly sliced into a dense spray that fell back to the earth as a fine rain.