When the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover descended, Yan Qing realized that the situation had completely spiraled out of his control.

The circumstances surrounding the Rabbit Heroine were different from those of Jiang Shi. Even if Jiang Shi died on the spot, Yan Qing wouldn’t care.

Shang Xinlei and Pharmacist’s Wish always felt he should value his alt accounts, because the alts are already strong and talented enough. But for Yan Qing, they’ve been merely in the ’development phase’; the sole purpose of alts is to gather resources. If an alt dies, he can immediately cultivate a more talented alt even faster. The earlier in the game, the less important the alts are. It’s just like civilization; someone always has to clear the way for others to stand on the shoulders of predecessors and reach the peak.

Thus, Yan Qing also didn’t care about the life or death of the Rabbit Heroine. If she can survive, great; if not, so be it. Yan Qing wouldn’t even use a Return Order to save her, preferring to keep it for his own survival. But the problem was that the Rabbit Heroine was not alone; she had Pharmacist’s Wish beside her.

Yan Qing liked Pharmacist’s Wish.

Of course, this was only within the game; in real life, Yan Qing would not hesitate to strike hard against the Black Wolf who dared to offend his interests.

But just like his fondness for Shang Xinlei, Qian Gongyu, even Jie Yuan Shao, for him, alts are infinitely reproducible consumables, but those NPCs who once lived and died alongside his alts are regrets that cannot be recaptured once missed.

Yan Qing allows regrets in his life, or rather he cannot avoid them whether he permits them or not, but he does not allow this to happen in the game. Perhaps because he played too many tragic games like Xianjian and Xuanyuan Sword and Record of Fantasy, he has become an incurable perfectionist who demands a perfect ending.

Every character has a good ending, every tragedy can be remedied, even if it’s just this illusionary, fabricated beauty, it can give Yan Qing a piece of warm color to nostalgically savor in a mundane and tedious life.

Furthermore, Pharmacist’s Wish is not just a replicable segment of data in the game; she’s a real person, a majestic armored big sister, a disaster-stricken Commandery Princess who drools when she sleeps... She shares life and death with the Rabbit Heroine, unhesitatingly sharing a fatal blow with her... She cherishes the Rabbit Heroine as a dear sister, planning future life together... How could Yan Qing possibly watch her die on Shu Dao Mountain?

Whether Jiang Shi lived or died at the time, Shang Xinlei, Qian Gongyu, and Jie Yuan Shao would not be implicated by her, taking full responsibility for victory or defeat. But the Rabbit Heroine is different; before Pharmacist’s Wish escapes safely, she must not die!

The Rabbit Heroine wasn’t lying; Yan Qing truly intended to reserve the Bingzi Pepper Forest to deal with the outside Foundation Establishment, but the strength of the two Helan Family members exceeded his expectations. He initially planned to use the Torrential Rain Killing Technique and Melting Hundred Phases Blocking Flow to handle them, but Helan Jade shattered the Seven-Layered Barrier of the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror in one blow, causing the Rabbit Heroine to lose a significant amount of blood and fall into "Heavy Injury", "Left Hand Disability", and other adverse states.

Yan Qing had to admit that relying on the Rabbit Heroine’s strength alone, she couldn’t solve the two Helan Family members, or the risk was too high. So high, in fact, that there was no margin for error if she were to take another hit. Furthermore, given that the Foundation Establishment outside cannot attack internally while maintaining the Array of the Grand Moon and the Celestial Cover, they might potentially avoid fighting it. Yan Qing thus cast aside his hesitation and boldly drew out the Bingzi Pepper Forest!

Enhanced by the Red Furnace Fire Essence, Bingzi Pepper Forest had become a Second-Turn Legendary Token! But in this battle, Bingzi Pepper Forest played a supporting role; the true core was the Rabbit Heroine just having switched roles to the Life-taking Messenger!

"Life-taking Messenger (Legendary · Real Mode)"

"Attribute Boost: Qi Blood +10, spirit +10, agility +10"

"Asura’s Fury (Orange Trait): When the player’s account is in real mode and possesses 100 points of Colorless Slaughter Value, this trait can be activated. If the player transforms the account to another mode in any way / Colorless Slaughter Value falls below 100 points, this trait immediately becomes invalid.

You can stack layers of Asura’s Fury by increasing the Colorless Slaughter Value, at a conversion rate of 10:1.

Each layer of Asura’s Fury permanently increases the player’s Qi Blood by 1 point, spirit by 1 point, and agility by 1 point.

Each layer of Asura’s Fury allows the player to deal 1 point of true damage to other players.

The current number of Asura’s Fury layers is: 34."

"Inheritance · Torrential Rain: Upon executing a perfect dodge, your attack speed increases by 1000% for the next 0.35 seconds. This effect can only be triggered once within thirty seconds." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Having just killed so many Demonic Messengers, the Rabbit Heroine’s Colorless Slaughter Value soared to 340, although it increases less the further it goes, reaching the critical threshold is challenging. Even so, Asura’s Fury deals true damage of 34 points to other players, coupled with 11 points from the Power of Calamity, totaling 45 points of true damage which ignores defensive tokens and is extremely difficult to heal!

This approaches the base attack expectation of the Second-turn Token!

To further harness the power of Bingzi Pepper Forest with the Rabbit Heroine, Yan Qing conveniently fed her a Basic Saber Mastery Secret Manual. Fortunately, the equipment conditions for Bingzi Pepper Forest didn’t change due to level enhancement.

The base duration of Heaven-Covering is ten seconds. Sacrificing eight Divided Artifacts extends the duration by three seconds per artifact, so the Rabbit Heroine currently has thirty-four seconds of Heaven-Covering time.

The victory on Shu Dao Mountain depends entirely on these thirty-four seconds!

...

...

Watching the Rabbit Heroine raise the Bingzi Pepper Forest high, Helan Xun gasped.

He wasn’t fearful; even with the Rabbit Heroine revealing this trump card, Helan Xun remained completely unworried, with the ancestors right behind him, how could mere Legendary Long Saber affect the balance of victory?