Calamity Messenger-Chapter 56 - 43: Blade Warrior Statue

The excitement caused by the personal score list did not affect the people in Mansu Forest Land.

Regardless of whether it was Qian Gongyu of the Blue Ribbon Noble Clan, or Shang Xinlei the Noble Lady of the Red Gate, or Jie Yuanshao the Purple Ribbon Young Master, they all had to go to the jungle to pick up trash.

They quickly discovered changes in the jungle: apart from the area directly behind the Shelter, the dense fog in other directions had dissipated considerably, expanding the exploration range from a radius of one hundred meters around the Shelter to a radius of five hundred meters. Such a large area was far too vast for thorough searching within half an hour, especially considering the jungle’s dense tree cover and complex terrain, resulting in the group being able to collect only what they could see.

As half an hour was about to pass, Jiang Shi ran out of the forest, while Shang Xinlei and the other two were already waiting for her in the courtyard. Most of the items in the yard were wood and stone, along with some sulfur and crystals, which Jie Yuanshao had picked up along the way — yes, she saw a big pile of sulfur and crystals suddenly appear on the ground as if someone had intentionally thrown these resources there.

These were the rare resources Jiang Shi had mentioned before, Jie Yuanshao had a subtle look of pride on her face, waiting for Jiang Shi to inquire so she could casually reveal how she had found them. She wasn’t overly proud, since she didn’t put in much effort; it was just good luck, but it was said that destiny favors the noble, and being part of the Jiangnan Jie Clan, she was naturally blessed by destiny...

Whoosh—

Jiang Shi chose a piece of empty ground and poured out a pile of gemstones. These gems were immense in size, collectively forming a small mountain, their dream-like luster mesmerizing all the girls.

"Did you find a gemstone mine?" Shang Xinlei suddenly asked.

"Mine?" Jie Yuanshao keenly picked up on the key word.

"The place where Xiaoyu and I first moved the stones — I just went back and found the stones there had restored themselves, and hidden inside was a stone mine cave with stones of suitable size, ready for transport." Shang Xinlei pointed to another pile of stones that formed a small mountain: "Otherwise, I couldn’t have collected this many stones in just half an hour."

"That stone mine cave differs greatly from the surrounding jungle terrain. I was thinking whether other resource points existed, allowing for easy collection of precious resources."

"Your hypothesis is likely correct." Jiang Shi calmly stated: "There’s probably no fixed resource points for wood here; other resources can be extracted in large quantities from resource points. How did that pile of sulfur and crystals come about?"

"I picked them up along the way." Jie Yuanshao felt somewhat disheartened, "I haven’t found a resource point."

"I haven’t found a resource point either." Qian Gongyu raised her hand: "But I brought back a lot of wood!"

"You all did very well." Jiang Shi glanced at the yard filled with resources: "You’ve exceeded my expectations."

There was no need to mention Qian Gongyu, upon hearing Jiang Shi’s praise, she was so happy that her ’tail’ seemed to wag behind her. Jie Yuanshao and Shang Xinlei also couldn’t help but smile, though soon they felt slightly odd — were they being praised by a Black Belt Guard?

Jiang Shi ignored their internal thoughts and squatted down to say: "There’s still a little time before the next wave of attack, we must quickly discuss our strategy; come over here."

Everyone gathered and saw Jiang Shi drawing on the ground, and her drawings were quite ugly, the lines crooked like earthworms — would a normal person draw such lines with their fingers?

"We now have 132 wood, 101 stones, 50 gemstones, 12 sulfur, and 12 crystals." Jiang Shi pointed to the first diagram: "This is a bunker, which requires 50 wood and 30 stone."

"This is a wooden crossbow, needing 10 wood."

"This is a wall, needing 20 stone."

"This is a catapult, requiring 10 wood and 20 stone, and can be constructed multiple times."

"This is a Guardian Tree; after surviving each wave of attack, it will provide 10 wood, needing 50 wood."

"This is a Guardian Stone; after surviving each wave of attack, it will provide 10 stone, needing 50 stone."

"This is a Blade Warrior statue, needing 10 wood and 30 gemstones."

No one interrupted Jiang Shi as she spoke; everyone listened attentively to every word she said, and as soon as she finished, Jie Yuanshao immediately asked: "What about the statue? Can it be built multiple times?"

Jiang Shi replied: "During each attack, it transforms into a real Blade Warrior to fight for us, and even if it dies, it only returns to being a statue, ready to appear again after recovery; but it cannot be built multiple times."

"If the bunker is just the house we’re staying in, then building bunkers is meaningless." Shang Xinlei said: "We’ll just stay in the initial small wooden hut."

Everyone else nodded in agreement; they were here to undergo the trial, not to enjoy comfort, so there was no need to waste resources on improving their living environment.

"What you can understand is that only by improving the Shelter level can we construct more powerful buildings, and the area available for construction becomes larger." Jiang Shi explained: "Currently, this yard can only accommodate 12 buildings, including the walls."

"I understand then." Shang Xinlei said: "Then I suggest building walls, Guardian Trees, Guardian Stones, and Blade Warrior statues, and whatever spaces are left should be used entirely for building wooden crossbows."

"Agreed." Jie Yuanshao crossed her arms, "For long-term consideration, Guardian Trees and Guardian Stones are essential."

"I agree too." Qian Gongyu quickly added.

"If we don’t build catapults, then handling the Demon Leader later will likely lack sufficient damage, requiring you to fight as you did just now in support." Jiang Shi said.

Jie Yuan Shao and Shang Xinlei exchanged glances, and they finally understood why Jiang Shi had consulted them this time.

Now that the construction plan was unanimously approved, when it was time for them to fight, it was no longer Jiang Shi’s personal request but their obligation. Conversely, if Jiang Shi had decided on the construction alone and later demanded them to fight repeatedly, they would inevitably have other thoughts.

Seeing no objections from everyone, Jiang Shi stood up from the ground.

At this moment, everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on Jiang Shi’s every move, trying to discern something. Although no one asked, everyone was curious to the point of madness; they all wanted to know how Jiang Shi manipulated the shelter to construct new buildings.

More importantly, if Jiang Shi could do it, could they do it too?

However, the outcome was destined to be disappointing. They could only see Jiang Shi in a daze for a while, then the wood, stone, gemstones, sulfur, and crystals in the courtyard flew up on their own and clattered into various structures.

Most notably, the Guardian Tree and Guardian Stone; a large amount of timber gathered together and suddenly dissolved into a tiny seed that fell into the courtyard soil, and after a few breaths, it grew into a large tree breaking through the ground. The tree had no leaves, and its trunk was tied with a rope woven from straw. Although it appeared less conspicuous than the other trees in the forest, it made the courtyard less desolate.

The Guardian Stone was much the same, enough stones to fill a house were compressed into a large stone about half a person’s height, wrapped in a rope woven from straw, looking inviting to sit on.

Needless to say about the walls, the Blade Warrior statue also opened their eyes. Sapphire and wood merged like flowing water. First, the appearance of the Blade Warrior emerged, then the sapphire flow froze like water solidifying, securing the Blade Warrior as a sharp-edged sapphire statue.

"Huh?"

Shang Xinlei and Jie Yuan Shao simultaneously exclaimed in surprise, but before they could say anything, a sharp cry announced the arrival of the second wave of demonic tide. Thick fog enveloped the forest a hundred meters away as demons ran and darted within, and finally, a demon resembling a giant bull remained. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Wild Bull Demon!"

Jie Yuan Shao’s expression slightly changed: "This is a demon that appears in the Zhou Kingdom’s Third-Turn Secret Realm, but the book says most Three-Turn Defense Relics can’t withstand its full charge, making it a quite dangerous demon in the Third Turn!"

"Moo——"

With an earth-shattering roar, a large group of small wild bulls emerged from the fog and charged towards the stone house! As they entered within fifty meters of shooting range, nine wooden crossbows immediately deployed, shooting the wild bulls flat.

Yes, just flat. As long as they’re not shot in the head, a small wild bull only shot once can stand back up, falling completely only after the second shot.

From instant kill with one arrow to two arrows needed to kill, even with the number of wooden crossbows increased from six to nine, this killing efficiency is less than half of what it was.

Soon, the wild bulls had charged to the walls, yet their number had decreased by less than one-tenth!

Not only was the killing speed of the wooden crossbows not fast enough, but also because this time there were more wild bulls than the previous fierce lizards!

At this moment, the four had already retreated into the stone house, Shang Xinlei’s expression became serious seeing this situation: "We might have made the wrong choice... If there were two catapults now, things might be much better."

Qian Gongyu raised his fist and asked nervously: "Are we going to fight?"

"Wait."

The speaker wasn’t Jiang Shi, but Jie Yuan Shao. She was staring intently at the vibrating sapphire statue and said: "Let’s watch a little more."

Boom!

The statue shattered with a roar, and a heavily armored, sword-wielding warrior emerged from it. His armor was rusty, the seams full of spikes, and his entire head was encased in the helmet, without any air or vision holes. Every movement caused the armor to clash. His feet sank deep into the earth, like a weighty giant beast. Dragging two long curved swords along as he walked, he looked less like a warrior and more like a walking corpse.

"I knew I wasn’t wrong..." Jie Yuan Shao murmured, "If it’s him..."

Thud!

The Blade Warrior suddenly leaped up, landing amid the wild bulls, immediately unleashing a storm of flesh and blood, with three nearby wild bulls being hacked into pieces almost instantly. The small wild bulls around swiftly turned their horns to attack him, but he was fearless, fighting and walking alongside the wall. Despite facing hundreds of wild bulls, he wasn’t overwhelmed!

"It’s the one from your family, isn’t it?" Shang Xinlei suddenly asked.

"Yes." Jie Yuan Shao replied: "I didn’t expect to see it in other places..."

"May I ask... what are you talking about?" Qian Gongyu asked cautiously, then immediately amended: "If it’s inconvenient, never mind!"

"There’s nothing inconvenient, I know this statue."

"Ah? You know it?"

"As long as they’re a member of the Jie Family, there should be no one who doesn’t recognize him." Jie Yuan Shao said calmly: "He is the Demon King from the Iron Blood Graveyard Secret Realm, the General of the Double Swords."