Ten Thousand Soul Banner, Watch Me Sneak-Attack Her

[The sixth year, thirty years old.]

[Extracting the trait…]

[Extraction successful!]

["Knight’s Safe Zone" (Purple Epic): When you fall into the water, no matter how severe your injuries, as long as your body is still roughly human-shaped, you will not die, and you will slowly recover to a non-fatal state.]

[Adjust the trait?]

[Yes/No]

“This is pretty much a life-saving god skill. It just requires water—can I just carry some water with me?”

Chen Yi decided to swap this trait in.

In the real world, everything was unknown. If he ran into danger, at least he’d have a chance to survive.

[You chose Yes.]

[You replaced "Running Playlist" with "Knight’s Safe Zone".]

[In the following days, you passed through many mining camps.]

[In every camp, there were countless workers with disheveled hair, skin and bones, barely dressed, swinging picks to mine ore.]

[Overseers with whips pushed them to work.]

[The overseers were dressed neatly, some even wore leather armor or iron armor.]

[You noticed that the miners were all humans, but the overseers were not.]

[The overseers looked all sorts of bizarre.]

[Most were roughly humanoid, but always had some extra parts—they were other intelligent races.]

[“So the real world is a mix of multiple races? But the ones doing the work are all human? That Ji Wuqing wasn’t wrong—humanity’s status really is low…”]

[You could sense these people weren’t friendly toward humans, so you couldn’t ask them for information.]

[You quietly slipped away, without drawing the attention of anyone in those camps.]

[Some time later.]

[Standing on a dirt slope, you saw a village in the distance. Thin smoke rose from chimneys, a great river flowed nearby— it looked like a serene ink-wash painting.]

[With your Qi Transformation realm eyesight, you could make out the people moving about in the village.]

[“They’re humans. They look simple and honest. I can go ask for some information.”]

[Just then, the world around you turned red.]

[This was "Signal Light" warning you—danger was coming!]

[Before you could react, a sinister woman’s voice came from behind you.]

[“Hehehe… You, a human, carrying so many high-grade artifacts—you’re just begging to be robbed, aren’t you?”]

[Your heart sank. "Signal Light" had only just triggered, and she was already right next to you—she was incredibly fast.]

[In the real world, this kind of speed spoke for itself.]

[You turned to look.]

[She was a short woman, barely a meter tall, hunched and wrapped in a two-meter-long cloak.]

[The wrinkles on her face told you she was an old hag.]

[The old hag held a snake-headed staff as a weapon, greed shining in her eyes.]

[“I’ve seen countless artifacts in my time. Those few pieces you’re carrying aren’t spirit treasures, but I can tell they’re no ordinary items—maybe not inferior to common spirit treasures. How strange. On this third-rate star, how did a Qi Transformation cultivator like you get such good stuff? You’re from another planet? Even stranger—who would willingly come here to rot in prison?”]

[The old hag rambled on.]

[A bead of sweat rolled down your forehead.]

[You knew you had been targeted.]

[And you knew she had a higher cultivation level than you.]

[Because her short body was floating in midair!]

[She could fly!]

[“Why aren’t you talking? Scared I’ll rob you? Heh—guessed right.”]

[“Whoosh!”]

[You moved with lightning speed, pouring all your power into the Lightning-Chasing Boots on your feet. Trailing arcs of electricity, you shot forward like a bolt of lightning.]

[The old hag was calm.]

[“Still trying to run. Ignorant.”]

[She raised her snake-headed staff, and a dark purple halo surrounded her. Part of it flowed to the snake head and sprayed out.]

[Using the staff as a brush and the purple light as ink, she drew a huge rune in the air in the direction you were running.]

[You didn’t recognize the rune, but it felt familiar—like the divine runes the ancient refugees once used.]

[Except their divine runes were gold, while this one was red.]

[You made a sharp turn to avoid it, but the rune moved on its own—it slammed right into you.]

[You felt nothing unusual at first, but when you turned your head, you found yourself beside the old hag.]

[Behind you was another identical rune.]

[“This…”]

[The old hag had drawn two identical runes. You hit one, and came out of the other!]

[One was in your path; the other was drawn next to her!]

[“Boom!!”]

[The old hag swung her snake-headed staff in what seemed like a slow motion, but the timing was perfect—exactly as you appeared out of the rune beside her.]

[You felt as though a mountain had smashed into your gut. Your internal organs churned; the long-forgotten pain made your head spin.]

[At the critical moment, you activated "Simulation Clone," summoning Chen Five at the point of impact.]

[Using his Martial Saint-level body as a meat shield absorbed most of the force.]

[Chen Five screamed, “Is this what you use your clone for?!”]

[Chen Five disintegrated on the spot.]

[“Pwah!”]

[You spat blood and flew backward, smashing into the slope behind you, creating a huge crater.]

[Rocks soared into the sky; dust rose like a cloud.]

[This was exactly why you hadn’t hesitated to run.]

[That old hag was human!]

[The "The Sternest Father of the Alien Race" trait’s hundredfold damage reduction didn’t apply. Going up against someone stronger than you in a human vs. human fight was bad news.]

[Before, your domination of aliens was thanks to that trait—invincibility gave you a no-risk, high-tolerance playstyle.]

["Civil War God" had been replaced earlier and wasn’t equipped.]

[But you figured even seeing her weakness wouldn’t help—the gap in cultivation level was too big.]

[That single blow from the old hag knocked all your artifacts off your body, scattering them on the ground.]

[The old hag leisurely went to pick them up.]

[“Oh? This banner is a spirit treasure. I underestimated it. Strange—how did a human get a spirit treasure in the Southern Star Realm?”]

[Before the old hag could pick up the Ten-Thousand-Soul Banner, your furious voice came from the crater.]

[“PUT DOWN MY TEN-THOUSAND-SOUL BANNER!!”]

["Irritable Temperament" hidden effect triggered successfully! You gained the “Extreme Rage” state.]

[You have entered “Extreme Rage” Stage One. "Super Saiyan" “Super One” effect activated.]

[“Boom!!”]

[With a deafening sonic boom, you burst forward, golden spiky hair standing on end.]

[The old hag didn’t even lift her head. She simply turned slightly and dodged your attack.]

[You reacted quickly, sweeping out a Star-Shattering Finger Strike.]

[The old hag spun her snake-headed staff, blocking it all.]

“How have you changed your appearance? Could it be you aren’t human?”

“None of your business!!”

You crush a giant boulder underfoot, accelerate in the opposite direction, raise your “Kylin Arm,” and unleash the Star River Divine Art to continue your attack.

“Old Wan!”

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner, which had been silent all along, suddenly struck out.

“Soul-Piercing Strike!! Hahaha! You old bastard! Didn’t expect this, did you! I have a spirit artifact!!”