The Path of the Martial Arts BOSS
Chapter 60 - 57: The Guardian Boss

Chapter 60: Chapter 57: The Guardian Boss

"Ahem—Ahem—Ah—"

On the official road, a gray donkey brayed noisily, its hooves clapping on the ground. Atop the donkey, a young man dressed in white, looking like a scholar, was closing his eyes, resting his mind.

Drawing closer for a careful look, one could see the scholar’s chest and abdomen rhythmically inhaling and exhaling. Despite sitting on the moving donkey, he was as stable as a mountain.

"Huu—"

The young man exhaled a faint mist, which coalesced in the air, not dissipating.

"I’ve finally reached the Postnatal Ninth Layer," Qing Yu said lightly.

It had been over two months since he left Yang City. The great events at Yang City had come to an end a month ago.

When Qing Yu left, the Six Gates had overrun the City Lord Mansion, with Song Ziqi and Song Fu fleeing.

Accordingly, two hundred thousand troops moved into Yang City and began to set up defenses. Three hundred years ago, Yang City had also been an important town at the border. However, the relevant defensive facilities had been abandoned for three hundred years, and even the city walls had long been in disrepair. Ever since Song Ziqi took charge of the City Lord Mansion, he had secretly damaged some of the stored city defense equipment.

The defenders in Yang City did not have the usual advantages of a positional defense that other cities had. Therefore, the commander of the two hundred thousand troops, Ye Nan, ordered the destruction of passageways and alteration of the terrain, turning the city’s defense into something more akin to a field battle in the mountains.

As previously mentioned, hundreds of years ago, due to either a natural disaster or human action, a massive rift had formed in the Lianduan Mountain range, and Yang City was built at the end of the rift on the Central Plains side.

By Ye Tiannan’s command, the passageways were destroyed, using experts to collapse the surrounding mountain cliffs to create several man-made hills. If the Zhen Shan Army wanted to attack the city, they would have to charge past these hills while facing the arrows of the defending archers on the city walls, as well as the assault from catapults.

Ye Tiannan’s order meant a significant sacrifice. Although the court officials knew that the loss of Qing Province was inevitable, they still clung to a glimmer of hope. If, by some chance, the Zhen Shan Army suffered heavy losses in attacking Yang City, the court might be able to take advantage of the victory, launch a counterattack, and recapture Qing Province.

Ye Tiannan’s command, while ensuring that Yang City would not fall, was seen as overstepping his bounds and completely forsaking the possibility of reclaiming Qing Province. Even if this battle were won, it would not be considered meritorious; he might even face punishment.

Nevertheless, even with such preparations, Yang City nearly fell.

Lord Zhen Shan broke through the siege ahead of time, as he had been in seclusion trying to reach the Divinity Realm. With Lord Zhen Shan at the Divinity Realm and Xuan Guang, who was just a step away from it, they completely suppressed Ye Tiannan and Lu Qifeng.

Moreover, the Zhen Shan Army had its elite troops launch a surprise attack. In the Shadow Market of Yang City, during Qing Yu’s first and only visit, he had chatted with Xuan Guang in front of the black palace. A tunnel that pierced through the Lianduan Mountain range had long been dug from within this palace.

The elite troops of the Zhen Shan Army used this tunnel to launch a surprise attack on Yang City, coordinating with the external forces. The withdrawal from Yang City beforehand was, in hindsight, likely a feint by Lord Zhen Shan. No wonder Xuan Guang had not made a move.

At the critical moment, the Divine Captors from the Six Gates arrived just in time to defeat Lord Zhen Shan and save Yang City.

However, the fall of Qing Province had already become a certainty. Lord Zhen Shan declared himself ruler of his own domain, proclaiming himself Prince Zhen Shan, and dominated a region.

Everyone knew that Prince Zhen Shan had colluded with the Southern Border, but during the Battle of Yang City, the Southern Border didn’t make a single move. Officially, Prince Zhen Shan was still a man of the Central Plains, merely having rebelled against Daqian. Even the Emperor Daqian could not use the moral high ground to call upon the world’s martial experts to unite against Prince Zhen Shan. After all, on this land of the Central Plains, there was more than one dynasty. Emperor Daqian’s ancestor, the Grand Ancestor, had also risen through rebellion.

These were Qing Yu’s thoughts; the Six Gates would never provide information related to such secret histories.

"Just looking at the information provided by the Six Gates, one could imagine how fierce and thrilling the battle of this past month was. What a pity I fled in advance..."

Although it was regrettable, Qing Yu did not regret his decision; after all, one only has one life. Being unable to observe, let alone participate, in the great war was indeed unfortunate, but losing one’s life in that struggle would be more than a mere regret.

"Beep, host’s Realm has reached the Postnatal Ninth Layer, Guardian Boss Card unlocked," the system’s prompt sounded.

The system actually had a new prompt.

Ever since leaving that so-called Newbie Village map, the system hadn’t been very talkative, appearing quite Buddha-like. According to Qing Yu’s exchanges with the system, the current system would not issue tasks proactively unless it encountered a very significant event. If Qing Yu wanted to obtain rewards from the system, he would have to do something big that fit the villain’s style, like continuously achieving certain accomplishments.

According to Qing Yu’s understanding, that meant constantly stirring up trouble; small deeds would earn Villain Points, big deeds would yield draws or item rewards.

"System, what’s this Guardian Boss about?"

"When the host reaches the highest layer of the current major Realm, the Guardian Boss Card will be unlocked. The Guardian Boss, found in the system’s Character Card library, is the strongest character in the host’s current Realm. The host needs to defeat the Guardian Boss to advance to the next Realm. If you can’t, it means you are not strong enough, please keep trying. There is no limit on the number of attempts to challenge the Guardian Boss Card; it will not disappear after failure. Reminder, if the host advances to the next Realm without defeating the Guardian Boss, you will never be able to get the Character Card."

"It seems that the Guardian Boss must be defeated," Qing Yu muttered to himself.

Although it was difficult to inherit from Character Cards, having to defeat the corresponding character, the rewards after the defeat were definitely worth the effort. Not to mention anything else, just the Martial Arts Enlightenment from the characters was absolutely indispensable to Qing Yu. Without the selfless contributions of Wei Xiaobao and Yin Zhiping before, Qing Yu might still be struggling in the Taoist Temple, staring blankly at indestructible Character Cards.

It could be said that Character Cards are the core of the villain inheritance system.

"System, let me see who the Postnatal Realm Guardian Boss is," Gu Zhao commanded.

A card with a faint rainbow glow appeared before Qing Yu, unlike the plain copper cards of ordinary Postnatal Realm characters, this Character Card was cast like crystal, shimmering with faint rainbow light.

Postnatal Realm Guardian Boss Card

Name: Dongfang Bubai

Realm: Postnatal Peak

Item: None

Martial Arts: ’Kuihua Treasure’

Evaluation: Sun rises in the east, I alone am unbeatable!

Not easy, ah. The character cards issued by the system finally had a positive evaluation. The evaluations on the previous cards reeked of a jokester’s vibe, making this villain inheritance system seem like it didn’t care for villains at all. Now it seems it wasn’t indifference towards villains, but that the characters pulled before were just too low.

On the card, Dongfang Bubai stood against a fiery red rising sun, wearing a red garment, skin fairer than snow, eyes clear as water, exuding an elegant and proud temperament in a glance, captivating and making others feel ashamed, not daring to profane. But that arrogance contained an enchanting allure, impossible not to be entangled by.

Clearly standing before the rising sun, the figure was even more dazzling, stealing the spotlight.

"System, is Dongfang Bubai male or female?" asked Qing Yu.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was the feminine version of Dongfang Bubai.

"Male."

"Oh."

Suddenly it all felt rather uninteresting.