Chapter 172: New Direction

Hum!

In the Temple of Providence, the two five-foot-long dragons of providence appeared.

The golden light of providence they spat out fell upon an Extraordinary Rank-5 Commander-level Soul of Civilization and a heart that looked like glass.

It was exactly the Pure Blue Glass Heart, the Perfect offering Ji Ye got by killing the Eagle Men’s seed of providence!

Shoo!

When hit by the golden light, the offering instantly emanated an intense green light.

In the next moment, the whole Temple of Providence turned into what appeared to be the Eagle Men’s settlement.

The environment was vast and spacious.

In the middle of the green gales, the Eagle Man player to whom the heart belonged to looked inscrutably down at the Soul of Civilization on the ground from the mountaintop hundreds of meters high.

At the same time, activated by the Twin Dragon Mount fort’s power of providence, the Soul of Civilization had changed too and projected a person who had a fuzzy face but an elegant body figure.

“His lips are red, his eyes are bright, and his face is fine like jade. He is strong, ambitious, and smart. He is also a great dancer, and no other men can possibly copy his charm…”

The poetic announcement was clearly different from when Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, and Yang Zhi arrived in that it carried a flirtatious tone.

“It’s Xiaoyi!”

At the gate of the Temple of Providence, someone shouted excitedly.

Apart from Su Nongying, there was another native hero who was standing by Ji Ye’s side at the gate of the Temple of Providence. He was exactly Lu Junyi, who made great contributions in the battle against the Eagle Men!

As a matter of fact, the Soul of Civilization for this ritual was acquired after he killed an Extraordinary Rank-5 Commander Eagle Man.

At this moment, the Heavenly Spirit Star, who took it casually when he was faced with almost ten Extraordinary Rank-4 and Extraordinary Rank-5 Eagle Men, couldn’t help but become anxious and hopeful.

It was because, judging from the poetic announcement, the hero to be summoned this time was deeply connected to him.

Xiaoyi. It was Yan Xiaoyi, or Yan Qing the Rogue, the last of the 36 Heavenly Spirit Stars!

Yes, the Heavenly Spirit Star who ranked last responded to the direction of a Perfect offering.

How exactly were the heroes on the Land of Inheritance rated?

The conclusion the Confederation Office made based on enough statistics was that they were rated according to two factors.

One factor was their earlier performance in battles or their proficiency in their skills, and the other factor was their popularity in the civilization they came from.

If they were very strong, they could pass the test for their arrival with their own combat abilities or skills.

On top of that, the more popular a hero was, the more likely they would be boosted and enhanced by the power of providence!

Actually, it was already evident from the arrivals of Lu Zhishen, Wu Song, Gongsun Sheng, and Yang Zhi.

Lu Zhishen, who arrived earliest, strangled the Black Serpent easily, and that Perfect offering didn’t put up any resistance in the whole process.

When faced with the Winged Tiger, Wu Song beat it easily and knocked it to the ground with only three punches.

That was only because Wu Song wanted to turn it into his weapon instead of killing and melting it.

Otherwise, he could’ve finished off the tiger with one punch.

Gongsun Sheng, as the only expert Daoist who had never suffered any failures, had quite some trouble dealing with the Mirage Monsters alongside the Mirage Dragon. One might even say that he couldn’t have won without luck!

When Yang Zhi fought Black Mountain during his arrival, he was, to some extent, overwhelmed, and he only managed a victory with the assistance of the power of providence!

The latter two might be as strong as the former two in terms of level, but they were obviously not as popular.

On the other hand, based on Ji Ye’s observation, “popularity” could even influence a hero’s potential.

For example, Nie Xiaoqian, who made great contributions in the battle against the Eagle Men and became very popular, had turned from a Quasi Commander into a Commander.

Also, she received a talent ability that was even better than the Excellent heroes’ after she successfully stepped into Extraordinary Rank-5 the previous day.

In addition, Ninth Uncle’s ability to summon multiple gods at the same time was definitely remarkable too.

Then what level of hero should Yan Qing be?

Judging from the rank on Liangshan, as the last of the Heavenly Spirit Stars, he couldn’t have been better than Superior.

However, the fact that he responded to the direction of a Perfect offering undoubtedly proved that he was capable of challenging the Perfect offering (the Superior heroes could challenge Perfect offerings to get higher abilities and potential, provided that no Perfect heroes responded to it first), or that he was even Perfect himself!

Ji Ye wasn’t really surprised at the rating.

It was because, technically speaking, Yan Qing took up almost as many plots in the last sixty chapters of Water Margin as Song Jiang did!

Maybe Yan Qing wasn’t the best at martial arts on Liangshan, but he was definitely “Perfect” in some other aspects.

“… He retires to avoid suspicion when he succeeds. He is smart and never makes mistakes. He always foresees danger before they happen!”

That quality could easily be seen from the poetic announcement that was echoing in the Temple of Providence and the mountains of the Eagle Men’s settlement.

“Xiaoyi… Rest assured. I’ll never doubt you again!”

After hearing the poem, Lu Junyi, who was standing next to Ji Ye, had the most complicated feelings of all.

The most remarkable part about Yan Qing was exactly as described in the poem—”He is smart and never makes mistakes. He always foresees danger before they happen!”

Song Jiang “admired” Lu Junyi for his wealth, reputation, and strength. In order to increase Liangshan’s influence, he sent Wu Yong to blend into Lu Junyi’s house as a fortune teller. Wu Yong then told him that his disaster was underway, and he had to travel a thousand kilometers southeast to avoid it.

Convinced, Lu Junyi planned to do business in Tai’an to stay safe from the disaster, but Yan Qing tried to stop him, claiming that the journey to Tai’an would cross the Liangshan Marsh, which wasn’t safe. He also pointed out that the fortune teller was from Liangshan and was trying to fool Lu Junyi into going there. But Lu Junyi didn’t listen to him and fell for the trick.

When they attacked Wang Qing, Yan Qing judiciously advised Lu Junyi not to go to the front line. After Lu Junyi rejected his advice, he cut wood and built a floating bridge. When Lu Junyi lost the battle, his army broke the existing bridge in a stampede, and they would’ve all been killed without Yan Qing’s floating bridge.

After he was sent to the capital by Song Jiang, he passed Liangshan’s intent of surrender to the emperor through Li Shishi, the emperor’s mistress. Li Shishi was aroused by his charm and expressed her wish to see his “tattoo”. Then, he smartly called Li Shishi his sister and made sure nothing happened between them. Otherwise, Liangshan couldn’t have surrendered!

After the Liangshan army subjugated Fang La, Yan Qing met Lu Junyi in private on their way of return and persuaded him to retire for his own safety.

Lu Junyi refused the advance, and Yan Qing persuaded him again with the story of “hounds being cooked when there are no more hares”, only to be refused once more. So, Yan Qing had to bid farewell to Lu Junyi and leave him.

After that, Lu Junyi drank the wine that was poisoned by Gao Qiu, fell off from a boat, and drowned!

Although those incidents were only in Lu Junyi’s head, and he hadn’t really experienced any of them yet, and he had nothing to do with the Song Dynasty or Liangshan now that he had arrived at the Twin Dragon Mount, he still realized the flaws in his personality!

“Xiaoyi, you must beat this Eagle Man so that we can reunite on the Twin Dragon Mount again!”

Naturally, Lu Junyi was the person who looked forward to Yan Qing’s arrival the most.

It was both because Yan Qing’s meticulousness could make up for his shortcoming and because Yan Qing was very close to him and would definitely take his side after arriving at the Twin Dragon Mount fort.

Lu Junyi wasn’t exactly planning to establish his own faction.

It was just that even though the Twin Dragon Mount wasn’t a large settlement, there were different “parties” in it. For example, Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, and Yang Zhi were close to each other, and Gongsun Sheng and Ruan Xiaoer were good friends…

As a “role model” that Song Jiang intentionally set up, his position was slightly awkward in Liangshan in the first place. He had few good friends except Yan Qing, and he wasn’t very familiar with those heroes.

Besides, he arrived at the Twin Dragon Mount fort rather later. Although he made some contributions in the battle against the Eagle Men, he wasn’t really fully assimilated yet.

Therefore, he naturally longed for Yan Qing’s arrival!