Chapter 503: Starchart of Generals

An [S] class equipment!

It was not as though Chen Xiaolian had never seen something like that before.

His Sword in the Stone was [S] class. Roddy’s Mech was also [S] class [1].

For an [S] class item to fall into the hands of Qiu Yun, now that was peculiar.

Who was Qiu Yun? While he may possess some fame within the Awakened circle, he was far beneath what one would call a first-rate expert.

For someone like Qiu Yun to possess an [S] class equipment was the equivalent of South Korea unveiling a Star Destroyer.

This was unbelievably shocking.

Holding the Starchart of Generals, Chen Xiaolian carefully examined it. The more he read about it, the more shocked he became.

It was presently at [A-] class.

This was high enough. Its [S] class Growth Capacity made this equipment qualified to be called an [S] class equipment.

“Summon-type equipment?” Chen Xiaolian looked at the image of the generals that were shrouded by the clouds.

He could not stop himself from sucking in a breath of cold air.

“Holy cow!”

…

Let’s put it this way. Calling the Starchart of Generals a summon-type equipment was not quite accurate.

Simply put, it was a storage and summoning equipment. According to the description given by the system, there were seven slots inside the Starchart of Generals. It just so happened that those seven slots form the shape of the Big Dipper.

Each of those slots could accommodate the War Soul of an ancient general.

By attaining this Starchart of Generals, he could, during battle, summon out the War Souls of the ancient generals kept inside the Starchart of Generals to do battle.

As for how he should go about obtaining the War Souls of ancient generals, the system did not give any further explanation. After pondering about it, Chen Xiaolian speculated that he would need to participate in some special instance dungeons to recruit those War Souls.

The seven star slots placed no specific restrictions on what generals must be stored in them. In other words, he could store any ancient general inside it. Of course, the more powerful the general, the more combat power it would possess.

Naturally, there would be a huge difference between a ‘Great General Pan Feng’ and a Lu Bu [2].

Additionally, the Starchart of Generals had another effect. It was regarding the combat powers of the War Souls…

Once seven War Souls were stored inside it, they would form the Big Dipper constellation, activating a spell array that would greatly increase the combat powers of every one of the War Souls.

Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid.[3] Each of these star slots could store a War Soul.

By collecting all seven, the Big Dipper spell array would be activated and the power of the War Souls would be enhanced.

The most important slot was the Dubhe star slot.

This was the core of the chart’s Big Dipper spell array. It was also the core position of the chart.

According to the description, it would be best to use a powerful general’s War Soul for this core position. The more powerful the War Soul was, the power of the activated spell array would become that much stronger.

Where did Qiu Yun acquire such an amazing equipment?

However, when Chen Xiaolian read the requirement for the core position, he came to a realization.

No wonder!

No wonder Qiu Yun would long so fervently for Bai Qi’s War Soul. He absolutely needed it.

It turned out Qiu Yun had wanted to obtain Bai Qi’s War Soul and place it in the core position.

At present, it would appear that all the seven star slots in this Starchart of Generals had been filled.

However, the names of the generals appeared rather undistinguished. Clearly, Qiu Yun did not possess the ability to defeat first-rate generals.

Judging by his present collection, he had simply collected some minor characters for the sake of numbers – good or bad was not a concern to him. First, collect them War Souls and activate the Big Dipper array. Having an activated array that empowered the War Souls was better than leaving it empty.

The names of the existing seven generals were:

Zhang Dayan, Chen Hu, Wang Tieqiang, Zhao Shenghu, Feng Wan, Xu Zhen…

Looking at the names of the first six generals, Chen Xiaolian felt that they all sounded unfamiliar. Qiu Yun must have simply collected some nameless generals to fill in the slots.

However, when Chen Xiaolian saw the last name, his face displayed a reaction.

Finally, here was a general whose name resounded throughout history.

Additionally, if he was to judge this general by his role in the Three Kingdoms Era, he was certainly a major character.

Donglai – Taishi Ci.

That was the full name there. There was a Donglai before his name.

One glance was sufficient to tell Chen Xiaolian that there was a difference of Heaven and Earth between this name and the other six.

Chen Xiaolian’s interest was immediately drawn toward it. He carefully read his description from the Starchart of Generals.

[Donglai – Taishi Ci: The War Soul of Taishi Ci, a general from the Three Kingdoms Era. Donglai represents the moment when this War Soul was extracted, thereby representing how strong it is.]

Chen Xiaolian was first puzzled by the prefix Donglai, but now he finally understood.

As someone who had read up on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was only natural for Chen Xiaolian to know Taishi Ci as a first-rate general of Eastern Wu. However, he had first made his debut in Shandong (Donglai). According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Taishi Ci hailed from Donglai. Thus, the prefix Donglai referred to when he was taken as a War Soul. Thus, this Taishi Ci was likely the Taishi Ci who had just made his debut.

This was understandable. The combat power of every general was not a constant.

Saying that a person’s combat power would remain at the value 99 forever – well, that simply was not true. A general’s combat powers could be separated into his boyhood days, his youthful days, his prime and his elderly days. The difference in age, the level of martial arts mastery, the state of their body, the amount of experience, all of those were aspects that would affect their combat powers.

Let’s use a simple example for this case. Even though both of them existed within the Three Kingdoms Era, there was certainly a difference in strength between the Guan Yu who cut down Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and the old Guan Yu who became isolated in Maicheng City.

Another example was Lu Bu. Compare the Lu Bu from Hulao Gate and the older Lu Bu who ended up becoming besieged in Xiapi. The latter spent his days drowning in alcohol to ease his worries and was extremely haggard. It was only natural for the latter to have a different level of strength. The former was Lu Bu at his peak while the latter was Lu Bu in his declining days.

This Donglai – Taishi Ci was the War Soul of a first-rate general of the Three Kingdoms Era, Taishi Ci.

However, the combat power of this Taishi Ci was limited to the Taishi Ci who first made his debut. He was far from becoming the Taishi Ci who battled the Little Conqueror (Sun Ce) in Shen Village. That Taishi Ci was someone who had spent years doing battle and leading soldiers. That Taishi Ci’s martial arts accomplishments and experience had made him mature.

“So what if he had just made his debut? He is still a first-rate general.” Chen Xiaolian released a satisfied sigh.

According to the Starchart of Generals, the first six generals consisted of four [C] class and two [B-] class. As expected, nothing much could be expected from them.

Donglai – Taishi Ci, however, was given an [A-] class.

Taishi Ci was at the Dubhe position. According to the Starchart of Generals, placing an [A-] class War Soul there would increase every generals’ combat power by 8 per cent. The summon duration for the generals was 30 minutes.

This summon duration represented the sum total. In other words, this 30 minutes would be equally divided between the seven generals or used on only one general. Summoning out seven generals at once to do battle was certainly impressive. However, the amount of time they could remain would be reduced. Using one at a time, on the other hand, meant he could use that one general for 30 minutes.

Once summoned however, the cool down period was very high… … 48 hours.

A full two days!

This Starchart of Generals was infinitely close to being a War Pets’ cheat program.

Having it in his hand meant he could keep seven more War Pets.

However, the biggest difference was that this Starchart of Generals was comparable to a one-time consumable goods. Once he summoned out a general just once, it would not matter how long that general was summoned out for; it could be for one minute or ten minutes, but the moment he summoned the general back, the chart would enter a cool down period.

In terms of functionality, it did not give as much freedom compared to the War Pet’s system, which generally allowed him to summon and keep his War Pets any time he desired. There was no limit to the number of times he could do so.

Of course, any generals who died in battle would disappear forever.

This was indeed a good item.

Additionally, this Donglai – Taishi Ci would most certainly be of great help to him.

As for the other six generals, after some consideration, Chen Xiaolian decided that any sane person would try to quickly figure a way to replace them with better War Souls.

Let’s just maintain and use them first. In the future, when the opportunity comes, I will replace them with better ones!

Chen Xiaolian happily kept the Starchart of Generals for himself. Next, he looked at the unconscious Qiu Yun, who was beside him.

He hesitated.

How should he deal with Qiu Yun?

Kill?

Truth be told, Chen Xiaolian found it hard to do so.

There was no grudge between him and Qiu Yun. Additionally, he had treated him fairly well. Although he had tried to set everyone up back in this Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, he did not actually brought harm to him.

Chen Xiaolian sighed. Next, he retrieved some Black Widow spider silk from his storage equipment and used it to tie up Qiu Yun’s hands and legs.

He then carried Qiu Yun with him as he moved through Epang Palace’s corridors. It did not take long for him to find his objective.

A ‘safe room’.

From what he could recall, the safest place in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon was this safe room. The patrolling terracotta soldiers could not step inside. Not even the big BOSS Bai Qi could take a step inside.

Chen Xiaolian placed the unconscious Qiu Yun at a corner and gagged his mouth. After that, he found some blanket and used them to cover his body up.

Qiu Yun was not of the Body Technique Division. Thus, it was highly unlikely that he could extricate himself from the Black Widow spider silk. Additionally, this safe room had quite the corner location. Most Awakened ones would not be able to find this place easily. Thus, Chen Xiaolian decided to simply leave him there.

As Chen Xiaolian was about to leave the safe room, he suddenly thought of something. He then returned to Qiu Yun’s side and crouched down.

After doing something for a while, he then got up and left.

This time, he returned to the central hall where the large ding was located.

“Five Elements spell array, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, the other elements are already present in the square with the tree. The most crucial factor needed to activate the spell array is here. Back then, Xia Xiaolei had informed me about the events that occurred when he met Qiu Yun…”

Chen Xiaolian thought about it and pulled out the Tiger Tally with his hand. At the same time, he also pulled out a bottle. Unscrewing the bottle, he poured the liquid inside the bottle into the ding.

That crimson blood was none other than genuine human blood.

Only, this blood did not come from Chen Xiaolian.

Just now, he had taken this blood from Qiu Yun. At any rate, they had already fought each other. Borrowing some of his blood should not count as anything in that regard. If there was a choice, Chen Xiaolian would not be as stupid as to put his own blood inside.

The moment the blood flowed into the bronze ding… perhaps it was an illusion or something, but…

Chen Xiaolian felt an astral wing blowing across the central hall. It was bone chillingly cold.

He subconsciously shrunk back and watched as a black coloured smoke rapidly appeared from within the bronze ding.

The smoke twisted about and grew more condensed. After that, it seemingly became attracted to the bottle that Chen Xiaolian was holding.

Chen Xiaolian did not give the black smoke a chance to make contact with him. He quickly poured down all the blood within the bottle before tossing the bottle far away.

The black smoke was attracted by the blood. The instant the bottle was sent flying, it ignored Chen Xiaolian and moved toward the bottle instead. Soon however, it moved about, seemingly having lost its target. It then swirled about.

Chen Xiaolian was secretly shocked.

Thank goodness I did not put my own blood just now!

The black smoke that was activated by the blood was clearly looking for the owner of that blood.

If he had poured his own blood, he may end up like the former Qiu Yun, caught by Bai Qi’s soul and dragged into a fight for his own body.

Mm…

Body seizure!

Chen Xiaolian’s heart gave a pound as he thought of a certain detail.

In the former Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, the big BOSS Bai Qi appeared because Qiu Yun had attempted to control Bai Qi. However, Xia Xiaolei’s interference caused Bai Qi to seize his body instead. That resulted in Bai Qi’s vengeful spirit obtaining a fleshly body and becoming the big BOSS Bai Qi.

But now… … if there was no body for Bai Qi to seize, how would the big BOSS Bai Qi look like?

As Chen Xiaolian was ruminating, his mind was struck with shock.

Before his very eyes, the swirling black smoke was beginning to condense.

The floor of Epang Palace beneath his feet and the entire palace complex itself appeared to be trembling.

Chen Xiaolian could sense a faint power of suppression coming from the surrounding walls. This seemingly pervasive power of the vengeful spirit caused Chen Xiaolian’s heart to sink.

He quickly rushed toward the great hall located deep inside the palace.

After around 20 steps, he suddenly heard a howl filled with resentment.

Chen Xiaolian turned his head back for a glance and was instantly flabbergasted.

“Bai, Bai Qi?”

The Bai Qi of the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon in his memories wore long white coloured clothes. His clothes were as white as snow and he wielded a translucent sword. While giving out an icy countenance, he also exuded an exceptional aura of elegance.

The present Bai Qi…

Appearance wise, he was the same, however…

Black coloured clothing. It was as black as ink. It almost appeared as though black smoke were moving across the surface of his black coloured clothes. As for the short sword in his hand, the edge of the sword was as black as ink as well. The atmosphere of blackness radiating off him was so dense even flowers would be unable to bloom.

Only his face and the exposed parts of his hands remained pale to the point of being transparent. However, the pair of eyes on his face was like a pair of black pearls. There was only blackness in his eyes, with not a hint of white.

A… black version of Bai Qi?

Chen Xiaolian could sense the strong killing intent aimed at him. The skin on his face felt a faint sensation of pain from the killing intent.

After releasing the howl, the black Bai Qi stared intently at Chen Xiaolian.

More accurately, he was staring at what was in his hand… … the Tiger Tally.

“Return it to me!”

Hearing those familiar words, Chen Xiaolian did not hesitate to turn around and run. He rushed toward the gate leading to the main square of Epang Palace.

A black coloured cloud was hot on his heels. Bai Qi’s legs had seemingly transformed into smoke and he pursued Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian rushed toward the gate leading to the great hall. After pushing open the gate doors with all his might, he rushed inside and closed up the gate doors. Next, he ran down the stairs.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the large bronze statues in the square, the crooked tree and the flight of stairs leading to the main gate located far away…

Boom!

The gate doors that Chen Xiaolian had just run past were shattered.

The countless wood chips turned into rotten wood. Then, it grew more withered before crumbling and dissipating everywhere.

The black Bai Qi was like a squall and he charged forward, creating a whistling sound in his wake.

His figure landed in the centre of the main square and he cast a cold stare at Chen Xiaolian. Next, he abruptly raised the black coloured short sword in his hand.

“Come out!”

A loud shout.

Weng!

A circular and invisible shockwave rippled outward. Instantly, the sounds of orderly footsteps came.

All the gates around the main square were opened up and black coloured terracotta soldiers swarmed into the square in an orderly formation.

The countless pikes rose like trees in a forest and the swords glistened like the surface of the sea.

The gate doors of the main hall was pushed open… … just like what happened previously, four tall and mighty Qin generals in fully black armour and indistinct facial features appeared. Black smoke swirled around them as they stepped out from the gate leading to the main hall. They then stood on the platform before the gate.

The black Bai Qi continued to cast an icy glare at Chen Xiaolian, who felt as though there was a mountain like pressure weighing down on him. The thick killing intent was making him breathless.

However, he maintained a sense of clarity. According to the rules of this instance dungeon, Bai Qi cannot harm the holder of the Tiger Tally.

Unless that holder attempted to move toward the main hall where the coffin of Qin Shihuang was located.

Otherwise, Bai Qi would be unable to attack him.

If so…

Chen Xiaolian clenched his teeth and swallowed down half of the spicy bar in his mouth.

…

1: Presently, the Sword in the Stone is only [A+] class as it is only 90 per cent activated. It could only become [S] class when fully activated. As for Roddy’s Mech, the earlier chapters states that it is only [A+] class. It could be that the author has revised his position on the Mech. Further detail is required…↩

2: A joke made about a general with certain fame in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Era. In the early years of the Three Kingdoms Era, a coalition rose to fight against a despot warlord known as Dong Zhuo. However, the coalition armies’ generals kept losing in duels to Dong Zhuo’s general, Hua Xiong.

Then Imperial Protector Han Fu said, "I have a brave warrior among my army. Pan Feng is his name, and he could slay this Hua Xiong." So Pan Feng was ordered out to meet the foe. With his great battle-ax in his hand, Pan Feng mounted and rode forth.

Hua Xiong butchered him. End of story.

As for Lu Bu, the romanticising of the Three Kingdoms made him the most powerful general of the Three Kingdoms Era. If you played Dynasty Warriors, you’ll understand. One does not simply face Lu Bu on the hardest difficulty. Orz...  ↩

3: Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid are the seven star positions in the Big Dipper constellation.↩