Chapter 112 - Quest Upgrade

Cheng Xiu threw the acupuncture needles at the yellow tunic wearing trolls.

Her accuracy with the needle was not as profound as the others thought though, it was the poison of the healer that was allowing her to kill the yellow tunics so easily.

The needles penetrated the skin of the Troll that raised a battle axe at her.

14

Cheng Xiu was surprised at how easily she killed off these creatures. If they were called the named ones, should they not be even more impressive than the healer? Why was she able to kill so many of them?

Another yellow tunicked Troll fell victim to the Zhenjiu needle and turned into ashes.

[Ding!]

Cheng Xiu started at the sudden sound.

[ 2 Named Trolls dead.]

Cheng Xiu frowned. Why was that specifically announced? Was there something special about that?

The trolls in the yellow tunics closed their eyes as a golden light enveloped them.

Cheng Xiu did not wait to see what was happening, and removed another Zhenjiu from the skin sheet, and threw it at the troll closest to her.

It hit the creature right in the eyes.

The purple of the poison visibly spread throughout the creature's glowing body and started to melt its insides.

15 trolls dead. She was halfway there.

Cheng Xiu looked down at the Zhen Xiu that she had in her hands. She had two poison needles on hand embedded into the skin, but that did not matter much as she still had 5 named ones to defeat.

Cheng Xiu did not want to use that weapon that she had just gained if she did not want to, but she also knew, from fighting the special Direwolves that if she allowed these Trolls to do whatever it was that they were trying to do, she might end up losing the game.

Cheng Xiu's grip on the skin tightened and she threw the next Zhenjiu at a troll.

The Troll opened its eyes to reveal golden pupils, and dodged the attack.

Cheng Xiu unconsciously took a step back.

She knew what the golden eyes meant. A Trance.

She finally understood what the named ones had as their speciality. They were able to go into a trance collectively.

The other trolls opened their eyes.

All their pupils were golden in colour.

Cheng Xiu's eyes fell on the needle that had missed its mark and fell to the ground. There was still some poison on it.

Cheng Xiu dashed forwards and dodged the dart that was sent her way with ease.

A battle axe came down on her slightly bent form.

Cheng Xiu evaded to the side and rushed forwards.

She grabbed the needle.

A longsword came down on her neck.

Cheng Xiu jumped to her feet, and in one fluid movement, embedded the needle into the skull of the troll.

The troll turned into dust.

Cheng Xiu panted from the excursion she put her body through to be faster than a troll that had fallen into Qi Trance.

She used Qi absorption to replenish the Qi in her system.

Cheng Xiu had started to notice that she was using the Qi in her body to move about in the ring. There was something constantly draining her reserve.

Cheng Xiu's mind went to the difference between the fights until now, and the one with the Trolls.

Cheng Xiu's eyes went to the side of her sight.

There was no health bar visible there.

Cheng Xiu frowned. She had forgotten another important aspect of the game.

Her eyes went to the faceless lady standing at the far corner. "Did you do this? Did you make me forget?"

Liso scoffed. "Who is she talking to? Did she lose her mind?"

DaYin frowned. Her eyes swept the area, but she could not see who the human cultivator could be talking to.

Her eyes went back to the girl fighting the Named Ones.

Her eyes sparkled, and she licked her lips.

Liso frowned. "DaYin?"

The woman pressed her hand against the shackles that held her.

They melted away.

Liso stepped back in horror. "Da-da-dayin?"

The woman looked at her.

Liso stepped back in shock and fear.

DaYin's eyes glowed with a red demonic glow.

"Who…Who are you! Where is my Lady DaYin?"

DaYin gave Liso a crooked grin that made Liso's blood curdle.

"Little Liso," DaYin said, "I am going to become even more beautiful."

Liso frowned. "Wha-"

DaYin walked towards where the fight was taking place.

None of the trolls stopped her approach. It was like they were no longer aware of what was going on around them.

Deep poisonous green gas emitted from DaYin, and the trolls around her stepped back in fear.

"You are now playing a different game to the one you were playing before," the voice of the faceless woman echoed in Cheng Xiu's mind. "That is why there is no health bar to measure your health declination."

Cheng Xiu frowned. "Different how?"

"The third ring is the true test for your mind. How you will be able to adapt to the changes around you can be known in this situation."

A troll jumped at her, its huge broadsword whooshing as it came down at her.

Cheng Xiu threw another needle, but it was dodged by the beast in the air in front of her.

Cheng Xiu was impressed and dodged to the side from the sword attack.

The sword hit the ground and a large weblike indentation appeared on the floor.

She felt kind of sorry for the ruined castle. It was already in a bad state and now, it was getting even more disarrayed as the fights continued.

Her sight caught deep green fumes covering the entire floor, hiding it from everyone's view.

The Trolls in the tunic froze like they were statues instead of being actual living Trolls.

"What the hell!" Cheng Xiu said.

[Ding!]

[Quest Upgrade!]

Cheng Xiu blinked. What?

[Defeat the Witch of Many Faces, and save the trolls from being annihilated.]

Cheng Xiu sweatdropped. Did the mission just change from killing the trolls to saving them? What just happened?

Her mind went towards what she had to do at first. She had to save that tiara-wearing woman before…what happened when she was not looking? Did the woman escape on her own?

Cheng Xiu looked towards the silhouette that was walking towards her in curiosity. Was this person the reason that she had a quest upgrade?

When the figure in the shadows became visible to her, Cheng Xiu looked on in confusion.

"You are…" she started but stopped when she saw the red eyes that the girl held. Her thought went to what the game had called her new opponent. The Witch of Faces. "Are you the real DaYin?"

The woman wearing the tiara smiled. "I am DaYin."

Cheng Xiu frowned. "Did you possess this body, or were you born with it?"

The woman gave her a dark grin, a perverted satisfaction echoing in her expression. "I was born as DaYin."

Cheng Xiu frowned. She felt that there was something hidden in the woman's words. "What do you want?"

DaYin grinned, her mouth drooling a bit as her deep-set blue eyes looked at Cheng Xiu. "You. Everything about you."

Cheng Xiu sweatdropped. "That sounded ambiguous. What do you want from me?"

The woman looked at Cheng Xiu with hungry eyes as blue veins appeared all over the woman's skin, and her beautiful skin turned in the greenish tinge of the sick and the dead.

Cheng Xiu scrunched up her nose in distaste as a rotting smell caught her sense of smell.

Cheng Xiu was familiar with this smell. It was similar to the one she had smelled when she was fighting the zombies in the first ring.

The woman smiled at her, revealing rapidly yellowing teeth. "Your youth, your life, your strength, your mind. I want all those things that you possess. I want to become you."

Cheng Xiu frowned. "What kind of a stupid demand is that? How can you become me?"

The woman scoffed. "Why can't I? I will become the best."

"The best? How are you going to achieve this lofty dream of yours then?" Cheng Xiu asked as she tightened her grip on the Zhenjiu in her grasp.

The woman in the tiara took a step forward. "I will kill you, and eat your flesh."

"How are any different from these trolls?" Cheng Xiu muttered.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "I am nothing like them! They feed to keep the hunger at bay, I feed to achieve my goal of being the best! And my instincts are telling me that eating you will make me Perfect."

Cheng Xiu backed away. She did not like where this was going. "Perfect? Why do you want to be perfect?"

The woman gave her a lofty smile. "For him! My lover likes me to look perfect!"

The woman leapt at Cheng Xiu, her fingers turning into talons.

Cheng Xiu tried to stab her.

DaYin dodged.

Cheng Xiu smirked. It would seem even this witch was scared of the poison on the needle.

This was going to be an interesting fight.