Chapter 149: Secret Arrows, Divine Judgment

After most of the members of Yipin Tang led by Youming plunged into the bottomless abyss and perished, Punishment Peak and the Iron Rope Bridge regained their calm.
The people from Yipin Tang left in sorrow…
The members of other organizations who had been watching also exchanged glances. Although Yipin Tang had left behind their Snake Tendons and taken nothing else, no one dared to cross that Iron Rope Bridge that had claimed so many skilled warriors’ lives.
Even such a well-prepared and powerful force as Yipin Tang had been easily destroyed. In the short term, they really couldn’t come up with a better plan to cross the bridge!
As time passed, with less and less time remaining, those who stayed on the peak gradually left and descended the mountain.
But a few still remained where they were.
Since the Emperor’s birthday was approaching, it didn’t matter if they waited a little longer. They decided to stay and wait for the people on Punishment Peak to return on their own.
They also wanted to see what the mysterious expert who had caused so many skilled warriors to fall to their deaths and led Yipin Tang to defeat looked like, and who this person really was!
Unfortunately…
They never got to see that joy.
Even after the Emperor’s birthday passed and the system announced that all warrants had expired and all the gift boxes now belonged to the current player, the red dots on Punishment Peak disappeared—but that person still didn’t come down from the opposite peak.
An hour passed, then two hours—half a day went by, yet there was still no sign of movement!
The players waiting on this peak finally couldn’t wait any longer and began speculating whether there was another way across, or if the other party was being overly cautious, unwilling to risk crossing seeing that there were people on this peak—although the gift boxes already had owners, and like items carried by players, the chance of them exploding was extremely low, there was still some risk, so it was normal for them to be cautious.
“It’s fine if we can’t meet.”
A few players felt disappointed and left as well.
Yet…
They didn’t know that Happy never opened the gift box all along.
…
This time, the various gift boxes sent to the capital included both open and secret arrows.
Open and secret arrows had no difference in value; only their significance differed.
Open arrows were the precious gifts sent by famous sects to the imperial court, and even ordinary players could see and know what was inside the boxes…
But secret arrows were gifts sent by these different sects and noble families to the Eighth Prince!

In this mission, Ming Biao’s treasures were almost entirely lost—not only to raids by players and bandits but also to attacks from hostile faction forces. Most of the ornate boxes that remained in a few players’ hands actually contained hidden darts! Among these hidden darts, some were gold tickets, while others were jewels worth millions of silver coins. As for whether they would yield high-quality martial arts manuals, miraculous medicines, or elite equipment—items accounting for half of them—it depended on luck.

Kai Xin remembered that after the Emperor’s birthday celebration, although everyone who received an ornate box was a winner, some of those victories were only temporary… Players who got gold tickets or precious jewels might experience rapid progress in the short term, but most of their glory lasted only a few months. However! Those who obtained high-quality martial arts manuals—often rare skills that greatly enhanced their strength—were different. The same applied to miraculous medicines: pills crafted by masters could either slightly improve innate attributes or significantly boost abilities for a period of time. As for elite equipment, they were all rare top-tier items, their attributes far surpassing those of ordinary weapons like the “Jade Silkworm Hand”…

When many people revealed their findings months later, it turned out that many had rushed to open their ornate boxes right away. Only three people opened theirs days or even half a month later… These three! What they got was the best value among all the ornate boxes! Moreover, these three items even made it to the top of future lists of famous artifacts, remaining at the forefront for a year before gradually dropping off the list…

So, when Kai Xin received the system notification that he could open the ornate box at any time to obtain its treasures, he was very hesitant and didn’t open it for a long time! Should he open it now… or follow in the footsteps of those three and wait a while? Kai Xin couldn’t decide. Because even now, he wasn’t sure if delaying would allow him to get good items like those three in his past life. Moreover, after falling out with the First-Class Hall, he could no longer maintain a low profile, so he urgently needed to strengthen his abilities to deal with the ever-increasing number of enemies ahead. After all! He still didn’t have the strength to confront a large organization, his current cultivation level couldn’t compensate for the numerical disadvantage, nor did he possess absolute self-protection capabilities.

“…” With his hand resting on the ornate box, tapping it gently, Kai Xin frowned, clearly torn between choices. He sat there for half a day! Night fell.

The bright moonlight shone on Kāixīn, illuminating every detail of the peak opposite as well. Howling winds swept between the two peaks, shaking five heavy iron chains—noisy yet serene. Opening his eyes, Kāixīn finally put the ornate box into his pocket, rose to his full height from the cliff’s edge. With his arched eyebrows and striking eyes, his blue robe fluttering, it seemed he had made some decision. Facing the full moon hanging high in the sky, he leaped forward and descended gracefully toward the iron chain bridge, like a celestial being…

…In the capital city. In front of a fortune-telling blind man’s stall, there had been a person covered entirely in a black cloak standing there for several hours, taking care of his business…

This old blind man was known as “Tie Kou Shen Duan”! He had a very famous reputation in the capital—claiming to be the 17th descendant of Guiguzi. All his predictions were accurate. With his divinations, one could predict the time of day when a player’s luck would be at its strongest… Going out to fight monsters or complete tasks during that time would yield higher rewards than at other times!

Moreover, the fortune-telling blind man helped those in the martial world avoid troubles and solve their worries! Anyone who wanted to know the current location of a rival or a related player could pay a certain fee to obtain that information.

However! Based on the I Ching, the old blind man could only estimate the player’s location from ten minutes prior, and only provide a rough direction—not precise coordinates within the game. The fee for such searches was usually quite high, often over a thousand taels of silver per time.

Despite this, “Tie Kou Shen Duan” was still highly sought after by many players! As soon as they logged in, some players who believed in such things would offer money to find times of good luck or to inquire about important secrets in the martial world.

The person covered in the black cloak had been there since afternoon. Every now and then, they handed over a piece of silver and a note to the fortune-telling blind man. After receiving them, the old man would touch them and count on his fingers. Over time, almost all players in Dengfeng City knew of this wealthy man—a player who didn’t care about money, frantically giving it to Tie Kou Shen Duan, unsure what important information he was seeking.