"Pursue!"
The moment Zhang Cuishan escaped, the monk with a staff commanded, and seven Shaolin NPCs immediately chased after him.
Ye Weiming's carefully plotted negotiation situation had instantly become empty, leaving only twenty-one players within the hall, making the situation quite awkward.
At this time, a lanky monk who was following behind Bread Mantou suddenly suggested, "Brother Mantou, how about we just get rid of them to avoid them causing trouble in the later missions?"
Bread Mantou first glanced at him, then turned to Ye Weiming and proposed, "Brother Weiming, I have a beginner's edition of the 'Backwind Swordsmanship'. I'd like to offer this swordsman skill in exchange for you dropping the mission. What do you think?"
Truth be told, most of them also believed that, after Ye Weiming's prior analysis, the chances that Zhang Cuishan was the murderer were slim.
However, that didn't concern them. Their only goal was to help the Shaolin Sect's NPCs capture Zhang Cuishan to gain the mission reward, so the actual truth didn't matter to them.
The reason they wished to "eliminate" the present Wudang disciples was merely to remove these competitors from their mission. Only then would they have a chance to capture Zhang Cuishan together with the NPCs.
As for the disparity in strength between the two sides, that's even less of an issue.
Because within 'Eternal Chivalry,' the NPCs have two modes: normal mode and mission mode. Under the mission mode, the NPC's level and other attributes aren't significantly higher than the players for the mission, and even though they'll resurrect upon death, their drops are roughly similar to a regular boss of the same level. Although still far beyond ordinary players, they are not invincible.
For instance, Zhang Cuishan, in normal mode, would definitely be a level 90 Boss. However, during this mission, his level was reduced to around level 20, even lower than Chou Ba's level. Although his strength is still more significant than Chou Ba's, if dozens of players alongside the NPCs took action together, there was still a slight chance of overcoming him.
That being said, Ye Weiming would never just sit back and let Wudang disciples be dismissed from the mission because he didn't believe that these Shaolin players would continue to reason with him calmly without any constraints.
Ye Weiming responded with a slight smile and wave of his hand, "The truth of the matter still needs to be revealed. More importantly, the penalty for failing this mission is extremely severe, so I believe it's better for everyone to find out the truth."
Hearing this, Bread Mantou's brow furrowed slightly. However, he soon responded with a hearty laugh, "Since Brother Weiming insists, let's do as you wish. Remember to inform me if you find any clues, and let's investigate the truth together." After finishing his sentence, he led the Shaolin players in turning around and leaving.
Without Ye Weiming, they could easily dismiss the Wudang players at little cost. But with Ye Weiming's participation, the situation had transformed into a stalemate. A battle to the death would also lead them to vast losses. Dying during the mission also suggests mission failure, a risk no one is willing to bear, so everyone could only take a step back, agreeing to continue investigating the truth as suggested by Ye Weiming.
After Bread Mantou and his crew left, Yin Bukui added Ye Weiming as a friend, saying he wanted to "have a good talk" another time before leading the Wudang players away from the Longmen Escort agency.
The mission of the Wudang and Shaolin players was less about killing their enemies and more about protecting their NPCs. Now that the NPCs had left, they naturally wouldn't stick around longer than necessary.
In the blink of an eye, all that was left in the vast Longmen Escort agency was Ye Weiming and… corpses sprawled all over the place!
As his gaze swept over each of the bodies, excitement lit up Ye Weiming's face. Without any hesitation, he took out a straw mat and began to collect the bodies!
Obtained 'Secret Book of Boxing Techniques' x 1.
Gained Seven Star Nail x 1.
Obtained 'Secret Book of Inner Strength Techniques' x 1.
Received Mosquito-sucking Needle x 1.
Obtained 'Secret Book of Culinary Techniques'…
…
Today is indeed a fruitful day!
After rolling up each body with a straw mat and packing it into his backpack, all kinds of secret books made him even more driven. Not until he had swiftly collected 23 bodies did he stop.
It wasn't because he didn't want to continue, but because his backpack was filled.
The backpack in 'Eternal Chivalry' features a design similar to the spatial ring in fantasy novels. Throwing items into the backpack does not incur any weight, but its volume capacity is adminstered by grid rather than physical size.
Some items with completely identical attributes, like elixirs of the same type, can be stored in one box and stacked together. However, gears occupy one grid each. For instance, the straw mats that Ye Weiming used to collect bodies can stack up to 999 mats in one grid, but the bodies and secret books that he collected occupied one grid for each item.
Ye Weiming's backpack had 64 grids. Aside from the necessary items he bought earlier, he had nearly fifty vacant grids. However, collecting one body occupied two to three grids, with the additional items being the body itself, secret books, and a small number of hidden weapons.
The hidden weapons were easy to understand, as they were initially evidence embedded in the bodies. But why were all the hidden items secret books from the body collection skill?
Could it be that all hidden items are secret books?
With that question, Ye Weiming took a headcount of the items in his backpack. He had gathered a total of 21 secret books. The drop rate seemed quite high.
Specifically, he gathered: 'Secret Book of Inner Strength Techniques 'x 6, 'Secret Book of Swordsmanship Techniques' x 2, 'Secret Book of Knife Techniques' x 3, 'Secret Book of Boxing Techniques' x 4, 'Secret Book of Qinggong Techniques' x 2, 'Secret Book of Stick Techniques' x 2, 'Secret Book of Culinary Techniques' x 1 and 'Secret Book of Medical Techniques' x 1.
The descriptions of martial arts techniques from the secret books were close to what he found on Abe and Chou Ba, save for skill proficiency seeming lower. The last two books had the following attributes:
Culinary Technique: A record of culinary skills from the Longmen Escort agency's bureau chief's wife, Mrs. Dajin. Adds 400 points of proficiency in culinary skills after use.
Medical Technique: Longmen Escort agency porter Fan Jian's medical knowledge. Adds 86 points of proficiency in medicine after use.
Can these two items be used directly?
Without a second thought, he clicked on them for immediate use and then heard two system notifications:
Ding! Your culinary skill proficiency has increased by 400 points. The level of culinary skills is now level 2.
Ding! Your medical skill proficiency has increased by 86 points.
After a glimpse of the character attribute panel, he discovered all the aforementioned life skills were activated. Skills like medicine, mining, forging, and farming were freely available. Although they were all at level 0 and beginners, it seemed that learning new abilities wasn't necessary; upgrading these abilities simply required proficiency points?
Setting aside the life skills conundrum, Ye Weiming proceeded to apply the 6 'Secret Book of Inner Strength Techniques', 2 'Secret Book of Qinggong Techniques', and 2 'Secret Book of Swordsmanship Techniques' to his skills 'Tuna Technique', 'Eight-Step Chasing Toad', and 'Yue Maiden Swordsmanship' respectively. The proficiency of all three skills improved, though none had reached the threshold for leveling up.
Following that, Ye Weiming took out a 'Secret Book of Knife Techniques'.
This was the highest quality book among all the secrets he had collected so far.
Knife Skill Secret: The diary of Longmen Escort agency's Dajin's knife skills. Apply to a knife technique to increase its proficiency by 1600 points!
Judging from the proficiency points, Dajin's ability should be even above Chou Ba, or perhaps far surpassing the full-fledged Chou Ba. It's a pity this is a knife technique secret. It's not useful to him…
Wait a moment!
Reminded of the previous 'Secret Book of Culinary Techniques' and 'Secret Book of Medical Techniques', an audacious idea sprouted in Ye Weiming's heart.