That night, Wulei City was engulfed in a cacophony of battle cries, with war sweeping through every street and alley.
The Three Great Sects launched a full-scale assault, acting with swift and decisive force.
Swords and blades churned like a meat grinder, grinding from the east end of the city to the west, then back again.
Thunderous roars filled the air as the fires of war consumed the entire city.
Countless civilians were caught in the crossfire, and the various smaller sects and their cultivators were not spared.
However, the Demon Extermination Squad and the soldiers of Wulei City were truly pushed to their breaking point.
The deacons of the Three Great Sects stormed the backyard of the City Governor’s mansion, seizing the register that listed all public officials in the city.
Using the addresses and descriptions from the register, they directly invaded homes, going door-to-door to find people, or in some cases, annihilating entire households.
Even with resistance, any attempts to fight back were futile, like a praying mantis trying to block a chariot, against the combined might of the Three Great Sects.
The Three Great Sects had been thoroughly enraged.
All their sect-guarding treasures were lost, and after a long search, they remained unfound.
They believed that gentle methods were no longer sufficient for the current situation.
They had to act swiftly and violently to unearth their treasures.
Even if their enemy was the entire city of Wulei in the Xiao Kingdom, so what?
The vast Xiao Kingdom stood strong on the land of Northern Luzhou precisely because of the power of the Three Great Sects.
The Demon Extermination Squad might seem formidable, but their elite members were merely disciples undergoing training from the Three Great Sects.
Now, these very disciples dared to act wildly against their own sects, even attempting to steal their sect-guarding treasures! Such actions were absolutely intolerable to the Three Great Sects.
They had to be suppressed with the most brutal means, as a warning to others!
This was a catastrophe that drenched Wulei City in blood, with countless casualties.
Yet, the instigators who gave the orders sat calmly in the City Governor’s mansion, peacefully sipping tea.
However, their composure didn’t last long.
“Report! We’ve searched the entire city, but we haven’t found any trace of the sect-guarding treasures!”
Are you kidding me?!
They’d searched the entire city! Where else could they be hidden? Could those beasts have been so fast that they transported the items out of the city in just one day?
The three leaders couldn’t help but turn their heads, glaring at the Grand City Governor of Wulei City, who lay bound and tied up on the ground.
The City Governor, equivalent to a mayor, now had two black eyes and tattered clothes, revealing a network of dense whip marks beneath his skin, clearly showing he had been severely tortured.
Feeling their gazes, the City Governor tearfully exclaimed, “You truly killed the wrong people!”
“Did we really kill the wrong people?” the old Taoist muttered.
“No, it’s impossible that we killed the wrong people!” the monk declared decisively.
The old deacon of the Boundless Sect sneered.
“You’re telling me this after everyone’s been killed?”
They couldn’t accept the possibility of having made a mistake, so even if they were wrong, they had to tell themselves they weren’t!
The monk roared, “Eliminating evil and punishing villains is our duty as cultivators! Keep searching! Keep killing! Until we find the items!”
“You can’t keep killing!” the City Governor cried out, “If you keep killing, we won’t be able to fight them off! That dragon is coming, and all your sect-guarding treasures are useless.
How can a few small fries like us possibly fight against a Dragon Clan Saintess at the peak of the Eight Trigrams Venerable Realm?”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” the monk declared.
“We’ve already consulted with the Venerables of our sects. Our Eight Trigrams Realm Venerables from the Three Great Sects will all come here to help us subdue demons and eliminate evil! We guarantee that Dragon Clan Saintess won’t be able to escape!”
“But you’re truly killing the wrong people!” the Governor insisted.
“Silence!” the monk retorted.
“Once I find the stolen goods, let’s see what else you have to say!”
Jiang Ke’er squatted in her prison cell, a flurry of question marks appearing above her head as she listened to the loud thuds and bangs from outside.
What’s going on? Is it Chinese New Year? These firecrackers are a bit loud… No, wait, why are there screams? Oh, those probably aren’t screams, just bottle rockets.
And when did the guards outside the cell change? They’re now swordsmen dressed in Boundless Sect attire.
Hmm, well, these Boundless Sect people seem much more reliable than the jailers.
With them around, she feels even safer.
Jiang Ke’er stroked her chin, glanced at the situation outside her cell, and feeling bored, turned back to poke the woodlice in the corner with a blade of grass.
These creatures, also known as sow bugs, pill bugs, or roly-polies, are non-toxic insects.
They don’t look too scary and aren’t as dirty as cockroaches.
When startled, they immediately curl into a ball and play dead—they’re so fun to tease!
Jiang Ke’er was studying the mechanism of these bugs playing dead.
Every now and then, she’d also curl up, wrapping her big tail around herself to imitate them, sticking out her tongue, and pretending to be dead.
She thought to herself, “All things come from nature. Maybe if I study this, I can develop a ‘playing dead’ technique!”
Then, with advanced cultivation, she could establish a sect, win over beautiful and rich immortal maidens, become the leader of the cultivation world, and reach the pinnacle of her fox life…
Wow, that would be awesome!
“Forget it,” she sighed, shaking off her fantasies.
She only had less than three days left to live, so what future was there?
“System, I want to draw!” she called out, summoning the system interface.
When the two systems were squabbling earlier, the Villain System had activated a military arsenal gacha function for her, while the Protagonist System had activated a library gacha function.
She first looked at the Villain System—50 villain points for one draw, 500 points for a ten-pull with a guaranteed C-grade item.
She decisively closed the Villain System’s gacha interface.
She currently only had 180 villain points, far from enough for a ten-pull.
As for her luck, she was well aware of it; without saving for a guaranteed ten-pull, she’d probably get nothing but “blue skies and white clouds” (common items) even after ten thousand draws.
She didn’t believe in luck then and ended up getting so angry she transmigrated.
From now on, she was Thief · Afei · Never Single Draw · Jiang Ke’er! She would absolutely never trust her luck!
Fortunately, she had enough protagonist points.
Protagonist points also cost 50 per draw, 500 for a ten-pull, with a guaranteed C-grade book.
She happened to have exactly 500 protagonist points.
“God bless me! Give me something that can extend my life!” she closed her eyes and softly chanted, “Lady Luck above! Give me SSS!”
…
Opening her eyes, Jiang Ke’er saw a screen full of gray F-grade books and the only prominent C-grade blue book.
She thought… “Of course, it’s me. A standard ending.”
“Let me see what this guaranteed item is.”
[Fragment of Z-Language Identification Art (Volume 1)]