All Heavens: A Role-Playing System Starting from Tianlong

Chapter 57 Solo Journey

Considering that Kumārajīva didn't seem to mind kidnapping and ambush in the book, Zhang Cheng felt he should take the time to remind the old monk Kurong not to let that foreign monk raid his home.

Seeing that Duan Yanqing had already gone far away, he was not in a hurry to chase after him. He just stood there, staring at the line of small characters that appeared in front of him.

[Lv2 Swordsman 98% → Lv3 Lone Wanderer 10%]

Defeating Kumārajīva, one of the Four Great Masters of Tianlong, propelled his acting progress by three levels in one go.

This rudimentary system not only fails to display specific empirical figures, but also completely omits percentages after the decimal point.

Even now, Zhang Cheng doesn't know exactly how much experience is needed between each level.

But one thing is certain: even if he spent another three years cutting grass in Weizhou, he wouldn't achieve this much progress in his role.

That being said, since playing as a character related to the storyline can significantly increase your progress, if I were still in the [Soldier] class and killed Kumārajīva and his group, would I gain even more progress?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Zhang Cheng quickly suppressed it.

He knows all too well how he got to where he is today.

[Soldiers] The mode of gaining progress rewards by killing enemies and fighting is similar to leveling up by fighting monsters in online games.

The Western Xia people who died at his hands gradually turned into strings of numbers, progress points.

Although at first, he was somewhat hot-blooded and joined the army with the intention of avenging the old farmer who saved his life.

But after reaching the [Lv2 Fierce Soldier] rank, it became all about killing for progress and the rewards for subsequent upgrades.

[Soldier] The sense of power brought by the enhanced physical abilities of his profession was too good. So good that he almost forgot that he was killing living people.

If the system hadn't never displayed the decimal point of the progress, and if the upgrades hadn't been so slow and lacked any feedback, gradually eroding his desire to level up and allowing him to slowly straighten his distorted mental state, who knows what would have happened in the end.

Zhang Cheng shook his head, no longer dwelling on his dark past, and turned to look at the new abilities he had gained after the upgrade.

The Lone Ranger has four abilities:

[Grasshopper]: Your lightness skill has reached a certain level; you move with the agility of a swallow. You are immune to movement speed penalties from complex terrain, and your footsteps are significantly reduced.

[Breaking Qi Force]: Through countless battles, you have mastered how to concentrate your energy without dissipating it, penetrating deep into your opponent's defenses. Your attacks will ignore some of the target's defensive capabilities.

【Wandering Alone for a Thousand Miles】: When you travel alone in the world, it's as if you have boundless strength in your feet. When acting alone, your movement speed is greatly increased, your stamina consumption is reduced, and you have additional bonuses for tracking and counter-tracking.

[Knowing People Through the Ages]: When navigating the world, knowing people is paramount. You have developed a keen eye; with just a moment's observation, you can roughly determine someone's background from their accent, clothing, and habitual movements.

Looking at the ability called "Lone Traveler Across a Thousand Miles," Zhang Cheng felt like his head was about to split open.

A large portion of the [Soldier]'s abilities are only useful in team combat. If the [Hero] class were all about solo combat, that would be truly terrible.

Fortunately, the other three abilities seem to be quite useful.

He immediately began to test the effects of the new ability.

He activated his Lingbo Weibu footwork and darted away in a flash. As he ran, he sensed the changes brought about by the [Lone Ranger] buff.

The speed increased by about 50%. The consumption of internal energy was not immediately apparent due to the energy recovery effect inherent in the Lingbo Weibu technique.

But the so-called "tracking bonus" is quite obvious.

He set Duan Yanqing, who had just left, as his target, and the other man's footprints appeared to glow brightly in his field of vision.

Zhang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

This ability isn't entirely without merit.

With the blessing of "Traveling Alone for a Thousand Miles", Zhang Cheng quickly caught up with Duan Yanqing.

As the distance between the two closed to within ten zhang, the acceleration effect on their bodies also disappeared.

Duan Yanqing turned around and saw that Zhang Cheng had followed, so he ignored him and continued forward.

The two of them, one after the other, quickly returned to Dali City.

At the city gate, Zhang Cheng and Duan Yanqing parted ways. Duan Yanqing went to the palace, while Zhang Cheng returned to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion.

Upon entering the Prince's mansion, Duan Yu and Yue Laosan were waiting in the front courtyard.

Zhang Cheng briefly explained what had happened to the two of them before returning to his courtyard to continue training Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling in martial arts.

The three practiced martial arts until dusk, then began their daily "card game" time.

The next morning, Zhang Cheng got out of bed feeling refreshed and tucked the two little ones who were fast asleep next to him into bed.

He dressed neatly, pushed open the door, and went straight to find Duan Yanqing.

Duan Yanqing was reading in his study. Since taking over Duan Yu's studies, the number of books in his study had more than tripled.

Seeing Zhang Cheng enter, he put down his book: "What is it?"

"Hmm." Zhang Cheng sat down opposite him. "Where are Kumārajīva and the others staying? I'm planning to keep an eye on them for a few days."

Duan Yanqing glanced at him: "No need to go. They left last night."

Zhang Cheng was taken aback. "Left overnight?" He frowned slightly. "When?"

"Around midnight," Duan Yanqing said, "the soldiers guarding the city gate came to report that the nine Tibetan warriors were escorting a sedan chair out of the city and heading north."

Zhang Cheng frowned.

This is not right. He didn't think Kumārajīva was the kind of person who would give up so easily and run away with his tail between his legs.

"I'll go and follow them for a while. If they don't actually have any ulterior motives, I'll just treat it as a trip to Tibet. Anyway, I've been staying in Dali because they haven't arrived yet."

Zhang Cheng paused for a moment, then added, "By the way, keep an eye on those two girls for me. If you need to leave, remember to go to Tianlong Temple and find Kurong to borrow one or two senior monks of the Ben generation to guard the house."

Duan Yanqing nodded. In this respect, he and Zhang Cheng had quite a lot in common.

If he needed to go out, he would always find someone to look after the palace.

As they were about to part, Duan Yanqing suddenly said, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to the two little girls? They'll definitely be angry when they wake up."

Zhang Cheng smiled wryly: "There's no other way. If we wait until they wake up, they'll probably be clamoring to come along. It's better this way."

He thought for a moment, then added, "By the way, tell Cui Baiquan and the others that I will take care of what I promised them on this trip. Tell them not to worry."

After saying this, he followed Duan Yanqing's directions, arrived outside Dali City, set Kumārajīva as his target, and initiated […].

Alone, a thousand miles away.

The other party left yesterday. Although the footprints left behind were clearly visible due to the highlight of "Alone for a Thousand Miles", the color had faded considerably, far less bright and conspicuous than when they were tracking Duan Yanqing yesterday.

However, with the [Soldier] buff, Zhang Cheng's eyesight, if not at the level of an astronomical telescope, far surpassed that of ordinary people. With a clear directional guide, following the trail wasn't too difficult.

Having confirmed the other party's route, he vanished from the spot in a flash.

The people entering and leaving near the city gate only felt a blur before their eyes, as if something had flashed by. But when they looked closely, there was nothing there.

The elderly farmers exchanged glances and whispered among themselves, "Just now—did something just pass by?"

"What is there? You must be seeing things!"

"But I clearly saw it—"

"Alright, alright, stop overthinking it and let's get into the city."

Zhang Cheng had already gone far away, leaving behind only whispers.

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