Clang, clang, clang!
Blades clashed, the sound echoing like hammering metal!
After dispatching several more Ashina Soldiers, Bihua was getting into the swing of things, becoming more proficient in using the Wolf. The martial arts style and combat techniques of Ashina Country were fascinating, with the strategic back-and-forth and blade-on-blade collision being captivating—almost addictive!
It hooked you in. You couldn't stop!
What was even more enticing was the role-playing gameplay under this deep immersion.
"I get it!" At this moment, she felt she had completely grasped the essence of Miracle City's unique deep role-playing.
Miracle City's Secret Realms not only provided Adventurers with character templates but also integrated the character with the world view and story, enhancing immersion. When Adventurers played a character, although they could do whatever they wanted, to truly excel, they had to understand the character and become one with them, thus portraying the corresponding story and life.
After a while, the small soldiers were all defeated. Once again, she faced Yamauchi Shigetoki.
Bihua sneered, "Come on! I won't lose this time!"
Yamauchi Shigetoki didn't understand her words; he merely cursed a few times before, like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, he drew his Odachi and launched a fierce attack on the invading ninja.
A powerful slash came down with great force, the flash of the blade tearing through the air and night. At this moment, controlling the character to parry with a normal defense method could barely block the attack. But due to the huge power gap, it would consume a lot of stamina and incur a certain cost.
Instead of entering a defensive stance in advance, she observed carefully, sensing with her heart to capture the fleeting opportunity!
"Now!" At the moment the opponent exerted force, Bihua suddenly swung her sword, striking at the weak point, easily resolving the powerful force with skillful technique and achieving a deflection.
Clang!
Sparks flew!
Bihua didn't move an inch, having used only three or four tenths of her strength. On the contrary, Yamauchi Shigetoki, who was attacking with full force, staggered backward, his body unsteady.
Precisely because Bihua had only used a small portion of her strength just now, she could quickly switch stances and launch an attack, delivering a blow to Yamauchi Shigetoki's unsteady form.
"Damn it!" Yamauchi Shigetoki's arms stung from the shock. He felt threatened and immediately roared furiously, forcing the Adventurer back with a powerful low horizontal slash, then began to charge up a forehand thrust.
Danger! The Wolf's intuition sent out a warning!
Bihua immediately realized that she couldn't defend against the upcoming attack in her current state, so she swiftly dodged, calmly avoiding the dangerous thrust.
Clang, clang!
They exchanged several more blows. Bihua had completely seen through Yamauchi Shigetoki's attacks. Every offensive was easily deflected, and his momentum was nearing exhaustion in the process.
The time had come. She attacked decisively! Four consecutive slashes broke his guard, and the final blow pierced his heart, ending the battle. The blade was pulled out, and blood spurted like a spring. Yamauchi Shigetoki fell, unwilling to accept defeat.
He hadn't even injured a single hair on the Adventurer from beginning to end. Bihua held the sword with one hand throughout, every attack and defense as elegant and effortless as a dragonfly skimming the water. Although it took a few more rounds, killing Yamauchi felt no harder than defeating the small soldiers.
But Yamauchi Shigetoki was by no means an ordinary adversary. His panel attribute values were definitely slightly higher than the Wolf's. He was also a seasoned veteran with exquisite swordsmanship and rich experience.
Even so, he was easily defeated!
This feeling of effortless ease, of defeating the strong with the weak, filled Bihua with a sense of conquest and satisfaction!
She couldn't help but exclaim: The combat mechanism of this Secret Realm is absolutely amazing!
After watching the battle, the Adventurers outside were also stunned:
"So powerful!"
"Is this the strength of Captain Bihua?"
"To comprehend it to this extent in one go, such talent is truly terrifying!"
"Old Dean White Crane is advanced in age; even if he returns to his peak, it will be difficult to go further... I think the title of the first Adventurer of the new generation in Black Stone Town belongs to Captain Bihua!"
After hearing these discussions, Bihua felt even better and her confidence soared. If she hadn't experienced it herself, she wouldn't have believed that such a fun Secret Realm could exist in this world.
She felt that Miracle City's Ten Kingdoms Chronicle and the Wolf of Ashina Country were tailor-made according to her preferences; otherwise, how could there be such resonance and thrill from the soul?
She continued to advance, eliminating all the enemies. Finally, she found the secret passage for evacuation. Bihua blew the reed whistle to summon the Divine Child.
The two successfully passed through the secret passage and arrived at the Reed Plains.
As expected, seeing the scene before her, Bihua stood rooted to the spot. Although she had rich Adventuring experience, she had grown up in a barren and desolate world and had never seen a scene full of vitality.
As for the Underground Cities she had explored? Don't even mention it! Ninety-nine percent of the Lords in this world had no idea what art design was! Most Secret Realms had similar structures, basically starting and ending with some obstacles in between, and a Secret Realm was considered complete.
The scenes were monotonous. The layout was crude. No wonder Adventurers liked Miracle City's Secret Realms so much!
Bihua was already very shocked when she saw the exotic grasslands, buildings, and clothing in the Aqueduct Tower. Not to mention the beautiful, almost dreamlike Reed Plains before her eyes?
This completely exceeded her imagination.
Bihua had no doubt that even if Miracle City's Secret Realm was terrible, just showing such beautiful scenery could attract many Adventurers to follow suit.
Deep within Bihua's heart, a fire of anticipation suddenly burned fiercely. She thought of the login interface of the Ten Kingdoms Chronicle Secret Realm, where the map presented before her eyes was so vast, containing who knows how many stories, beautiful scenes, and interesting customs and cultures.
"I must clear all chapters!"
"I must travel to every corner of this world!"
While making a firm decision, Ashina Genichiro arrived as scheduled. Bihua and White Crane Hermit, both top Adventurers, sensed the opponent's extraordinary nature immediately, focusing their full attention on dealing with him.
"Please leave it to me!" Bihua drew Kusabimaru and had the Divine Child step back.
"Do you intend to interfere? The Divine Child's ninja... Ashina Genichiro joins the fray!"
The moonlight was bright.
In the beautiful scene, this fated duel erupted again.
Ten seconds later, she exited the Secret Realm.
Bihua's face was filled with shock. She had only lasted three rounds before being defeated. Bihua's back teeth were almost ground to dust: "Damn it, the Divine Child was captured again. This Ashina Genichiro's strength is at least Tier 2, four or five stars!"
Everyone else wasn't surprised at all. After all, losing to Ashina Genichiro was normal. Forgotten River Wanderer comforted her, "Captain, you don't have to be upset. This battle was a plot kill. Given the situation, it was difficult to protect the Divine Child no matter what."
"That's right!"
"Anyway, you can clear the prologue regardless of winning or losing this battle. Captain, clearing the prologue in two attempts is already an excellent achievement."
That was indeed the case. Bihua checked her information panel.
**[You have passed the 'Ashina Country' Prologue, 'Ashina Soldier Head Spirit' +1!]**
She not only passed the Ashina Country Prologue but also obtained a Tier 1, five-star quality spirit. Yamauchi Shigetoki was an Ashina Soldier Head, so this spirit must have been dropped from him.
Humanoid monster spirits were quite valuable. This adventure had yielded good rewards.
"Although this battle was an unavoidable plot kill, according to Old Dean's estimation, there was still a chance of winning, just a slim one."
At this moment, Wind in Sleep said, "Although Old Dean is trying to make a comeback, so far no one has been able to defeat Ashina Genichiro."
"That's right!"
"Even Old Dean White Crane."
"He can only last a dozen or twenty rounds against Ashina Genichiro."
Upon hearing this, Bihua's competitive spirit reignited. White Crane Hermit could last a dozen rounds against Ashina Genichiro, while she only lasted three. Wouldn't that make people look down on her?
If that Old Master could defeat Ashina Genichiro, why couldn't she, who was no worse than him?
Fight! Must fight!
Bihua decided to continue the challenge. This was partly due to her competitive spirit and partly because she greatly enjoyed the tension of fighting a master in the Reed Plains. That kind of excitement and engagement was something she had never experienced in any previous Secret Realm challenge, and her cultivation speed also significantly increased during this process.
A Tier 3 Adventurer, with ample stamina. Plenty of opportunities for trial and error! Bihua believed she was fully capable of becoming the first person in Miracle City to defeat Ashina Genichiro!
And so, she began her journey of suffering and abuse.
Second challenge, defeat!
Third challenge, defeat!
Continue!
She was hooked! Bihua became more excited the more she fought. She almost entered a state of self-forgetfulness.
Fifth time... tenth time... fifteenth time... twenty-fourth time!
Unbeknownst to her, she had invested all her stamina in the prologue part, going from only being able to fight two or three rounds at first to being able to last dozens of rounds, fighting back and forth.
"Almost!"
"Just a little bit more!"
"Damn it, why am I out of stamina?"
Bihua had unknowingly spent most of the day in Miracle City. She had been defeated by Ashina Genichiro a total of twenty-four times, having an arm cut off each time. This process was certainly not pleasant, but she didn't feel any discomfort.
She only regretted her lack of stamina! She couldn't achieve the feat of defeating Ashina Genichiro today!
Bihua not only greatly enjoyed the duel itself, but she also found that the drop rate in Ashina Country was not low. Out of the twenty-four times she cleared the prologue, there were fifteen drops.
The drop rate in Miracle City's story-type Secret Realms was indeed lower than that of level-type Secret Realms. In the Tidal beginner level, clearing it guaranteed a spirit drop.
However, this was just a comparison within Miracle City. With such a short process, there were fifteen drops. Compared to other Underground Cities, this was very rare and generous!
This included eight basic supplies, four Ashina Soldier Warrior spirits, two Ashina Soldier Head spirits, and a 'Ninja Wolf Style Swordsmanship' skill stone.
For her, it was also a valuable harvest.
At this time, Wind in Sleep, Black Stone Hammer King, and others had already compiled the drop data. They shared it in the strategy guide they co-authored, analyzing the drop rate of the Ashina Chapter prologue.
"As of now, Adventurers have cleared the Ashina Chapter prologue nearly two hundred times in total! We can now roughly determine the Secret Realm's drop rate and resource output."
"First of all, basic material output is the most common, mainly Ashina Castle rice, sake, and coarse salt. Although the quality and quantity are good, the variety of items is clearly far less than in the Doomsday Frenzy Secret Realm."
"Regarding other special outputs... The spirit drop rate seems significantly lower than the beginner levels of the Doomsday Frenzy Secret Realm."
"However, the lowest level spirits dropped in the Ashina Chapter prologue are all Tier 1, three-star, and all are humanoid monster spirits, so the overall value is not much inferior."
"Finally, there are skill stones, which are a special product of the Ten Kingdoms Chronicle Secret Realm and obviously cannot be dropped in the Doomsday Frenzy Secret Realm."
"Currently, only the 'Ninja Wolf Style Swordsmanship' skill stone has been unlocked. The drop rate for clearing the prologue is approximately one in fifteen to one in twenty."
When the Adventurers saw the relevant data analysis and the drop summary post, they were all very excited and discussed it animatedly.
Skill stones were good stuff! A drop rate of less than one in twenty was already quite good. After all, with more people, the future output was very considerable.
Overall, the output of Ten Kingdoms Chronicle and Tidal each had their strengths. Both the skill stones of Ten Kingdoms Chronicle and the firearm equipment of Tidal were top-tier specialties and would become one of the core competitive advantages of the Underground City.
"Sis, I'm impressed, but you don't have to keep clashing with Ashina Genichiro!" Wind in Sleep returned from Adventuring around, stunned upon finding out what Bihua was doing.
What the heck? A Tier 3 Adventurer had as much as 25 stamina, equivalent to five times that of a normal Tier 1 Adventurer, and she had actually spent it all on the Ashina Country prologue.
Was she crazy?!
"What do you know!"
"I'm about to win!"
"You guys just wait in line to grovel to me!"
Bihua, however, was still enjoying herself and didn't care. She especially enjoyed this tense and exciting duel, so she didn't feel like she was wasting stamina, and besides, the output was good!
"Wait! That's not right!" Bihua suddenly came to her senses. "I came to Miracle City today, not to farm Secret Realms, but to investigate this Underground City."
Damn it! She had completely forgotten! Who made the Ashina Country prologue so good? She got so carried away that she forgot what she came for!
Although there was a glimmer of hope in defeating Ashina Genichiro, it was also necessary to learn more about Miracle City, collect information about the subsequent parts of Ashina Country and other Secret Realms, but now her stamina was exhausted.
What should she do?
Just then, she suddenly heard exclamations from not far away.
"Wow, everyone, come and see! Old Chairman Three Bamboo is challenging the Red Oni!"
"What? Chairman Three Bamboo is also fighting the Red Oni!"
"Then I must go and see!"
"So far, no one seems to have defeated this guy yet!"
Many Adventurers headed towards a crystal.
Bihua was slightly startled by this news. She certainly knew Old Senior Three Bamboo, the former chairman of the Black Stone Town Adventurer Association and one of the top Adventurers in town.
She heard that he had also been hooked and challenging Ashina Genichiro before. Apparently, he had fought about a dozen matches as well.
This old geezer was quite a threat. He had the ability to compete with her for the first win.
Bihua asked, "What is the Red Oni?"
Forgotten River Wanderer replied, "This is a powerful character in the formal part of Ashina Country. No Adventurer has been able to defeat him yet. He is a very tricky and difficult enemy!"
A monster from the formal part of Ashina Country? So, this old geezer had given up competing for the first win against Ashina Genichiro? Bihua felt relieved.
At the same time, a hint of interest arose: "Let's go! We'll check it out too!"
She had been stuck on the prologue for most of the day, fiercely dueling Ashina Genichiro. At this moment, she was completely unaware of the subsequent content, so it was a good opportunity to see what the later content was like.
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