The pitch-black shadows of the high country boulders completely swallowed Shen Jin’s silhouette.
The moment he stepped out of Old Barlow’s line of sight, the submissive slouch left his posture. His spine straightened, and his breathing patterns shifted into the deep, rhythmic sequence of the
Vanguard Meridian Scripture
. In his lower abdomen, the newly opened first seal of Qi vibrated softly, sending a thin, invisible stream of compressed energy circulating through his pathways.
[DANGER SENSE COUNTDOWN: 5... 4... 3...]
Through the dense, freezing mountain mist, dark figures began to detach themselves from the upper cliff face. Fourteen rogue cultivators, masked in black linen and carrying curved, serrated daggers that swallowed the light, glided down on silent silk ropes. They moved with the terrifying coordination of a wolf pack, targeting the sleeping perimeter guards.
To neutralize an entire squad of trained killers without throwing the valley into a massive, flashy martial arts battle required absolute precision.
I still have 20 Vanguard Points,
Shen Jin thought, his mind racing through the available options in the system menu.
I need something to manipulate the environment, not a loud attack.
He flicked his gaze toward the
Vanguard Exchange Shop
.
VANGUARD EXCHANGE SHOP
[Qi-Tracking Needle]
—
Cost: 5 VP
[Sound-Isolation Talisman (Disposable)]
—
Cost: 10 VP
(Silences all sound and kinetic shockwaves within a 3-meter radius for 60 seconds.)
[Shatter-Trigger Mark]
—
Cost: 10 VP
(Subtly structurally compromises a specific target object, causing it to fail or break upon the next physical contact.)
Purchase one Sound-Isolation Talisman and one Shatter-Trigger Mark,
Shen Jin commanded mentally.
[Transaction Complete. 20 Vanguard Points deducted.]
[Current Balance: 0 VP.]
[Items deployed to System Inventory.]
Shen Jin materialized the invisible
Shatter-Trigger Mark
into his palm and immediately slapped it against the base of a towering, precariously balanced granite spire that jutted out directly above Carriage Twelve. A faint, imperceptible fracture line rippled through the stone, waiting for the slightest disturbance to trigger a collapse.
At that exact moment, the first three rogue ambushers reached the ground, landing entirely soundlessly on the rocky ledge right outside Grandmaster Yu’s black carriage. They raised their daggers, ready to slice open the throats of the nodding drivers.
Shen Jin moved like a ghost passing through a graveyard. Utilizing the
Danger Sense Radar
, he stepped forward just as the leading ambusher raised his blade.
With a silent flick of his wrist, Shen Jin activated the
Sound-Isolation Talisman
, enveloping himself and the first three attackers in an invisible sphere of absolute silence.
The leading rogue didn't even realize a scrawny stable boy had appeared beside him until Shen Jin’s palm lightly touched his chest. Shen Jin didn't throw a flashy punch; he simply channeled the pressurized kinetic energy of the Vanguard style, releasing a sharp, localized vibration directly into the man's sternum.
Thump.
The strike made no sound. The rogue cultivator's eyes widened in sheer horror as the internal shockwave instantly stopped his heart. He crumpled to the ground like a sack of wet sand.
Before the other two killers could react, Shen Jin grabbed their heads from behind and smashed them together with a sickening force. Within the isolated pocket of the talisman, the violent impact was entirely muted. The two men went limp instantly, their bodies sliding into the dark dirt.
[DANGER SENSE WARNING: 4 Hostiles descending from the upper ropes directly onto the roof of Carriage Twelve!]
Shen Jin deactivated the isolation bubble and leaped backward, retreating into the darkness of the boulders just as the next wave arrived.
The four descending rogue cultivators slammed hard onto the roof of the black carriage. However, because Shen Jin had strategically placed the
Shatter-Trigger Mark
on the granite spire above them, the minor physical vibration of their landing was the exact catalyst the compromised stone was waiting for.
CRACK.
With a sudden, explosive roar, the massive granite spire snapped from the cliffside, tumbling downward.
"What the—?!" one of the rogue cultivators on the roof yelped, looking up just in time to see a five-ton block of solid rock crashing directly toward them.
The rogue killers tried to leap away, but it was too late. The massive rockslide smashed onto the roof of Carriage Twelve, completely crushing three of the attackers beneath its immense weight. The spectacular impact caused the entire carriage to tilt violently, its iron-bound wheels groaning as it was nearly pushed off the edge of the sheer cliffside drop.
"Enemy ambush! Wake up!" Chief Gao’s voice finally boomed across the camp as the roar of the rockslide shattered the quiet night.
The caravan erupted into absolute chaos. Hired guards drew their swords, shouting in panic as the remaining seven rogue cultivators abandoned their stealth and lunged into the firelight with roaring blades.
Meanwhile, Carriage Twelve was teetering precariously over the bottomless ravine, its stabilizing chains snapping one by one under the weight of the fallen granite spire. From inside the carriage, a faint, agonized cough could be heard as Grandmaster Yu’s chaotic, poisoned life signature fluctuated wildly.
Shen Jin, who was currently hiding behind a nearby boulder, realized a major operational mishap had occurred. The rockslide had neutralized the attackers, but the structural failure of the cliffside was about to send the key passenger plunging into the abyss.
If the carriage falls, the quest fails,
Shen Jin realized grimly.
Putting on his mask of absolute, unadulterated panic, Shen Jin screamed at the top of his lungs, "The mountain is falling! Help! The horses are going to drag us down!"
He "tripped" out from the shadows, scrambling frantically toward the rear of Carriage Twelve. To the busy guards fighting off the remaining rogues in the firelight, it looked like a terrified stable boy was blindly running for his life in the wrong direction.
Shen Jin reached the rear of the tilting carriage just as the final iron stabilizing chain snapped with a loud
PING
. The massive wooden box began to slide backward into the foggy abyss.
Acting on sheer instinct and the precise calculations of his system, Shen Jin lunged forward, grabbing a trailing hemp rope attached to the carriage axle. He didn't use brute mortal strength—he dropped into a flawless, deep horse stance, anchoring his heels into the cracks of the stone ledge.
Vanguard Scripture—Containment!
Shen Jin channeled every single drop of his newly formed Qi down through his legs and directly into the bedrock of the mountain, turning his own body into an immovable iron anchor. The immense kinetic energy of the falling five-ton carriage ripped through the rope, tearing the skin off Shen Jin’s palms and causing his muscles to scream in sudden agony.
Hold,
he roared internally, his teeth grinding together so hard they bled.
With a violent jerk, the sliding carriage slammed to a complete halt, its rear wheels spinning uselessly over the empty air of the bottomless ravine. Shen Jin stood frozen in the dark, his raw, bleeding hands tightly gripping the rope, single-handedly holding a massive carriage back from the brink of death.
To anyone looking from the camp, it looked like an absolute, incomprehensible miracle. The terrified stable boy had tangled his arms in a loose rope while trying to run away, and through some absurd freak accident of physics, his body had become wedged perfectly between two heavy boulders, inadvertently acting as a living counterweight that saved the carriage.
"Hold on, brat!" Old Barlow shouted from across the camp, witnessing the spectacular sight as he cut down a rogue cultivator. "Chief Gao! Help the boy! He’s holding the luxury box!"
[PING.]
[Mishap Resolved: Environmental Collapse Managed.]
[Assessment: The host successfully protected the primary asset and neutralized the stealth vanguard of the enemy while maintaining a completely clumsy, accidental public profile.]
[Rewards Distributed:]
+40 Vanguard Points (VP).
Current Balance: 40 VP.
Shen Jin let out a loud, theatrical shriek of pain, pretending his arms were being pulled out of their sockets as Chief Gao and three other guards rushed over to haul the carriage back onto the safe road.
Beneath his simulated tears, Shen Jin looked into the dark valley. The ambush wasn't over yet—but with forty fresh Vanguard Points sitting in his ledger, he was more than ready for the next phase.