Star Chart
[S] class equipment!
Such things were nothing new to Chen Xiaolian.
The Stone Sword was [S] class. Roddy's mech was also [S] class.
But the issue was, [S] class equipment ending up in the hands of Qiu Yun was abnormal.
Who was Qiu Yun? He had some reputation in the awakened circles, but he was far from being a top-notch expert.
For someone like him to possess an [S] class equipment was akin to a country like South Korea suddenly acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
It just didn't make sense!
Chen Xiaolian carefully examined the "Star Chart", the more he looked, the more shocked he became!
Current grade: A-.
This was already quite high, and the growth potential of [S] class made this thing qualify as [S] class equipment.
"Summoning-type equipment?" Chen Xiaolian looked at the star chart, at those figures of generals shrouded in mist.
He couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.
"This is seriously impressive!"
...
Let me put it this way, calling the Star Chart a summoning-type equipment isn't entirely accurate.
Simply put, it's a comprehensive equipment for collection and summoning. According to the system's prompts, the usage method of the Star Chart can be roughly summarized as follows: there are seven slots in the Star Chart, precisely corresponding to the positions of the Big Dipper's seven stars.
And each slot can hold the spirit of an ancient warrior.
Obtaining the Star Chart allows you to summon the spirits of ancient warriors stored within it to aid in battle as needed!
As for how to obtain these spirits of ancient warriors, the system prompts didn't go into detail. After some thought, Chen Xiaolian speculated that it might require experiencing some special instances before being able to recruit the souls of certain warriors.
There are no specific warriors for the seven star positions, which means you can collect anyone you like. Naturally, the more powerful the warrior, the stronger their combat abilities.
Collecting someone like "General Pan Feng" compared to someone like "Lu Bu" would naturally yield vastly different results.
Moreover, according to the introduction on the Star Chart, the combat effectiveness of individually collected warrior spirits is of a certain level.
But once all seven warrior spirits are gathered to form the Big Dipper constellation on the Star Chart, activating the formation significantly boosts the combat effectiveness of each warrior spirit.
Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang, these are the seven stars. Any soul can be placed in each star position.
Completing the seven stars activates the formation bonus of the Big Dipper, turning the warrior spirits into enhanced versions.
However, the most crucial position among them is the Tianshu star.
This is the core position of the Big Dipper, also known as the primary position of the Star Chart.
This primary position is essential. According to the description, it's best to occupy the primary position with a powerful warrior spirit. The stronger the warrior spirit in the primary position, the greater the bonus when the Seven Star Formation is activated!
It's unclear where Qiu Yun obtained such an extraordinary piece of equipment.
But when Chen Xiaolian saw the requirements for the primary position, he suddenly realized.
No wonder!
No wonder Qiu Yun was so obsessed with acquiring the soul of Bai Qi, it was a must!
It turns out, he wanted to obtain the soul of Bai Qi to fill the primary position!
At present, it seems that all the positions of the Big Dipper on Qiu Yun's Star Chart have been filled.
However, the names of these warriors listed above seem somewhat lacking. Obviously, with Qiu Yun's strength, he probably doesn't have the ability to subdue too many top-tier warrior spirits.
As it stands, for the most part, he seems to have just gathered some ordinary characters to fill the gaps—regardless of their quality, the priority is to gather seven of them first and activate the Big Dipper Formation, which would provide some power enhancement, which is better than being idle.
The current names of the seven warrior spirits are:
Zhang Dayan, Chen Hu, Wang Tieqiang, Zhao Shenghu, Feng Wan, Xu Zhen...
At a glance, the first six names are very unfamiliar, it's obvious that Qiu Yun just randomly picked some insignificant characters from who-knows-where to fill the numbers.
However, when he saw the last one, the seventh name, Chen Xiaolian's expression changed!
Finally, he saw a renowned warrior!
Moreover, if you look at it from the perspective of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he's definitely a top-notch character in terms of combat prowess.
Donglai Taishi Ci!
That's the full name, and it even has "Donglai" as a prefix.
This name is clearly leagues apart from the previous six fillers.
Chen Xiaolian suddenly became interested and carefully read the introduction on the Star Chart.
Donglai Taishi Ci: Extracted from the soul of the Three Kingdoms general Taishi Ci from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Note: "Donglai" indicates the extraction time period and the status of the soul's strength.
With this prefix name, Chen Xiaolian was initially puzzled, but then he finally understood.
Having read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Xiaolian naturally knew that Taishi Ci, as a top-notch general of Eastern Wu, actually started his career in Shandong. In the novel, Taishi Ci hailed from Donglai, so this prefix "Donglai" probably indicates that the extracted warrior spirit should represent Taishi Ci's combat strength when he first started his career.
This is easy to understand. The combat strength of each warrior is not a constant value.
Saying that their combat power is 99 doesn't mean it's always 99—this is far from the truth. A warrior's combat power varies with age, from youth to adulthood to old age, along with improvements in martial skills, physical condition, combat experience, and various other factors.
To give a simple example from the Three Kingdoms period, the Guan Yu who slew Yan Liang and Wen Chou, compared to the aged Guan Yu who later passed through Maicheng, undoubtedly had differing levels of martial prowess.
Similarly, the Lu Bu who was at his peak before Hulao Pass, compared to the Lu Bu who later found himself trapped at Xiapi, drowning his sorrows in wine and looking haggard, would also have different combat capabilities. The former was in his prime, while the latter was in decline.
So, this Donglai Taishi Ci undoubtedly represents the warrior spirit of Taishi Ci, one of the top generals of the Three Kingdoms.
However, the combat power can only represent Taishi Ci's level when he first started his career, far from reaching his later period during the Battle of Shenting, where he had already commanded troops for many years, and both his martial skills and experience had matured.
"Just starting out is just starting out, but he's still a first-rate general." Chen Xiaolian sighed with satisfaction.
From the search results of the Star Chart, the current seven warriors, the first six are insignificant characters, with the system displaying four at C-level and two at B- level, clearly not very useful.
However, Donglai Taishi Ci received an "A-" grade evaluation from the system.
Taishi Ci occupies the primary position of Tianshu. According to the Star Chart's prompt: With an [A-] class warrior spirit in the primary position, each warrior in the Seven Star Formation can receive an 8% overall combat power boost, with a total summoning time of up to 30 minutes for each warrior.
This summoning time can accumulate, meaning you can distribute the 30 minutes among the seven warriors, or use it all for one warrior. While summoning all seven warriors at once may have a grand effect, once divided evenly, the time per warrior is relatively short. If you continuously summon one warrior, you can use them for half an hour.
After summoning once, the cooldown time is quite annoying... 48 hours!
A full two days!
It can be said that the Star Chart is essentially an external equipment similar to a combat pet.
With this thing, it's like having seven additional combat pets.
But the biggest difference is: the warriors in the Star Chart are consumables. Once a warrior is summoned, it is considered activated for single use. Regardless of how much time you summon them for, whether it's one minute or ten minutes, once you recall them, they enter cooldown.
In terms of usage, it's not as flexible as the system's combat pets, which can be summoned and recalled at any time, with no limit on usage.
Moreover, once a warrior spirit dies in battle, it will disappear forever.
It's a good thing overall.
And having a Donglai Taishi Ci is definitely a powerful and reliable combat assistant!
As for the other six, Chen Xiaolian thought, any normal person, if they haven't lost their mind, would quickly find a way to replace them with more powerful warrior spirits.
Just make do for now, and when conditions permit, switch to better ones immediately!
Chen Xiaolian happily accepted the Star Chart and then looked at Qiu Yun, who was already knocked unconscious beside him.
He hesitated.
What should he do with Qiu Yun?
Kill him?
To be honest, Chen Xiaolian really couldn't bring himself to do it.
Qiu Yun didn't have any grudges against him, and he had actually been quite good to him. Although he did deceive everyone in the Qin Emperor's Tomb instance in the end, he hadn't really harmed Chen Xiaolian personally.
Chen Xiaolian sighed and took out some black widow spider silk from his storage equipment, tightly binding Qiu Yun's hands and feet.
He carried Qiu Yun back into the palace corridor of the Apothecary Palace and quickly found his target.
A "safe house".
In his memory, in the Qin Emperor's Tomb instance, the safe house was the safest place. Not only would the patrolling Terracotta Warriors monsters not enter, but even the big boss Bai Qi couldn't step foot inside the safe house!
Chen Xiaolian tossed the unconscious Qiu Yun into a corner of the safe house, stuffed his mouth shut, and then wrapped him up with layers of blankets.
Qiu Yun wasn't skilled in evasion techniques, so it was unlikely he could break free from the black widow spider silk. Moreover, the location of this safe house was relatively remote, making it difficult for ordinary awakened individuals to find it. Let him wait here.
As Chen Xiaolian was about to leave the safe house, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to Qiu Yun's side.
After fiddling around with him for a while, he left again.
This time, he returned to the huge tripod in the front hall.
"The Five Elements Formation, with metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Everything else in the square is complete. To activate the formation, the most crucial part is actually here. When Qiu Yun tricked me back then, Xia Xiaolei had warned me..."
Chen Xiaolian pondered silently as he held the Tiger Talisman in his hand. At the same time, he took out a bottle and unscrewed the cap, slowly pouring the liquid inside into the bronze tripod.
The crimson liquid naturally wasn't anything else but genuine human blood!
Of course, this blood wasn't Chen Xiaolian's own, but rather extracted from Qiu Yun just now.
Since they had already fought, borrowing a bit of his blood wasn't too unreasonable. Given the choice, Chen Xiaolian wouldn't foolishly use his own blood.
As the fresh blood flowed into the bronze tripod, whether it was an illusion or something else...
He felt a surge of Qi blowing through the hall! It was bone-chillingly cold!
His body instinctively shivered, and he saw black mist rapidly condensing within the bronze tripod.
The mist twisted and coalesced, becoming denser and denser, as if it was drawn towards the half-empty bottle of blood in Chen Xiaolian's hand.
Not waiting for the black mist to touch him, Chen Xiaolian swiftly emptied the bottle of blood and then tossed it away.
The black mist, seemingly attracted by the blood, immediately abandoned Chen Xiaolian and converged towards the bottle. However, soon after, as if losing its target, it began to swirl around aimlessly.
Chen Xiaolian was secretly alarmed!
Fortunately, he didn't use his own blood just now!
The black mist, activated by the blood, was clearly searching for its owner.
If he had used his own blood just now, he might have been like the "historical" Qiu Yun, entangled by Bai Qi's soul, and thus possessed!
Indeed.
Possession!
Chen Xiaolian suddenly felt a jolt and remembered a detail.
In the historical instance of the Qin Emperor's Tomb, the appearance of the big boss Bai Qi was due to Qiu Yun's attempt to control him, which was disrupted by Xia Xiaolei, leading to Bai Qi's possession and transformation into the big boss Bai Qi.
But now... if there wasn't a physical body for Bai Qi to possess, what would the big boss Bai Qi be like?
As Chen Xiaolian thought about this, his heart suddenly shook!
He could see the black mist beginning to condense and swirl!
The Apothecary Palace beneath his feet, as if the entire palace complex, trembled slightly!
Chen Xiaolian felt as if the walls around him were pressing down, and the pervasive aura of resentment enveloping him made him feel as if he were in an icy dungeon!
Suddenly, Chen Xiaolian began to run towards the depths of the main hall!
After running for about twenty steps, he suddenly heard a low, intense moan filled with resentment behind him!
Chen Xiaolian turned back and was instantly stunned.
"B-Bai Qi?!"
In his memory, the Bai Qi from the Qin Emperor's Tomb instance was clad in a snow-white long robe, with an ethereal aura, and a semi-transparent sword in hand, icy and elegant.
But the Bai Qi before him now...
His features and body shape remained the same, but...
He was dressed entirely in jet-black robes! The black was as thick as condensed ink, as if black mist lingered and roamed around his black attire! The short sword in his hand was also as black as ink, so thick it seemed almost indissoluble!
From head to toe, only his bare face and hands were as pale as if transparent, but even his eyes were like two black pearls! The pupils were completely black, devoid of white!
A... black version of Bai Qi?!
Chen Xiaolian felt the intense killing intent almost like a tangible force stabbing towards him, causing a faint pain in his facial skin!
And as the "black Bai Qi" uttered a low moan, his black eyes were fixed on Chen Xiaolian.
More accurately, they were fixed on the... Tiger Talisman in his hand!!
"Give it back to me!"
Hearing this familiar line, Chen Xiaolian didn't hesitate any longer. He ran as fast as he could, sprinting towards the palace gate leading to the central square of the Apothecary Palace!
Behind him, a black cloud followed, and Bai Qi's legs were still shrouded in dense mist as he closely pursued Chen Xiaolian!
Chen Xiaolian rushed to the palace gate, pushed it open with all his strength, and dashed out. He quickly closed the gate behind him and ran down the steps in one breath.
Looking at the tall twelve bronze figures on the square, the crooked-neck tree, and at the far end of the square, the majestic main gate towering atop the high steps...
Boom!!!
Behind him, the gate Chen Xiaolian had just rushed out of suddenly shattered!
Countless wood chips turned into decayed wood, dried up, and then shattered, flying in all directions!
Bai Qi, clad in black, rushed out like a whirlwind!
He landed in the center of the square, gazing coldly at Chen Xiaolian. Then, he suddenly raised the black short sword in his hand.
"Come out!!"
A stern shout!!
Buzz!!
An invisible shockwave spread out in a circular shockwave, and soon, the sound of orderly footsteps was heard.
The gates around the square all opened, and a dense formation of black terracotta warriors emerged, marching out in perfect formation!
Long spears stood like a forest, swords gleaming like the sea!!
The main gate of the palace opened... just like in history, four tall Qin soldiers clad in full black armor, their faces obscured, surrounded by black mist, stepped out of the gate one by one and stood on the platform in front of the main hall!
Bai Qi, clad in black, looked coldly at Chen Xiaolian. Chen Xiaolian felt the pressure like a mountain, the chilling aura almost suffocating him.
But there was still a trace of clarity in his mind: According to the rules of the instance, Bai Qi cannot attack someone holding the Tiger Talisman!!
Unless the person holding the Tiger Talisman steps into the main hall where Qin Shi Huang's coffin is located.
Otherwise, Bai Qi cannot attack him!
So...
Chen Xiaolian gritted his teeth and stuffed half a piece of spicy strip into his mouth.