Chapter 68: The Mysterious Arts—Celestial Surge

“If I’m not mistaken, Liu Renfu’s storage ring must have given you quite a few tools and talismans, hasn’t it?”
“The lifetime achievements of a high-level Secret Word Master are now in your hands.”
“Even if you have no battle strategy, just tossing all of them out in one go—”
“With the power of those items, a sudden ambush when the target is unprepared would overwhelm not just a level 70 professional, but even a level 90 professional would be unable to withstand it!”

With that, the City Lord waved his hand, took out a skill book, and handed it to Song Qi.
“Of course, I won’t let you work for nothing.”
“This skill book is to compensate for your loss.”
“A skill book?”
Song Qi was a little surprised and took a look.

[Skill Book: Qimen Dunjia—Heavenly Surge]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Restricted Classes: Summoner, Priest, Mage]
[Skill Description: The user can consume mental energy to release a powerful shockwave. The strength of the shockwave is proportional to the user’s mental attribute, dealing low damage to enemies, but inflicting an extremely strong knockback! Cooldown: none.]
[Max Level: Cannot be upgraded]

“A Legendary skill book?”
“A shockwave effect? That seems a little underwhelming for its grade.”
Song Qi was puzzled; the effect didn’t seem to match the prestige of a Legendary skill.

Clearly, this was a skill more focused on defense, mainly to create distance from enemies. While it did have some offensive potential, it still couldn’t make up for the lackluster effect.
If it were an Extraordinary skill, it would be quite good. But a Legendary skill… that felt a bit forced.

He kept reading—
“Cooldown… none?!”
Song Qi’s eyes widened in shock!
“Damn! This is a god-tier skill!”
The instant he saw the cooldown, his attitude changed completely!
A skill with no cooldown?!
As expected of a Legendary skill!

It was simply outrageous!
Song Qi felt as if he’d stumbled upon a treasure.
What was originally just a defensive skill, with no cooldown, instantly became an absurdly powerful control ability!
After all, it’s not just effects like stun or immobilize that count as crowd control.
Knockback and pushback are also forms of control!
As long as the skill’s energy cost wasn’t excessive, even if the effect was somewhat average, the absurdly short cooldown erased all its weaknesses!

“This is a skill book I prepared especially for your participation in the Genius Tournament,” the City Lord said with a smile.
“Its effect is almost on par with an Epic skill.”
“Well? Are you satisfied?”
“Satisfied—more than satisfied!”
Song Qi nodded eagerly.
At the same time, he felt a rush of gratitude.
A Legendary skill like [Soul Link], exclusive to Summoners, already sold for eighty to a hundred million credits.
But this skill, usable not only by Summoners but also by Mages and Priests—two of the most popular professions—and with such a game-changing effect, would easily fetch five or six hundred million credits!
If it were put up for public auction with advance notice throughout the human race, it could easily fetch double that amount.
And the City Lord had simply given it to him?
Even Liu Renfu, an over-level-80 Secret Word Master, had a lifetime’s legacy of only about a billion credits.
This skill book, nearly Epic in quality, was already almost as valuable as that entire legacy.
The City Lord’s gift was truly precious.
And his treatment of Song Qi was more generous than words could express.

Song Qi clenched his teeth, glanced at the pile of precious items in his storage ring, then at the [Void Torrent] skill on his panel.
Plus the stats of Lü Bu and Ying Zheng—
“City Lord, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to obtain the Abyssal Key!”
“Good! That’s all the assurance I need!” The City Lord laughed heartily.
“Go on, I believe in you.”

Just as the words fell—
A swirl of black mist enveloped the City Lord, and with a twist, he vanished from the spot.
Without a moment’s hesitation.
Song Qi scratched his head and sighed.
“Five level-70 professionals… I wonder just how strong they really are?”
“Though I boasted earlier, in truth, I’m not completely sure of myself.”
“But… why does the City Lord trust me so much?”

At last, he realized it.
The City Lord seemed entirely unconcerned for the safety of a super S-rank talent like himself.
Letting him leave the city to train was one thing.
But now expecting him to jump fifty levels to challenge high-ranking professionals?
It didn’t feel like neglect, either.
After all, he’d been given primordial water to drink and a top-tier Legendary skill book.
That didn’t look like disregard at all.

“Did he already set up contingencies, so he isn’t afraid? Or is he really just letting me roam free?”
Song Qi understood that the City Lord likely kept silent to temper his will,
to make sure he wouldn’t panic when facing life-and-death crises in the future.
“Forget it, I’d better get to work.”

He took out the parchment, checked his location, and then vanished from the room as well.

Splash!
Song Qi appeared two kilometers away in the snowy wilderness.
Directional teleportation had a ten-minute cooldown, so right after using it, Song Qi summoned Ying Zheng.
He had Ying Zheng call forth the horse-shaped terracotta warriors, and the two of them rode sand mares at full speed!

Though Lü Bu’s speed was greater,
the idea of riding on Lü Bu’s back just felt… odd…
So Song Qi chose to summon Ying Zheng instead.