Your agility is simply too low.

Until the afternoon, the porridge-vending process proceeded without a ripple. Once he secured the 150 faction contribution points, Chu Danqing finally stood up, packed his belongings, and prepared to return to the Lu Mansion.

As for digging deeper into the trial world to raise his rating, that would require corresponding clues and directions. Otherwise, wandering around blindly was far less cost-effective than reading books while casually grinding for faction contribution points.

"Patron Chu, Brother Yin is looking for you," Lu Qiaoyun's voice rang out. Just as she stepped down from her sedan chair, she waved at Chu Danqing with a hint of excitement.

Chu Danqing pretended not to hear, turned around, and climbed straight into his carriage.

"Patron Chu..." The coachman started to speak, but hesitated, only to be cut off by Chu Danqing.

"It is getting late; we should head back to the Lu Mansion," Chu Danqing deliberately played dumb.

He had no desire to get entangled with this lovelorn Lu family woman.

"But Eld..." The coachman, thinking Chu Danqing might genuinely not have heard, opened his mouth to remind him.

Chu Danqing interrupted him once more. "Right, the roads are difficult to navigate late at night, so let's hurry."

As soon as these words left his mouth, the coachman immediately understood Chu Danqing's intent and had no choice but to urge the horses forward.

Dabao followed closely beside, looking puzzled as to why Chu Danqing hadn't waited for Lu Qiaoyun. However, restrained by the fact that they had already set off, he didn't dare ask directly.

Lu Qiaoyun's sedan chair could not match the speed of a carriage, and thus she was quickly left far behind.

With Lu Qiaoyun out of the way, Chu Danqing's expression relaxed.

"Wait!" Dabao suddenly roared, simultaneously activating Rending Claws and slamming his own body forcefully against the carriage, causing it to swerve violently off course.

Immediately afterward, the sound of a gunshot rang out, and a bullet grazed right past Dabao's cheek.

Had it not been for Dabao's decisive action just then, that bullet would have had a very high probability of hitting Chu Danqing. It might not have killed him, but it certainly would have inflicted heavy injuries.

Chu Danqing steadied his posture and vaulted out from the back of the carriage in a single, swift motion.

Dabao charged straight toward the direction of the gunshot without a moment's delay, clearly having locked onto the enemy.

Clang, clang, clang...

Heavy footsteps echoed from behind Chu Danqing. He turned his head and caught sight of Iron Rock's figure.

"Chu Wusheng, without your summons, how much capability do you think you have left?" Iron Rock's tone carried a mocking edge.

He couldn't defeat the Fierce Fist, but a Summoning-type without any summoned creatures could possess how much combat power?

The moment they laid eyes on each other, both sides simultaneously cast their inspection skills.

[Reserve-tier Dimensional Apostle]
[Attributes]
[HP: 85%]
[Energy: 25]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 5]
[Constitution: 9]
[Spirit: 5]
[Perception: 5]
[Skills]
[Iron Smelt Slash (Active) LV.5]
[Heavy Charge (Active) LV.8]

"I never expected you to actually possess a complete set of foundational system skills."

"What a pity, you're merely a Summoning-type." Joy radiated wildly through Iron Rock's tone as he immediately activated his Heavy Charge, hurtling directly toward Chu Danqing.

In the process, he also downed a vial of Weak Energy Potion to restore his energy reserves.

His objective was simple: to severely injure Chu Danqing and force him to surrender that knowledge-type item.

Following the government crackdown on the Taiping Dao, Iron Rock's trial quest was merely a matter of time before failing.

To avoid falling into a vicious cycle, he had to acquire the knowledge-type item in Chu Danqing's possession. Once fenced off, it would not only cover the deficit from his penalties, but also leave him with a surplus.

As for copying the contents and selling them indefinitely? Putting aside the Paradise's prohibitions, no one would be willing to purchase unnotarized knowledge.

Copying it for personal use was fine, but selling it without notarizing the copy would incur direct retribution from the Paradise.

Knowledge could circulate, but it could not be allowed to run rampant unchecked.

Many kinds of knowledge carried special powers and unknown taboos, making casual dissemination impossible.

While executing Heavy Charge to close the distance and increase damage, his energy would simultaneously recover, granting him sufficient energy to unleash Iron Smelt Slash for the kill.

As for Chu Danqing's Life Link and Energy Link? He didn't care about them in the least. Without summoned entities to share the damage, his opponent was nothing more than trash.

Yet the very next moment, he saw five links materialize, plunging directly into his body.

"Your agility is simply too low." As Chu Danqing spoke, he watched Iron Rock's shield and axe come hacking toward him without displaying the slightest trace of panic.

"No, wait, this shouldn't be..." Terror flashed in Iron Rock's eyes. He desperately wanted to interrupt his own Heavy Charge and Iron Smelt Slash skills.

Yet he could not interrupt them. The levels of these two skills had been raised using Paradise Points, and his actual usage count was low.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use them often, but rather that they had to be reserved as trump cards.

Even at LV.1, casting them required 10 points of energy each. Having upgraded them to their current levels, they now demanded 15 and 18 points respectively.

That was precisely why he had needed to drink a vial of Weak Energy Potion beforehand; otherwise, his energy pool would have been insufficient to execute both skills.

Consumables were too expensive to afford casually, and natural recovery rate was a mere 1 point per hour, which could not support long-term training and refinement.

Possessing high-level skills while lacking sufficient practical application meant his brain declared that he had mastered them, while his body insisted that he should try doing it himself.

Unable to interrupt, he could only swerve off course. However, Chu Danqing had no intention of letting him off so easily; he thrust his head directly upward to collide with the opponent's incoming shield and axe.

[You have suffered 3.4 fatal damage. 106.6 shared damage has been inflicted upon the Life Link target.]

"Agh!!!" Iron Rock let out a miserable scream as a heart-rending agony erupted across his entire body, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood directly.

His entire body went limp and collapsed powerlessly, his grip failing him to the extent that his shield and axe tumbled from his hands.

Chu Danqing reached up to touch his forehead, where the skin was broken and bleeding, before retrieving a medicinal steamed bun and stuffing it into his mouth to chew.

He drew his short blade and deliberately inflicted another cut upon himself.

[Bạn đã tiêu diệt Dự bị Chiều không gian Sứ đồ]
[You have killed the Reserve-tier Dimensional Apostle]

He smoothly sent Iron Rock on his way.

"As expected of a dual 9 in Strength and Constitution; not only is his damage higher than the Great Chieftain of Qingya Fortress, but he can even withstand one more blow than him." Chu Danqing popped another medicinal steamed bun into his mouth.

"I originally thought these buns offered too little recovery to be of any use, but it turns out they're just right for me."

A steamer contained ten buns, and he had five steamers in his possession—fifty in total, of which he had only used three. They proved remarkably durable and completely unwasteful.

"During the reserve tier, the Paradise encourages cooperation. Unless a default cooperative mode is established, killing an Apostle yields no bloody treasure chest."

"Even though you cannot obtain the loot stored within their spatial inventory, external items can still be taken."

Chu Danqing began gathering his spoils of war, such as Iron Rock's heavy armor, shield, and axe.

On the other side, Dabao was dragging a mutilated corpse that no longer resembled a human shape. Judging from the clothing, it was Cold Shadow.

He had been nothing more than a decoy, a pawn used to lure Dabao away.

"People's hearts are fickle, and the existence of a Summoning-type Apostle is entirely justified."

"Little Chu, this thing... equipment..." Dabao fumbled through the corpse for a moment and pulled out a sniper rifle. "Shoots... cold... and hurts."

"You use it. It's a perfect fit!"

When Chu Danqing caught sight of the sniper rifle, a look of delight bloomed across his face as well.