CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 159: ILLUSORY EXCHANGE FOR REALITY

The most direct change was in his control over two Star Martial Skills. Wang Lan could clearly feel that while using the Crescent Arrow, he could also use the Flame Sword simultaneously. This meant that Star Martial Skills altering form and those altering nature could now be used concurrently.

The problem that had always troubled Wang Lan was his ability to deal with high-speed, highly agile Star Martial Warriors. His dynamic vision helped him see their movements clearly, allowing him to react in time.

But while using dynamic vision, he couldn’t use powerful offensive abilities. Now, however, Wang Lan could easily use the Flame Sword while employing dynamic vision.

If he were to fight Xu Xiangwen again, Wang Lan could easily crush him, even if Xu Xiangwen deployed his Exploding Fist. After all, in terms of lethality, the Exploding Fist was no match for the Flame Sword.

But this wasn’t the true value of linking the skills. The true value lay in the perfect combination of the Flame Sword and the Crescent Arrow. He could condense the Fire Arrow in the same manner the Flame Sword was condensed.

A Fire Arrow?

This was a direct transformation of a form-changing long-range shooting Star Martial Skill into a nature-changing long-range attack.

Hurriedly, Wang Lan set up a target at a distance of one hundred meters. After a moment of thought, he added a layer of steel plate behind the target.

After all this preparation, Wang Lan was about to test its power but still felt uneasy, so he moved the target to an area backed by PS armor. Just in case the steel plate wasn’t enough, he didn’t want to blast a hole in his basement.

With thorough preparations complete, Wang Lan walked to a point one hundred meters away from the target.

He looked at the target ahead of him and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, a surge of Star Power swirled, and his eyes were covered in a layer of gold, making the distant target appear as if it were right before him.

Lifting his finger as if it were a handgun, in an instant, a pair of golden wings sprang from his wrist, and upon them burned red flames.

WHIZZ—

With a piercing sound, an arrow, twice as large as before and wreathed in raging flames, shot forth.

BOOM—

The target stood firm, and the steel plate behind it also remained in place. The explosion, however, had struck the PS armor positioned further back.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP—Energy level: 50."

"Damn it!" Wang Lan cursed on the spot.

Before, Wang Lan’s Crescent Arrow, even at silver rank nine, had only reached ten energy points. Ten energy points were roughly equivalent to the damage a Python Sniper Rifle could inflict on a target within five hundred meters.

That was a heavy sniper rifle, the type used against armored vehicles.

If this arrow were to hit a Star Martial Warrior of the Galaxy Stage, it would undoubtedly be fatal, even if it didn’t strike a vital spot. But now, its power had quintupled, practically reaching the level of a Nautical Artillery Machine Gun.

Eagerly, Wang Lan went to check the target. Upon seeing the results, he inhaled sharply once more.

The target stood firm, and so did the steel plate behind it. It wasn’t that the arrow had skirted around the target; instead, the target had been pierced cleanly through with minimal resistance.

There was a thumb-sized penetration hole through the center of the target, a perfect bullseye. On the steel plate behind it, there was a wrist-sized penetration hole. This hole wasn’t formed by the arrow piercing through, but rather scorched into existence by the high-temperature flames enveloping the arrow.

Around the hole, there were clear signs of molten metal.

Such terrifying power from the Fire Arrow?

And this was just with Wang Lan using the red flames. What terrifying level would its power reach if he used the Purple Flame Arrow? The thought alone excited him.

This was a true composite Star Martial Skill, worthy of being something only a warrior at the Galaxy Stage would dare to attempt. No wonder it was said that Galaxy Stage Star Martial Warriors represented the pinnacle of human cultivators; the power of composite Star Martial Skills was amplified several-fold.

His excitement didn’t last long. Wang Lan was not one to stay overly thrilled for extended periods. He quickly regained his composure. After all, there was still a special sacrificial item in his system awaiting his study.

Even now, Wang Lan was still unclear about the meaning of ’fantasy replacing reality.’

His mind immersed in the system, he opened the badge page.

The badge, emitting a blue light, teased Wang Lan like a coquettish woman.

Concentrating his spiritual power on the badge, suddenly, a dialog box popped up.

"Do you want to spend five hundred skill points to make an offering?"

"Damn! It even requires skill points? The system didn’t even give me my badge skill point reward, and now it’s asking for mine?"

Looking at the system, which still had eight hundred skill points remaining, Wang Lan gritted his teeth.

I should have known you were a skinflint system; I should have been prepared. Fine, you win.

He allocated the skill points, and it activated instantly.

Suddenly, the badge in the system erupted with a fireworks-like screen of light, and in an instant, a golden carousel appeared before Wang Lan’s eyes.

This looks familiar.

Before I transmigrated, I saw a carousel like this when I died accidentally... Am I going to die again? Is the system trying to kill me?

The carousel spun rapidly, and many of the scenes inside were from movies, TV shows, and cartoons Wang Lan had seen in his previous life.

At this moment, Wang Lan suddenly understood: fantasy exchanged for reality, transforming the fantasies from his memories into tangible existence. If that was truly the case, what an utterly messed-up power this was!

Is this Havoc in Heaven? Should I summon the Monkey King? If the Monkey King arrived, all members of the Demon Clan would be annihilated like mere monsters. Of course, he might also destroy all the cars and skyscrapers on the streets, mistaking them for monsters too.

The Havoc in Heaven scene passed.

The images flipped rapidly again. Resident Evil? Damn it, go away! If Resident Evil became real, humanity wouldn’t even need the Demon Clan to act; we’d self-destruct.

Alien spaceships down there? Not bad, huh? Technology hundreds of years ahead of Sky Blue Star... But the next scene—damn it, is that an Alien? Crap, what kind of messed-up movies did I used to watch?

The scenes kept flipping rapidly, one after another, so startling that many of them could spell the end of human civilization the moment they appeared.

DING—

"Item matching the host’s needs has been found. Would you like to exchange?"

The image froze on a classic anime from his childhood, Saint Seiya.

"What happens if I don’t exchange?"

"This item exchange will be nullified, and the opportunity shall not be returned," the system, for once, responded to Wang Lan—not verbally, but with a text card.

"Then, how do you know my needs?"

The text card read: "The exchange object will only be beneficial to the host, but its actual utility depends entirely on the host’s luck."

"Alright! Exchange."

DING—

The carousel in front of Wang Lan suddenly burst open, and he vaguely saw a cyan-green box. Before Wang Lan had a chance to look closely, the cyan-green box suddenly transformed into a streak of light. Afterwards, his vision returned to the scene in the underground training room.

"Where’s the stuff? The box?" Wang Lan looked around, shouting loudly, only to find nothing.

Only then did Wang Lan feel something in his palm. A square tag, cyan-green in color, made of an unknown material.

Searching his memory, the image that came to mind was from the GG anime from Japan in his previous life, Saint Seiya, where it seemed the Five Little Powerhouses’ Saint Cloths were no longer the big boxes carried on their backs, but had become handy tags.

Looking at the pattern on the tag—a crudely drawn phoenix—could it be the Phoenix Constellation Saint Cloth? Does it have to be this cliché?

Wang Lan tried to flick the tag gently. It tumbled through the air. DING-DONG—

With a crisp sound, the tag landed on the ground.

In an instant, the tag lit up, and a white magic array instantly unfolded with the tag at its center. From within the array, a loud phoenix cry was heard, and a phoenix reflecting a metallic luster slowly rose from it.

It really is the Phoenix Constellation Saint Cloth!

Wang Lan examined the Saint Cloth. Just then, it burst apart in an instant, its pieces swiftly attaching themselves to Wang Lan’s body.

As Wang Lan recalled it, before he could even process what was happening, the Saint Cloth had already assembled itself on him.

As he donned the Saint Cloth, suddenly, the Star Power around Wang Lan surged wildly. The Star palace above his head slowly opened, and a relentless stream of Star Power flowed from the Saint Cloth into the Star palace, causing the Star Shine inside to emit an even more dazzling and blinding light.

The Saint Cloth was merely an auxiliary item for a Saint Seiya, providing protection and an amplification of their Cosmos. However, a Saint Cloth could not replace a Saint Seiya. Even without a Saint Cloth, a powerful Saint Seiya was still a powerful Saint Seiya.

So, even with the Saint Cloth on, Wang Lan didn’t inherit any Phoenix Wing Sky Soaring skills. But the boost in Star Power was real and substantial.

Furthermore, after donning the Saint Cloth, Wang Lan felt enveloped in a profound sense of security. It was as if, with the Saint Cloth, he could charge headfirst into a mountain of swords or a sea of flames.

Beyond the additional physical strength, the Saint Cloth seemed to bolster Wang Lan’s spirit as well, instilling conviction, tenacity, resolve, passion, courage, and fearlessness...

Damn it, who asked for these things?!

Now, Wang Lan finally understood why the Five Little Powerhouses were so idiotic. Damn it, you guys are just Bronze Saints; where did you get the nerve to challenge the Gold Saints of the Zodiac?

Didn’t you have any clue about your own strength? If the Twelve Gold Saints hadn’t gone incredibly easy on you, your Saint Cloth boxes wouldn’t be for carrying Cloths; they’d be for carrying your ashes!

Now Wang Lan understood; it was the Saint Cloth’s fault! Wearing this Saint Cloth, he felt he could take on ten opponents at once.

Fortunately, this world probably didn’t have Athena’s will. So that kind of blood-pumping excitement didn’t affect Wang Lan’s consciousness. After getting used to it for a while, Wang Lan calmed down again.

The Saint Cloth definitely gave Wang Lan a significant boost. His Star Power had doubled compared to before, and it also seemed to increase his strength and speed to some extent.

This was just a Bronze Saint Cloth. If it were a Silver Saint Cloth or a Gold Saint Cloth, Wang Lan felt he could even go head-to-head with Galaxy Stage masters.

With a thought from Wang Lan, the Saint Cloth on his body suddenly burst apart, reassembling in front of him into the form of a phoenix. But to Wang Lan’s surprise, the Phoenix Saint Cloth didn’t turn back into a tag but instead transformed into a streak of light that shot into Wang Lan’s Star palace.

The Saint Cloth disappeared from view, but Wang Lan could clearly sense its presence. All it took was a thought and opening the Star palace, and the Saint Cloth would automatically appear.

If I wear this to the provincial martial arts competition, wouldn’t that be cheating? Wang Lan mused, then shook his head with a wry smile.

Forget it. Wearing the Saint Cloth to compete would be even worse than using my Phoenix Form. At least the Phoenix Form is a Star Martial Skill. This Saint Cloth is blatantly an external cheat.