Chapter 136: The Copper Coin That Costs Lives

The sun was still blazing high, and the two painted pleasure boats remained moored by the riverside.

Inside the vessels, however, the occupants had already consumed quite a bit of liquor. This was now Zhang He's fifth cup of wine.

With every extra cup he drank, the two beauties smiled even more sweetly. Especially Little Tian'er—her smile outshone the peach blossoms blooming along both banks of the river.

As the sixth cup went down, Zhang He finally could not help laughing and said, "Many thanks to both of you maidens for... for this fine wine!"

His tongue seemed much heavier than usual, and his speech was slightly slurred. Meng Yanqing smiled and said, "Brother Wu seems suited for savoring wine, not for gulping it down like a bovine."

Zhang He indeed looked somewhat intoxicated. He leaned lazily against the carved wooden chair and waved a hand. "Yes... yes, I am drunk and wish to sleep, I am drunk and wish to sleep..."

With that, he seemed to pass out right there in the chair, and in less than a minute, he actually began to snore.

When a player gets drunk, the brain-computer system treats the level of intoxication as an offline state. Under normal circumstances, if there is no movement after three to ten minutes, the player is automatically logged out. Of course, upon waking up, the automatic reconnection places them right back in the same spot.

Seeing Zhang He snoring, the smile vanished entirely from Meng Yanqing's face. She said coldly, "I didn't expect his tolerance for alcohol to be so pathetic."

Little Tian'er still wore her sweet smile. "Even if someone possesses great abilities, it doesn't necessarily mean they can handle their liquor."

Meng Yanqing asked, "Is he really that 'Force Conquers All' who wrecked the plans of Fat Mantis and Baili Feng?"

Little Tian'er smiled. "The guild's intelligence certainly cannot be wrong. They boarded the ship at Yuezhou Sword River Wharf the day before yesterday. Calculating the time, they should have just arrived here around now."

Meng Yanqing evidently belonged to that overly suspicious type. "Then why haven't we seen any of his companions?"

Little Tian'er replied, "They probably haven't logged on yet. Otherwise, with all the commotion we've made, his companions couldn't possibly have missed it."

Meng Yanqing sighed. "I never imagined the helm leader would send both of us to finish him off. Had I known it would come to this, my coming alone would have been more than enough."

"Hee hee, Sister Qing, you shouldn't underestimate this fellow. I heard Sister Su once crossed paths with him. According to Sister Su, this guy has some tricks up his sleeve with hidden weapons—he's likely a master of that craft." Though Little Tian'er was still smiling, her words carried the thick, seasoned air of a veteran Jianghu traveler.

Meng Yanqing sneered, her tone dripping with disdain. "So what if he has a few tricks? Aren't men all the same? Every single one of them has a cheap bone in their body. You feed him a bit of honeyed poison, and he really starts to think he's somebody special. Look at this brat—all composed on the outside, restless on the inside. Just a few drinks and he's already like this."

Little Tian'er clapped her hands and smiled. "Alright, Sister Qing, let's not say anymore. Three minutes are almost up. Finish him off first so we can go back and report our mission."

"Right!" The moment the word left Meng Yanqing's lips, her face was染 (stained) with a murderous aura. She drew a willow-leaf saber from her bundle, slowly approached Zhang He, and raised the blade high.

Looking down at the sleeping Zhang He, she said with utter contempt, "Since we were able to chop off Third Sister's head, we can naturally chop off yours as well. Brat, hurry back to the city. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for meddling in other people's business. I won't even let you know how you died..."

With that, she brought the blade down in a swift motion, the flash of steel cutting straight toward Zhang He's neck.

At that exact moment, something happened that she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams. Zhang He, sitting in the chair, suddenly shot out his hand and pressed his finger against her arm like lightning. Although his "Ruyi Finger" skill was still at the basic level, since this finger technique was called "Ruyi Finger," it was never meant to be just a single poke; it involved a continuous sequence of precise, effortless strikes.

Starting from Meng Yanqing's arm all the way up to her shoulder, four pressure points along her upper body were struck in the span of a split second.

With a loud clatter, the willow-leaf saber dropped to the floor, and her entire body went limp, half of her numbness spreading through her frame.

Although the damage value dealt by Zhang He's finger strike was a mere "0," Meng Yanqing's movement stat plummeted by nearly 110 points. It would have been a miracle if she could still move.

"You..." Meng Yanqing was both terrified and furious. "You weren't drunk at all? You were faking it..."

"You guessed it." Zhang He finally stood up from the chair and laughed. "Since I was able to expose the conspiracies of Fat Mantis and Baili Feng, how could I possibly fail to see through a little trick like yours?"

Little Tian'er clapped her hands and smiled. "Truly a hero among men, impervious to a thousand cups, and full of masculine charm. I always adore men who can hold their liquor."

"You flatter me!" Zhang He chuckled softly. "I know nothing about being impervious to a thousand cups. I only know that no matter how hospitable a female player might be in *Dynasty*, she would never invite a total stranger onto her boat to drink on their very first meeting. When someone offers hospitality for no reason, what's the next line? You know how it goes, hehe!"

His dry chuckle nearly caused Meng Yanqing to burst with anger. It was always her who mocked men as worthless scumbags; now, for the first time in her life, the tables were turned, and a man was treating her as someone with ulterior, ill-intentioned motives.

Ah, women, women—sometimes a woman's mouth is truly venomous. But men? Sometimes a man's insults are even more ingenious, exquisitely beyond description.

"You... you scoundrel!" Meng Yanqing was beside herself with rage.

She was wrong again. Intentionally infuriating people was not her strong suit; Zhang He was the undisputed authority in this area.

Zhang He laughed merrily. "True, I am a scoundrel, but you are a clumsy thief."

Meng Yanqing was practically speechless with fury.

Yet Little Tian'er was still smiling. "Sister Su was right after all. Brother Wu really does have some skills, and his alcohol tolerance is truly remarkable. I genuinely admire him."

Zhang He sneered, "I know why you're still able to smile."

Little Tian'er asked with a smile, "Why is that?"

Zhang He said nothing. Suddenly, he puffed out his chest and struck himself sharply across the belly with the palm of his hand.

With a muffled *thud*, Zhang He suddenly spewed out a large mouthful of thick purple mist—precisely the six cups of Purple Crystal Wine he had just swallowed. The mist still carried a rich, sweet fragrance of alcohol.

Little Tian'er's smile became somewhat strained. Only now did she realize that Zhang He possessed a remarkably solid foundation in internal energy. The technique of holding wine in one's chest and throat to prevent it from swallowing down could theoretically be achieved with rudimentary-stage internal energy; however, to prevent even a single drop from entering the stomach required a profound internal energy foundation—something that even the Nourishing Realm could sometimes fail to achieve.

Zhang He smiled. "Did you really think there was something wrong with this wine and I wouldn't notice?"

Meng Yanqing could not hold back her question. "We left no flaws. How on earth did you figure it out?"

Zhang He's laughter grew even louder. "Clumsy thief, let me tell you. It's the same logic as trying to tamper with a drunkard's cup or cheat at a gambler's table—is that even possible? Besides, whether you left flaws or not isn't up for you to decide."

Without waiting for Meng Yanqing to question him further, he took the initiative to explain: "You claimed your sails were scraped and damaged. Did you honestly take me for a fool? The marks on those sails might have had some mud and grime, but they were never scraped by tree branches. They were clearly sliced open with some sort of thin, sharp weapon first, and then smeared with mud afterward. Right now, it's the warm and blooming spring, and the weather is fine—it hasn't rained for several consecutive days. Pray tell, where on earth would you find wet mud on trees to scrape against? So the moment you said the sail was broken, I knew you definitely had a problem. Please make your acting more convincing next time..."

Little Tian'er could no longer maintain her smile. Regrettably, ever since the Hidden Sword Manor incident, Zhang He had learned one more lesson: never give the enemy a chance to strike first.

Therefore, the moment his voice fell, the Flowing Cloud Saber resting on the luggage suddenly sprang up. With a wave of Zhang He's hand, the flash of the blade drifted toward Meng Yanqing's neck.

If you want to chop off my head, I will chop off your head first. That was Zhang He's principle.

Naturally, Little Tian'er was no weakling either. With a twist of both wrists, two gleaming female short swords appeared in her hands.

With a crisp *clang*, the short swords intercepted the Flowing Cloud Saber.

Meng Yanqing broke out in a cold sweat. She saw that the tip of the opponent's blade was less than a few inches from her neck, and she could distinctly feel the chilling aura radiating from the metallic weapon. This "Force Conquers All" struck with terrifying speed and ruthlessness; had Little Tian'er not been on guard, her head would likely have already parted ways with her shoulders.

Those within the Judgment of Life and Death were naturally ruthless characters who blinked at no slaughter. After blocking the saber with her dual swords, Little Tian'er swept her sleeve, and a stream of blue poisonous sand sliced toward Zhang He's face like a sharp blade.

Had Zhang He not kept his eyes fixed on her expression the entire time, he surely would have fallen victim to her toxic assault.

This poison sand was different from the "Soul-Chasing Demonic Sand" used by Shui Yimeng of the Tang Clan. When the Soul-Chasing Demonic Sand was scattered, it looked like a sharp blade at first, but it quickly dispersed with the wind like a ghostly fog, belonging to the category of area-of-effect poison techniques.

Little Tian'er's poison sand, however, did not disperse. Instead, it struck straight into the wooden pillar behind Zhang He. The brown wooden pillar sizzled and hissed, emitting white smoke as if it had been doused in sulfuric acid.

Zhang He reacted with extreme agility. Realizing from the opponent's strike that this little beauty likely practiced unorthodox arts, he refused to take any risks. With a slide of his foot, his form drifted backward gracefully while he simultaneously flung out a handful of copper coins.

*Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!*

Little Tian'er's dual swords whipped up several blossoming sword lights, batting the copper coins away with a rapid series of metallic impacts.

One must understand that copper coins were not like the Golden Lotus Flying Dagger; they possessed no inherent lethality and relied entirely on raw physical strength and internal energy to propel them. As a result, blocking these impacts left Little Tian'er's palms tingling with numbness. Just as she was inwardly shocked by Zhang He's immense strength, Zhang He flicked his hand once more, and another five copper coins came flying through the air.

A trace of disdain crossed Little Tian'er's heart. If you repeat the same trick twice, you are simply looking down upon us folks from the Judgment of Life and Death far too much!

This time, she violently channeled her Nourishing Realm internal energy, dancing her dual swords into a barrier of swirling sword light to shield Meng Yanqing. Anyone could see that Zhang He's "Copper Coin Dart" stood no chance of success this time.

Yet in the very next instant, a rapid sequence of five muffled thuds—*thud, thud, thud, thud, thud*—sounded, accompanied by five consecutive red damage numbers of "-151" appearing in succession.

Meng Yanqing's head tilted sideways, and she collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.

All five copper coins had struck the right temple on the side of her brain. Despite her relatively high defense—exceeding 150 points—she still could not withstand Zhang He's grandmaster-level Copper Coin Dart. This time, the darts had been thrown using the "Swallow's Return" technique combined with Nourishing Realm internal energy and brute force, resulting in an attack output of 318 points per coin.

Ordinarily, using copper coins did not yield results as exceptional as using flying daggers; in fact, it was vastly inferior. But within such a confined indoor space, the copper coins still managed to trace an arc, bypassing Little Tian'er's protective screen of sword light and instantly claiming Meng Yanqing's life.

"You..." Little Tian'er was consumed by shock and rage. It turned out the helm leader was right to send them both to deal with Zhang He, because this man was definitely not someone who could be easily taken down.