Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

"Princess!?" Upon hearing the elder refer to Gaoyang, Jiang Liu was deeply shaken.

Although he had always found Gaoyang's identity to be mysterious, Jiang Liu respected her secrets, never intending to pry. However, suddenly learning that Gaoyang was a princess, Jiang Liu still felt profoundly moved.

Within the boundaries of the Great Tang, being called "princess" made Gaoyang's status clearly evident.

Moreover, the Three-Eyed Crow that was just instantly killed had exclaimed that Gaoyang was from the Li Family, which seemed to explain a lot as well.

"Elder Sword, could you let us speak alone for a few moments?" Gaoyang appeared somewhat frail as she said this to the old man with the long sword.

The elder turned his head, glanced at Jiang Liu, who was severely injured, and after a moment of silence, he nodded, saying, "Then I will wait over here, Princess. You know that in these days since you've run away, His Majesty has missed you dearly."

As his words fell, the elder walked off into the distance.

"I'm sorry, Jiang Liu, I... I didn't mean to deceive you," Gaoyang said, lowering her head like a child who had done something wrong.

"This isn't deception, it's just that, you being a princess, what about afterward..."

Looking at Gaoyang, Jiang Liu didn't feel angry; after all, he also had secrets he was keeping from her, didn't he? But the memory of their vows of love made his heart turn a bit bitter.

Hearing Jiang Liu's words, Gaoyang understood what he meant, her cheeks reddening slightly: "I'll find a chance to sneak out again. After we secretly leave, we won't return to the palace ever again."

Her words warmed Jiang Liu's heart, yet his expression became serious, he said, "Only a man without ability would elope with a woman. Rest assured, I will, in the future, propose to the Emperor formally and rightfully marry you!"

Indeed, marrying a princess was no easy feat, but armed with the game system, Jiang Liu was confident about his future.

As long as he kept defeating monsters and leveling up, once he became powerful enough, marrying a princess might not be impossible.

Jiang Liu's words made love swell in Gaoyang's heart, and she couldn't help but wrap her arms around Jiang Liu, planting a light kiss on his cheek before turning and running off.

Still, her joyous voice floated back to him like the chime of silver bells: "I'll be waiting for you."

...

Giggle, giggle, giggle!

The sound of the rooster crowing signaled dawn, although Jiang Liu had already awoken and sat quietly by his desk.

The desk was laid with numerous items that had exploded from the bandits the night before, yet he wasn't in a hurry to tally them up; instead, he sat in a daze.

Having learned from Senior Abbot Faming about Gaoyang's true identity, that she was the daughter most cherished by the current Emperor, known as Princess Gaoyang.

"Liu'er, we are but common folks, for us to marry a princess is as difficult as reaching the heavens..."

In his mind, Jiang Liu recalled Senior Abbot Faming's earnest words from the night before. Even though the abbot didn't make it explicit, Jiang Liu understood what he meant—the difference in their social statuses was too great; marrying a princess was an impossibility.

"It seems I must work hard to level up!" Jiang Liu thought of the promise he had made to Gaoyang the previous night, and his will became resolute.

He redirected his gaze back to the items on the desk. The previous night's battle, after all, had yielded quite a haul.

Even though the Three-Eyed Crow was not killed by Jiang Liu's hand, he had participated in the battle, so after its death, the crow still granted him 500 Experience Points.

"It seems that in a team status, one can receive a high amount of experience, but isn't it that outside of a team status, the experience points are drastically reduced?" Jiang Liu roughly understood the situation considering the Wolf Demon had given him 2,800 experience whereas the Three-Eyed Crow only 500.

Besides, the very last bandit who was knocked out by the monster the previous night only provided a few single-digit experience points.

Shaking his head, he set aside the matter of experience points for the moment. Although the kill was snatched away, the slain Three-Eyed Crow did drop quite a few good items.

First, two Blood Bottles and two Blue Bottles, and in addition, there was a Skill Book for the Taoist profession, "Swift Fire Bead".

Due to his profession, Jiang Liu naturally couldn't learn it right now.

Beyond the potions and Skill Book, the Three-Eyed Crow also dropped two pieces of equipment.

Demon Subduing Staff (Perfect Quality): Requires level 10, Attack Power +70, Passive: Damage to demon and ghost-type targets increased by 30%, Durability 8/10.

Skill Bookcase (Special Accessory): Can place three Skill Books of other professions inside to acquire the conditions for skill learning.

"So it seems, to obtain good loot, should I hunt higher-level monsters? The bigger the level difference, the better the loot!" With these thoughts, Jiang Liu felt both surprise and elation at the items before him.

Setting aside the Demon Subduing Staff for now, its Perfect Quality notwithstanding, it required level 10 to equip, but the increase of 70 in Attack Power was significantly higher than the 25 from the Ebony Stick he currently held.

Not to mention the utility of the Skill Bookcase, this special accessory.

Special Equipment is inherently harder to drop than other mainstream equipment, and the function of this Skill Bookcase was significant.

In the game interface, the number of items that could be equipped was finite.

Main weapon, two rings, two bracelets or gloves, a helmet or headband, armor, shoes, belt, necklace—a total of ten equipment slots.

Beyond these ten slots, there were three additional special equipment slots.

The equipment for these three special slots may not necessarily increase Attack or Defense, but their effects are often quite unique, just like this Skill Bookcase.

In short, as a Monk, I can learn three skills from other professions just by placing Skill Books in it, can't I?

And simply placing the Skill Books in it means they can later be swapped out.

By killing the Bandits last night, defeating Daoji, and getting the 500 Experience Points reward from the Three-Eyed Crow, Jiang Liu had leveled up to 7, and naturally, he also had 7 Skill Points.

Silencing Zen 1 point, Arhat Fist 3 points, Vajra Mantra 1 point. Currently, Jiang Liu still had 2 Skill Points remaining.

Without much contemplation, Jiang Liu placed the "Swift Fire Bead" skill into the Skill Bookcase, then equipped the Skill Bookcase in the special accessory slot.

Prompt: Would you like to spend 1 Skill Point to learn the skill "Swift Fire Bead"?

"It's possible!" Receiving this prompt from the game system, Jiang Liu was overjoyed.

Without any hesitation, he chose to learn it. Then, after some thought, Jiang Liu invested his last Skill Point into the Swift Fire Bead skill as well.

Swift Fire Bead (Middle Level): Fires a ball of flame that can cause single-target damage to any target within a 10-meter radius, Attack Power +60%, Cooldown Time 10 seconds.

"Such high destructive power!" Marveling at the powerful effect of the Swift Fire Bead skill, Jiang Liu was internally amazed.

Even with Arhat Fist reaching High-Level, it only added a 25% increase, yet the Swift Fire Bead skill at Middle Level already added a 60% increase.

While Arhat Fist is a status-boosting skill with a sustained duration, a 60% increase was still terrifying.

Indeed, among the three main professions in the game, the Taoist class had the highest destructive power.

The Monk class mainly excelled in control and support abilities, such as the system skill Silencing Zen and Vajra Mantra. Now, without Princess Gaoyang and soloing monsters for leveling up, not having a potent Attack skill would significantly slow down his progress.

The Swift Fire Bead, a skill from the Taoist class, was like timely aid to Jiang Liu in his current situation.