Ambush

Three days later. The sky was washed clean, without a single cloud for ten thousand miles. A colossal crocodile measuring twelve meters in length crawled forward at an unhurried pace. Whenever a monster dared to attack, the skeleton soldiers flanking the beast swarmed it in an instant, hacking it to pieces with a flurry of blades. Yu Xian, Little Nora, and Fang Qinghao sat atop the crocodile's back, traveling toward Jiangli City, a Level 40 hub. The monsters around Fukang City had simply grown too low in level. Slaying them yielded negligible experience; even if Yu Xian sent out every last skeleton soldier, they wouldn't gain a single level in a week. Moving to a higher-level zone to hunt was unavoidable. To be fair, Yu Xian hadn't particularly wanted to switch regions either. A new area always brought new challenges and dangers. Yet a new city also represented fresh opportunities and uncharted territory. As the leader, it was only natural for him to scout ahead first. Ideally, he would quietly assassinate the leader of the troupe ruling Jiangli City, returning the city to a leaderless state. Why did a leader have to be strong? The answer was simple: the leader was the essential soul of any troupe. The moment the leader died, there was no line of succession—the troupe simply disbanded. Consequently, the easiest way to dismantle a troupe was to kill its leader. Of course, if a leader proved too weak, the members could also hold an internal vote to oust them and replace them with someone stronger. Ximen Wangcai had once harbored such notions himself. But after seeing the full extent of Yu Xian's abilities, as well as Little Nora's, the thought had vanished completely. Later, as he watched Yu Xian grow increasingly terrifying, he no longer even dared to imagine it. "I wonder how Nora and the others are doing, or if Zhang Shou and his group are getting by all right." Yu Xian lay back on the crocodile, gazing up at the clouds as a sudden wave of longing for his companions washed over him. Little Nora consoled him, "Everyone's definitely fine. They're just on other continents, so they can't get in touch with us right now." Communicating would have been easy enough had they been on the same continent, but if they were separated by different lands, there was nothing to be done until Level 50. Once he and Little Nora unlocked the livestreaming function at Level 50, they could host a stream together. Surely Nora and the others would spot it and reach out to them in the chat. In truth, if not for the desire to contact the others, Yu Xian and Little Nora wouldn't have minded gaining only one level a month. The skeleton soldiers did all the grinding anyway; neither of them had to lift a finger. Yet two crucial features unlocked at Level 50 were the real reason Yu Xian couldn't wait. The first was livestreaming, and the second was the auction house. Once they reached that milestone, every food supplier in the entire Zhen Realm would tremble before a single clap of Little Nora's hands. Indeed, the balance of power across the entire Zhen Realm would undergo an earth-shattering shift simply because of Little Nora's presence. For now, Yu Xian and Little Nora held a vast mountain of resources but lacked the means to convert them into raw power. Only at Level 50 could they leverage the auction house to grow stronger at breakneck speed. *Skreee!* As Yu Xian pondered his post-Level 50 plans, a giant eagle overhead let out a piercing, high-pitched screech. It circled once before darting away into the distance. "Big Brother, that eagle looks like a roast chicken," Little Nora said, licking its lips as it watched the bird disappear. While it could conjure any dish with a simple clap, it still occasionally craved something fresh, like a freshly killed, piping-hot roasted chicken. Yu Xian chuckled at that. "That's someone's summoned beast. It's probably off to deliver a scout report right now." "Oh, is that all?" Little Nora murmured, a touch disappointed. On the other side of the woods, just as Yu Xian had surmised, the giant eagle soared swiftly over the treetops before descending onto the shoulder of a cyclops. A solemn expression immediately settled into the giant's single eye. Under normal circumstances, cyclopes advanced into either warriors or mages. But Shewanji was one to stray from the beaten path—he had chosen the archer path. Despite having only one eye, he had become an exceptional scout and the troupe's renowned sharpshooter. "Bad news, everyone," Shewanji said after a moment's thought, addressing the companions beside him. "Yingji spotted a massive horde of skeletons on the other side of Dali Forest, heading toward Jiangli City. I suspect the Class Hunter Society is mounting a siege." A kobold barely a meter tall, yet wielding a four-meter-long greatsword, paled in shock. "What? A Class Hunter Society siege? Didn't the Guoba Legion just wipe out one of their bases recently? By all rights, the area around Jiangli City should have stayed safe for at least a year!" "Brother Shewan, could it be a mistake?" chimed in a stout female pig-headed beastman holding a staff, her voice surprisingly sweet and delicate. Shewanji shook his head grimly. "Hard to say, but Yingji definitely didn't see wrong. A conservative estimate puts them at at least five hundred skeleton soldiers, along with a massive crocodile, two humanoid monsters, and a golden duck monster." Had Little Nora been there, it would have flown into a rage on the spot. *You're the duck monster! Your whole family is duck monsters! I'm a True King Bird!* "We all know what Shewan is capable of. He wouldn't make a mistake," a blond young man spoke up. "Let's notify our allies in Jiangli City first. Mary, we'll scout out the monsters' strength in a bit—keep yourself safe." The blond youth had sounded thoroughly grave at first, yet his tone softened considerably the moment his gaze shifted to the pig-headed beastman. He was clearly the leader of this squad. The others nodded in acknowledgment, while the female pig-headed beastman blushed demurely, looking at him with tender affection. Two types of people in the world harbored the most peculiar tastes: the wealthy, and princes. Certain wealthy men paid no mind to great beauties, choosing instead to dote on portly older matrons; certain princes cared nothing for fair, stunning maidens, falling head over heels for plain, dark-skinned maidservants. The blond youth was not a wealthy tycoon, but he was indeed a prince. He had fallen for this female pig-headed beastman at first sight and had courted her for years, displaying a devotion that surpassed even the most hopeless romantic. With their leader having spoken, the squad made swift preparations before setting out toward the skeleton army. They were all class users above Level 50, confident that even if they couldn't overpower an army of skeletons, escaping unscathed would pose no challenge. Meanwhile, a detachment from the Class Hunter Society lay in wait within Dali Forest, watching for an opportunity to take vengeance on Jiangli City. After all, the Guoba Legion of Jiangli City had recently dismantled one of their branch bases. That base had needed just six more months of preparation before it would have been ready to strike Jiangli City, only for all its efforts to be ruined in one fell swoop. The society's vice president had been furious upon hearing the news, prompting him to dispatch this unit—composed entirely of Level 50 elite monsters—to ambush Jiangli City's class users. It wasn't that the vice president lacked wits or didn't understand the value of deploying stronger monsters. Rather, monsters above Level 50 could not inflict any damage on Jiangli City even if they entered it. Such was the law of the Zhen Realm: monsters over Level 50 could cause no destruction to low-tier cities. Otherwise, the Class Hunter Society would have simply deployed high-tier elite monsters, and every low-level city across the Zhen Realm would have been doomed from the start.