Jiangli City.
The black dragon plunged down from the sky, and an instant later, Yu Xian sent it into Chaotic Space.
The King of Chaos's skill, [Chaotic Space], could do more than jumble all directions within a designated area; it could also sequester a pocket of space to serve as storage for his summoned beasts.
Yu Xian hadn't bothered using it before, but after suffering the World Tree God's onslaught, he felt that opening a dedicated space to store his summoned beasts was quite necessary after all. Moreover, he would be using it frequently, requiring them to pop in and out within seconds.
If he had possessed this foresight from the start, the Cannon Fodder Crocodile might not have died.
Licking ice cream, Yu Xian and Little Nora strutted into the city. Yu Xian took a deep breath and roared, "Dogs, your emperor has returned!"
"..."
The surrounding classers glanced at Yu Xian.
Then, their eyes instinctively darted away from his gaze as they went back to whatever was at hand.
The classers of Jiangli City naturally recognized Yu Xian. After all, he had previously defended an entire city single-handedly, his strength unquestionably immense.
However, so many classers had died yesterday that everyone was still maintaining a token amount of grief, feeling rather embarrassed to abruptly switch moods.
Well.
In truth, quite a few were secretly rejoicing.
After all, the batch of classers who had died yesterday were all of Jiangli City's biggest grind kings.
Now, Jiangli City was devoid of grind kings and rat-racing, left only with a bunch of salty-fish classers. Everyone could finally stop the vicious competition and leisurely enjoy the perks granted by this world, such as a body in peak health.
"To celebrate everyone surviving the World Tree God's event, we're holding a banquet tonight—Little Nora's covering all the ingredients!"
Seeing that the atmosphere was rather lackluster, Yu Xian finished off his ice cream in a single bite with slight annoyance, raised the popsicle stick, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
The very next instant, all the classers stopped working at once and erupted into cheers.
"Long live the Guild Master!"
"Guild Master, I love you!"
"Little Nora, I want to marry you..."
For a time, all sorts of shouts rang out. Many people present even joined the Sparkle Legion members in calling Yu Xian "Guild Master," despite not belonging to the Sparkle Legion at all.
Yu Xian's ears were sharp. Hearing someone shout that they loved him, he promptly looked over, only to see a round-faced, heavily bearded male classer gazing at him with intense excitement. He hastily grabbed Fang Qinghao, who was trying to hide away, using her to block the man's view.
"Holy crap!"
"My god!"
Ximen Wangcai and Situ Xingye had just finished handling the Sparkle Legion's internal affairs. Hearing the uproar outside, they emerged and saw Yu Xian, Little Nora, and the others, immediately letting out shouts of astonishment.
Shock and bewilderment covered both their faces. They couldn't begin to fathom how Yu Xian and his crew had evaded the World Tree God's hunt outside the city.
"Wangcai, Situ, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Yu Xian's ears were sharp; locating the two by their voices, he grumbled in dissatisfaction.
Ximen Wangcai pushed through the crowd, stepped forward, and whispered privately, "Guild Master, how on earth did you survive outside the city?"
"I'm brilliant and mighty—is it that strange for me to survive? You think a piddling little event could threaten me?" Yu Xian asked with furrowed brows, baffled.
Ximen Wangcai stared blankly, then looked at Yu Xian in astonishment. He quickly relayed all the intel he possessed to Yu Xian.
Although he had been no match for the World Tree God the last time he entered the Zhen Realm either, he had nonetheless knocked around the Zhen Realm for a decent amount of time. He knew a thing or two about the top experts of the Class Hunter Society; after all, those powerhouses moved like the wind and posed a tremendous threat to classers.
If one couldn't even recognize members of the Class Hunter Society, they might not even know how they died when crossing paths during leveling.
"So... the World Tree God was actually coming for me?" Yu Xian listened to Ximen Wangcai's explanation, only then discovering that there hadn't been any event yesterday at all; it was purely a surprise attack by the Class Hunter Society aimed at taking his life.
Wait.
Yu Xian suddenly thought of a problem. Looking at Ximen Wangcai, he analyzed, "No, there's a problem here. News of us wiping out the Class Hunter Society branch couldn't have leaked. After all, we purged every single monster at that branch base. The Class Hunter Society..."
Before he could finish, a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.
Bafentang, Wufentang!
Eighty percent sugar, fifty percent sugar!
Yu Xian's mouth fell open, and he muttered to himself, "I get it. Looks like the World Tree God really was gunning for me. Probably because I held a city all on my own—I was too high-profile."
Yet there was still another problem: Wufentang was already dead, so how did it transmit the message out?
He voiced the question, but Ximen Wangcai was equally stumped. The two looked at each other, their minds full of question marks, neither having an answer.
As the two fell silent, an endless radiance of colorful light suddenly washed over the sky.
At the same time, a woman's voice echoed in the ears of every classer:
"Lin Xi has reached the culmination of cultivation, attained pristine self-realization, and shattered the void. Universal celebration!
"For the next seven days, [Great Dao True Beasts] will be deployed across the world. Depending on contribution, participants will receive varying tiers of rewards."
"See? Usually, Zhen Realm events open like this," Ximen Wangcai said to Yu Xian, pointing toward the divine, colorful light in the sky after listening to the repeated announcements.
Yu Xian looked up at the sky and asked, "Culmination of cultivation? Level 250?"
"Right. Level 250 is the culmination of cultivation, but one can decide whether to shatter the void and leave the Zhen Realm. I heard there's some sort of trial, though I don't know the specifics.
"If you leave the Zhen Realm by dying, all your attributes reset to zero. But if you leave by shattering the void, you can take away everything you gained in the Zhen Realm." Ximen Wangcai nodded.
Looking at the colorful light across the sky, Yu Xian marveled, "In other words, starting today, the Tree Universe has gained another Mighty One!"
"Yeah. Who knows when we'll ever grind to Level 250," Ximen Wangcai said with a trace of yearning, feeling immense envy toward the Lin Xi mentioned in the announcement.
Classers who entered the Zhen Realm were as numerous as crossing carps in a river, but those who could truly cultivate to Level 250 were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
This was because leveling grew increasingly difficult the further one advanced. If one chose not to undergo any enhancements and tried to grind all the way from Level 1 to Level 250, they could only fight the lowest-tier monsters.
The main reason was that they simply couldn't beat the strong ones.
Once past Level 100, without enhancements, one might only kill three or four monsters a day, and it would probably take quadrillions of years to reach Level 250.
And if one wanted to go fast, they had to enhance themselves, enhance their class, enhance their skills, and enhance everything they could possibly enhance.
The problem was that enhancements were governed by probability. Beyond +5, every single enhancement felt like treading on thin ice. Yet the entire world forced classers to enhance themselves, resulting in classers constantly dying in all sorts of bizarre ways.
In several millennia, there might only be a single classer who successfully cultivated to Level 250.
This was already Ximen Wangcai's third time entering, yet he still had little confidence in reaching Level 250. Seeing someone else succeed left him consumed with envy and bitter jealousy.
Chapter 505