A group of a dozen people was walking on a small, dilapidated road.
"Judging from the mission, our target this time should be the Mountain Thieves from Mount Mingai," Liu Qinghong said as he led the group.
On the side, Zhang Quan continued, "Mount Mingai is the main base of the Mountain Thieves and is similar to the dungeons in the games that we played in the past. We might not simply meet ordinary Mountain Thieves if we head there this time."
"There's a large possibility that we would encounter the Boss of Mount Mingai."
Boss!
This term would attract the attention of anyone in any game.
A relatively skinnier youth, who looked like he had some artistic flair, said, "With Brother Liu's abilities at Martial Entry-Level Four, and even closing in on Martial Entry-Level Five, coupled with the rest of us who are, on average, Martial Entry-Level Three."
"We should have a way to deal with any Boss we encountered even if it was Martial Entry-Level Five."
"But…" He paused for a moment after he said that, then continued.
"The leveling system in this game is different from the other games we played in the past. The gap between every level is quite large. We might be able to deal with a Martial Entry-Level Five fighter, but it would be a little troublesome if we encountered a Martial Entry-Level Six Boss."
Zhang Quan laughed nonchalantly, "Chen Wu, you underestimate Brother Liu. You also underestimate us. Fighting a Boss that is of a higher level than us is an ability that every party needs to have."
"It would be alright if we didn't encounter the Boss of Mount Mingai. But if we do, we have to defeat him along with the other Mountain Thieves."
At that moment, the members of the team discussed their mission as they traveled.
Only Liu Qinghong didn't join in their discussion.
However, judging from his expression, he had silently approved of Zhang Quan's words.
After the rest of the discussion gradually died down, Liu Qinghong spoke, "The area around Mount Mingai contains one of the largest factions of Mountain Thieves. There are no lack of elite NPCs in the area. There is also a high-level Boss."
"Our mission this time requires us to eliminate 50 Mountain Thieves, but there are no level requirements."
"To prevent any accidents from happening, we should first complete the mission by killing 50 Mountain Thieves. If we encounter the Boss of Mount Mingai, we can try to complete the dungeon if we think that we can defeat the Boss."
"We'll run if we can't fight against the Boss. I believe that the possibility of the Boss trying to keep us in the territory is low." As Liu Qinghong said this, the other players agreed with him.
After all, what was most important was to complete the mission.
However, it would be even better if they had the opportunity to farm the Boss.
After all, the reason a Boss was a Boss, other than its strength, was because it could drop valuable loot.
They had been in the game for a long time; however, they had never heard of any players killing a Boss yet.
As could be seen, it was incredibly hard to farm a Boss in this game.
They could also deduce that generous rewards would accompany a Boss that was hard to kill.
…
"This is Mount Mingai?" Qin Shujian looked up from the base of the mountain. What entered his field of vision were lush, green trees.
"The greenery of Mount Mingai looks rather good, much better than the desolate place that is Liangshan. It looks like I have to instruct the Mountain Bandits to make the area greener when I get back so that it's more comfortable to look at."
Qin Shujian couldn't help but compare the place with Liangshan when he saw Mount Mingai.
He wouldn't have known this if he didn't make the comparison.
But he felt more dejected after he made the comparison.
Even though he had not stepped on Mount Mingai yet, the appearance of the mountain alone told him that the Liangshan Stronghold had lost by a great deal.
However, Qin Shujian quickly pulled his line of sight back.
He then followed the meandering path in front of him and headed up Mount Mingai.
"Stop!"
"Who are you!"
Without waiting for Qin Shujian to make it deep into the mountain, two Mountain Thieves who were wielding large blades immediately blocked off his path.
As he looked at the familiar clothes of these Mountain Thieves, Qin Shujian was reminded of the time when he was just an ordinary Mountain Bandit.
"I am the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain, please head up the mountain and announce my arrival." Qin Shujian wanted to maintain his image and had cupped his hands politely as he said this.
There was a look of confusion in the eyes of the Mountain Thieves.
One of the skinnier Mountain Thieves shook his head and said, "You cannot head up the mountain without the orders of my chief."
"That means to say that there's no room for discussion?"
"You cannot head up the mountain without the orders of my chief," the Mountain Thief repeated.
Qin Shujian took a deep breath. He suddenly realized that he was kind of an idiot.
He knew that these Mountain Thieves were no different from the Mountain Bandits of the Liangshan Stronghold in the past, that they all had low levels of intelligence. However, he wasted his breath in an attempt to communicate with them.
After he understood this, Qin Shujian didn't bother speaking anymore. He immediately stepped forward, toward the Mountain Thieves.
The two Mountain Thieves saw this and were about to take action and attack.
However, they hadn't managed to swing their large blades when their bodies were sent flying sideways. They even toppled two trees.
They died before they landed on the ground.
In front of Qin Shujian, killing these two Martial Entry-Level One Mountain Bandits was no harder than killing two flies.
He didn't consider whether the toppling trees would attract the attention of the rest of the Mountain Thieves on Mount Mingai.
Since he had already taken action, there was no way he could resolve the matter peacefully.
Qin Shujian continued up the mountain after he killed the two Mountain Thieves.
Not long after, two scout towers entered his field of vision.
Similarly, the Mountain Thieves who were patrolling on the scout towers noticed Qin Shujian.
In that instant, a dozen Mountain Thieves appeared in front of him.
However, this time, Qin Shujian didn't waste his breath. He immediately activated the Five Elements Eight Trigram Step, and his body maneuvered through them like an illusion. He used the Seven-Flower Leaf Penetrating Palm continuously and sent the Mountain Thieves flying.
He had left the Liangshan territory, but Qin Shujian was still a Martial Entry-Level Nine expert.
However, he was not any ordinary Martial Entry-Level Nine Expert.
After obtaining the characteristic of "Abundant Marrow," Qin Shujian's strength had undergone a terrifying transformation.
Each of his palms harbored a force of several thousand pounds.
Even a Martial Entry-Level Five fighter would have their bones shattered, veins severed, and die on the spot if they took the palm head-on, much less an ordinary Mountain Thief.
In just three seconds, all 13 of the Mountain Thieves were dead.
The two scout towers had also been hit by the residual force and toppled, crushing the trees around them.
In the meeting hall, Niu Feng was lying down on his tiger-hide chair and resting.
As the chief of the Mountain Thieves on Mount Mingai, he was rather free on days that he didn't have to head out to rob someone.
At this moment, a giant commotion outside startled Niu Feng awake.
As chief of the Mountain Thieves, he frequently experienced battle and had a sensitive intuition toward unknown danger, even though he didn't think that someone would dare to cause trouble at Mount Mingai.
However, Niu Feng immediately got to his feet after he was startled awake. He raised the Nine Ring Saber that he placed in front of his chair.
Then, he carried his blade and left the meeting hall.
"What happened!"
The people being questioned were two Mountain Thieves that guarded the front of the meeting hall.
One of the Mountain Thieves said with a trembling voice, "Chief, there seems to be someone forcefully barging into our stronghold."
Niu Feng was furious when he heard this, "Who dares barge into my Mount Mingai? Do they not want their lives?"
He had just said that multiple deafening sounds could be heard.
Under the witness of Niu Feng and the two other Mountain Thieves, a few wooden buildings seemed to have suffered from immense destruction as they toppled out of their field of vision.