"Guarding the Temple of Martial King?"
Zhu Chen and the others were surprised; they hadn't expected the old man to give them this task. Assigning such an important duty to a few Spiritual-level warriors like them, was it a joke?
They looked at Tian He, who appeared calm and had evidently known about this task in advance.
Su Nan was also puzzled. Without immediately checking the quest, he quickly asked, "County Governor, does this mean that only Captain Tian and us are tasked with guarding the Temple of Martial King?"
"Exactly!" the old man nodded.
With a definite answer, Su Nan furrowed his brows and said, "There are many Profound-level Yao creatures in the city. Can we really protect the place with just us Spiritual-level warriors?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Originally, I didn't have much confidence in whether we could protect the nodes. However, your presence has given me full confidence."
"The Golden Sun Pagoda and the Temple of Martial King are crucial nodes of the Heavenly Dome Divine Restriction. They naturally have a much stronger influence on Yao creatures' strength compared to other places. There, Yao creatures above the Spiritual level won't be able to display their strength beyond that level."
"This means that even if the Yao race tries to destroy the nodes, they will, at most, send Spiritual-level Yao creatures."
"In ancient times, our human race cultivated the ancient scriptures, so being close to the divine restriction nodes didn't affect us. However, nowadays, our people, like the Yao race, practice bloodlines, and their bodies already carry the aura of the Yao race. When they approach the nodes, they'll also be suppressed. So, you Spiritual-level warriors are the most suitable for this task."
Su Nan suddenly understood why the old man had entrusted them with such an important mission.
"I've received information that most of the ordinary and Spiritual-level Yao creatures in Tianyun County have already gathered near Tianyun City. It is expected that they will launch the first wave of attacks two nights from now."
"Two days later?"
Everyone was surprised; they hadn't expected the situation to be so urgent.
The old man looked at Su Nan and said, "Director Zhang, there are other important matters that I and the others need to attend to. The task of guarding the Temple of Martial King will be entrusted to you."
"Alright!"
Su Nan nodded. It was related to the mission, and even if the old man hadn't mentioned it, he would have willingly taken on the responsibility.
After leaving the county governor's residence, Su Nan looked at his mission panel. Under the "Human Race Crisis" quest, there was now an additional side quest.
[Side Quest 1: Guard the Temple of Martial King]
[Quest Difficulty: Three Stars]
[Quest Reward: Abundant quest contribution points, varying with the number and level of Yao creatures killed.]
[First wave of tasks countdown: 59 hours.]
"So, I'm going to guard the temple?" Su Nan's eyes lit up.
If, as the old man had said, Yao creatures could only exhibit Spiritual-level strength at most, it meant that no matter how many came, he could kill them all. Normal Yao creatures were no different from easy prey in his hands.
All he needed to worry about was ensuring that he had enough power.
Although he was powerful, he couldn't withstand prolonged consumption.
"Life energy! It seems I need to stock up on items that contain a lot of life energy before the first wave of the mission arrives."
Su Nan made up his mind.
He planned to convert all the resources he could mobilize into items that replenished life energy before the mission started.
After leaving the county governor's residence, Su Nan didn't return to the Demon-Slaying Division. Instead, he headed towards the Temple of Martial King in the west of the city with Tian He and the others.
"The Temple of Martial King and the Golden Sun Pagoda are both located outside the city. The Golden Sun Pagoda is five miles east of the city, while the Temple of Martial King is three miles west."
"The Temple of Martial King and the Golden Sun Temple used to be flourishing temples, but as the Heavenly Dome Divine Restriction was gradually destroyed, Yao creatures outside the city increased, causing them to decline."
"I never expected these two places to be major nodes of the Heavenly Dome Divine Restriction."
Zhu Chen and the others were very surprised. None of them had expected these two seemingly ordinary places to be the locations of the two major nodes of Tianyun County's divine restriction.
Tian He said, "It's normal that you didn't know. In fact, the City Guard has secretly been responsible for guarding these two places."
"Originally, the City Guard was responsible for this matter, but Director Zhang's arrival made the county governor change his mind."
With that, Tian He looked at Su Nan and smiled, saying, "Whether we can complete this task depends on you, Director Zhang."
Su Nan shook his head and replied, "Captain Tian, you're too kind. Even if I'm strong, I'm still just one person. We'll rely on each other when the time comes."
The group arrived at the Temple of Martial King.
This was a temple built on a small hill, entirely constructed from stacked giant stones, and it appeared grand and majestic.
At present, there were many guards stationed around the ancient temple, and all of them were at the Spiritual level.
There were at least forty to fifty of them!
"Captain!"
Seeing Tian He, the stationed soldiers immediately made way for them.
Su Nan entered the Temple of Martial King.
Inside the vast temple, there was a statue of a middle-aged man carved from stone. The middle-aged man held a long
halberd and had a commanding presence.
"The nodes of the divine array are right beneath this statue of Martial King. As long as this statue isn't destroyed, the nodes will remain safe."
"For the next two days, I will personally guard this place. Director Zhang, you don't need to stay here all the time."
Su Nan smiled and said, "In that case, I will rely on Captain Tian to look after things here."
After getting a rough understanding of the Temple of Martial King, Su Nan left.
Since the first wave of attacks by Yao creatures would begin in two days, he needed to improve his strength as much as possible before that.
He looked at Zhang Yang's mission panel.
Today's missions consisted of two two-star quests and one three-star quest.
The two two-star quests were to clear out Yao creatures in a grinding mill and to hunt down the ringleader of the missing fishermen case in Liuquan River.
Over ten minutes later, he arrived at the grinding mill.
"Predict!"
He didn't dare to be careless. Although the mission was only two stars, these Yao creatures were backed by Profound-level Yao creatures. If he attracted them, it could become troublesome.
"You've arrived at the grinding mill. Recently, there have been several disappearances, and all the clues point to the owner of this place, a Yao creature named Stone Scorpion."
"You search the grinding mill, but after one minute, you find nothing and no traces of the Yao creature."
"You don't know this, but upon hearing about your strength, the Yao creatures in the grinding mill realized that you might come looking for them and immediately hid with their subordinates."
"Two minutes later, you've searched most of the grinding mill, but still found no sign of the Yao creature."
"Three minutes later, you've combed through the entire grinding mill and still found nothing."
"The first prediction is complete. Do you want to continue predicting?"
"They've hidden?" Su Nan was surprised. This was the first time he had encountered Yao creatures hiding.
"Do they think they can escape just by hiding?" Su Nan sneered.
"Once I can't find him on the first try, I'll search a second time. If two searches fail, then I'll try a third time. As long as the Yao creature is still in the grinding mill, I believe I can find it."
"Continue!"
The second prediction began and quickly ended.
Just like before, he found nothing and saw no sign of any Yao creatures.
Now, Su Nan was even more interested and decided to try again.
This time, he finally found the Yao creature!
Two minutes later, in a massive underground cave in the grinding mill, over a dozen Yao creatures were hunted down.
Next, Su Nan repeated the process and eliminated the Yao creatures responsible for the missing fishermen case in Liuquan River.
Two quests completed, totaling thirty Yao energy points!
He checked the quest contribution ranking. At this point, there were already hundreds of players on the ranking list. Of course, most of them had only five points or even just one point.
With the completion of two quests, Zhang Yang had now climbed to the second position on the ranking list, just below Wang Nan.
"I have 57 usable Yao energy points now, which is enough to upgrade the Azure Wild Scripture to Great Perfection."
He had no intention of delaying and used the points immediately.
Switching to Wang Nan's character, the personal information panel appeared in front of him.
Consuming 32 Yao energy points, the Azure Wild Scripture reached Great Perfection.
Another 20 Yao energy points were spent, and the Azure Wild Scripture reached Great Perfection again!
Now, Wang Nan's character was at the mid-Spiritual level.
From Bloodline Fusion to Great Perfection, it had taken less than half an hour. Such speed was incredibly fast!
He then checked the quests for the three characters.
Wang Nan only had to explore the City God Temple.
As for Zhang Yang, the only task remaining was to seek revenge for the former director of the Demon-Slaying Division.
These two quests couldn't be completed in a short time, so Su Nan wasn't in a hurry.
"Besides Lang Thirteen's three quests, I've completed most of the tasks available today."
"Exit the game."
He climbed out of the game cabin.
Checking the time, it was already 1 a.m.
"I can't stay in Donglin City anymore; I should leave early in the morning."
After packing up the things he needed to bring, he stored the game cabin in his ring.
The two game wristbands were also stored away.
"Although it's unlikely that someone will recognize the storage ring, it's better to be cautious just in case."
Looking at the ring on his hand, he thought for a moment, then found a red string and turned the ring into a pendant, wearing it around his neck and tucking it inside his clothes.
After completing these tasks, he finally went to bed.
...
Under the night sky, in a square in a park, a dozen or so people dressed in black gathered.
The leader of the group held an antique oil lamp in his hand.
"We've brought this thing with great difficulty, and it's extremely precious. We must find him this time."
"Don't worry, as long as he's still in Donglin City, we'll definitely find him."
"We can't wait any longer. We just received news that he has already upgraded the second Spiritual-level Yao Scripture to Great Perfection!"
"Then let's begin!"
The oil lamp was lit.
The flames rose, and instantly, a faint mist spread out rapidly from the oil lamp at the center.
Ten meters, a hundred meters, a kilometer...
The faint mist had already spread several miles in all directions.
Among the black-clothed figures, a dozen or so people began to undergo changes as the mist passed by them.
"Once I can't find him on the first try, I'll search a second time. If two searches fail, then I'll try a third time. As long as the Yao creature is still in the grinding mill, I believe I can find it."
"Continue!"
The second prediction began and quickly ended.
Just like before, he found nothing and saw no sign of any Yao creatures.
Now, Su Nan was even more interested and decided to try again.
This time, he finally found the Yao creature!
Two minutes later, in a massive underground cave in the grinding mill, over a dozen Yao creatures were hunted down.
Next, Su Nan repeated the process and eliminated the Yao creatures responsible for the missing fishermen case in Liuquan River.
Two quests completed, totaling thirty Yao energy points!
He checked the quest contribution ranking. At this point, there were already hundreds of players on the ranking list. Of course, most of them had only five points or even just one point.
With the completion of two quests, Zhang Yang had now climbed to the second position on the ranking list, just below Wang Nan.
"I have 57 usable Yao energy points now, which is enough to upgrade the Azure Wild Scripture to Great Perfection."
He had no intention of delaying and used the points immediately.
Switching to Wang Nan's character, the personal information panel appeared in front of him.
Consuming 32 Yao energy points, the Azure Wild Scripture reached Great Perfection.
Another 20 Yao energy points were spent, and the Azure Wild Scripture reached Great Perfection again!
Now, Wang Nan's character was at the mid-Spiritual level.
From Bloodline Fusion to Great Perfection, it had taken less than half an hour. Such speed was incredibly fast!
He then checked the quests for the three characters.
Wang Nan only had to explore the City God Temple.
As for Zhang Yang, the only task remaining was to seek revenge for the former director of the Demon-Slaying Division.
These two quests couldn't be completed in a short time, so Su Nan wasn't in a hurry.
"Besides Lang Thirteen's three quests, I've completed most of the tasks available today."
"Exit the game."
He climbed out of the game cabin.
Checking the time, it was already 1 a.m.
"I can't stay in Donglin City anymore; I should leave early in the morning."
After packing up the things he needed to bring, he stored the game cabin in his ring.
The two game wristbands were also stored away.
"Although it's unlikely that someone will recognize the storage ring, it's better to be cautious just in case."
Looking at the ring on his hand, he thought for a moment, then found a red string and turned the ring into a pendant, wearing it around his neck and tucking it inside his clothes.
After completing these tasks, he finally went to bed.
...
Under the night sky, in a square in a park, a dozen or so people dressed in black gathered.
The leader of the group held an antique oil lamp in his hand.
"We've brought this thing with great difficulty, and it's extremely precious. We must find him this time."
"Don't worry, as long as he's still in Donglin City, we'll definitely find him."
"We can't wait any longer. We just received news that he has already upgraded the second Spiritual-level Yao Scripture to Great Perfection!"
"Then let's begin!"
The oil lamp was lit.
The flames rose, and instantly, a faint mist spread out rapidly from the oil lamp at the center.
Ten meters, a hundred meters, a kilometer...
The faint mist had already spread several miles in all directions.
Among the black-clothed figures, a dozen or so people began to undergo changes as the mist passed by them.