Once again, he consumed a bottle of diluted Life Source.
A full half-hour passed.
When his physical and spiritual powers had mostly recovered, Su Nan returned to Tianyun City.
Wutong Road.
In a small courtyard that seemed to have been unoccupied for years but was exceptionally tidy, Su Nan transformed into the appearance of Lang Thirteen and sat on a stone bench.
In front of him, it wasn't just the four powerful monsters—Old Yang, Eagle High, Bull Bold, and Old Eight.
Now there were seven of them.
Three other monsters that Su Nan had recently recruited had also arrived!
"Master!" the monsters exclaimed in unison.
The five strongest monsters under King Xiong Yan's command had gathered, addressing another monster as their master.
If other monsters had witnessed this scene, they would have been flabbergasted.
"Master, something big has happened. Yesterday, King Lü Er was killed, and today, King Huang Bao was also killed. Just a moment ago, King Xiong Yan was slain!"
"Both the Blue Wolf and White Water Kings have already mobilized all the city's monsters to search for the culprits!"
The monsters wore grave expressions, as if they were afraid that the next one to be killed might be them.
"Is that so? Well, isn't it better this way," Su Nan said casually.
He had expected the reactions of the two Kings and wouldn't have been surprised even if they had sought justice from the local magistrate.
Seeing Su Nan's nonchalant attitude, the other monsters didn't sense anything unusual.
But Eagle High and Old Yang exchanged a glance, recalling Su Nan's previous actions, and couldn't help but entertain a bold thought.
Could it be the master's doing?
But how could that be possible?
The two monsters were torn between speculating whether Su Nan was responsible and dismissing the idea.
Su Nan glanced at the two monsters but didn't dwell on the topic. Instead, he continued, "Apart from this, has anything else happened?"
Old Yang thought for a moment and said, "There's one more thing that happened just now, right before King Xiong Yan was killed. The two monsters under King Hook Sickle, One-Eye and Two-Ears, were killed by the Director of the Demonic Execution Bureau."
"King Hook Sickle has already announced that he will personally capture the Director."
"King Hook Sickle himself?" Su Nan couldn't help but frown.
Even though he had anticipated that this might happen, he was still concerned.
Now that he had gone all out and acquired the ability to deal with Early-level Kings, he was still lacking when it came to confronting a Mid-level King head-on.
"My progress is still too slow!" Su Nan felt a sense of urgency.
Despite his rapid progress over the past few days, it was built on the foundation of hunting several King-level monsters. With the current situation in the city, hunting another King-level monster would be much more challenging!
"It seems I should try to avoid using the Zhang Yang character as much as possible in the next few days!"
Su Nan thought to himself.
Then, he turned to the other monsters and asked, "Have any of you heard about a King named Tiger Roar Heaven appearing in the city in the past few days?"
"Tiger Roar Heaven? Master, are you talking about the King from Tiger Roar Town?" one of the monsters asked.
"But didn't they say that King couldn't leave Tiger Roar Town? How could he come to the city?"
The monsters had heard of Tiger Roar Heaven, but they didn't know that he had escaped.
Seeing this, Su Nan understood that it would be nearly impossible to learn about Tiger Roar Heaven's whereabouts from these monsters.
"Could it be that Tiger Roar Heaven didn't come to Tianyun City?" Su Nan furrowed his brow.
Even though these monsters were at the peak of the Spirit level, if Tiger Roar Heaven had come to the city, they couldn't possibly be completely unaware of it.
Unable to get any more information from the monsters, Su Nan had no choice but to head to the Heavenly Palace Pavilion.
Ten minutes later, he arrived outside the Heavenly Palace Pavilion.
He began to foresee.
[You have arrived at the Heavenly Palace Pavilion and want to learn about Tiger Roar Heaven.]
[After the receptionist learned of your request, she left and returned a minute later, informing you that the relevant information would cost ten drops of Spirit-level monster blood.]
[After paying the fee, you received the desired information.]
[You learned that three days ago, Tiger Roar Heaven appeared at White Bone Hill, fifty miles north of Tianyun City.]
[After killing a King-level monster that had occupied White Bone Hill, Tiger Roar Heaven entered the White Bone Cave beneath it and has not been seen since.]
"There's actually relevant information!"
Su Nan was delighted to have learned about Tiger Roar Heaven's whereabouts, but he was also puzzled.
"White Bone Hill, White Bone Cave, what are these places?"
"Could Tiger Roar Heaven have encountered danger again?"
He suddenly had a bad feeling.
Even though he didn't know what White Bone Hill was, the fact that it was guarded by a King-level monster made it clear that it wasn't a simple place.
Kings were not the same as Mid-level Kings, and there were only five of them in the entire Tianyun City.
Moreover, a place that could attract a powerful monster like Tiger Roar Heaven was definitely not a safe location.
"Continue to foresee."
[After paying the fee, you received the desired information.]
[White Bone Hill is similar to the Heavenly Wolf Valley where you were previously. Both are ancient battlefields where a great war took place.]
[The difference is that in Heavenly Wolf Valley, both sides of the battle were monsters, while in White Bone Hill, it was a conflict between humans and monsters.]
[The White Bone Cave is a massive underground space filled with hostility and death energy. It is fraught with danger.]
[Due to the countless King-level powerhouses who died in battle, a large number of Vengeful Spirits and many other bizarre monsters were born there. There is even a unique type of monster called the White Bone Fiend, which is known to be extremely dangerous. Even Kings who enter have the risk of perishing. It is one of the three major forbidden areas in Tianyun County.]
"Tianyun County's Three Forbidden Areas!"
Su Nan was secretly surprised; this was the first time he had heard about the existence of three forbidden areas in Tianyun County.
However, judging from the information provided by the Heavenly Palace Pavilion, listing the White Bone Cave as one of Tianyun County's three forbidden areas was entirely justified.
"Why did Tiger Roar Heaven go to such a place? Could it be related to the matter of resolving demonic thoughts?" Su Nan speculated silently.
Three days ago, Tiger Roar Heaven had entered the White Bone Cave, and with his strength, he should have been able to come out by now. The fact that he hadn't made him suspect that Tiger Roar Heaven might be in danger and unable to leave.
"Should I go and take a look?"
He hesitated.
White Bone Hill was more than forty miles from Tianyun City, not too far away. With his current speed, he could reach it in half an hour. He still had 26 foresight attempts left for the day.
"Tiger Roar Heaven is the key to whether I can complete the 'Replace Xiong Yan' mission. He's currently quite useful to me, and I can't let him get trapped again."
After some thought, he decided to go and see.
Before that, however, he needed to complete the mission of Lang Thirteen hunting players.
The Demonic Execution Bureau.
When Su Nan met Zhu Chen, Ma Qiang, and Chen Su again, they were all looking at him expectantly.
"Director, did you also kill Xiong Yan?" Zhu Chen asked.
"Yes, I killed him," Su Nan nodded.
Even if he didn't say it, the three of them had already figured it out, so there was no need to hide it.
Upon hearing this, the three exchanged glances and then looked at Su Nan with admiration.
How long had it been?
Not even a full day!
A King-level Early-stage and a King-level Mid-stage monster had been silently hunted down.
And the fact that the target was only at the Spirit level made it even more astonishing.
At this moment, a member of the Demonic Execution Bureau came in to report, "Director, Huang Mingfeng, Huang Mingyun, and Huang Mingyu want to see you."
"Let them in."
"Director, today, Zhou Cheng's people came to us and invited the three of us to join in hunting the Wolf Demon in the Heavenly Wolf Valley. Should we accept?" Huang Mingfeng immediately asked as soon as he saw Su Nan.
Now that the three brothers from the Huang family had joined the Demonic Execution Bureau, their address for Su Nan naturally changed to Director.
"Oh? He actually approached you?" Su Nan was surprised.
The three Huang brothers were currently only players with a fusion of three bloodlines. Although they were in the first tier, they hadn't made it into the top one hundred.
If Zhou Cheng was inviting them, it could only mean that he was inviting many players from Tianyun City.
Thinking of this, Su Nan asked, "Did he invite only the three of you, or did he invite all the players in Tianyun City?"
"Yes, Zhou Cheng is currently trying to recruit players from all over Tianyun City and plans to act after this town-guarding mission," Huang Mingfeng replied.
Su Nan nodded, understanding what Zhou Cheng was up to.
It was clear that Zhou Cheng wanted to use players to wear him down!
He really didn't value the lives of ordinary players.
Su Nan asked, "How many people have agreed?"
"Besides the old players from the Immortal Sealing Guild themselves, Zhou Cheng has also recruited more than a hundred players from the last public beta, as well as over four hundred new players."
"In addition to this, it is said that Zhou Cheng has also reached an agreement with the Arson Guild and the Eternal Peace Guild."
"The Arson Guild?"
"Zhen Shi Guild?"
Su Nan's heart skipped a beat as he couldn't help but recall yesterday when he hunted down several groups of players.
He remembered that one of those player groups belonged to the Zonghuo Guild.
"What kind of background do these two guilds have?"
"The Zonghuo Guild is an old-established guild founded before the internal testing phase. Its leader is a player named Ma Hua, ranked 27th on the leaderboard. They used to be the second-largest guild in Tianyun County."
"On the other hand, the Zhen Shi Guild was originally a small guild with only a dozen members. However, a while ago, their leader, Li Ye, experienced a significant power boost and jumped into the top ten rankings."
"The Zhen Shi Guild gained fame and attracted many players. Now, it has replaced the Zonghuo Guild as the second-largest guild in Tianyun County."
"Li Ye?" Su Nan nodded without changing his expression.
He had some information about Li Ye from his previous visit to Baishui Town. Being able to obtain a four-star mainline quest indicated that he had great luck, and Su Nan even suspected that Li Ye's other quest might also be four-star.
Su Nan continued, "Where are these three guilds located now?"
"They are all currently in Xiaowu Village, east of the city," Huang Mingfeng replied. "Thanks to Zhou Cheng's connections, these two guilds have both received the task to guard the Golden Mist Tower. Xiaowu Village is the closest village to the Golden Mist Tower."
"Xiaowu Village!" Su Nan made a mental note of the location.
He had already decided that he would go there to hunt players later. He not only wanted to complete his daily tasks but also to finish the mainline quest!
"Don't get involved in this matter; that Wolf Demon is not something you can handle."
...
Xiaowu Village.
It was about eight miles away from Tianyun City but only three miles from the Golden Mist Tower.
This place used to be a prosperous village until twenty years ago when the number of monsters outside the city increased, and the villagers were forced to move into Tianyun City.
At this moment, the village had been redeveloped and was serving as a temporary base for the three guilds.
"Everyone, judging by the current number of monsters, it's very likely that tomorrow night, hundreds of Spirit-level monsters will attack the Golden Mist Tower."
"I, Dianxing Zong, have already made preparations. As soon as those monsters arrive, I guarantee that they won't leave."
In a relatively spacious room, more than twenty players were seated around a large table.
At the head of the table was Zhou Cheng himself. Beneath him were Li Ye, and next to Li Ye was a bald man in his thirties.
He was Ma Hua, the leader of the Zonghuo Guild.
Ma Hua laughed heartily, "Hahaha, whether we can take off this time or not, it all depends on President Zhou's guidance."
Li Ye also nodded, "If we can gain a substantial amount of mission contribution points after this mission, we should thank President Zhou for your support."
Zhou Cheng smiled, "President Ma, President Li, you're being too polite. By helping me guard the Golden Mist Tower this time, you've given me the greatest support and trust. It's me who should thank you."
"After this mission, our strength will definitely take another step forward. When the time comes to hunt down that Wolf Demon, our chances will be even greater. Helping you is also helping myself."
Ma Hua said, "Don't worry, President Zhou. That Wolf Demon killed more than a dozen of my brothers last time. Even if you didn't say anything, I would still make that monster pay."
Li Ye shook his head, "It's a pity. If we could get Zhang Yang to join us, it would be even better."
Upon hearing this, Ma Hua was about to say something, but suddenly, a commotion outside the room caught their attention. Shouts and cries were heard continuously.
"What's going on?"
Everyone in the room frowned. Before they could get up to check, a player hurriedly rushed in.
"Bad news! President, bad news!"
"The Wolf... Wolf Demon has appeared! The Wolf Demon from the Heavenly Wolf Valley is heading towards the village!"
"The Wolf Demon?" Upon hearing the words "Wolf Demon," everyone in the room was momentarily stunned, unable to react immediately.
It wasn't until the player finished speaking that they were suddenly shocked.
"What? How did the Wolf Demon find its way here?"
"Wasn't that monster in the city? How did it get here?"
Even though everyone present were elites from the three major guilds, with many ranking within the top one hundred, they were still taken aback by this sudden news.
Ma Hua slammed the table and shouted, "Isn't this perfect timing? All of our people are here right now, and we can test the depth of that monster."
Li Ye nodded, "Indeed, this is an opportunity. We might be able to kill it right now."
Zhou Cheng's eyes gleamed with cold light, "Let's go. Since the Wolf Demon wants to die right now, we'll give it a one-way ticket!"
(End of this chapter)