In the Purple Bamboo Forest, the battle raged on, but with their leaders gone, the momentum of Ao Shi Qun Xiong had waned. They were now being thoroughly suppressed by the three major guilds.
As Ao Shi Tianxia and his entourage returned with dark expressions, he immediately ordered a retreat. With the BOSS stolen, there was no point in continuing the fight. However, as they withdrew, Ao Shi Tianxia gave the guild leaders of the three major guilds a menacing look and said, "Just wait, Ao Shi Qun Xiong will settle this score with you!" With that, he led the remainder of his forces away.
The three guild leaders were taken aback. Why were they suddenly retreating? They exchanged puzzled looks, not understanding the sudden change in tactics.
At that moment, a member ran up and reported, "Guild Leader, the BOSS was stolen!"
"What! Who stole it...?" shouted Luan Shi Xiaoxiong in surprise.
Leng Yue, however, glanced towards where Wu Shaochen had been standing earlier and saw that he was long gone. She understood immediately and said to the other two, "It must have been Chen Feng who took it!"
Realizing this, they quickly looked over, only to find no sign of Chen Feng. Their faces darkened with frustration. They had been fighting tooth and nail all this time, only to have the BOSS stolen without a sound.
"What do we do now?" asked Mantian Xingguang, feeling dejected.
"What else can we do? Let's head back. There's no point in staying if the BOSS is gone," said Luan Shi Xiaoxiong angrily. They had worked so hard, only to end up empty-handed.
"The auction house has a silver equipment listing!" Leng Yue said suddenly.
"Silver equipment!!" The other two quickly checked the auction house. The top listing was a piece of [Green-Scaled Armor], a silver-tier item, up for auction with a 30-minute bidding period.
"He's really something, selling silver equipment like this?" Mantian Xingguang exclaimed in astonishment.
"He probably doesn't need it. Why keep it? This piece is clearly from that BOSS. He already had good gear; now it's probably even better," Luan Shi Xiaoxiong remarked.
"No point in comparing ourselves to him. He's a freak. We need to focus on our own development. Ao Shi Qun Xiong won't let this go easily, so we need to be prepared," Mantian Xingguang advised.
"Right, but Ao Shi Qun Xiong has taken a huge hit this time. They won't be able to move against us anytime soon. We should use this opportunity to grow stronger," Luan Shi Xiaoxiong suggested.
The other two nodded in agreement. The pressure from Ao Shi Qun Xiong had brought the three unrelated guilds together in a strategic alliance, but each leader had their own plans, especially now as they eyed the silver equipment in the auction house.
Meanwhile, Ao Shi Tianxia, walking along the road, was grinding his teeth in anger as he saw the silver equipment in the auction house. To him, it felt like a blatant insult. This equipment was supposed to be his, yet it was now being auctioned off.
"This equipment is mine. No one else will get it," he declared furiously.
Wu Shaochen listed all the black iron equipment, including the replaced Bear King Leggings, at 20,000 gold each in the auction house. He also put up two bronze pieces and one silver piece for bidding. In high spirits, he continued towards Stone Forest, planning to grind for another couple of hours before returning to the city at midnight to challenge the War God dungeon, which can only be attempted once a day after midnight.
Stone Forest is a terrain filled with bizarrely shaped rocks and not a single plant, which would undoubtedly be a scenic spot in the real world. Wu Shaochen went straight to the heart of Stone Forest to target the level 22 Stone Apes. Initially, he planned to hunt level 21 Stone Monkeys, but after leveling up from the boss fight, he opted for the higher-level creatures.
Stone Apes have an attack power of 550, insufficient to break Wu Shaochen's defense, with 55,000 HP and 350 defense. The tricky part is their passive skill, which occasionally petrifies the target for two seconds, a control effect Wu Shaochen particularly dislikes due to his long cooldown time for the only debuff removal skill he has.
After selecting his targets, Wu Shaochen summoned Silver Wolf to a distant spot to share the experience points and began grinding. There were plenty of Stone Apes, but due to their petrifying skill, he had to tackle them one by one.
Meanwhile, the auction house in Jinling City was abuzz with excitement over Wu Shaochen's silver equipment, the [Blue Scale Armor]. The price skyrocketed, already surpassing 200,000 gold, as various wealthy players vied for it, given the substantial boost it would provide at this stage. The two bronze pieces saw less bidding activity, barely reaching 100,000 gold due to the overshadowing allure of the silver equipment.
Players from other main cities also heard about the silver equipment in Jinling City's auction, but with the inter-city teleportation arrays not yet open, they could only watch enviously. Jinling City's regional chat was abuzz:
"A silver item? How could Ao Shi Qun Xiong bear to sell it after finally defeating a silver boss?"
"Get updated! The boss wasn't killed by Ao Shi Qun Xiong; it was taken down by the legendary Chen Feng. He didn't need it, so he put it up for auction."
"No way, that's insane! Chen Feng is awesome!"
"Looking at this silver gear makes me want to ditch my crappy white gear."
Eventually, the [Blue Scale Armor] sold for a whopping 260,000 gold, while the two bronze pieces fetched 120,000 each. Even the black iron pieces, priced at 20,000 gold each, were sold out. Wu Shaochen, busy grinding Stone Apes, took a break to check the auction notifications, grinning at the additional 520,000 gold in his account, marveling at how easily he earned the money.
He continued grinding until midnight, defeating 268 Stone Apes in over two hours. If not for their annoying petrification skill, which often left him immobilized for extended periods, he could have easily doubled that number. Nevertheless, the experience from 268 Stone Apes, even when shared with Silver Wolf, raised Wu Shaochen's level to 18, with 66,310/100,000 XP, and Silver Wolf's level to almost 17.
Even as he reached the double digits in levels, Wu Shaochen's leveling speed remained impressive. This was largely due to his efficient monster grinding method, making it relatively easy to level up every two hours.
After checking his talents and Immortal Body, Wu Shaochen found that his talents had reached the maximum limit of 540 points. With the addition of 268 points to his health from Immortal Body, along with 40 points from leveling up and bonuses from his title, his total health had increased to 6,868 points. During this period, he had also looted 2 pieces of black iron equipment from the monsters. Listing them for auction at 20,000 gold each, he noted that the price of black iron equipment generally stabilized between 10,000 to 20,000 gold. However, the black iron equipment dropped by level 22 monsters generally had superior stats compared to other black iron equipment on the market, making them popular despite the price.
"It's midnight. Time to go back and challenge the War God dungeon," Wu Shaochen muttered to himself. He promptly used a teleport scroll to return to the city, relieved that this time there were no surprises, safely arriving back in Jinling City.