Chapter 128: Collecting the Set, Arrival of the Tuo River Crew

After slaying Chongming Beasts for over an hour, Ye Rong finally confirmed it: the lone peak he was on truly was remote and isolated. All this time, not a single player had flown past overhead. It was a completely desolate place; likely, even the special traits of the Chongming Beasts were still unknown to others.

Otherwise, with these Chongming Beasts all around Level 40, while challenging for a solo average player to level up smoothly here, gathering a group of a dozen friends would be more than enough to handle them.

Even a flying sword or magic treasure with lousy attributes was still a flying sword or magic treasure, right? Analyzing the drop rate, Ye Rong estimated that grinding monsters here for a day would likely net him enough pieces to assemble both a Seven Avian Feather Fan and a Primordial Gold Sphere set.

These treasures held significant appeal for players with mediocre equipment. If he were to spread this news, he was sure that within three days, this place would be swarmed by countless players. Battles breaking out over contested spots absolutely wouldn’t cease.

“It would be fantastic if I could monopolize this territory. Grind out hundreds of sets of equipment. Many in my ranks still don’t even have complete Third-Rank Flying Swords. It’s quite shabby when they step out,” Ye Rong muttered. With a sword stroke, he sent a nearby Chongming Beast flying. Ignoring its shrill cry of pain, his flying sword transformed into a streak of black light, finishing it off.

Back in Qingcheng, he hadn’t considered snatching a leveling spot because the Dujiangyan Waters were vast enough. Plus, the number of players capable of diving underwater to grind monsters was far from enough to crowd those rivers. There was simply no need to fight over spots then.

But here was different. Thousands of miles away from Qingcheng, despite its desolation, you never knew when someone might stumble upon it. And equipment like the Seven Avian Feather Fan and the Primordial Gold Sphere wouldn’t seem as valuable soon. However, right now, they were quite important for Ye Rong’s team. If he could get that hundred or so people equipped with one set each, the entire team’s strength would practically double.

He knew well that many of them still had one- or two-rank Magic Treasures slotted in their Talisman Slots even now. Otherwise, completing a Trial Mission wouldn’t have been so difficult that it required so many people to act together, even with Hengheng Haha leading them.

After some thought, Ye Rong penned a letter. He detailed the location of this lone peak, explaining that it dropped high-tier flying swords and complete Magic Treasure sets, and was so far undiscovered. He urged them to form a team and rush here to grind. Once written, he attached it to the Self-Restraint Sword and sent it off via Flying Sword Message to Pecking Chicken.

“At their speed, they’d need at least half a day to get here. Might as well keep grinding on my own in the meantime.”

With both his Fourth-Rank Flying Swords used to send messages, Ye Rong was left with only two Fifth-Rank Flying Swords. He genuinely felt that if an emergency arose, two backup messaging swords wouldn’t be sufficient.

For the current Ye Rong, the experience points gained from normal monster killing for leveling up were excruciatingly slow. Instead, thanks to the Nine Glazed Golden Lamp, he was now far more concerned about the growth of his Karma Points.

Reaching the 18th layer of the Qingcheng Sword Art required a staggering 1.8 million experience points—more than what was needed to gain an entire level up. Progressing the sword art further could truly be described as incredibly hard. No wonder achieving the 20th layer perfection conveyed such immense, world-shaking power, bringing a complete transformation.

Precisely because progress became too difficult beyond a certain layer, a considerable portion of players were choosing to abandon the Qingcheng Sword Art once they reached around ten layers, switching to practice other sword arts. Many basic sword arts came in Dao Scrolls that could be repeatedly learned by multiple people, so they weren’t overly expensive.

Being basic sword arts, the stat boosts were fundamentally similar, and the attribute increase from the first layer was exactly the same as from the final layer. Why then, would anyone pour ten or hundred times the experience just to gain one layer later on? By mastering two or three basic sword arts instead, one could breeze through the first seven or eight layers quickly. They’d still get attribute bonuses and learn additional derived sword techniques. Combat effectiveness wouldn’t necessarily be weaker than a player solely dedicated to mastering one sword art to higher layers. Plus, stacking different basic sword arts could potentially yield higher total attribute bonuses, freeing up more time and experience.

Ye Rong didn’t necessarily see this approach as wrong. Manzhu Lver was an example; finding the Qingcheng Sword Art too slow, she had also practiced up the White Ape Sword Art. However, doing this meant cutting oneself off from the chance to obtain advanced sect-specific sword arts in the future. Any basic sword art learned from outside the sect, no matter how many, offered limited future potential. Even if they later acquired a non-sect high-tier sword art Dao Scroll, they’d first need to ensure they had learned its corresponding foundational sword art, or else they still couldn’t practice it due to stringent restrictions.

Therefore, despite the Qingcheng Sword Art’s extreme difficulty to advance, Ye Rong never entertained the idea of practicing other sword arts. Especially with his current status as Chief of Tianshu Hall. Once his Qingcheng Sword Art reached the 20th layer perfection, he expected to gain the swiftest right to choose and learn one of the two available advanced sword arts. Why would he want to refuse the watermelon but pick the sesame?

…

After killing enough Chongming Beasts, Ye Rong discovered a pattern, gaining some understanding of them.

On this unnamed lone peak, the levels of Chongming Beasts weren’t all fixed. The lowest was Level 40, the highest reached Level 48.

Lower-level Chongming Beasts hardly ever dropped any Flying Swords or Magic Treasures when slain. The drop rates for higher-level ones, however, were significantly better—there was a clear tiered increase.

Realizing this, Ye Rong focused exclusively on hunting the higher-level Chongming Beasts. Given his strength, the difficulty difference was negligible. He now wielded Casting Snow and Black Phoenix, two Fifth-Rank Flying Swords. One transformed into a trail of gathered snowflakes, the other into a ribbon of endless dark flame. For monsters like Chongming Beasts, whose levels weren’t far from his own, a few sword strikes easily dispatched them.

With a flick of his sword light, Ye Rong scooped up the Primordial Gold Sphere dropped by this Chongming Beast. He counted the contents in his Universe Pouch: already six Seven Birds Feathers and four Primordial Gold Spheres. The first complete set wasn’t far off.

Another hour or so passed, and Ye Rong finally obtained another Seven Birds Feather, enabling him to assemble his first Seven Avian Feather Fan.

Bringing the seven Seven Birds Feathers together, a flash of seven-colored radiance fused them into one.

Seven Avian Feather Fan, Fifth-Tier Divine Weapon, composed of the seven most splendidly gorgeous plumes. In use, shimmering seven-colored light flows across it. Attack Power: 240-260, Flight Speed: 250-260, Attack Speed: 250-260. Attached Spells: Seven Avian Divine Art, Seven Avian Divine Light. Required Level: 40.

Seven Avian Divine Art: Can estimate the rough current location of one player, with a deviation under ten miles. Cooldown: One day.

Seven Avian Divine Light: Connects the seven plumes into one. Once activated, forms a Divine Light barrier, Defense Power: 1400. With this divine light shielding the body, one becomes impervious to all evils. Cooldown: One day.

“Wow, not bad! Excellent!”

If intended solely for combat and killing enemies, its attribute values were indeed slightly lacking, completely incomparable to Casting Snow. However, its two attached spells each possessed unique characteristics. They weren’t powerful damaging spells but offered distinct functions.

The Seven Avian Divine Art was precisely the kind of divination-type Dao Spell Ye Rong had long coveted. Though clearly not high-tier, only capable of a general area-calculation, and usable only once per day.

The Seven Avian Divine Light, meanwhile, acted as an extra life-saving shield in certain critical moments. Even the Mystic Purple Qi Shield of the Mystic Purple Turtle Shell offered only 500 defense. In specific situations, an extra 1400 could buy crucial time to hold out. For an average player, even if the Seven Avian Divine Light blocked an attack, their weak attack power might not threaten the opponent much. But for Ye Rong, this wasn’t an issue. With the Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought Sword Scabbard, he could equip the Seven Avian Feather Fan while still having a Flying Sword active. Whether it was Casting Snow or Black Phoenix, both met his demands.

The Seven Avian Feather Fan exceeded his expectations significantly. Especially the Seven Avian Divine Art—in specific scenarios, its utility could prove immense. As for the Seven Avian Divine Light, it would be a great help to the members of his crew. Equipping everyone with a Seven Avian Feather Fan set and having them all unleash the Seven Avian Divine Light simultaneously would surely be a spectacular sight.

Bolstered by the confidence from the fan, Ye Rong now held greater anticipation for the other set Magic Treasure, the Primordial Gold Spheres, hoping it could deliver a pleasant surprise too.

A clump of haphazardly joined Sword Light approached from the horizon.

“Boss! We’re here! Really missed you, man!” A voice boomed.

Ye Rong didn’t even look up; he knew from the voice it had to be Hengheng Haha. Behind him trailed more than sixty players.

“How come so many came all at once? Can Chicken handle the Tuo River area alone?”

His Flying Sword Message to Pecking Chicken had intended for him to lead the team here, with Hengheng Haha staying behind, primarily because Hengheng Haha was the stronger combatant, better suited to handle any unexpected emergencies along the Tuo River.

“Hehe, Boss calls, we come running instantly! As for the Tuo River? Nothing much happening over there. Besides, Trail-breaking Pony is helping him out.”

“Trail-breaking Pony? That aloof, hard-to-deal-with Pony with the Heavenly One Mystic Ice Banner?” Ye Rong’s eyebrow twitched. His one memory of Trail-breaking Pony was of someone utterly cold and indifferent to everyone. Why would he proactively offer help to Pecking Chicken? But if he sincerely pitched in, given his strength, he could indeed shoulder a significant burden.

“Who knows? Not long after you left, Boss, he started changing. Took me quite a while to get used to it,” Hengheng Haha replied, his eyes darting around curiously, his face alight with intense exploration. “Boss, your Flying Sword Message said this place was an untouched virgin land, a treasure basket. You weren’t kidding us, right?”