Chapter 174: Vault and Herb Hall Arrives
Chapter 174: Vault and Herb Hall Arrives
A massive dark cavern entrance appeared before them, countless arcs of electricity crackling and dancing across it. Players who charged forward were instantly turned to charcoal upon contact with these electrical arcs. Those with Defensive Magical Treasures fared slightly better, managing to withstand a couple more hits, while the quickest could still retreat in time.
When Ye Rong and the Long-Legged Lady arrived, this was the scene they witnessed. The death flashes of white light in front of the cave entrance were too frequent and rapid; almost every second, several players vanished into light.
“This is insane! Don’t these people realize they’re charging straight into a death trap?”
“What does it matter? Inside is the treasure vault of the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb!”
Ye Rong said calmly. This chaotic situation wasn’t entirely unexpected and fell within his predictions.
“The Shushan Sword Alliance played it beautifully, exploiting human weaknesses perfectly. They simply opened the path and let everyone rush the vault. These players, swept up in the crowd and blinded by greed, lost all ability to think. They just charged headlong into the Restriction.”
“Rumors about this vault probably even originated from the Shushan Sword Alliance themselves. They let other players weaken the Restriction for them, while indirectly clearing out the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb and reducing competition. Absolutely killing multiple birds with one stone.”
As things calmed down, fewer than two thousand players remained, those who had stopped advancing. Compared to the nearly ten thousand members of the Shushan Sword Alliance, they stood no chance. They were completely outmatched in both numbers and quality, lacking even the standing to demand a share of the vault’s treasures.
Ye Rong felt angry at these mindless players who had become mere Cannon Fodder.
“Think of all that equipment! It’s all going to benefit the Shushan Sword Alliance!”
Before the cave entrance, thousands of pieces of equipment lay scattered on the ground, along with even more pills. The Shushan Sword Alliance members, who had earlier made way, now shifted their formation. One battle array after another blocked the path.
Celestial Blazing Fire Banner Array! Desert Storm Banner Array! Xuanming Yin Water Banner Formation!
These three most common banner arrays were deployed. Ye Rong counted at least over twenty such arrays. Describing them as blotting out the sky wasn’t an exaggeration; breaking through would require paying a price several times, perhaps even dozens of times greater.
“What a brilliant move! So many banner arrays! How many banner array quests did they have to complete? And these aren’t even quests that Emei disciples can accept!”
Both Ye Rong and the Long-Legged Lady were shocked. They could only obediently stay back, not daring to entertain any other ideas.
Many of these banner array quests could only be accepted by disciples of Heterodox Schools. Super sects like Emei already held every advantage; it seemed impossible for them to also access these banner array quests.
Yet, the sheer number of banner arrays deployed before them proved that such restrictions were meaningless. Emei disciples had clearly found a way to obtain them.
Taking the most numerous Celestial Blazing Fire Banner Array as an example, even the top Player Factions in Huashan couldn’t gather so many Dutian Blazing Fire Banners. Each faction could, at most, muster one complete Celestial Blazing Fire Banner Array.
“Ah! Does that mean the vault is out of our reach?”
“Don’t worry, the main players haven’t arrived yet. The real show will start when the Herbal Hall team gets here. Clearly, breaking this vault’s Restriction won’t be easy, even for the Shushan Sword Alliance.”
It was unclear if Ye Rong’s pessimistic prediction came true. Attacking directly with a Flying Sword caused the electrical arcs to explode, immediately destroying the sword. They could only bombard the Restriction with various Dao Spells.
After a full half-hour of continuous bombardment, they only managed to wear away one layer of the blue electrical net. Then, a green electrical net appeared, seemingly even more powerful, continuously shooting out bolts of lightning.
Anyone struck solidly by these lightning bolts was instantly killed. This included even a Swordmaster Envoy from the Shushan Sword Alliance, a truly high-ranking member.
“Department Head Juehanzi, Department Head Tianshui Yifang, the scout team sent a Flying Sword Message. Herbal Hall members are approaching rapidly and are estimated to reach the vault in about ten minutes.”
“So what? Does Herbal Hall really think that just because they completed their Guild Creation Quest, they can rival the Shushan Sword Alliance and stand as equals?”
Tianshui Yifang scoffed disdainfully, his heart swelling with pride.
Among the Sword Alliance’s nine divisions, his Tianshui Division only ranked sixth. However, for this operation in the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb, he and Juehanzi shared command, giving him a sense of finally being in charge.
The reason the Shushan Sword Alliance only dispatched just over ten thousand members, with none of the top three Department Heads present—let alone Ni Shui Han himself—was entirely because the development of the Xuling Grotto-Heaven in Mount Emei had reached a critical stage. They couldn’t afford to relax for even a moment.
The Xuling Grotto-Heaven was one of Emei’s top-tier Immortal Manors. While it certainly couldn’t compare to the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb, its explorability was much higher. Unlike the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb, where it was obvious to everyone that truly deep exploration was likely impossible.
“How many are coming? Is Gancaozi leading them personally?”
Juehanzi was the Department Head of Xianyuan Division, ranked fifth among the nine divisions, one place higher than the Tianshui Division.
“No. Rumor has it the leaders are two Core Members: Heimeizi and Blood Colored Poppy.”
“Hmph! Then there’s truly nothing to fear. If Gancaozi came personally, I might have been somewhat wary!”
In Juehanzi’s eyes, he looked down upon even the two Core Members of Herbal Hall. Only Gancaozi was worthy of his attention.
Tianshui Yifang listened nearby, secretly amused. He quickly turned his head to observe the vault’s Restriction, avoiding any chance of revealing his laughter.
This Juehanzi had lost three consecutive matches to Gancaozi during the Closed Beta, utterly humiliating himself. Not long ago, after mastering the powerful Dao Spell, Purple Mansion Elixir Book, and believing he had achieved mastery, he went alone with his sword to Kunlun to challenge Gancaozi again.
He returned crestfallen and silent. Everyone knew he must have lost again.
Otherwise, given his character, he would have proclaimed it to the world that Juehanzi had defeated Gancaozi and was no longer suppressed by a woman.
“Gancaozi is ranked seventh on the Heavenly Ranking! The top ten of the Heavenly Ranking has remained remarkably stable since it was established, rarely changing. She isn’t someone easily defeated!”
Though Tianshui Yifang was arrogant and proud, even he had to respect the number one female Player in Far Shore. He had to admit her strength surpassed his own and didn’t dare challenge her.
…
“The Herbal Hall team is finally here! I wonder if Blood Colored Poppy is among them?”
Seeing the group of players wearing Herbal Hall’s unified attire flying over, Ye Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt somewhat reassured.
If this continued, he was genuinely worried the vault would be completely monopolized by the Shushan Sword Alliance, leaving him with no benefit at all.
Once a Faction became a formal Player Organization recognized by the System, its members gained the right to change one of their robes into the Faction’s uniform. The stats remained the same; it was merely a visual change for a more unified appearance, eliminating the need for tailors to create identical robes.
So, when a nearly thousand-strong team in identical uniforms appeared on the horizon, it was quite an impressive sight.
“Herbal Hall’s robes are so ugly! What are those messy, colorful clumps embroidered on them? They look like complete flower maniacs! Good thing Poppy tried to recruit me into their Faction last time; I didn’t join then!”
The Long-Legged Lady muttered to herself, apparently dissatisfied with Herbal Hall’s robes. A difference in aesthetic taste.
Hearing this, Ye Rong felt incredibly lucky. He had been planning to recruit the Long-Legged Lady into his own Green Emperor Alliance. Currently, besides himself, the Green Emperor Alliance had no other top-tier experts, which was quite pathetic.
He hadn’t expected Blood Colored Poppy to have already tried to recruit her before him. Fortunately, she failed.
“Hmph, such highly skilled players without Faction allegiance are becoming rarer than wild giant pandas. Looks like I need to find an opportunity to bring it up with Dream Butterfly soon and see if she’s willing to join the Green Emperor Alliance.”
While Ye Rong was scheming about recruiting the Long-Legged Lady, the Herbal Hall team had already taken their positions and begun negotiations with the Shushan Sword Alliance.
As for what was being said, he was too far away. Even though they were shouting at the top of their lungs, he couldn’t make out a single word.
However, the outcome of the talks probably wasn’t good. He could only see the two Herbal Hall representatives return angrily to their team, the discussion ending badly.
“This isn’t good. Herbal Hall only brought this many people; they’re completely outmatched. How could they possibly be a match for the Shushan Sword Alliance? You need at least equal numbers on both sides to speak and negotiate with a louder voice.”
Ye Rong complained about Herbal Hall’s lack of strength, but he also knew that Herbal Hall, having just completed their Guild Creation Quest, must have struggled to mobilize even this many members. Their losses during the Guild Creation Quest were likely severe, with many members dying repeatedly. After all, they also chose the highest difficulty for their Guild Creation Quest.
As for the casual players and members of other Factions, their numbers hadn’t increased significantly. By now, they only had about a thousand more people.
To move quickly through the first layer of the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb, ignoring the thick earthy aura and the terrifying number of Stone Dragon Beasts, required a certain level of strength. It wasn’t something just any random Player could do.
Most Players with any real strength had already arrived. Those who hadn’t were either too far away or received the news too late.
“It’s fine. We’ve already gained something from this trip anyway. It wasn’t a complete waste.”
Just as the Long-Legged Lady finished speaking, another change occurred. The lightning Restriction at the cave entrance flashed wildly.
The green electrical net was also worn away by the endless attacks, but this time, a purple electrical net appeared. A tyrannical, violent, and devastating heavenly thunder aura burst forth recklessly.
Purple lightning bolts shot out in all directions, causing several players to vanish into light wherever they struck. This caused some disorder within the Shushan Sword Alliance’s ranks, which subtly retreated two steps, their formation becoming unstable.
The attacking power of this purple lightning was terrifyingly brutal—even a glancing blow meant instant death. Unlike the green lightning, which was rare, this purple lightning filled the sky, flying everywhere.