Chapter 188: Bold? That Was Only the Beginning
Chapter 188: Bold? That Was Only the Beginning
“What happened here?”
Trail-breaking Pony was completely confused. He couldn’t figure out why such a big change had occurred just after he went to Bolang Isle, accepted a quest, and came back.
Even if they had stolen some Ice Cranes from others, it shouldn’t have caused such a huge reaction. Looking at the scale, almost four to five hundred players were mobilized.
“Nothing much. I was bored waiting, so I casually snatched the NPC Sect Leader of Giant Sword Sect too.”
Ye Rong said it lightly, but this made Trail-breaking Pony’s heart surge with huge waves. He couldn’t speak for a long time.
He never expected his boss to be so daring, actually causing trouble for three factions all by himself. This kind of behavior seemed too arrogant.
But somehow, this kind of reckless, unrestrained action was exactly what he had in mind. Just hearing about it made him feel excited.
“Boss, what should we do about this situation? Should we return to Chengdu City to complete our Heavenly One Mystic Ice Banner crafting quest?”
“Why go back to Chengdu? We’ll continue and finish it right here!”
After meeting up with Trail-breaking Pony, the two of them took a big detour, hurrying desperately to shake off the players behind them.
Ye Rong noticed that Trail-breaking Pony’s equipment wasn’t too bad, especially the Flying Sword in his hand. When he used Sword Flight, it transformed into a cloud lion, roaring continuously, and its speed wasn’t slow either.
If not for the speed boost from his Neither-Thought-Nor-Non-Thought Sword Scabbard, he might not have been able to outpace him.
Upon asking, he learned that this Flying Sword was actually given by an elder within Qingcheng. Trail-breaking Pony received it after completing an extremely complex Chain Quest.
That Chain Quest was extremely complicated. He stubbornly kept quiet about it, didn’t ask for help from his Green Emperor Alliance teammates, and spent almost half a month grinding through it alone before finally getting this Cloud Lion Flying Sword as a reward.
Within Qingcheng, there were quite a few of these elders, about six or seven, but they usually kept a low profile. Even encountering one required some luck, let alone getting a quest from them just by talking a bit.
Trail-breaking Pony was able to receive a Chain Quest from a Qingcheng elder and also gained the favor of Taoist Nun Min. He truly had good Fortune Affinity. At least within Green Emperor Alliance, Ye Rong hadn’t seen another member like him.
If not for his Level being a bit low, once he grew stronger, he could handle important tasks alone within Green Emperor Alliance and be considered a top expert on the Qingcheng side.
“In terms of facing external opponents, he still had some shortcomings, but for holding up appearances within Qingcheng, it was enough. It seemed he needed to step up training him and could consider promoting Pony to the same Level as Chicken and Hengheng Haha.”
Currently, Green Emperor Alliance’s development was going smoothly. On Qingcheng’s turf, it seemed hard to find rivals; there weren’t any large Player Organizations that could oppose him.
But within Qingcheng, his advantage wasn’t that great. Getting more Green Emperor Alliance members to become Tianshu Hall disciples was a good way to expand influence. As the Chief of Tianshu Hall, he could take better care of his own people.
“We’re still going to complete it here?”
“Of course. Didn’t you say that the number of Ice-type Spirit Creatures in the Chengdu canyon was pitifully small? Whether you encountered any was all up to luck. It’s not like this island, where although the number of Ice Cranes is smaller, you can easily find twenty or thirty just by looking around. The difficulty of completing the quest on both sides is simply clear at a glance, not to mention the large amount of time spent traveling back and forth.”
Ye Rong was full of confidence. They just needed to kill a few dozen Ice Cranes; it wasn’t like they were fighting the three Factions head-on and completely crushing them. The difficulty wasn’t as great as imagined.
He had rarely taken time out to help with the Heavenly One Mystic Ice Banner crafting quest. If they only completed one banner and then had to return to Chengdu, how would that show anything special?
After flying for over ten minutes, the hundreds of pursuers seemed tired too. No matter how they chased, they couldn’t catch up, so they honestly gave up, withdrew their forces back to the island, and stopped doing this thankless task.
The fate of the nearly twenty players who died earlier had made them realize that the person they were chasing was an extremely fearsome expert. If they weren’t careful and showed themselves, they would die.
This outcome of giving up because they couldn’t catch up might actually be the best. At least these people felt relieved.
It was just the Giant Sword Sect’s Sect Leader being snatched; it would respawn tomorrow, so what did it matter? It wasn’t worth such a huge, life-and-death pursuit.
“If only I had a net or some kind of capture-type Magic Treasure, I could charge in, grab a bunch of Ice Cranes, and let you kill them slowly.”
“Boss, I can do it too! I definitely won’t hold you back!”
Trail-breaking Pony suddenly spoke loudly, startling Ye Rong. He had never seen Trail-breaking Pony so excited before.
“Good! Then let’s give it a try. Once we have enough Essence Spirits, we retreat!”
Ye Rong laughed heartily. The two exchanged a glance and then flew at full speed toward the island.
The island hadn’t increased its defenses because of what happened earlier. It was just an accident, and besides, that expert had already left, so why waste manpower on guard duty?
Moreover, there were three Factions on the island. Who should provide the personnel for guard duty? That would just lead to more arguments.
So, when Ye Rong and Trail-breaking Pony swooped down from high altitude, they didn’t encounter any strong resistance.
This time, Ye Rong didn’t care whether they were Ice Cranes or Fire Cranes; he directly snatched them all. He didn’t leave a single one for the other Players.
Trail-breaking Pony also performed excellently. His Cloud Lion Flying Sword closely followed, devouring one Ice Crane after another. Then, with a wave of the blank Heavenly One Mystic Ice Banner, a faint, blurry silhouette would appear on the banner.
This meant a complete Essence Spirit hadn’t formed yet. The Ice Crane’s Level wasn’t high enough; the spirit’s Strength wasn’t strong enough, so one alone couldn’t meet the requirement. They could only make up for it with quantity.
But if they were Ice-type Spirit Creatures one Level lower, then even making up with quantity would be impossible. Dozens of spirits would only amount to a wisp, completely unable to form a full Essence Spirit.
Even if it barely formed, its attributes would be extremely poor, let alone any additional attributes.
“That guy who snatched the Giant Sword Sect Leader is back!”
“What does he want? Is he targeting our Giant Whale Gang?”
“Why would such an expert come to steal our small monsters? It doesn’t make sense!”
…
With Ye Rong’s single sword charge, these Players scattered with a loud commotion. No one dared to block the might of his sword.
Earlier, during the pursuit, every time he turned back, someone died. That scene was too intimidating, making them all feel timid—after all, if I go up, I’ll die too, and I can’t withstand even one round from him. Better let someone else go first.
As this sentiment spread, it created a strange phenomenon: wherever Ye Rong went, those Players actively moved away, not daring to stay in place.
After one round, they quickly collected all thirty-something Ice Cranes. By the time the leaders of the three Factions organized teams to charge at the two, it was already too late.
“Thanks for the hospitality, Giant Whale Gang, Swordfish Gang, Four Seas Gang! No need to see us off!”
Ye Rong laughed loudly, then soared on his sword, pushing it to maximum speed. He and Trail-breaking Pony quickly left them behind, making it impossible to chase. They could only watch helplessly.
“Darn it! Where did those two come from?”
“Looking at their outfits, they don’t seem like Players from our area. Probably inland Players.”
The stubbled man from Giant Whale Gang stared hard at Ye Rong’s retreating figure for a moment before turning back and speaking.
“Could there be something on our Sea Crane Island that attracts them?”
The leader of Four Seas Gang was a round-faced, oily-skinned guy with a shaved head, but he wasn’t a Buddhist School disciple; it was just his unique chosen style.
“This lousy island, besides the daily respawning NPCs from Giant Sword Sect having some value, what else is there? Back then, who knows where the news came from, saying the Giant Sword Sect Leader drops high-level Dao Scrolls. Our three Factions combined have farmed about twenty or thirty of them, right? Never seen one drop. Really don’t know if that news was true or false!”
“I think he’s after the Ice Cranes. Didn’t you notice? Every time they stole monsters, they targeted Ice Cranes specifically. They paid almost no attention to other crane types, basically ignoring them.”
The stubbled man observed more carefully and was the first to share his opinion.
“Besides, if you Four Seas Gang don’t fancy this Sea Crane Island, just withdraw. Then we can farm the Giant Sword Sect Leader a couple more times.”
“You…”
“Alright, alright, stop arguing for now. Let’s think about how to deal with those two inland Players first.”
“What else can we do? Each of the three Factions will provide one patrol team. If you see them approaching, sound the alarm. Also, set up formations. If they dare come again, we absolutely cannot let them escape. Otherwise, what face would our three Factions have left in the East Sea?”
“Good! Let’s do that!”
…
Giant Whale Gang, Four Seas Gang, and Swordfish Gang each assigned Elite Members to form patrol teams. They flew around Sea Crane Island to ensure they could detect any enemy attack immediately.
Additionally, they gathered several Magic Treasures with spatial restriction and confinement effects. Once those two entered Sea Crane Island again, they would activate them immediately, ensuring their speed advantage couldn’t be used again.
Unfortunately, despite all these thorough preparations, they waited and waited. Until night fell, those two Players still didn’t show up again. It seemed they had really left.
The three Gang leaders looked at each other, all feeling exhausted. They had wasted a lot of manpower and resources for nothing. Even their own Faction members couldn’t train peacefully all day; the slightest movement caused a huge uproar.