Chapter 75

“He went in alone. Is he really going to solo it?”

“This is Purgatory-level, after all. Does anyone in our Dragon Kingdom actually solo Purgatory-level dungeons?”

“Absolutely not! I don’t think he’d choose Purgatory difficulty at all. We’ve been raiding for so long and haven’t even seen the BOSS’s face. You don’t know how strong the monsters inside are; going in alone is definitely suicide!”

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When professionals pioneer a dungeon, especially those where escape scrolls are prohibited,

the price paid is absolutely unimaginable.

Equipment wear, potions, rare items—if you converted these into money, it would be an astronomical figure!

Even for the Shang family’s team,

to be able to exit the dungeon safely at this point, they had already consumed at least five Platinum-level teleportation items.

So, seeing Li Yao enter the dungeon without any preparation, they all assumed he had chosen a different difficulty; only that could explain it.

Shang Xue Jiulan let go of the right arm Qin Qin Yue was holding.

“Xiaoyue, I’m going in too. We haven’t cleared it yet, and it’s too dangerous to bring you along. Wait until we clear it.”

“No need, Sister Xue Jiulan!” Qin Qin Yue shook her head repeatedly.

“Purgatory-level is too far away for me. I’ll just grind other difficulties myself!”

After Li Yao carried her through a few Nightmare-level runs, she was fully confident she could reach level 20 before the Martial Exam.

She didn’t have any grand ambitions; getting into one of the Four Great Martial Academies was her biggest dream! Why bother Sister Xue Jiulan?

Besides,

Young Master Li said that once he finished soloing, he would carry me!

(?????)!

“Alright, then I’m going in first.”

Shang Xue Jiulan was only taking care of Qin Qin Yue because of Li Yao.

Without further persuasion, she led her team into the dungeon.

She had invited Li Yao, and he had rejected her, so—

If the first clear gets snatched, he shouldn’t blame her, right?

The Goblin Nest is a five-person dungeon.

Her side had three S-rank professionals, plus herself and an outside expert invited from Jingcheng—two SS-rank professionals.

Furthermore, as she said just now,

they had already reached the final stage of the BOSS.

Now they just needed to swap in some targeted equipment, and they were confident they could clear it directly.

No matter how strong Li Yao was, his clearing speed definitely couldn't be faster than theirs.

Five people can’t compare to one?

Shang Xue Jiulan didn’t believe it.

She was already thinking about

how to compensate Li Yao once they snatched the first clear.

Unlike the previous Nightmare-level difficulty,

Li Yao appeared directly in the forest upon entering the dungeon.

A thick, bloody stench mixed with the smell of rotting meat, as if he had entered a slaughterhouse.

He remembered this forest; if he kept going forward, he would encounter countless Goblin Vanguards.

Li Yao was in no rush.

Back in the Tower of Heaven, the Dark Wings had dropped quite a few gold coins.

Li Yao looked at his panel; including the remainder, he had a total of 107.

“As expected of a Named-level creature, the gold coins dropped are almost equal to the sum of everything I’ve obtained before!”

Li Yao sighed inwardly while pondering how to utilize these gold coins.

A moment later, Li Yao made up his mind.

The Void Mantis needed 500 gold coins, so that was out of the question for now.

The Dark Wing Black Dragon was an SS-rank Chess Piece itself; upgrading it required 100 gold coins, which would drain his stash completely.

You have to know,

the Demon Contract hadn’t been used yet, meaning Li Yao could still possess one more Chess Piece and needed to save some gold to cultivate it.

So, only the Predator and the Azure Bird were options.

“Upgrade the Azure Bird to SS-rank and the Predator to S-rank.”

Li Yao summoned both Chess Pieces.

This upgrade plan only consumed 55 gold coins; it was very cost-effective and would leave enough gold to cultivate future Chess Pieces.

A stream of light circulated.

The gold coins vanished, both Chess Pieces leveled up simultaneously, and their stats increased significantly!

What surprised Li Yao even more was that both Chess Pieces had gained new skills!

Li Yao hurriedly checked the panel information.

[Skill 4 (New): Ice Barrier: The Azure Bird summons an impassable wall of ice to block all movement. The hardness and range of the ice wall are affected by the Azure Bird’s Spirit stat. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]

“It’s actually a utility skill!”

Li Yao’s eyes lit up.

Almost instantly, he thought of several ways to use the Ice Barrier.

Blocking skills and obstructing monsters were just the most basic functions.

Sometimes it could be combined with the terrain to trap monsters between the ice wall and the terrain, creating physical crowd control.

You could say the strength of this skill depended entirely on how Li Yao used it.

Li Yao then looked at the Predator’s skill.

[Skill 3 (New): Void Scream: The Void Predator releases a terrifying sonic wave in a cone-shaped area in front of it, dealing 1000 fixed true damage and silencing for 5 seconds. Silenced targets cannot use any skills. The range of the sonic wave is affected by the Predator’s size. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]

“This skill...”

Li Yao stroked his chin in deep thought.

It wasn’t a taunt-type skill, so Li Yao was initially a bit disappointed.

But after seeing the effect, his disappointment instantly turned into excitement.

The five-second silence effect truly shocked Li Yao.

Imagine this:

When Li Yao activated all his burst skills, any opponent who wasn’t stupid would use their life-saving skills. At that moment, the Predator throws a silence—

who wouldn’t be dumbfounded?

[Heart of Devotion] lasts six seconds, and the silence is five seconds; it’s only one second away from full coverage.

“Fifteen gold coins for a skill like this—no matter how you look at it, it’s a huge profit!”

Li Yao walked toward the front of the forest in a pleasant mood.

At the same time, he adjusted the positioning of his Chess Pieces, applying the [Distance is No Barrier] effect to the Azure Bird.

The Azure Bird’s Spirit stat immediately broke through 3,000.

Facing a group of monsters, the Azure Bird’s large-area skill was undoubtedly his trump card.

Soon, Li Yao walked out of the forest.

As expected,

countless Goblin Vanguards were scattered beneath the pyramid structure.

Li Yao discovered that

the density of Purgatory-level monsters far exceeded that of the Nightmare-level difficulty!

Previously, in Nightmare-level, he could find ways to slowly lure monsters and pick them off one by one.

In Purgatory-level difficulty, as soon as you attack any monster, the others will definitely perceive it instantly and swarm you.

“For ordinary professionals, this is indeed a significant difficulty.”

Li Yao muttered softly.