Chapter 254: A Twisting Mission, Club Completed

Zhuque City.

Inside the teleport array, a line of people filed out.

It was Su Sheng and Lin Huan and their group, plus a squad of dwarves.

"Iron Hammer Master, we've arrived at Zhuque City; now which way should we go? Please lead the way," Su Sheng said, looking at the Iron Hammer Dwarf.

"Don't worry, Explorer; Chi Yan City is currently one of the few roads to the Dwarf Kingdom, and I remember it well."

"Follow me..."

Afterward, the Iron Hammer Dwarf led the way ahead.

One hour later.

Su Sheng looked bewildered at the large river ahead; the water was clear to the bottom, the scenery beautiful, the air fresh—if this were real, it would be an excellent campsite.

Su Sheng then glanced at the Iron Hammer beside him, who was tugging at his own big beard, looking worried.

Well...

Su Sheng realized this guy had gotten lost.

"Iron Hammer Master, didn't you say you remembered it clearly?" Su Sheng's mouth twitched.

"Cough, cough, I'm getting old, and I've been away from the Dwarf Kingdom for decades; I haven't been to this side of Zhuque City for decades either, and it's normal for the terrain to have changed due to the demon race's encroachment," the Iron Hammer Master said embarrassedly.

Su Sheng glanced at the surrounding scenery of clear mountains and beautiful water; how could this place look like it had been invaded by the demon race?

You're the master; your word is law.

Su Sheng looked speechlessly at the dwarf beside him.

At this moment, Iron Hammer was already muttering with two older-looking dwarves in the group, discussing things.

Obviously, they were discussing the route.

Ding~

Quest hint: The dwarves, having forgotten the route after so long, are now discussing how to survey the path to Chi Yan City.

Protect the dwarf squad and find the correct route.

Howl~

As the quest hint appeared, several wolf howls rang out.

Well…

Su Sheng looked somewhat speechless at the quest hint; although he also knew that this quest, which had a chance to forge a divine artifact, would definitely not go smoothly.

I didn't expect things to go wrong so soon.

Let's fight the monsters; what else can we do?

He looked up and saw several huge wolves charging from the far side of the riverbank.

Those dwarves immediately showed expressions of terror.

Su Sheng spurred his horse forward and charged.

There were four wolves in total, each looking quite large.

Hyah!

Shield Rush!

Taunt!

Fang Wolf (Elite Monster)

Level: 49

Attack:??

Defense:??

……

An elite monster similar to the Roving Horse Bandit.

Dealing with it was fairly easy.

Su Sheng took the lead in engaging the monsters, and with Lin Huan and Li Wenwan's damage plus Su Ba and Huang Mingxin's support, they easily wiped out those wolves.

But it seemed this was only the beginning.

As Su Sheng's party cleared those wolves, Iron Hammer began leading that squad of dwarves around the vicinity.

From time to time, they provoked a bunch of wild monsters.

Moreover, they were all special wild monsters.

The highest-level ones even spawned 58‑level elite wild monsters—fortunately, there were only two.

Even with Su Sheng's party's abnormal strength, they still found it somewhat challenging before killing those two 58‑level elite monsters.

Perhaps seeing how hard Su Sheng's party fought, it dropped a piece of equipment with decent stats—a 55‑level blue item.

But… is 55‑level for real? You'd have to wait till the year of the monkey and the month of the horse to use it.

Even the Heavenly Craft Stone requires level 50, let alone the Divine Craftsman Stone—never mind whether it exists; even if it did, it couldn't be embedded in a blue‑level piece of equipment.

So, on a whim, Su Sheng tossed this thing into the guild's warehouse and pinned it to the top.

"What the heck? Why pin a blue‑level piece of equipment when there are so many purple ones that are better?"

"Cough, cough, the point is it's level fifty‑five."

Some people also noticed the equipment's level.

Su Sheng smiled and didn't pay it much mind, continuing to escort these "lost" dwarves.

Most of the remaining game time today was spent escorting those dwarves, fighting who‑knows‑how‑many Roving Horse Bandit elites; normally you'd have to hunt elite monsters one by one, but in this quest phase they came in waves to cause trouble.

After a day, Su Sheng and the others' experience had risen significantly; these elite monsters still gave high XP, but it's a shame that the outdoor monster‑grinding cap of level 5 is experience‑protected, otherwise they could have gained even more.

Until half an hour before logging off, the Iron Hammer Dwarf finally brought everyone to a stop.

We've found it—follow this mountain range inward, and the original mine lies somewhere inside it.

But it's already late tonight, so let's set up camp and rest first.

Finally, Iron Hammer led everyone to the foot of a mountain range, wandering for almost a full day.

However, it's quite considerate: when game time nears its end, they set up camp.

Only Su Sheng's expression wasn't relaxed, because the edge of this mountain range is Zhuque City's level‑50 monster training spot.

The outskirts are all level‑50 monster training spots; going deeper might be excessively difficult, right?

Indeed, the Divine Artifact isn't that easy to obtain; this task is full of twists and turns, and even so, it's not a guaranteed 100% acquisition.

Nothing else to think about; let's log off.

Su Sheng watched the dwarves who had already set up camp; in the encamped state, no monsters would attack these dwarves.

Today, Su Sheng still didn't go to work.

Su Sheng also noticed that he seems to be taking leave more and more often lately, and he doesn't know how much longer he can keep working as the university security guard captain.

Anyway, as long as it doesn't conflict with the game, I'll keep working; otherwise, daytime would be just idle.

The reason I'm not working today is that the construction of the Yanhuang Club has been completely finished.

Originally budgeted for a week's work, under Chen Guan's 'cash‑power', the construction crew pushed forward with overtime.

Chen Guan, Su Sheng, the eight members of the Ten Court Yanluo, plus Huakai's younger sister and Su Ba and Su Ma simply held a celebration for the club's completion—just an extra meal, with Dad doing the cooking as everyone feasted.

Those present now are the club's core members; Shen Yang is just eighteen and still a freshman in college.

That little buddy Yingyi has been coming back these past few days.

Former members of the Old Assassin Alliance, now some core members of Yanhuang's Assassin Guild, will also come over.

The framework is set up; afterwards, gradually filling in the strength will be no problem.

After eating and drinking to their fill, Su Sheng, Lin Huan, Chen Guan, and... Su Ba, who was just watching the fun, gathered together to discuss the operational model of the Rising Star among the ten major guilds, formulating some corresponding policies for the Yanhuang Club.

For this, Su Sheng also made a trip to the Hidden Dragon side.

Hidden Dragon now has all its members inside the game.

However, to prevent certain underhanded tactics, Su Sheng also had Wang Shan arrange some personnel to take shifts and handle security for the Yanhuang Club over at Hidden Dragon.

Especially Qiancheng Muxue just lost a match!

The rotation poses no problem; essentially, each Hidden Dragon member spends just half a day per month on Yanhuang security detail, which is no big deal.

After all, Hidden Dragon no longer takes external commissions; with so many people, each person's night‑watch shift comes out to about half an evening.

Daytime scheduling doesn't matter; just arrange it casually, since it's not game time...