Chapter 265: Niu Niu of the Fierce Flame Sect

After brushing them off with a couple of words, Fang Yue pushed Zhang Dashou over to them.

"The matter entrusted by Captain Ye, we'll definitely handle it properly!"

This hunting group was not an outside hunting group, but locals of Mo Cun.

Although Fang Yue was the Captain of Gu Yue Cun, he had done quite a bit in Mo Cun as well, especially the previous incident of investigating Captain Huo's death, so his reputation in Mo Cun was decent.

So anyone who was a local of Mo Cun generally showed Fang Yue a measure of respect.

"Idol... earlier I recorded the footage of you killing Gui Yi, can I post it on the forum?"

Originally Zhang Dashou had wanted to sneak it up.

But then he thought, his idol was a professional player, he'd definitely browse the forums and such, and if Fang Yue happened to discover his clout-chasing video, how awkward would that be.

Better to just come clean now.

Since this message was sent by Zhang Dashou through the in-game friends message system, the others showed no reaction at all.

Fang Yue was slightly surprised, then immediately gave his approval.

Although Fang Yue no longer had financial pressure and didn't need to make a living by farming gold, having someone help promote him was certainly welcome, especially positive promotion and the like.

After handing Zhang Dashou over to the hunting group, Fang Yue said goodbye to them and headed straight for 【Ruoyunshi Ground】.

He didn't know if it was because of that Black Grade Mid-stage Gui Yi, the 【Falling Flower Gui】, but heading from Yuanyuan Hill toward 【Ruoyunshi Ground】, along the entire way, Fang Yue didn't run into a single Gui Yi; instead, midway he encountered a Sheep Void Gui, and seeing that familiar appearance, an excited Fang Yue gave a start.

Finally ran into one! Wasn't this thing supposed to be wandering around everywhere? He'd walked Yuanyuan Hill for so long, and only now encountered the first one.

Fang Yue didn't hesitate, charging straight over, hacking away at the Sheep Void Gui with a few slashes, and after the finishing blow, killed this lone Sheep Void Gui.

"System Notice: Congratulations to player 【Yese Liming】 for killing Gui Yi 【Sheep Void Gui】, reward: Control +1, Discharge +1, Lifespan +1 quarter-hour."

1 point of basic dual attributes...

Fang Yue was slightly stunned; this thing was only a Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi, and in terms of realm, he was crushing the Sheep Void Gui.

It's just that the attributes given really couldn't get one's blood pumping.

He still remembered when he was still at the Postnatal Third-rate Realm, the Sheep Void Gui was a great supplement, but now it was just a mosquito's leg.

Through this kill of the Sheep Void Gui, Fang Yue basically confirmed that, depending on the realm, the attributes given by Gui Yi would also fluctuate dynamically.

And this also meant that the idea he had previously entertained, of mass-killing low-level Gui Yi to farm attributes, had rather low feasibility.

One, low-level Gui Yi weren't common either; two, he didn't know if there would be any side effects from mass-killing low-level Gui Yi.

After searching around a bit more and not spotting any Sheep Void Gui, Fang Yue continued deeper into 【Ruoyunshi Ground】.

After both Fang Yue and Zhang Dashou had left, on the large tree stump where the Falling Flower Gui had died at the Meng Clan Hunting Group's temporary camp, a black flower slowly bloomed.

The black flower grew very fast, and in no time had grown to the size of a palm, then immediately began to wilt.

But as the petals fell onto the tree stump, they eerily burned patterns into it, crooked as if recording some kind of writing.

If one looked carefully to make it out, one could see the small characters written on it were—

"The one who killed me, the eighteenth-generation disciple of the Fierce Flame Sect, Niu Niu!"

These characters burned out by the black flower quickly vanished.

At the same time, in a black forest extremely far from Mo Cun, on a towering great tree whose entire body was pieced together from black straw, a pair of human eyes slowly appeared.

As if sensing something, it fell into thought.

Half a quarter-hour later, it slowly murmured.

"Find Fierce Flame Sect disciple Niu Niu, eliminate them. Then, settle the clan in Heiqing Shanmai."

Squeak squeak squeak squeak!

From its massive body, over a hundred strands of black straw suddenly drifted out, whooshed into the nearest tree, and immediately extended black thorns into another tree, performing high-speed movement.

The black thorns, scrambling over each other, spread outward; looking down from the perspective of this towering tree, it was like watching waves surging outward.

"Roll on, back wave. Occupy Heiqing Shanmai, then seek out more suitable places to live... our time is running out."

After parting from Fang Yue, Zhang Dashou silently stayed with this small hunting group.

Unlike Fang Yue, who dared to march at night, this small hunting team could only silently hold their position, wait for the dark night to pass, and only then dare to set off back to Mo Cun.

The long night was very drawn-out, but thankfully Zhang Dashou could still chat with the people of this small hunting team, grind some affinity, so it wasn't particularly boring.

About half an hour or so later, the person in charge of keeping watch in the small hunting team suddenly tensed up and stood sharply.

"Something's happening!"

That hushed voice instantly startled the others.

Zhang Dashou's heart gave a lurch, and instinctively he prepared to run, but after looking carefully, he saw that what was coming wasn't Gui Yi, but another small group of over a dozen people.

"Hello, I'm Xu Pai, from Mo Cun, this is my squad."

Hearing the newcomer's greeting, the people who had just been so tense immediately relaxed—as long as they were humans.

Zhang Dashou wasn't in charge here, so he just listened on the side. Soon the two Regimental Commanders began talking. After hearing a few sentences, Zhang Dashou was surprised to discover that this group had actually come for Fang Yue.

Upon learning there was a trace of Fang Yue, that group immediately burst into cheers, seemingly without much scheming.

Upon learning that Fang Yue had already continued deeper into 【Ruoyunshi Ground】, some conflict arose within that group; the mercenaries in charge of escort seemed unwilling to go deeper.

Fortunately Xu Pai seemed to be a wealthy person, and after raising the price, he steadied morale, but they also stated that Ruoyunshi Ground was already the limit, and they could only stay at the edge, not go deeper.

After saying goodbye to Zhang Dashou's group, Xu Pai and the others disappeared into the darkness, chasing after Fang Yue.

Zhang Dashou estimated their speed, then combined it with Fang Yue's speed, and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

Unless Fang Yue was held up by something and slowed down, this group would never be able to catch up to Fang Yue.

Still, Zhang Dashou sent a message to Fang Yue, but unfortunately the distance was already too far, and the other party could no longer receive the message.

"This place should be safe for now, I'll log off first, edit the video and post it on the forum, go clout-chase. Too bad this game's difficulty is ridiculous, the once-unprecedented hype has already been slowly cooling, I don't know how many people will end up staying to keep playing."

Zhang Dashou did quite like this game, but if the game's hype died down and there weren't many players left in the game, he figured he wouldn't be able to play for long either.

Games are only fun when they're lively.

……

Ruoyunshi Ground.

Fang Yue hadn't run into any trouble; he was moving swiftly across the Ruoyunshi Ground.

Tonight was a moonless night — the dark sky held no light at all, only an oppressive blackness.

Illuminated by his Human Soul Torch, Fang Yue followed the map, taking shortcuts whenever he could, and soon crossed more than half of the Ruoyunshi Ground area.

By the time he reached this point, he was already in the core zone of the Ruoyunshi Ground.

In the distance, he could see clusters of light sources, gathered together and holding their ground far away.

This kind of sight was very hard to come by normally.

Because those clustered light sources meant the field hunting parties had apparently banded together.

Presumably because of the Yang Void Strange sightings and the rampaging 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】, they had grouped up for warmth in order to survive better out in the wilds.

Fang Yue's destination wasn't here — the 【Gui Zhi】's location was at the border between 【Maple Leaf Forest】 and 【Ruoyunshi Ground】.

So he simply bypassed these gathering points and kept traveling through the night.

"Baa!"

Suddenly, Fang Yue's steps halted.

Because ahead of him, more than thirty Yang Void Stranges had gathered into a herd, wandering about in a massive, sprawling group.

Whether it was lucky or unlucky, this was Fang Yue's first time encountering a Yang Void Strange herd.

After observing from afar for a while, Fang Yue found these Yang Void Stranges were no different from the ones he'd encountered before.

He was tempted to rush in and slaughter the whole herd, but considering the Feibai Pill's effect, he held back the impulse.

Once too many Yang Void Stranges were killed and the Feibai Pill's effect wore off, letting the 【Gui Zhi】 sense his position, what he'd face next would be an endless ocean of Yang Void Stranges.

Although Fang Yue had already advanced to the Postnatal Second-rate Realm, and killing Yang Void Stranges was as easy as eating and drinking, a change in quantity brings a change in quality — he still didn't dare to take them head-on.

"Once I kill the 【Gui Zhi】, I'll come back and deal with you little things!"

Avoiding the Yang Void Strange herd, Fang Yue took a detour, then continued on his way.

Along the road, he not only ran into several more Yang Void Strange groups, but also spotted a pack of 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】.

Their appearance, identical to the Blood Hunters' Blood Dogs, gave Fang Yue a slight start.

【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 possessed the strength of Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi, and when these strange beasts gathered in clusters, their threat level was nearly equal to that of the Yang Void Stranges.

The difference was that under normal circumstances, 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 wouldn't actively attack humans.

Unless humans stepped into their alert range, or did something that made them feel threatened.

But now, the pack of 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 before him was clearly far more agitated — much like the Blood Hunter's Blood Dog baring its fangs at an enemy — all of them fierce and menacing, killing-crazed, kicking and low-growling everywhere.

Even though no enemy was in sight, they would still let out threatening low growls from time to time, giving off a fierce, violent air.

Wild strange beasts really were different from tamed ones — that vicious streak was something Blood Dogs never had.

After observing and confirming that the pack of 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 before him had no pups and hadn't noticed him, Fang Yue quietly slipped away.

After that, Fang Yue ran into several more 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 groups, all of which he avoided from a distance.

And the number of times he encountered Yang Void Strange herds was far greater than the number of times he ran into 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】.

Almost every stretch of distance, he could see a herd of Yang Void Stranges wandering aimlessly across the 【Ruoyunshi Ground】.

That dull-witted look made it impossible for Fang Yue to imagine there was a mastermind directing the Yang Void Strange herds from behind.

As he gradually drew closer to the 【Gui Zhi】's location, 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 were hardly seen anymore.

Instead, the number of Yang Void Stranges had grown considerably.

By the time he was nearly at the 【Gui Zhi】's location, the Yang Void Stranges had become so numerous that he had no choice but to clear some out before he could pass.

Fang Yue hesitated, didn't rush to act, and instead observed carefully.

The Yang Void Stranges before him showed no coordination whatsoever — they seemed like walking corpses, simply gathered together by some force, with no communication or cooperation between them.

This was slightly different from the Yang Void Stranges Fang Yue knew about. According to the intel he'd gotten from An Shenyi and others, Yang Void Stranges were clearly a clan-style communal special group-type Gui Yi, similar to human families — when they went out to hunt, they would coordinate, making them a fairly troublesome existence among Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi.

But now, this herd of Yang Void Stranges had lost that nimble teamwork — like puppets on strings, each one was an individual, not a group.

Fang Yue didn't know what had happened, but it certainly gave him a great convenience.

Soon, Fang Yue found an opportunity when a Yang Void Strange was alone, and suddenly burst into action.

Leng Yue Blade!

A flash of cold light—

1599!

A massive damage number immediately popped up above the Yang Void Strange's head.

"Baa!!"

Suddenly attacked by a human, the Yang Void Strange froze for a moment, then swiped a hoof over.

But Fang Yue was no longer the greenhorn he once was.

He raised his blade and chopped off the Yang Void Strange's hoof in one stroke, then followed up with rapid slashes amid its screams. The Yang Void Strange's cries hadn't even rung out for long before they suddenly fell silent.

"System Notice: Congratulations to player 【Yese Liming】 for killing Gui Yi 【Yang Void Strange】. Reward: Control +1, Disarm +1, Lifespan +1 hour."

Good, the attribute rewards hadn't changed.

Fang Yue was slightly relieved, and as the Yang Void Strange died, a ball of light rose from its corpse and whooshed into the back of Fang Yue's hand.

But… no system notice appeared.

The curse that had just entered the back of Fang Yue's hand was transferred directly onto the Feibai Pill back at Mo Cun, and Fang Yue himself was completely unaffected.

And at the moment the curse entered his body, Fang Yue also faintly sensed that special connection between himself and the Feibai Pill.

But that feeling came quickly and faded just as fast — before Fang Yue could savor it, the curse had already been transferred away.

Carefully gathering up the pitifully small amount of Black Ember, Fang Yue silently observed the situation of the other Yang Void Stranges.

And just at this moment…

【I am Fang Yue. I'm crouching in a patch of weeds half a person's height tall, carefully observing the Yang Void Stranges' reactions.】

【After confirming that the Yang Void Strange colony wouldn't undergo any changes because of the death of a lone Yang Void Strange, I made a bold decision.】

【And I did not know that this decision would lead me to my destruction.】

Fang Yue's eyelid twitched.

"Parchment?"

【Send money!】

Fang Yue:???

(End of this chapter)