After dividing up the loot, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng bid farewell to Night Rain Misty and the others before leaving.
Watching Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng depart, Night Rain Misty became much calmer. She muttered to herself, "Yan Hua Yi Leng truly deserves her reputation as the female Zhuge of the online gaming world. Her command ability is extremely strong. If our people hadn't acted on their own, we wouldn't have suffered any losses at all. Besides, Ye Luo Zhi Qiu is also an expert, far from simple. It's a pity we can't recruit him into our team."
"Second Miss, your judgment was good. You stopped us, otherwise we might have offended both an expert and a major guild," Night Rain Madman said thankfully.
"Remember not to offend anyone lightly. After all, no one knows what opportunities they might encounter in the game." Night Rain Misty spoke, then reminded them once more, "Pass this on. Tell everyone in the Night Rain Family not to provoke Ye Luo Zhi Qiu or Yan Hua Yi Leng. If they need help, assist them when appropriate."
Night Rain Mad Song and the others nodded and passed along the instruction. Then, without wasting any more time, they continued hunting monsters.
Meanwhile, Yan Hua Yi Leng traded the Wolf King Ring to Ye Luo as they walked. She said indifferently, "I took advantage this time. I got that bow and the Wolf King hide."
"What advantage? Whoever can use something should use it. If you become stronger, killing monsters will be easier for us too." Ye Luo accepted the ring, then seemed to recall something. "Tailor Zhang needs twelve hours to make Bronze Grade equipment. I'll take the Wolf King hide there now so we can get the equipment sooner."
"I'll go. I'm a little faster than you." Yan Hua Yi Leng did not hesitate and headed back toward the Novice Village.
After equipping the ring and adding five free attribute points to Strength, Ye Luo's attack power reached 172–183, a huge increase. He tested it on a Young Demon Wolf. A yellow damage number of "360" appeared, and the wolf lost nearly a fifth of its health.
"Damn, even normal attacks deal nearly 400 damage. Doesn't that mean I only need five or six hits to kill a Young Demon Wolf?" Ye Luo was overjoyed as he looked at the damage number.
General's Strike plus a normal attack plus Combo—after that set of attacks, the Young Demon Wolf had lost over 1,300 health. With another casual normal attack, the wolf turned into experience that Ye Luo absorbed.
"My two Active Skills are still only beginner level. I need to raise their levels as soon as possible. Their power will be much greater then," Ye Luo thought. With that in mind, he found several more wolves to attack.
And so, whenever his skill cooldowns ended, Ye Luo used them. One Young Demon Wolf after another died at his hands. However, he was already level 11, and leveling required a massive amount of experience. The experience from killing those wolves was a little too low.
"There's no longer any challenge in killing these wolves. Once Yan Hua returns, we can go trouble those Demonized Scorpions." Ye Luo thought to himself, then checked the system time. "It's eight in the evening now. There are still four or five hours until the Toad King respawns. I should set a reminder so someone else doesn't kill it first."
With Ye Luo's current strength, he no longer thought much of the Toad King. Still, he cared greatly about upgrading the Jade Poison Bead to a higher tier. Though it was additional equipment, the stronger it became, the better.
While practicing his skills, Ye Luo suddenly sensed something strange around him. The vigilance he had developed over the years immediately made him react. He warily scanned his surroundings, his longsword ready to unleash a skill.
After a long while, Ye Luo looked at the empty surroundings and frowned slightly. "Something's wrong. There's definitely someone nearby. Could it be the Stealth Skill Yan Hua mentioned? There are assassin players around us!"
As he was thinking this, Yan Hua Yi Leng hurried over from the distance. Seeing Ye Luo so alert, she instantly entered a combat stance as well.
"Assassins nearby?" Yan Hua Yi Leng switched to the private chat channel. "Can you determine where they are?"
"The game is somewhat different from reality. I can't lock onto them yet. I only know their approximate positions." Ye Luo looked at Yan Hua Yi Leng with interest. "Enemies of your Misty Pavilion?"
Ye Luo had only entered the game recently and had not offended anyone, so he was certain these people were not after him.
"They should be enemies of both of us," Yan Hua Yi Leng said calmly.
Ye Luo was smart and understood at once. He shook his head. "A man's guilt lies in possessing jade. Many people saw us divide the loot. They don't dare make a move against the Night Rain Family, so they think we're easy targets..."
"Your defense should have reached seventy points, and your attack should be around 170, right?" Though she was asking, Yan Hua Yi Leng sounded quite certain. "Without four assassins attacking you at once, they can't possibly kill you instantly. And once you use your skills, you can nearly kill them instantly. There's no need to waste time tangling with them. Let's go kill monsters and level up."
"Don't worry. These little assassins can't get within five meters of me." Ye Luo was full of confidence. He muttered softly, "I didn't expect this game to be so realistic. Even intuition and killing intent can manifest in the game."
"Other than the rigid game settings, this game is almost no different from reality," Yan Hua Yi Leng said indifferently. She ignored the assassins and continued north.
Keeping watch on their surroundings as they traveled, the two occasionally killed any monsters they encountered. Working together, especially with the slowing effect of Yan Hua Yi Leng's Ice Spirit Power, almost no monster could get close to them. They killed them without suffering much damage.
Several minutes later, Yan Hua Yi Leng stopped. "I can sense someone following us too. These people are remarkably patient. They should be a professional assassin organization from the online gaming world. It seems those killer organizations have entered this game as well."
"There are professional assassin organizations in the online gaming world too? That's interesting." Ye Luo paused, then changed his tone. "I wonder whether any of my old acquaintances entered the game. I also wonder whether I could still withstand them if they chose to assassinate me."
As he spoke, Ye Luo's heart suddenly stirred. He then unleashed a General's Strike five meters behind him.
A massive sword-shaped phantom slashed out. With a muffled thud, a yellow "380" damage number appeared, and a man dressed in black emerged out of thin air.
The man was a level 10 assassin with all his points in Agility. He had only a little over 400 health. Ye Luo's single attack had reduced him to critical health, leaving him terrified.
At the same time Ye Luo attacked, he called out, "Yan Hua, seven meters diagonally behind me to the right, and eight meters behind me to the left!"
Yan Hua Yi Leng instantly understood. She raised the Wolf Fang Bow, and an Energy Arrow imbued with Ice Spirit Power whistled forward. Another black-clad figure then appeared from thin air, but Yan Hua Yi Leng's attack had left him with just over 100 health.
The interval between bow attacks was 2.2 seconds, but Yan Hua Yi Leng had put all her points into Agility. Her attack frequency was already nearly equal to that of a swordsman. Two seconds later, she attacked again, and another shadowy figure appeared out of thin air.
After taking the initiative to attack, Yan Hua Yi Leng and Ye Luo's names appeared above their heads. Their usual green names also turned gray, the color indicating that they had initiated combat. Those attacked could retaliate within ten minutes without suffering the Red name punishment.
In the Heavenly Tribulation Game, actively killing players incurred sin points, and one's name would turn red. Dying would also bring additional penalties.
However, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng did not care. Looking at the three people who had revealed themselves, they saw the names above their heads—Ye Ban San Geng, Ji Ming Gou Dao, and Yue Gao Feng Hei.
Normally, assassins would use their Backstab skill after revealing themselves. However, Yan Hua Yi Leng and Ye Luo were standing seven or eight meters away. Backstab only had a range of five meters, so the assassins could not use it at all.
Even if they could, they would not dare to. They were already at critical health, and their Stealth Skill had entered cooldown. Without any life-saving skills, they had no chance of winning.
"As expected, they're from an assassin organization." Yan Hua Yi Leng looked at Ye Luo. "They have some reputation on the assassin rankings and are within the top ten thousand. Especially Yue Gao Feng Hei—he was ranked 1,732 some time ago. That's not bad."
There were over ten thousand players on the assassin rankings, yet Yan Hua Yi Leng recognized their identities at a glance. It was clear just how absurdly strong her memory was.
"As expected of Yan Hua Yi Leng. You recognized us brothers at a glance." Yue Gao Feng Hei looked helplessly at Yan Hua Yi Leng and Ye Luo. "I didn't expect our first job to fail, but losing to Miss Yan Hua isn't embarrassing."
"You make it sound nice, but the others are still waiting for a chance to ambush us." Ye Luo spoke blandly, a trace of amusement in his voice. "As expected of professional assassins. You'll use any method available."
"This brother is incredible. You can actually sense our positions so clearly. At this stage, there shouldn't be any items or skills that can reveal stealth, right?" Ye Ban San Geng's face was full of confusion. "May I ask how you discovered us?"
His tone was quite sincere, as though he truly wanted guidance.
You followed us for so long. It would be strange if I couldn't sense you. Ye Luo naturally would not mention something as intangible as a sixth sense. He pointed at the ground beneath Ye Ban San Geng and the others. "Although you were stealthed, the leaves and grass under your feet gave you away. Pay special attention to that in the future."
Looking at the grass that had been trampled and was faintly different from the surrounding area, Ji Ming Gou Dao and the others immediately understood. Yue Gao Feng Hei gave a bitter smile. "It seems we really ran into experts this time. We admit defeat. Brothers, withdraw first. Unless necessary, don't accept any more assassination missions targeting Ye Luo Zhi Qiu."
Following Yue Gao Feng Hei's words, faint rustling sounds could be heard. Ye Luo sensed that those people had retreated, but his vigilance did not lessen.
"Brother Ye Luo, we failed our mission. Do with us as you please," Ye Ban San Geng said, wearing an expression as though he were ready to be slaughtered.
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