020: You Had Your Chance, But You Were Useless

"You don't dare treat me like this? Do you think some Du Dajin can scare me?"

Jiang Dali chuckled, a light smile playing on his lips. "What's your relationship with Du Dajin? Why are you working for him? Du Dajin shouldn't be so foolish as to send you to my territory to find me, right?"

Hu Ling's eyes widened again, his lips trembling. "I, I used to be an escort for the Dragon Gate Escort Agency."

"I see, so even in death, you won't be an unknown!"

Jiang Dali nodded and suddenly unleashed a palm strike. The palm wind roared like muffled thunder, hitting the opponent's heart with a 'bang'.

Hu Ling's eyes bulged almost out of their sockets. Blood trickled from his mouth as he stared in disbelief. "Why..."

Jiang Dali said, "I gave you a chance, but you were useless. Do I have to guess everything? If you don't confess proactively, are you the prisoner or am I?"

He waved his hand, signaling his subordinate mountain bandits to search the person's belongings and drag him away.

The group of players, tied up and imprisoned, were all stunned and terrified.

With their mouths sealed, they could only communicate through their eyes, all of them filled with dread.

"Holy crap! This Mountain Lord of Black Wind Stronghold is too arrogant and cold. We've fallen into the hands of a wolf."

"I don't want to be branded with a hot iron, I'm afraid of pain."

"If we really have to endure torture, we'll have to log off to avoid it."

"What's the point of logging off? Our bodies are still here, and we'll be in a comatose state, at the mercy of others. If we're truly tortured beyond recognition, we'll still have to endure the pain of our wounds when we log back in."

"Don't be so pessimistic. Maybe we'll be killed soon, and that would be much more comfortable."

Just then.

The group of players stopped their eye contact and collectively looked at Jiang Dali, who was approaching them.

"I'll give you two choices now."

Jiang Dali looked at the players expressionlessly. "First, join our Black Wind Stronghold. You'll start as the lowest-ranking ordinary mountain bandits. By contributing to the stronghold, you can receive some martial arts and cultivation techniques that I'll impart. What you need to do is fight for the stronghold and never betray it.

Second, be imprisoned here forever. Choose for yourselves."

The players were stunned after hearing this.

Could this even be called a choice?

Did they even have a choice?

One option was to become a mountain bandit with a chance to learn martial arts.

The other was to be imprisoned forever, unable to even die.

It was important to remember that the Comprehensive Martial World was officially advertised as a completely realistic world. Each person entering only had one chance to obtain a character identity, which was their player qualification.

Regardless of whether this was true or not, if it was, and they were forever trapped in the stronghold's prison, they would truly be finished. They might still be trapped when the public beta began.

Although this group of professional players felt that this game was too difficult to play and were already feeling stifled and angry, they didn't want to give up so soon after just starting.

"Wuwuwu—"

Several players were the first to start shaking their bodies frantically, wanting to express their willingness to surrender.

"Player Central Plains Eyeing Cracks wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold, do you agree?"

"Player Ximen Vampire wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold, do you agree?"

"Player Tianshan Scoundrel wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold, do you agree?"

"..."

This time, Jiang Dali did not hesitate and chose to recruit all the players.

Originally, according to his plan, he wanted to induce the players to join Black Wind Stronghold voluntarily.

However, due to the arrival of the Multi-armed Bear Du Dajin, he had to change his plan and adopt a simple and brutal approach.

By forcing players to join the stronghold like this, the probability of them rebelling in the future was still very high.

After all, compared to other famous sects, Black Wind Stronghold had much less appeal.

However, Jiang Dali now had a new plan to ensure that these leeks, once in his field, would never flow out.

After taking in the group of players, Jiang Dali gave them a few verbal warnings and reprimands, then offered some incentives. He then ordered his subordinates to take the players out of the prison and familiarize themselves with the surrounding environment of the stronghold.

As he took these actions, he received an interactive prompt in his mind.

"You are currently issuing the task 'Familiarize Yourself with the Stronghold' to the newly joined players as the Lord of Black Wind Stronghold.

After the players complete the task, you will receive a certain amount of Jianghu Reputation and Cultivation Points.

You can choose to set the task rewards yourself or choose to set them randomly. Random rewards will be given based on the task difficulty and will not include physical items."

Jiang Dali pondered for a moment, wanting to see if the random settings were reasonable, and immediately chose random.

At the same time.

The twelve players also received a task prompt.

"Black Wind Stronghold Lord Jiang Dali has issued the task 'Familiarize Yourself with the Stronghold'."

Task Type: Faction Quest

Task Requirements: Familiarize yourself with the area around the stronghold under the guidance of the old mountain bandit. Must be completed within one day, or a penalty will be incurred.

Task Rewards: 1 Stronghold Contribution Point (can be exchanged for weapons, martial arts, silver, etc.), 3 Cultivation Points, 3 Potential Points.

The players were immediately excited upon seeing the quest.

"Wow. We got a quest so quickly? And it even rewards Potential Points! I received quests in the county town before, but none of them offered Potential Points."

"This is real benefit. And the quest difficulty isn't high, with pretty good rewards. I'm still just an ordinary person right now, and I only need 50 Cultivation Points to advance to the Strength Training Realm."

"Joining Black Wind Stronghold isn't bad. At least we're ahead of the curve now. There are still many people who haven't even left their villages yet."

"I just don't know why the Black Wind Stronghold leader captured us and forced us to join? If we knew about these benefits, we would have joined voluntarily."

"Sigh! Brother, you just lack experience. Our Black Wind Stronghold is made up of bandits, after all. Recruiting people has to follow the proper procedure. You have to snatch people up the mountain and force them to join; that's the only way it fits the bandit logic."

"These guys are too deluded." Jiang Dali heard the players whispering and shook his head inwardly. Maintaining the imposing and mysterious aura of the Great Mountain Lord, he turned and left.

With all twelve players integrated.

He had also completed the first stage of the trigger quest "Recruiting Soldiers and Buying Horses," receiving rewards of 100 Cultivation Points and Potential Points.

Now, it was a good time to convert the Potential Points into strength during the night and improve the "Iron Cloth Skill."

Thanks to all those who tipped.