"You have completed the faction quest 'Hunt the Fierce Tiger.' Quest review: Black Wind Stronghold had recently risen to fame and held considerable prestige among the outlaw forces near Hui City. However, a man-eating tiger had appeared in the mountains near the stronghold. Slay the tiger and rid the people of harm, and your renown would grow even greater. Quest reward: Faction advancement objective Large Predator completed, 100 Potential Points, 100 Cultivation Points." "You solo-killed an adult Eastern Mountain tiger. You have gained the Tiger Slayer Hero title. Jianghu Reputation increased by 200, Potential Points increased by 100, Cultivation Points increased by 100."
After reading the two notifications, a smile appeared on Jiang Dali's face.
Sure enough, killing a large predator like a tiger brought incredibly generous rewards.
The Tiger Slayer Hero title alone increased his Qi and Blood by another 200, bringing it to the terrifying total of 5,200. He had become even tougher.
This was the proportional relationship between risk and reward.
Although people of the Jianghu all possessed martial arts, not just anyone could kill a tiger.
Anyone capable of killing one alone could be considered an outstanding talent among men.
If Jiang Dali had not mastered the two Iron Cloth Skills, Iron Cloth Skill and Golden Body Skill, and also possessed the fragmented ultimate technique, Great Vajra Palm, along with his abundant experience killing tigers from his previous life, he would not have dared to pluck a tiger's whiskers.
Even so, by the end of his battle with the tiger, he had been utterly exhausted. He had only managed to kill it with the sharpness of the Nine-Ringed Golden Saber.
Had he not learned Golden Body Skill and Great Vajra Palm—
At the Inner Qi Realm stage, he would have found it difficult to kill a tiger as well.
Thus, the generous rewards he received were well within Jiang Dali's expectations.
It was worth noting that the timing of this man-eating tiger's appearance had been rather ingenious.
It had appeared precisely after he had stabilized the hearts of the stronghold's people through several major events and expanded Black Wind Stronghold's reputation.
Jiang Dali guessed that this might be an opportunity for Black Wind Stronghold to advance into a ninth-rate faction.
When the brothers carried the tiger back to the stronghold—
Many of the stronghold's men had already rushed over after hearing the news.
A group of bandits examined the tiger Jiang Dali had killed, pointing and discussing it among themselves. The way many of them looked at Jiang Dali was filled with reverence.
"You killed the fierce tiger, earning the admiration of all the bandits. Stronghold cohesion has increased by 5 points and has now reached 75 points. When you issue orders to the bandits, none shall dare disobey!"
A notification flashed through Jiang Dali's mind.
Jiang Dali was quietly pleased and deeply satisfied.
When he had first taken over the stronghold, its people had been scattered and divided.
At the time, the stronghold's cohesion had been only 55 points. Once it fell below 50, bandits would rebel.
However, after a series of events, such as defeating martial arts hall master Hu Ling to vent the brothers' anger and defeating Dragon Gate Escort Agency's chief escort Du Dajin, the bandits, who worshipped strength, had seen their cohesion toward the stronghold rise sharply.
Now, under his leadership, the entire stronghold was flourishing.
"Great Mountain Lord, quite a few newcomers arrived again today!"
The player Li Jianfeng carried over a large pearwood chair and eagerly invited Jiang Dali to sit, smiling in an extremely humble and ingratiating manner.
When his gaze fell upon Jiang Dali's exposed chest, as hard as stone, the several shocking claw marks left by the tiger made him nervously swallow. His heart surged with excitement.
The Stronghold Lord was so strong, so fierce! I can even smell the masculine scent of sweat unique to men on him. Sniff... One day, I must become such a fierce man too! I'll have a powerful body and punch a tiger to death with one fist!
Jiang Dali glanced at Li Jianfeng, whose expression was somewhat intoxicated, then slapped him. "What are you standing around for? Go bring all the newcomers here."
"Ah! Yes, yes!"
The slap nearly sent Li Jianfeng sprawling face-first onto the ground. A huge "-21" floated above his head, and he immediately ran out of the courtyard to carry out the order.
Before long, a group of new players appeared before Jiang Dali. There were actually more than forty of them.
So many players coming to join him gave Jiang Dali quite a shock. He had not expected this recruitment drive to attract so many people.
The new players had originally been noisy and boisterous, swaggering along with arrogant, untouchable strides.
Yet the moment they entered the courtyard and saw the immensely muscular man seated there, surrounded by a group of bandits, they all unconsciously fell silent.
Nervous, curious, appraising gazes gathered on Jiang Dali as he sat quietly in the pearwood chair. Some whispered in extremely low voices, while others were visibly excited and thrilled.
Jiang Dali swept his gaze over the more than forty people before him, and one name after another appeared in his vision.
For players weaker than him, he could generally see their name information at a glance.
However, amid all the black usernames, the usernames of three people were red with hostility, which caught Jiang Dali's attention.
Three people actually came to join Black Wind Stronghold with malicious intentions?
Jiang Dali's expression did not change, but he pondered the origins of those three.
He had no impression of two of their names.
But the third name drew his attention.
"Little Flying Hero of Bird Stealing? That name... seems to belong to someone from Overlord Hall."
Jiang Dali's heart stirred. He somewhat understood where the three had come from, and he could not help sneering inwardly.
Overlord Hall was one of the factions established by the authorities in his previous life. It later became one of the largest and strongest player factions, capable of standing toe-to-toe with some major sects.
Every player who joined it was a first-rate expert.
Jiang Dali remembered this Little Flying Hero of Bird Stealing as well.
Now that his name, along with the other two, was displayed in red, they had clearly joined Black Wind Stronghold with hostile intentions. Their purpose was self-evident.
Looks like the authorities have already set their sights on me. Makes sense. I've been drawing too much attention lately. Unlike other bandit factions, there's no way the authorities wouldn't notice me. These three are probably just here to test the waters first.
Jiang Dali understood the situation but did not expose them. He welcomed all comers and accepted every one of them, bringing all forty-two new players into Black Wind Stronghold.
No matter what the authorities intended, since they dared send people to test him, he would play along and take them all in.
In any case, these people held no secrets from him. If anything happened, he could destroy them with a flip of his hand.
After the forty-two new players joined Black Wind Stronghold, they were all extremely excited.
Little Flying Hero of Bird Stealing and the other two were excited because they had completed the first step of the mission assigned by their superiors.
The other players were excited because they finally belonged to a faction. From now on, they could receive proper quests and perhaps even learn martial arts.
Jiang Dali directly appointed Central Plains Eyeing Cracks, Hua Kai Jian Hong, Li Jianfeng, and two other players as bandit squad leaders. Each was placed in charge of more than ten players for easier management.
These veteran players showed off in every way before the new players, taking the initiative to display the martial arts they had learned. Naturally, this made the newcomers burn with envy and jealousy. All of them desperately wanted to do work for Black Wind Stronghold so they could learn martial arts and rise above the rest.
Jiang Dali struck while the iron was hot.
Right there and then, he ordered the players to split into several groups and visit several strongholds in the nearby cities, delivering invitations to invite the stronghold lords to meet at Liangxin Lake and discuss the major matter of forming an Outlaw Alliance.
The so-called major matter of forming an Outlaw Alliance was naturally the first step Jiang Dali had taken toward his ambition.
His goal was to unify half the outlaw forces of Huizhou and initially establish a major faction that would possess some renown in the Jianghu.
Sending the players to visit the strongholds was a test of courtesy before force.
The players had all become pieces to be used.
Yet at that moment, the players acting as chess pieces were all fired up and delighted after receiving such a major faction quest. Not one of them feared the danger of heading to other strongholds.
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