Qian Gongyu knew about the Ironblood Graveyard. It was a secret realm controlled by the Jie Family, and one of the most valuable secret realms in all of Liang.
The Ironblood Graveyard was only a Second Rank secret realm, yet it could produce Third Rank tokens—and Third Rank defensive tokens at that. It was precisely because of this heaven-bestowed advantage that the Jie Family had stood tall in Jiangnan for a thousand years. No matter how dynasties changed, they remained a top-tier aristocratic family.
But... the Blade Warrior outside was the Demon King of the Ironblood Graveyard?
Didn't that mean—
"The statues that can be built here... could they all be Demon Kings from other secret realms?" Shang Xin Lei guessed. "I was just thinking that if every wave of monsters was stronger than the last, wooden crossbows and catapults would soon become useless. After all, there are plenty of humanoid monsters that move incredibly fast and can even cut arrows out of the air. Even among beast monsters, many have thick hides and flesh and fear neither crossbows nor cannons. The Raging Bull Demon is one of the best examples."
"But if we can have other Demon Kings fight for us, then things are different—like the Twin Blade General. A Demon King like him has extremely high damage but poor defense. As long as we create opportunities for him to attack, even as a Second Rank Demon King, he can easily cut the Raging Bull Demon down!"
Shang Xin Lei stared intently at Jiang Shi, hoping Jiang Shi would acknowledge her guess.
"The Blade Warrior has already lost thirty percent durability."
Jiang Shi suddenly spoke. A moment later, she seemed to realize that everyone might not understand, so she explained, "When its durability reaches zero, the Blade Warrior will turn back into a statue."
"We have to go out and help!" Jie Yuanshao impatiently shoved open the door and rushed outside. "The wooden crossbows definitely can't kill the Raging Bull Demon. We can only rely on the Twin Blade... I mean, the Blade Warrior to deal with it!"
"We've fought monsters so many times, but this is the first time we've fought alongside them." Shang Xin Lei smiled.
Qian Gongyu was nowhere near as excited as they were. She took several spirit jades from her trouser pocket and absorbed them, then walked outside with a pained expression.
"Finally finished."
Yan Qing put down the Game Console, rotated his wrists, and stood up to stretch his arms and legs. He felt as though even his butt had gone stiff from sitting.
The first wave in the Wandering Star Forest had taken only fifteen minutes to finish, but they had actually spent a full hour fighting the second wave of monsters. Only an MMORPG could have a battle sequence this long. If this had been a mobile game, it would have died instantly, and the planners' mothers could have been sold wholesale.
Yan Qing had expected this, though. The monster assault was designed for a normal four-player team, but aside from "Jiang Shi," the other three could not really be considered players. They even had to manually carry collected resources back to the Stone House, unlike "Jiang Shi," who could send them directly into the storage.
That meant that even after collecting resources twice, the shelter's resources were still far from sufficient. Naturally, its defensive strength could not withstand the monster assault. On top of that, they had gone and built the Guardian Tree and Guardian Stone. They had practically increased the difficulty themselves.
Yan Qing had only realized halfway through that resource-production buildings like the Guardian Tree and Guardian Stone, which sacrificed the present for long-term development, were completely planner traps. Anyone who built them was an idiot. More accurately, all resource-production buildings were equivalent to trading current combat strength for more resources, with the missing combat strength having to be made up by the players themselves.
The "Jiang Shi" team had already failed to gather enough resources. Instead of immediately exchanging them for combat strength, they had invested in resource production. No wonder they had struggled so badly. If Yan Qing's guess was correct, a team needed at least one player above the Fourth Rank to build resource-production buildings during the early stages. This team's average strength was not even at the Second Rank, and they even had "Jiang Shi," who had not changed classes.
Outside the courtyard, the walls had long since collapsed, and five wooden crossbows had been destroyed. The Guardian Tree had also been knocked over—indeed, it had been the first thing to fall. Clearly, according to the monsters' attack logic, "obstructions" came before "resource-production buildings," which came before "attack buildings," which came before "players." Whenever they had the chance, the monsters would smash the players' painstakingly invested sources of income, teaching them that not just anyone had the qualifications to invest in reproduction.
The three members of the Jie Family had no time left for aristocratic bearing or ladylike manners. One after another, they collapsed onto the grass drenched in the Raging Bull Demon's blood and flesh. The Blade Warrior, with only five percent durability remaining, turned back into a statue. Compared with earlier, however, the statue was clearly much more damaged.
A new message popped up in the game. Yan Qing glanced at it, copied its contents into the chat window, and then, after the AI automatically adapted it, had "Jiang Shi" say it aloud:
"There are two bad pieces of news."
Shang Xin Lei sat on the ground with her legs spread, not caring in the slightest about exposing herself. She panted and smiled. "Tell us the less bad one first."
"The less bad news is that the statue can only recover ten percent of its durability every two hours. There are three hours until the next assault, which means the statue can only recover to twenty percent durability by the time the next assault begins."
"What's the worse bad news?"
"The worse bad news is that if we leave now, then when we come back tomorrow, we'll have three hours to gather resources before the monster assault begins again."
At first glance, this sounded very strange. Leaving early and having more preparation time tomorrow—shouldn't that be good news? But everyone here was clever, and Jie Yuanshao quickly understood the subtext behind the two pieces of news. "If we can hold out until the third or even fourth wave, we'll earn far more points? But if we leave, we'll have to start from the first wave tomorrow?"
"Yes."
Everyone looked at one another. Jie Yuanshao said, "I haven't given it my all yet. What about you?"
"Neither have I." Shang Xin Lei stood up and patted her butt. "But Xiao Yu is already at her limit, isn't she?"
Qian Gongyu jumped in fright and stammered, "I—I can actually still manage, barely..."
"Let's leave."
"Jiang Shi" said, "You no longer have the energy to gather resources. The third wave will definitely be more difficult than the second. Without sufficiently powerful buildings, you won't be able to defeat it."
With that, "Jiang Shi" walked straight toward the thick fog behind the Stone House. Seeing this, Qian Gongyu could not help but sigh in relief and hurried to get up and follow her. At that moment, Jie Yuanshao suddenly remembered something and chased after them, calling, "Jiang Shi, Qian Gongyu, wait! I have something to tell you!"
"Let's talk outside. For every extra moment we stay here, we'll have one less moment to gather resources tomorrow."
The four of them stepped into the thick fog. Unlike when they had entered, the fog did not separate them. After they trudged through it for a while, they saw light appear at the far end.
The instant they stepped out of the fog, the dazzling sunlight turned even the Game Console's screen white, as though it had taken a flashbang to the face. The brilliant noon sunlight poured over the open ground at the entrance, while the chirping of birds rang throughout the forest.
"They're out!"
"They came out!"
As they appeared, the scattered crowd on the open ground at the entrance immediately grew excited. Many noble scions even ran out of their tents and carriages, as though they would lose out if they were one second too slow. Before long, a huge crowd had gathered around them. Their gazes at the four women were filled with curiosity, envy, and even jealousy, like starving chickens that wished they could rush forward and peck them to death.
Yet they all obediently remained on the outskirts and watched, because a man stood in the center of the open ground, and no one dared walk in front of him. It was not only because a purple sash was tied around his wrist, but also because he was... the strongest person in this forest.
"Third Uncle?"
Jie Yuanshao stepped in front of the others and asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I happened to be passing nearby, so I decided to come see you. I planned to wait for you and head back together." The man smiled.
But Jie Yuanshao did not give him an ounce of face. "Third Uncle got yourself into trouble and didn't dare go back alone, did you?"
"Well... it's not really trouble. But I'm a filial son, and I don't want to anger your grandmother. I thought I'd bring my good granddaughter to see her, so she wouldn't be able to get angry."
"Thanks to how filial I am, I nearly missed out on such an interesting affair."
He stepped forward, swept his gaze over Shang Xin Lei, Qian Gongyu, and "Jiang Shi," then fixed his eyes on "Jiang Shi." Smiling, he said, "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Jie Yuanshao's third uncle, Spearmanship Instructor of the Jiangbei Military Garrison, Jie Zilong."
Is he a Third Rank Herald?
Although Yan Qing had expected this, being surrounded by so many people the moment he came out—and even being watched by someone above Level 30—still made him somewhat nervous. However, as long as "Jiang Shi" finished clearing the instance, Yan Qing did not care even if the whole world turned upside down. At worst, he would lose a low-level alt.
At that moment, though, a trembling figure stepped in front of "Jiang Shi."
"She—she's my family's guard. If there's anything, please, please talk to me." Qian Gongyu used the most cowardly tone to say the most resolute words.
She turned her head toward "Jiang Shi" and lowered her voice, slipping into her local accent. "Don't be scared. The Jie Family... the Jie Family shouldn't forcefully seize a common girl... right?"
Before you continue