The Event Began, and Everyone Scrambled to Cling to the Strong

Gao Linzhi and smiled, "Despicable?"

"At your age, to say something like that, no wonder someone Expert Level as you would be tricked into guarding a warehouse on this deserted island."

Gao Linzhi had already discovered Lin Zhongxian's weaknesses through his skills. Combined with the opponent's level and identity, he could easily figure it out. This was the result of someone's scheming.

A level 35 garrison commander can manage dozens of people in the town, making him an equal to a clerk; while he, at level 55, is only guarding the warehouse gate, being bossed around by a clerk.

Lin Zhongxian was speechless for a moment.

His father named him that in the hope that he would live a carefree and happy life like Lin Zhongxian.

However, once he entered the imperial court, he was no longer in control of his own destiny. His family heirloom caught the eye of Noble Personage, but he refused to give it up, which led to him being plotted against by a villain.

At this moment, Liu Shoubei, who had already surrendered, seized the opportunity to say:

"Lin Bantou, your martial arts skills are truly remarkable!"

Why cling so desperately to the imperial court?

"Why not join the Great Elder and live a carefree life together on this island?"

A hint of hesitation appeared on Lin Zhongxian's face.

The main point is that Gao Linzhi hit the nail on the head; losing the Treasure Ship was also a capital offense.

Even if they manage to reclaim it, if the guards neglect their duties, they will be further targeted and attacked by treacherous individuals once they return.

Upon hearing this, Clerk He panicked.

"Hey, don't forget, two years from now, when the strange occurrences subside, the imperial court will send people back. At that time, none of you will escape unscathed!"

Lin Zhongxian's hesitation vanished. Yes, this hurdle was overcome, but what about two years from now?

Despite his superb martial arts skills, the Imperial Preceptor and an "Imperial Observatory," with numerous experts and mysterious, unpredictable methods that send chills down one's spine.

Liu Shoubei quickly asked, "What about two years from now?"

"This place is in a remote location, more than ten thousand miles away from the Capital Island."

"Besides, if we can quell the strange phenomena, we can provoke them. We can send a few daredevils to provoke them, and they'll be in trouble."

Gao Linzhi smiled.

I see.

This is the root cause of why the imperial court's authority cannot reach even distant islands.

The common people cannot defeat the imperial court, but they can bring in other forces to restrain it.

The strange occurrences subsided only if people refrained from acting recklessly.

It's like a tiger sleeping in the mountains; if both commoners and Noble Personage pass by quietly, nothing will happen.

If Noble Personage insists on oppressing a commoner, or even forcing them to their death; and the commoner cries out, the tiger awakens, and everyone is doomed!

Clerk He was speechless.

Lin Zhongxian remained silent for a long time before cupping his hands and saying, "Great Elder, please do me a favor and hand over the Treasure Ship and the clerk to me to take back."

"Mr. Lin is naturally extremely grateful; let's pretend this never happened."

"I will shoulder the responsibility for the court single-handedly."

"I can't possibly hand over the Treasure Ship to you, but I do have a position as an instructor that I can give you," Gao Linzhi said with a smile.

Lin Zhongxian shook his head. "Although my life has been full of hardships, I would never stoop to the level of someone who betrays his master for personal gain."

"Looks like you're going to have to fight?" Gao Linzhi said, while checking his own attribute panel.

"That's right. If I win, please hand over the people and belongings to Lin so he can take them away."

What if you lose?

"Then let the Great Elder decide what to do." Lin Zhongxian clearly didn't think he would lose.

After all, he could tell that there wasn't a single person present who could fight.

Gao Linzhi smiled.

The data from both sides is compared as follows:

[Can Xue Waves Across the Map]

[Constitution: 5+400]

[Spirit: 7+290]

Opponent's panel:

[The Lin Zhongxian]

[Constitution: 10+690]

[Spirit: 9+50]

Clearly, this is a typical warrior's stats panel; its strength lies in physical constitution, while its weakness is in spirit.

This person is extremely talented; their physical and mental constitution is close to the limits of a normal person.

However, whether one joins the imperial court or a feudal dynasty, their potential is determined accordingly.

The opponent is level 55, so theoretically they have 55 + 5 Basic Skills slots, which is 60 skill slots.

Level 1 players have six skills, level 0 players have five skills, and each level increases the skill cap by one.

Furthermore, the opponent has also cultivated to the Expert Level, which is the basic, intermediate, advanced, and Expert Level. Each skill slot can be boosted four times for either constitution or spirit.

The maximum amount of Constitution can be stacked up to 4*60*10, which is 2400 points of Constitution.

However, there are only 690 points now, and there's only one reason: the opponent didn't learn everything.

Or rather, given the indigenous people's energy, time, and money, it would have been impossible for them to learn it all.

Indeed, the Lin Zhongxian possesses only twenty-eight skills in total.

Most are Expert Level, with a small portion being intermediate and basic level.

This is what the natives envy about those Descenders; the latter can use experience to Skill Upgrade, and they only need to get to the basics.

Everyone can maximize their potential.

After comparing the panels, Gao Linzhi to a conclusion: the advantage lies with me.

So he got up from his seat and said to the Lin Zhongxian:

Life is very short.

"Man comes into the world crying, and leaves the world crying."

"The time a person has to determine their own destiny is only a few decades."

"To change your destiny, you don't rely on ability or wealth, but on confidence and courage!"

"Alright, let's go outside and have our match, so we don't damage the house and have to repair it later."

Then, seemingly without any warning, he passed Lin Zhongxian and walked directly out of the Council Hall.

The brazier was burning brightly in the hall, and the firelight reflected the complex face of the Lin Zhongxian.

Everyone was immediately taken aback.

They naturally also noticed the level of the Lin Zhongxian, and even his physique.

Even if the Great Elder is strong, he couldn't possibly defeat a level 55 Spear Master, could he?

Meanwhile, Clerk He looked excited.

This Great Elder is far too arrogant.

How dare he challenge a renowned Spear Master in the capital? He's courting death!

He was then escorted to the outside of the Council Hall.

In the courtyard.

A crowd immediately gathered around, faithfully playing the role of spectators.

Qingcheng*Bored, Puppet Best, Dragon Fruit, Xu Gou, Undercover Zhan Cangqiong, other Corporate Players, Rogue Players, and villagers who rushed over upon hearing the news...

They practically filled every corner, both inside and out, of the Council Hall.

Of course, the spot right in the middle was reserved for the two of them.

Gao Linzhi and Lin Zhongxian faced off from a distance.

The two sides were about two hundred paces apart.

The courtyard of the Elder Council Hall is quite large.

After all, sometimes they would call the villagers together for meetings.

"Great Elder, it's not too late to regret it now that things have come to this," Lin Zhongxian couldn't help but advise.

He still didn't want to completely break off relations.

Liu Shoubei is right; the other side cannot succeed, but they can easily ruin things.

He also wanted to return to the capital, seek refuge under a Noble Personage, and achieve great success.

After all, he's only in his early thirties, not old yet.

However, the next moment...

Gao Linzhi took flight.

It flew higher and higher.

Lin Zhongxian opened his eyes wide and looked up.

"Are you kidding me? I can fly..." one player couldn't help but joke.

Lin Zhongxian suddenly laughed, then stomped his feet on the air, swinging them like Wind Fire Wheels as he chased after the enemy upwards.

This chase sent them flying dozens of meters into the air.

This shows that a strong physique truly allows one to do whatever one wants.

"Damn, he can fly too." The player was immediately embarrassed.

However, Gao Linzhi continued to improve, while Lin Zhongxian began to fall behind.

"Hahaha, this idiot, he didn't study physics well!"

"The Kongkong, we can't even step onto the sky!"

"Hahaha, that's why they call themselves 'magic masters'. This proves it again: those who use their brains have more potential than those who rely on brute force."

As expected, Lin Zhongxian could only reach a height of 1,500 meters in one breath, which was already quite astonishing.

Ordinary feudalistic people were nothing but vegetables in his presence.

Even against an army of a million, he could crush them by simply throwing large stones down at them.

Unfortunately, every great law has its own counterpart that can counter it.

Now, he has met his nemesis.

No matter how high he ran, Gao Linzhi was always 500 meters higher than him.

This distance was a place he could never reach.

At that moment, a fireball slowly descended.

Lin Zhongxian did not hide.

He knew this was just a warning.

He ran downstairs, grabbed Clerk He, and left East Wolf Village.

As for the Treasure Ship, it was naturally something we couldn't steal.

It's very simple: Gao Linzhi has already made it clear to him that you can take it, but you can't keep it.

It would be better to lend it to Gao Linzhi; at least there's hope of getting it back in the future—perhaps by doing manual labor or asking for favors.

Clerk He was carried away from East Wolf Village, his shouts could still be heard in the wind:

"You bunch of robbers!"

"How dare you seize the imperial Treasure Ship!"

"The imperial court will not let you off if they find out!"

At this moment, the Second Elder couldn't help but angrily rebuke:

"What imperial Treasure Ship? That was clearly the blood and sweat of our islanders. The keel was made from an ironwood log found in the West Mountain forest when the strange events subsided, after the imperial court forced our four villages to lose more than three hundred lives."

Gao Linzhi smiled.

He had expected this to happen.

In short, the imperial court never produces wealth; its resources can only come from the local people.

This Treasure Ship couldn't have been transported thousands of miles away; it could only have been built by the imperial court, which provided the technology and supervision, and coerced the locals into building it.

This is the norm.

"Alright, everyone, go back now. Everyone contributed today. Go back and tally up the results, then distribute the rewards."

"I have many things to do; I need to focus my energy on spiritual practice."

With Gao Linzhi's words, everyone left, still wanting more.

"What a pity, we didn't get to see a major battle."

"That's normal. They're both experts; they know when to stop."

"Yeah, experts aren't stupid. They've cultivated diligently for decades to reach this level of skill. To risk everything for a moment of pride would be foolish."

"That's right, do they really think they're brain-dead? They've trained hard for decades, only to fight to the death and shock us bystanders?"

"That's true."

Many players left.

And at this time...

Several players were called to a stop.

"Nuonuo, Mubai... you two stay behind to discuss boarding the Treasure Ship."

"What?"

The players were both surprised and delighted.

They were the same people who had gone to ambush Clerk He and Liu Shoubei before. Although they were scared away by the other side, they had at least put in a lot of effort.

Bored, I smiled at them.

A thousand pieces of gold for a horse's bones.

"Damn it, they're not any better than me, so why did they get to go up?"

"Hmph, at least they entered the city, you just logged off."

"..."

Those who were unwilling to accept this immediately fell silent.

They had nothing to say.

Indeed, those who stayed behind all expressed their opinions and contributed some effort, even though the overall situation was already settled.

They did indeed risk their lives.

If they hadn't encountered the lazy Liu Shoubei and the cautious Lin Zhongxian this time, but instead were on another island, they might have been made an example of.

If the enemy can't kill the Canxue, can't they at least kill them?

Even islands are not all the same.

This place is too remote, and the stationed military force is too weak—actually, it's not weak at all—it's just that their morale is low.

In addition, there's Gao Linzhi, who's Cheater.

On the important islands that are relatively close to the Capital Island, a very strong force is stationed.

Ordinary villages and Ordinary Player can only live in fear and trembling under the cover of strange occurrences.

They simply didn't have the guts to attack the town's fortress directly.

And those fortified towns would often take advantage of relatively peaceful days to quickly requisition supplies from the villages.

Therefore, in feudal dynasties, it was easier to survive in remote mountains, while those bustling places were prone to famine.

One week later.

The game event notification arrived just in time.

"Ding! Lord An'an. A new event is now available in the game: Grand Voyage."

"Aren't you all excited to set sail for the vast ocean?"

"The ocean represents the upper limit of human potential, while the land provides the lower limit; only the ocean can bring about the upper limit."

"Please do your best to explore the endless ocean."

"During the exploration, build seagoing vessels and score points based on the distance traveled: 10 points for a distance of 1 to 10 li, 20 points for a distance of 10 to 20 li, and so on."

In case of a tie, the person who reached that score first will be ranked higher.

"The rewards are as follows..."

"Island Ranking Rewards: First place winner receives 30 free attribute points, plus ten random purple-tier materials, one Revival Stone, and 50 Life Potion..."

"The game lasts for one month."

It's basically the same as Gao Linzhi's invitation description.

The Ordinary Player was immediately in an uproar.

"Damn, building our own boat? A month isn't enough!"

"Let's buy it together. Buy a Fishing Boat, sail it for two miles, and get ten cents back. Let's see if there's a guaranteed minimum return."

"You're overthinking it. There are at least three or four hundred people on the island right now, and only the top one hundred have a guaranteed minimum."

"Damn it, these days, even those on welfare are struggling to make ends meet."

"Haha, we're aboard the Treasure Ship!"

"This ship is big, good, and stable."

"Damn it, the Treasure Ship is definitely slow."

"Slow is fine, we've had a month anyway, we can just sail at our own pace."

At this very moment.

On the east coast of East Wolf Village.

A large ship has just been towed here.

Even if everyone had excellent physical strength, it was still impossible for them to drag a ship that was over 200 meters long.

However, Gao Linzhi unleashed a powerful gust of wind, blowing the boat upwards.

The force of the strong winds significantly reduced the weight of the ship.

His level 100 Basic Wind Skill allows him to control the wind as flexibly as he controls his own arm.

And so, the large ship was launched.

The sailors were all puppets.

Gao Linzhi and some other players began to board the ship one after another.

Xu Gou, Puppet Best, Qingcheng*Bored, Dragon Fruit, Jiangnan1912, and other close associates were all allowed to board the ship.

However, the undercover agents were not allowed to go at all.

They were all put on other ships under the pretext of being entrusted with important tasks.

Simply disqualifying them from participating in the activities is definitely not an option.