Player: Qin Shaofeng Level: Houtian First Layer, Inner Qi Points: 600/600 (The Houtian First Layer possesses 200 Inner Qi Points; Yi Jin Jing triples the bonus) Talent Spirit Root: Thunder Body Skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, Little Li Flying Dagger Battle Beast: Hundred Spirits Demon Fox Equipment: None Mission: Level up Points: 130 Title: City Lord of Lanjiang City
The next day, as he looked at his status interface, a trace of a smile appeared at the corners of Qin Shaofeng's mouth.
He had never imagined that after winning the contest, the moment he obtained the official seal of the City Lord of Lanjiang City, an additional title would actually appear on his status interface.
Moreover, this title was far more than just a title. The title of City Lord of Lanjiang City had brought Qin Shaofeng a considerable benefit.
Title—City Lord of Lanjiang City: One-star title. Grants a fifty percent experience bonus within Lanjiang City and a ten percent experience bonus everywhere within the Lianyang Kingdom.
That's right. The appearance of this title granted Qin Shaofeng an experience bonus.
This had been completely beyond Qin Shaofeng's expectations.
"I never thought obtaining a title would also grant an experience bonus. Wouldn't it be a huge waste if I didn't use it?"
Qin Shaofeng smiled slightly, his eyes filled with excitement.
At this moment, Qin Shaofeng had already left Lanjiang City.
He was now the City Lord of Lanjiang City, and he had already used the recommendation slot for Lianyang Academy on himself. Lord Yuan from North Yang City had also reported it.
That was precisely why Old Master Qin had felt at ease letting Qin Shaofeng come out.
Once Qin Shaofeng was confirmed as the recipient of this year's admission slot to Lianyang Academy, he would receive Lianyang Academy's protection.
Even if that protection only lasted until the admission examination ended, given Lianyang Academy's status in the Lianyang Kingdom, no matter how badly Zhang Chongshan wanted to kill Qin Shaofeng, he wouldn't dare make a move.
Thus, Qin Shaofeng had boldly come out this time. Moreover, the place he had chosen to level up was quite famous.
It was a gigantic mountain range not far from Lanjiang City—the Black Horn Mountain Range!
The Black Horn Mountain Range had supposedly received its name because, deep within it, there lived a powerful sacred beast—the Black Horned Twin-winged Flying Dragon.
No one knew exactly how powerful the Black Horned Twin-winged Flying Dragon was, because no one who had seen it had ever returned alive.
Thus, no one dared enter the deepest part of Black Horn Mountain.
However, the Black Horn Mountain Range was enormous. With Black Horn Peak at its center, it formed a vast mountain range spanning thousands of li in every direction. The entire range stretched across the Lianyang Kingdom and its neighboring countries, Heihu and Yinyue, covering an immeasurably vast area.
Other than Black Horn Peak, where the Black Horned Twin-winged Flying Dragon dwelled in the deepest part, the entire Black Horn Mountain Range was divided into the outer perimeter, inner ring, and core region.
The outer perimeter was basically home to low-level and mid-level demonic beasts, with only a small number of high-level demonic beasts appearing there.
The section of the Black Horn Mountain Range bordering the Lianyang Kingdom was actually only one part of it. In particular, the section near Lanjiang City was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Even so, hardly anyone in all of Lanjiang City dared venture deep into it alone. At most, they moved around the very outer perimeter, because going slightly deeper meant entering the territory of high-level demonic beasts equivalent to Xiantian Martial Artists.
If one's cultivation had not reached the Xiantian Realm, few people would dare enter.
Moreover, even in the outermost area, people generally traveled in groups. Someone like Qin Shaofeng, heading alone into the Black Horn Mountain Range, was exceedingly rare.
But to raise his level to the Houtian Fifth Level within three days and thereby obtain the reward from that lottery opportunity, Qin Shaofeng had no choice but to make this decision.
Of course, Qin Shaofeng wasn't a fool. With his current realm, he would only seek out low-level and mid-level demonic beasts. High-level ones were absolutely beyond consideration.
Even among mid-level demonic beasts, he would at most provoke those at the third level. Any stronger than that, and he wouldn't be able to handle them.
Compared with humans, demonic beasts of the same realm were generally slightly stronger.
Qin Shaofeng naturally knew how he should choose.
Setting out in the morning, Qin Shaofeng finally reached his destination at noon, when the blazing sun hung directly overhead.
Hearing the cicadas calling one after another in the woods, he gazed at the lush forest nearby, then looked toward the distant mountain range—a vast, pitch-black, shadowy range lying across the earth like a slumbering dragon.
Qin Shaofeng finally understood why the Black Horn Mountain Range could span three countries.
The mountain range stretching as far as the eye could see before him was already enough to leave him astonished, yet this was merely one-fifth of the entire Black Horn Mountain Range.
He couldn't help sighing inwardly. If I could behold the Black Horn Mountain Range in its entirety, what a breathtaking sight would it be?
After sighing for a while, Qin Shaofeng stretched his body.
"Mm, let's begin now! First objective: reach the Houtian Fifth Level within three days!"
Whoosh!
The instant his voice fell, Qin Shaofeng's figure flashed violently. He shot straight into the Black Horn Mountain Range, leaping through the trees of the forest, and after a few bounds, he had already gone deep inside.
This leveling mission was counted from today, and half the day had already passed. Qin Shaofeng didn't want to waste any more time.
Within the dense, gloomy forest, towering trees could be seen everywhere. Trees dozens of zhang tall thrust into the sky—a sight rarely seen on Earth.
The ground was covered entirely in dead branches and withered leaves. Amid the various decaying odors lurked wisps of danger. As Qin Shaofeng leaped through the trees, he vaguely spotted several demonic beasts prowling across the forest floor.
There were quite a few mid-level demonic beasts among them, and some were even above the mid-level Fifth Level.
He had only just entered!
And he had already encountered one or two demonic beasts above the mid-level Fifth Level. As the saying went, seeing was believing and hearing was unreliable. Qin Shaofeng now truly understood that the Black Horn Mountain Range was far more dangerous than he had heard.
Moreover, darting and leaping through the trees didn't necessarily mean he was safe.
After leaping across more than a dozen towering trees in succession, Qin Shaofeng planned to stop and survey the situation, so he landed on one of them.
But the moment he stopped, a fierce gust of wind suddenly attacked from behind, carrying rolling waves of foul, fishy air.
Qin Shaofeng whipped around and saw a giant snake with a body thicker than his thigh. Its cavernous maw was wide open, and it lunged at him in a single bite, its mouth lined with fangs gleaming coldly.
The maw reeked of a stench that could fumigate the heavens, but what concerned Qin Shaofeng most was the rows of sharp teeth flashing with a blue chill. Judging by their color, they were clearly poisonous.
"Damn!"
Qin Shaofeng let out a strange cry. His body jolted violently, and he immediately leaped onto another tree, dodging the foul assault of that bite.
Its first strike having failed, the giant snake clearly had no intention of giving up. Its coiled body suddenly shuddered, and it sprang into the air. Its cavernous maw opened again, carrying that nauseating stench as it lunged at Qin Shaofeng once more.
"Damn! You really think I'm some soft persimmon?"
Anger flared in Qin Shaofeng's heart. His right hand trembled lightly, and a blade of silver light suddenly appeared.
Little Li Flying Dagger!
Whoosh!
The blade of silver light flashed past. The giant snake's body paused slightly, then abruptly froze in midair before plunging stiffly to the ground.
"System notification: Congratulations, player, you killed one low-level Nine-fold Demonic Beast, Black Scaled Giant Snake. You gained 2 experience points!"
Huh?
Hearing the system's notification, Qin Shaofeng was slightly startled.
"It wasn't 1 point but 2? Even with the City Lord of Lanjiang City title's boost, I didn't expect the system to be generous for once. After the fifty percent bonus, the 1.5 experience points were directly rounded up to 2!"
Qin Shaofeng was somewhat pleased, but the moment he looked at the Black Scaled Giant Snake's corpse, that joy turned into helplessness.
"Sigh! Even with the title bonus, it's still only 2 experience points! That doesn't match this giant snake's size at all!"
Indeed, judging by its size alone, the Black Scaled Giant Snake was thicker than Qin Shaofeng's thigh and more than twenty meters long.
But unfortunately, it was merely a low-level Nine-fold demonic beast, not even one that had reached the Houtian Realm. To Qin Shaofeng, it was worth only 2 experience points.
Still, fortunately, Qin Shaofeng had been able to respond in time to the Black Scaled Giant Snake's sudden ambush.
That blade of silver light just now had actually been Qin Shaofeng using Little Li Flying Dagger.
However, against the Black Scaled Giant Snake, that use of Little Li Flying Dagger had consumed only 100 Inner Qi Points.
With Qin Shaofeng's current cultivation at the First Layer of the Houtian Martial Artist realm, Little Li Flying Dagger, which consumed only 100 Inner Qi Points, was more than enough to deal with the low-level Nine-fold Black Scaled Giant Snake.
Nevertheless, after that ambush, Qin Shaofeng became secretly vigilant.
This had only been a low-level Nine-fold Black Scaled Giant Snake. If it had been a demonic beast in the same realm as him, things would have become troublesome.
The giant corpse of the Black Scaled Giant Snake crashed to the ground, sending a great swath of decayed leaves flying and causing quite a commotion.
Before Qin Shaofeng could descend to claim his spoils, several wolf-like demonic beasts suddenly burst out of the bushes nearby within just a few breaths.
Qin Shaofeng broke into another cold sweat at the sight.
If he hadn't just complained for those few moments and had gone down to harvest the precious gallbladder inside the Black Scaled Giant Snake, he would probably have been surrounded and attacked by those wolf-like demonic beasts by now.
Although those few wolf-like demonic beasts were also low-level demonic beasts, every one of them was at least at the low-level Eighth Level. With so many of them, they would have caused Qin Shaofeng some trouble.
As if confirming Qin Shaofeng's thoughts, several more wolf-like demonic beasts soon darted out and joined the feast that had fallen from the sky.
A moment later, a full twenty wolf-like demonic beasts had gathered beside the Black Scaled Giant Snake's corpse.
This made Qin Shaofeng even less willing to go down.
Who knew whether even more demonic wolves would come bounding out?
"Sigh, I'd better leave first!"
With a soft sigh, Qin Shaofeng completely gave up on claiming his first spoils in the Black Horn Mountain Range.
But just as Qin Shaofeng was preparing to leave, his gaze swept across the pack of demonic wolves on the ground, and his heart suddenly lit up.
Leave?
Why would I leave just like this?
This place was a perfect grinding ground!
Only then did Qin Shaofeng suddenly remember that he was on a tree twenty or thirty meters above the ground, while directly below him were twenty or thirty demonic wolves.
Demonic wolves couldn't climb trees!
If that was the case...
A sudden gleam flashed through Qin Shaofeng's eyes, and a marvelous idea sprang into his mind.
"I don't know whether it'll work, but I might as well give it a try!"
Before you continue