Player: Qin Shaofeng Level: Houtian First Layer, 457/1000 Inner Qi: 600/600 (Houtian First Layer possesses 200 points of Inner Qi, tripled by Yi Jin Jing) Talent Spiritual Root: Body of Thunder Skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, Little Li Flying Dagger War Beast: Hundred Spirits Demonic Fox Equipment: None Mission: Level Up Points: 130 Title: Lord of Lanjiang City
The next day, a smile appeared at the corner of Qin Shaofeng's mouth as he looked at his Attribute Interface.
He had never imagined that after winning the competition and receiving the official seal of the Lord of Lanjiang City, his Attribute Interface would actually gain an additional title.
And this title was not merely a title. The Lord of Lanjiang City title had brought Qin Shaofeng no small benefit.
Title: Lord of Lanjiang City. One-star title. Gain a 50% experience bonus within Lanjiang City and a 10% experience bonus anywhere within the Lianyang Kingdom.
That was right. The appearance of this title gave Qin Shaofeng an experience bonus.
This was completely beyond Qin Shaofeng's expectations.
"I never thought gaining a title would come with an experience bonus. Wouldn't it be far too wasteful if I didn't make use of it?"
Qin Shaofeng smiled faintly, his eyes brimming with excitement.
At this moment, Qin Shaofeng had already left Lanjiang City.
He was now the Lord of Lanjiang City, and he had already used that recommendation slot for Lianyang Academy himself. Lord Yuan from North Yang City had also submitted the report.
It was precisely because of this that Old Master Qin felt at ease letting Qin Shaofeng leave.
Once Qin Shaofeng was confirmed to have secured one of Lianyang Academy's enrollment slots, he would receive Lianyang Academy's protection.
Even if that protection only lasted until the end of the enrollment examination, given Lianyang Academy's standing in the Lianyang Kingdom, no matter how badly Zhang Chongshan wanted to kill Qin Shaofeng, he would not dare make a move.
Thus, Qin Shaofeng had boldly come out this time, and the place he chose for leveling was also quite famous.
It was a massive mountain range not far from Lanjiang City—the Black Horn Mountain Range!
The Black Horn Mountain Range was called the Black Horn Mountain Range because, according to legend, deep within it lived a powerful Sacred Beast—the Black Horn Twin-Winged Dragon.
No one knew exactly how powerful this Black Horn Twin-Winged Dragon was, because no one who had seen it had returned alive.
Therefore, no one dared enter the deepest reaches of Black Horn Mountain.
However, the Black Horn Mountain Range was incomparably vast. Centered around Black Horn Peak, it formed an enormous range stretching thousands of miles in every direction. The entire range spanned the Lianyang Kingdom and the neighboring Black Martial and Silver Moon Kingdoms, covering an immensely broad area.
Aside from Black Horn Peak, where the Black Horn Twin-Winged Dragon dwelled in the deepest region, the Black Horn Mountain Range as a whole was divided into the outer region, inner region, and Core Zone.
The outer region was generally inhabited by Low-level Demonic Beasts and Mid-level Demonic Beasts, with only a small number of High-level Demonic Beasts appearing from time to time.
The part of the Black Horn Mountain Range connected to the Lianyang Kingdom was actually only one section of the entire range. The section near Lanjiang City, in particular, was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Yet even so, few people in all of Lanjiang City dared venture deep inside alone. At most, they moved about at the very edge of the outer region, because going even 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, probably very few would dare enter.
Moreover, even in the outermost region, people generally traveled in groups. Someone like Qin Shaofeng, heading alone into the Black Horn Mountain Range, was an extremely rare sight.
But in order to raise his level to the Houtian Fifth Level within three days and obtain the reward of that lottery chance, Qin Shaofeng had no choice but to make this decision.
Of course, Qin Shaofeng was no fool. At his current realm, he would only seek out Low-level Demonic Beasts and Mid-level Demonic Beasts. High-level ones were absolutely outside his consideration.
Even among Mid-level Demonic Beasts, Qin Shaofeng would at most provoke those at the Mid-level Third Layer. Any stronger, and he would be unable to handle them.
Compared to humans, Demonic Beasts of the same realm were generally somewhat stronger.
Naturally, Qin Shaofeng knew how to make his choice.
Having set out in the morning, Qin Shaofeng finally reached his destination around noon, when the blazing sun hung high in the sky.
Listening to the cicadas chirping one after another in the forest, looking at the lush green woodland not far ahead, then gazing into the far distance at the enormous dark and gloomy mountain range lying across the earth like a giant dragon, Qin Shaofeng finally understood why the Black Horn Mountain Range could span the lands of three kingdoms.
The endless mountains before his eyes alone were enough to leave him utterly astonished, yet this was only one-fifth of the entire Black Horn Mountain Range.
Qin Shaofeng could not help sighing inwardly. If he were to see the Black Horn Mountain Range in its entirety, what kind of breathtaking scene would that be?
After marveling for a while, Qin Shaofeng stretched his body.
"Mm, let's begin now! First goal: Houtian Fifth Level within three days!"
Whoosh!
The moment he finished speaking, Qin Shaofeng's figure flashed. He shot directly into the Black Horn Mountain Range, leaping several times among the forest trees before swiftly heading deeper inside.
This leveling mission had begun today, and half a day had already passed. Qin Shaofeng did not want to delay any longer.
Within the dense, gloomy forest, towering ancient trees stood everywhere. Giant trees dozens of zhang tall thrust toward the heavens, a sight rarely seen on Earth.
The ground was covered in dead branches and fallen leaves. Amid all manner of rotting stench lingered faint traces of danger. As Qin Shaofeng leapt from tree to tree, he vaguely spotted several Demonic Beasts prowling through the forest below.
There were quite a few Mid-level Demonic Beasts among them, some even at the Mid-level Five or above.
He had only just entered!
Yet he had already encountered one or two Demonic Beasts at the Mid-level Five or higher. Seeing was believing, hearing was falsehood; Qin Shaofeng finally understood that the Black Horn Mountain Range was far more dangerous than he had heard.
And even darting and leaping among the trees was not necessarily safe.
After leaping across more than a dozen towering trees in succession, Qin Shaofeng intended to stop and assess the situation, so he landed on one of the trees.
But just as he came to a stop, a fierce gust of wind suddenly struck from behind, carrying with it wave after wave of fishy stench.
Qin Shaofeng spun around sharply and saw a giant snake thicker than his thigh, its bloody maw wide open, its mouth full of cold gleaming venomous fangs as it lunged to bite him.
The huge mouth reeked to high heaven, but what Qin Shaofeng cared about most was the rows of sharp teeth flashing with icy blue light. Judging from their color, they were clearly poisonous.
"Damn!"
Qin Shaofeng cried out strangely. His body swayed, and he immediately leapt onto another large tree, evading that foul-smelling attack.
Having failed in one strike, the giant snake clearly had no intention of giving up. Its coiled body suddenly tensed, launching it into the air. Its bloody maw opened again, and with that nauseating stench, it attacked Qin Shaofeng once more.
"Damn! You really think I'm some soft persimmon to squeeze?"
Anger rose in Qin Shaofeng's heart. With a light shake of his right hand, a Silver Light Saber Aura suddenly appeared.
Little Li Flying Dagger!
Whoosh!
The Silver Light Saber Aura flashed past. The giant snake's body stiffened slightly, then suddenly froze in midair before falling straight down to the ground.
"System Prompt: Congratulations, player, for killing one Low-level Ninth Layer Demonic Beast, Black Scale Giant Snake. You have gained 2 experience points!"
Hm?
Hearing the prompt from the system, Qin Shaofeng was slightly startled.
"It was actually 2 experience points rather than 1? Even with the Lord of Lanjiang City title's bonus, I didn't expect the system to be so generous this time. After the 50% bonus, 1.5 experience points were directly rounded up to 2!"
Qin Shaofeng felt somewhat pleased, but when he looked at the Black Scale Giant Snake's corpse, that bit of happiness turned into helplessness.
"Sigh! Even with the title bonus, it's still only 2 experience points! That completely fails to match the size of this huge snake!"
Indeed, judging by its size alone, the Black Scale Giant Snake was thicker than Qin Shaofeng's thigh and more than twenty meters long.
But it was merely a Low-level Ninth Layer Demonic Beast, not even one in the Houtian Realm. To Qin Shaofeng, it was worth only 2 experience points.
Still, it was fortunate that this was the case. When faced with the Black Scale Giant Snake's sudden ambush, Qin Shaofeng had been able to respond in time.
That Silver Light Saber Aura just now had in fact been Qin Shaofeng's Little Li Flying Dagger.
However, against the Black Scale Giant Snake, the Little Li Flying Dagger he used this time had consumed only 100 points of Inner Qi.
With Qin Shaofeng's current cultivation at the Houtian First Layer, a Little Li Flying Dagger consuming only 100 points of Inner Qi was more than enough to deal with a Low-level Ninth Layer Black Scale Giant Snake.
Yet despite that, after this ambush, Qin Shaofeng secretly became more vigilant.
This had only been a Low-level Ninth Layer Black Scale Giant Snake. If it had been a Demonic Beast at the same realm as him, things would have been troublesome.
The Black Scale Giant Snake's enormous corpse crashed to the ground, scattering a large swath of rotten leaves and causing quite a disturbance.
Before Qin Shaofeng could descend to collect his spoils, several wolf-type Demonic Beasts suddenly emerged from the nearby bushes after only a few breaths.
Seeing this, Qin Shaofeng broke out in another cold sweat.
If he had not complained for those few moments and had gone down to collect the valuable gallbladder from within the Black Scale Giant Snake, he would probably already have been surrounded and attacked by those wolf-type Demonic Beasts.
Although those wolf-type Demonic Beasts were also Low-level Demonic Beasts, none of them were below the Low-level Eighth Layer. If there were too many of them, they would be somewhat troublesome for Qin Shaofeng.
As if to confirm Qin Shaofeng's thoughts, several more wolf-type Demonic Beasts quickly sprang out and joined in feasting on this meal that had fallen from the sky.
Before long, twenty wolf-type Demonic Beasts had gathered beside the Black Scale Giant Snake's corpse.
This made Qin Shaofeng even less willing to go down.
Who knew whether even more demon wolves would jump out?
"Sigh, better leave first!"
With a soft sigh, Qin Shaofeng completely gave up on his first spoil of war in the Black Horn Mountain Range.
But just as Qin Shaofeng was preparing to leave, his gaze suddenly swept across the pack of demon wolves below, and a bright idea flashed through his mind.
Leave?
Why should I leave just like that?
This was an excellent place to farm monsters!
Only then did Qin Shaofeng suddenly recall that he was sitting atop a tree twenty to thirty meters high, while below him were twenty to thirty demon wolves.
Demon wolves could not climb trees!
In that case...
A flash of light suddenly glinted in Qin Shaofeng's eyes, and an ingenious idea abruptly came to him.
"Though I don't know whether it'll work, I should give it a try!"
Before you continue