Sudden Turn

Poor Tie Liu. He had been a renowned High-level War God, famous throughout the God of War circles. He had weathered countless storms and bloodbaths, only to fall through one moment of carelessness in City 003.

"No—" Long Yue's eyes reddened. Her beautiful face twisted, her usual cool elegance gone as pain contorted her features.

The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox lowered its head, slightly weary, and looked at the mangled human corpse on the ground. A flash of satisfaction passed through its eyes. The eye in the middle of its forehead slowly closed, as if using that mysterious power had taken a heavy toll on it.

It looked at Long Yue, who was suffering not far away. Though it wanted badly to finish her off, the Crystal Vine in its lair was more important. The reason its illusions were so powerful—powerful enough to affect a High-level War God in an instant—had much to do with the Crystal Vine.

Of course, this power wasn't invincible. First, it took a heavy toll. Each time the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox used it, it placed an immense strain on its mind. Second, it was less effective against those with powerful Spirit Reading Power or strong wills. Long Yue, for example, was a Spirit Reader and had broken free of the illusion almost instantly. Tie Liu's death had also had much to do with his insufficient willpower.

The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox stopped paying attention to Long Yue, turned around, and raced toward the stadium, followed by three Lord-level Monsters.

Long Yue also snapped out of her anguish. She hurriedly used the communication button on her Tactical Watch to send Liu Feng a signal to retreat, then went to Tie Liu's body and wept as she looked at it.

They had relied on each other through life and death for more than a decade, and had long since come to regard each other as family. The bond between Long Yue and the other two really was deep. Tie Liu's death left her in unbearable pain.

"Brother Tie Liu, you won't have died in vain. We'll avenge you. We will, we will..."

On a distant rooftop, Chen Daolin and Ji Xuan had witnessed the scene too. They couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

But the Wilderness Area was dangerous by nature, with warriors venturing into it to hunt Monsters. Once a warrior chose that path, they had to be prepared to die at any moment.

Seeing Long Yue in such pain struck a chord with Chen Daolin. If a friend he'd known for years suddenly died in front of him, he'd be devastated too—and would want to avenge them.

"The third eye on the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox's forehead suddenly opened, affecting that High-level War God's mind and giving the fox a chance to kill him. It must have used some kind of Spirit Reading Power. Most likely, it was an ability that created illusions." Ji Xuan's expression turned slightly grave.

At present, Spirit Readers mainly had several abilities. The first was controlling objects—such as weapons and hidden projectiles—to attack enemies directly. The second was creating illusions to affect enemies, then taking the opportunity to attack, as the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox had done. The third was using Spirit Reading Power to communicate with Monsters and make them serve them. But that required a great deal of patience, since Monsters were wild and untamed and could easily get out of control. Few Spirit Readers tried to tame Monsters this way.

"Illusion attacks really are terrifying..." Ji Xuan paused, then added, "But if your Spirit Reading Power is strong enough, or your will is firm enough, an illusion attack won't affect you much."

Chen Daolin nodded. His willpower? He was quite confident in it. He just didn't know whether he could withstand the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox's mental attack.

Picking up his spear, Chen Daolin said to Ji Xuan, "A-Xuan, wait here. I'm going to face that Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox."

He was curious, too, about what the stadium held that had made three God of War-level warriors risk their lives to venture in.

"Be careful." Ji Xuan was a little worried, but she knew she couldn't help Chen Daolin. There were too many Lord-level Monsters to face this time, and her own abilities were too weak. If she followed him, she would only distract him. She wouldn't do that.

Chen Daolin's figure blurred. He leaped down from the rooftop, more than twenty meters high, and crashed to the ground with a boom. Then, like a Phantom, he shot toward the stadium at full speed.

Inside the stadium, Liu Feng was facing off against a huge, menacing black scorpion. Suddenly, his Tactical Watch vibrated and began beeping. It was the emergency retreat signal he and Long Yue had agreed on. Liu Feng's expression changed. "What's going on? It's only been a little while. Did something happen to Long Yue and the others?" He cast one last reluctant glance at the Crystal Vine behind the Earth King Scorpion, took a deep breath, and turned away without further hesitation. He soon disappeared from the stadium.

Less than half a minute after Liu Feng left, a blurred shadow appeared at the stadium entrance. It solidified into a giant fox with gray fur and a fiery-red tail. It raced to the small mound, glanced at the black giant scorpion emerging from the ground, and immediately realized someone had been there. It anxiously checked on the Crystal Vine, and only relaxed when it saw that all four fruits were still there. A humanlike smile appeared on its foxlike face.

Though it had lost a subordinate this time, it had also killed an enemy. Most importantly, the Crystal Vine's fruits hadn't been stolen. The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox was satisfied enough.

"Yip, yip!" The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox chirped happily, its fiery-red tail swishing back and forth.

The Intermediate Lord Level Monster, the Earth King Scorpion, obediently stayed nearby.

The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox's ability was one reason so many Lord-level Monsters obeyed it. Normally, even a High Lord-level Monster would have only two or three Lord-level Monsters following it. But this fox had five, three of them Intermediate Lord Level. That was extremely rare.

Just then, a series of violent explosions suddenly sounded outside. The furious roars of Monsters rose and fell without pause. The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox and the other four Lord-level Monsters all stood up and turned to look toward the entrance corridor.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion came from the entrance. A shock wave swept dirt and broken stone inside, along with several enormous Monster bodies. They crashed to the ground and rolled several times. One rolled right up to the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox's feet: a bloodied Monster corpse, no longer breathing.

"..." The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox narrowed its eyes.

A gray figure suddenly appeared. As it took solid form, it revealed a black-haired young man in a gray combat suit, a long spear in his hand. He casually swung it behind him, and a sharp explosive crack rang out. A pack of Monsters charging at him was swatted away like flies, sent flying far into the distance.

"Roar!" The Blood-Eyed Lion Mastiff Beast nearest the corridor saw the human appear and let out an angry roar. It slowly rose, took a step, then sprang toward the black-haired young warrior.

Without even looking up, Chen Daolin swung the bronze spear toward the charging Blood-Eyed Lion Mastiff Beast. A dense series of thunderous booms erupted through the air. The spear blurred, moving at an almost unbelievable speed. In the next instant, it smashed squarely into the Beast and sent its enormous body flying more than twenty meters before it crashed to the ground. The resounding impact echoed through the stadium, which seemed to tremble slightly. The Blood-Eyed Lion Mastiff Beast's terrifying weight had crushed the ground into a shallow pit more than ten meters across.

The Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox, standing atop the mound, saw this and its pupils contracted.

This human was dangerous.

After sending the Blood-Eyed Lion Mastiff Beast flying, Chen Daolin took a step forward and abruptly surged ahead at high speed, aiming for the Death Giant Python, farthest from the Three-Eyed Fire-Tailed Fox.