First Encounters on the Continent

A faint ripple passed through the air as Yan activated the World Authority, suppressing his presence to the lowest possible level. It didn't cause any greater disturbance, but it was more than enough to evade the notice of these ordinary soldiers.

Before long, Yan followed a squad of soldiers to the vicinity of the main city tower.

On the tower, a middle-aged man in official robes with a face full of coarse flesh was speaking with an elderly man with a long beard, clad in a strange ceremonial robe.

Judging by the expressions and movements of those around them, it was easy to tell that these two were the ones calling the shots in this city.

"Could that old man be Master Sun? Let's test him first." As Yan made this guess, he activated the World Authority to observe the other party. He found that Master Sun's Rhino Emperor Game solution count was around two hundred—a world apart from Shi Yan's.

With that settled, Yan began to eavesdrop on their conversation without worry.

"...City Lord, the one responsible for conquering the continent's southwest is that monster called 'Zhou.' The capital of the Great Jing Kingdom has already fallen, and His Majesty's fate is unknown. Fortunately, this place is just a remote town. This old man suggests that the City Lord first focus on protecting the city and await news of His Majesty."

The City Lord looked tempted, but seemed constrained by his position, his face still showing hesitation: "But Master Sun..."

The two began arguing with each other. With the help of the World Authority, Yan caught every word of their exchange. Neither the City Lord nor Master Sun had any awareness of his eavesdropping.

At the same time, Yan remained invisible as he climbed onto the city tower, casually leaning against a corner of the structure.

"Let's first see what these so-called monsters really are."

As expected, the City Lord was ultimately persuaded by Master Sun and decided to hold Guan Town and wait for the situation to develop.

Soon, one of Master Sun's disciples reported to the two that monsters had appeared at the West Gate.

"City Lord, this old man will head to the West Gate first. Leave the rest to you." With that, Master Sun hurried off toward the West Gate with several disciples.

Yan followed closely behind. Along the way, Master Sun noticed nothing unusual.

The group moved quickly. By the time they reached the West Gate, the monsters had just come into view.

Yan looked out and saw dozens of bizarrely shaped creatures. Some had over a dozen wings, others had nine claws and four heads. Their only common trait seemed to be that they were all white avian beasts.

"Screech!"

A series of piercing cries tore through the sky, and the soldiers on the wall looked on the verge of collapse.

"Monsters! Die!"

Seeing this, Master Sun let out a long roar. In response, a vast expanse of thunderclouds gathered in the sky, and bolts of lightning as thick as water buckets rained down, enveloping the dozens of monsters.

The lightning struck their bodies, leaving patches of charred black on the creatures.

"Just as I thought." Yan narrowed his eyes as he watched. As he had suspected, this so-called "Heavenly Master" was one of those in the outside world who had devoted themselves to studying the Rhino Emperor Game and achieved some results.

"So it seems the people of the outside world aren't as strong as I imagined?" Yan mused inwardly. The unease of his first foray into the world began to settle.

On the other side, seeing his technique take effect, Master Sun stroked his beard with a smile: "Just a bunch of beasts after all. The capital's fall was probably due to traitors... What?!"

Before he could bask in his triumph, the monsters' bodies began to glow with a brilliant white light.

"Screech!"

With a series of long cries, the light rapidly dispersed the thunderclouds, and the charred wounds on the monsters healed at a visible rate.

"..."

Master Sun's expression was as if he had seen a ghost: "This... this... how is this possible? Just a bunch of beasts—can they also solve the Rhino Emperor Game?"

On the other side, Yan, observing from the shadows, also frowned. Under his scrutiny, each of these monsters, taken individually, possessed Authority comparable to Master Sun's.

With several dozen working together, breaking Master Sun's techniques was naturally effortless.

But for some reason, Yan vaguely sensed something off about the Authority these monsters were using.

Yet for the moment, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

While Yan was still idly pondering such matters, Master Sun's back was already soaked with cold sweat.

He tried a few more times in disbelief, but each time, the monsters easily crushed his efforts.

With their pillar's initial defeat, the soldiers on the wall erupted into chaos.

Yan snapped back to reality. Watching the monsters about to charge into the city, he let out a soft sigh. He took a step forward with his left foot, and in the next instant, he appeared in front of Master Sun. By then, he had already dropped his disguise, fully exposed.

"!"

Seeing Yan suddenly appear, Master Sun was startled. Could someone really have crept up to him without his knowledge?

"You..."

Just as Master Sun was about to speak, he witnessed the most unforgettable scene of his life.

The area where the dozens of monsters stood seemed to be severed from the normal world.

The monsters themselves seemed to realize the danger. A brilliant white light spread across the entire region as they tried to escape.

But then, the severed space twisted. Like an eraser wiping away pencil marks, the white light, the monsters—everything—was completely erased.

"..."

This sight stunned Master Sun, stunned the City Lord who had just arrived, and stunned every soldier and citizen in Guan Town.

"Just as I thought... these monsters—the Authority they wield is completely identical."

Having effortlessly eliminated the monsters with a single move, Yan's face showed no joy. Instead, a deep unease settled over him.

The monsters' death throes made him realize where the strange feeling had come from—the authority these monsters wielded was completely identical.

After all, the Rhino Emperor Game was profoundly mysterious; if a hundred people comprehended the same incomplete game, there would be a hundred ways to break it, each leading to mastery of a different World Authority.

But those dozens of monsters all wielded the exact same World Authority, which meant their methods of breaking the game were completely identical.

This was clearly abnormal.

Yan didn't know the deeper reason behind it, but these monsters were certainly not as simple as they appeared on the surface.

Yan smelled a deep conspiracy.

"This... young master?"

Just as Yan was lost in thought, a hesitant voice interrupted him.

Yan turned around and saw the long-bearded old man looking at him cautiously. Below, the city lord and soldiers who had just arrived were all staring at him.

Seeing this, Yan had no choice but to set aside his worries for now and said to Master Sun, "Master Sun, this isn't the place to talk. Let's go to the city lord first."

"Right, right, let's go to the city lord first." Master Sun hurriedly agreed.

With that, the two flew toward the city lord.

A few hours later, Yan finally got a rough picture of the current state of the world from the two of them.

It turned out that the outside world was divided into eight nations: Jing, Liang, Yong, Qi, Yan, Song, Wu, and Yue. Each dominated a region, ceaselessly fighting one another. There was also an organization called the Celestial Master Palace, which gathered those who studied the Rhino Emperor Game from across the world while providing some guidance and assistance.

At present, at least seventy percent of those skilled at solving games belonged to the Celestial Master Palace.

Of course, upon learning that Yan was not a disciple of the Celestial Master Palace, Master Sun couldn't help but marvel, "It seems there are still some extraordinary people hidden in all corners of the world."

Yan responded with a faint smile. He certainly wouldn't reveal Bauhinia Village to the two of them. In his explanation, he was a recluse living in the primeval forest south of Guan Town.

When the conversation turned to the eight nations, the city lord's expression grew somewhat dejected. "Unfortunately, since news of the capital's fall came a month ago, Guan Town has had no information from the outside world. I don't know what the situation is now."

After exchanging more words with the two, Yan decided to head to the capital of Jing Nation to investigate.

The city lord initially wanted to keep Yan in Guan Town to help with defense, but seeing that Yan had already made up his mind, he didn't try to stop him.

Yan then said to the city lord, "City Lord, in my opinion, it might be best to lead the townspeople and evacuate to the wilderness. Given the strength of those monsters, if they come again, Guan Town won't be able to hold out. In times like these, the city can be temporarily abandoned, but the people must be preserved as much as possible."

After offering his advice, Yan didn't say much more. He took the map of Jing Nation gifted by the city lord and a portable Rhino Emperor Game Array Book distributed by the Celestial Master Palace, which Master Sun had given him, then left this border town.

Once he left Guan Town, Yan realized just how dire the situation on this continent was.

Even a border town like Guan Town had suffered an attack, and the closer he got to the core region of Jing Nation, the more common the roaming monsters became.

Along the way, Yan had already dealt with over a dozen waves of various monsters. The weakest among them were even feebler than those that attacked Guan Town, with about 150 games' worth of authority. As for the strongest wave...

That was a group of twenty monsters with 1,000 games' worth of strength. Of course, before Yan, they were utterly powerless.

But as he eliminated more and more monsters, Yan's mood grew heavier—regardless of their strength, all the monsters wielded the same authority. The only difference was that the stronger ones possessed more of it.

The one piece of good news was that Yan had, by chance, solved the 2,000th game of the Rhino Emperor Game along the way, which elevated his authority to a new level.

With the Rhino Emperor Game, every additional 1,000 games solved brought a noticeable boost in authority, and the newly mastered abilities were also very powerful.

When he first solved 1,000 games, Yan had mastered the authority of Teleportation and initially touched upon space. Now, having solved 2,000 games, Yan's new authority was Space Strangling.

With Space Strangling, Yan's Teleportation range had also greatly increased. What would have taken about a month's journey now took less than twenty days.

"Is that the capital of Jing Nation?"

Standing atop a small hill, Yan gazed at the large city in the distance. From its sheer size, it was clearly a city that could hold at least a million people.

But now, this former capital named Ying was filled with rolling smoke and dust, desolate and ruined. Not a single person could be seen, nor were there any monsters.

Only in the center of the capital, where the palace once stood, a beam of white light dozens of kilometers thick shot straight into the sky, enveloping the entire palace grounds.