Qinghe Prefecture City

"Hmm?" Dongbo Xueying looked up to see a dense swarm of arrows raining down upon him. Each arrowhead glinted with a cold, metallic luster, tearing through the air with terrifying force.

"Truly overestimating yourselves." Dongbo Xueying drew the two sections of his spear from the weapon case on his back with lightning speed.

Whoosh!

Each section of the spear was over a meter long. He swung them casually in his hands. Because the Snow-Treading Colt was moving at such high speed, only a dozen or so arrows actually reached his front. With a series of pfft, pfft, pfft sounds, the arrows were all deflected by the swinging spear shafts. Not a single one touched Dongbo Xueying, nor did any strike the horse.

Following this, Dongbo Xueying instantly leapt off the Snow-Treading Colt and charged directly toward the mountain, joining the two spear sections into one as he moved.

"It's a tough nut to crack, retreat!" The Great Leader above was stunned by the ease with which Dongbo Xueying blocked the arrows, realizing he was not to be trifled with.

Swish!

"Leader!"

"Oh no--"

"We've invited a disaster!"

The Great Leader, the other lieutenants, and all the bandits were seized with terror.

They watched in horror as the black-clad youth who had leapt from his horse transformed into a black shadow, surging toward the sky. Although he was sprinting up the steep mountain face, his speed made their legs turn to jelly and their hearts tremble with fear. It was too fast—truly too fast! They were on the mountain, and there was at least a two-hundred-meter distance between them and the ground below.

Furthermore, the mountain path was steep and difficult to climb; logically, they should have had plenty of time to retreat.

In reality, however, the speed at which the black-clad youth ascended was terrifying. The rocks and trees were no obstacle, and the steep, slanted cliff face was no hindrance. His speed while sprinting through the mountain forest was even faster than the Snow-Treading Colt had been on the main road—so fast that the bandits couldn't even make out his true form, seeing only a blurred black afterimage.

"How, how could we run into a Title-level powerhouse?" The Great Leader felt his head about to explode. Sweat instantly soaked his clothes, and his legs felt weak. "To be this fast even on a mountain, he must be Title-level! A Silver Moon Knight isn't this fast; I can at least see a Silver Moon Knight's figure and put up a fight."

"There are only so many Title-level experts in Qinghe Prefecture. Where did he pop out from? Where on earth did he come from?"

"How could this be?"

"No, no..."

The Great Leader refused to accept what was happening before his eyes. Despair, fear, and a host of complex emotions surged within him. He didn't even have the thought of resisting, for the gap between them was simply too vast.

A Meteor Knight might still be able to trade blows with a Silver Moon Knight...

But when a Silver Moon Knight encounters a Title-level expert, they are usually killed in a single strike! Even a Silver Moon-Rank Mage... would be unable to even cast a spell in the face of a Title-level expert.

From this, one could see—

Just how powerful a Title-level expert is! They represent the limit of mortals, a true one-man army! A Meteor Knight has no power to fight back against a Title-level expert!

"Spare me, spare me, my lord, please spare me." This burly, ferocious Great Leader suddenly knelt down, begging for mercy.

Bang!

A spear shadow swept horizontally across the air. The Great Leader, his face twisted in terror, had no time to block. The spear shadow slammed into his chest, and with a boom, his chest caved in, his internal organs completely shattered. He was sent flying like a broken sack of sand, crashing into a distant tree with such force that the tree snapped in two. The Great Leader fell to the ground, blood spraying from his mouth, his eyes wide open—he was already dead.

"Run!"

"Run quickly!" The other leaders and the bandits went completely mad, scattering in all directions. It was a scene of two different levels of life meeting; although the other side had the numbers, every one of them was filled with soul-deep terror, with only one thought in mind—flee!

Swish, swish, swish!!!

It was too fast.

Dongbo Xueying's speed was such that, to the eyes of the captives who had been tied up, seven or eight phantoms appeared, as if seven or eight 'Dongbo Xueyings' were thrusting their spears simultaneously. The bandits were too slow to mount any defense, and in truth, even if they had, it would have been useless. Pfft, pfft, pfft... Including the other two Meteor-Rank Knight lieutenants and a Heaven-Rank Mage who had barely managed to cast a spell in an instant... all of them had their bodies pierced through by the long spear!

As for the spell? That laughable magic, which had transformed into sharp, blade-like energy, simply dissipated under the high-pressure airflow generated by Dongbo Xueying's swinging spear. It couldn't even touch the shaft of the weapon.

In one go, he killed over thirty bandits.

The remaining bandits scattered and fled for their lives, some rushing down the mountain, others up. Dongbo Xueying did not pursue them further; after all, once the core of a powerful bandit group is destroyed, the remaining small fry cannot accomplish anything.

"Hmm?" Dongbo Xueying scanned the corpses of the most formidable bandit leaders. Now that his perception of the outside world was even sharper, he walked past the bodies and discovered that an arm ring worn by the Great Leader was a storage treasure.

He tapped with the tip of his spear.

Clang.

The force from the spear tip caused the arm ring to immediately fall from the arm, and with a flick of the tip, it flew into Dongbo Xueying's hand.

"My lord, save us!"

"My lord, please save us!" The captives—elderly men and middle-aged men in rather luxurious clothing, as well as a pair of teenagers—looked at him with longing. They were afraid that once this powerful being left, the bandits would return to seize them again.

Pfft, pfft, pfft... Dongbo Xueying walked over and swung his long spear casually. The sharp, thin blade at the tip of the spear sliced through the ropes, and in an instant, all dozen or so people were freed.

"Thank you, my lord, for saving our lives." An old man with a white beard bowed respectfully, while simultaneously whispering orders to the others nearby, "Gather everything up and offer it to the lord."

"Yes."

These merchants were all shrewd individuals; they immediately went to collect the valuables from the goods the bandits had plundered, as well as the gold notes and other precious items from the bandits' corpses. Soon, a large pile was formed, including a stack of Star-Breaking Crossbows and many gold coins and notes.

"My lord, these were all left behind by the bandits. We offer these goods and items to you as well, to thank you for saving our lives," the white-bearded old man said respectfully.

Dongbo Xueying swept his gaze over the pile.

That thick stack of gold notes was indeed quite valuable. The main reason was that the other two Meteor-Rank Knights of the Eight Eagles of Cold Qiong did not have storage treasures and carried their money and belongings on their persons.

"Very well." Dongbo Xueying accepted the thick stack of gold notes quite readily; they were worth eighty or ninety thousand gold coins. "As for the rest, you may keep it yourselves. Keep the Star-Breaking Crossbows as well; they might help you protect yourselves. Where is the caravan you were traveling with? Where are your horses?"

"The others were killed, and the horses were abandoned up ahead. The Eight Eagles of Cold Qiong didn't care for those horses at all," the white-bearded old man said.

"I see."

Dongbo Xueying nodded, "Hurry up. I will lead you out of the Cold Qiong Mountain gorge. Once we are out, I will no longer be responsible for you."

"Thank you, My Lord! Thank you, My Lord!" The white-bearded old man knelt and kowtowed, and the others followed suit in gratitude. Cold Qiong Mountain was infested with countless bandits; with so many elderly and young among them, they would have found it nearly impossible to survive the gorge without Dongbo Xueying.

"Move quickly. If you are too slow, I will not wait for you." Dongbo Xueying had already leaped down. He cared nothing for the nearly two-hundred-meter drop to the ground, landing directly with a heavy thud that shook the earth, his knees not even bending in the slightest.

"Not bad." Dongbo Xueying refined the storage treasure; its space was a circle smaller than his mother's. "The gold notes from these bandit leaders add up to over 150,000 gold coins! My Snow Stone Castle is currently short on funds, and now I have received such a windfall."

Although he had earned nearly 100,000 gold coins over the years from selling the pelts and materials of Shadow Leopards, he had spent a fortune the year his younger brother became an official mage, gifting him a high-quality storage treasure and a mage staff! The staff wasn't expensive—only about 5,000 gold coins—since his brother was still weak and couldn't unleash the power of a more formidable one. However, the storage treasure had a fairly large space and cost over 50,000 gold coins! It was even larger than his mother's.

When he reached the Title-level, he had replaced his inner armor with a Tier 2 alchemical armor, at least ensuring his vital organs would be protected during life-or-death battles with other Title-level experts.

He had also replaced his boots and clothing with alchemical items, though these were relatively cheap; only the inner armor was expensive, costing 30,000 gold coins!

Thus, Dongbo Xueying was currently a bit tight on cash.

A dignified Title-level expert...

To be overjoyed over a mere hundred thousand gold coins—if other Title-level powerhouses knew, they would surely laugh. After all, what was the status of a Title-level expert?

After leading the dozen or so survivors who had narrowly escaped death out of the Cold Qiong Mountain gorge, Dongbo Xueying paid them no more mind and spurred his Snow-Treading Colt to full speed.

He galloped all the way, spending the night in Huanglong City.

The next morning, he continued his journey, not arriving at Qinghe Prefecture until dusk.

"Two full days, finally here. Is this Qinghe Prefecture?" Dongbo Xueying gazed into the distance. The massive, towering city was so vast that his eyes could not see the end of it. The city walls were constructed of grey-white stone, their countless grooves bearing witness to a long history. The walls stood a full hundred meters high! A hundred-meter-high wall... it was practically as tall as a mountain.

On these majestic walls, a black sphere was erected every kilometer, each marked with golden patterns. The entire massive, imposing city radiated an invisible power; naturally, ordinary people could not feel it, but Dongbo Xueying's keen perception of aura allowed him to detect it.

Qinghe Prefecture had a permanent population of over ten million! Its history was even longer than that of the Longshan Empire.

In truth, provincial capitals and prefectural cities generally had very long histories. Dynasties changed, but these ancient cities were constantly reinforced, and their magical arrays grew ever more powerful. Provincial capitals were even more exaggerated, with permanent populations exceeding one hundred million. Such cities were so grand and vast they were practically independent nations; it was said that even the power of gods could not shake the various defenses of a provincial capital.

"Truly an eye-opener. I have a feeling that if the entire magical array of Qinghe Prefecture were to erupt, the power unleashed by those spheres could likely kill me in an instant. This is entirely the power of Transcendence." Dongbo Xueying sighed with emotion, unaware of how staggering the consumption required to activate such an array truly was.

"Time to enter."

Riding his Snow-Treading Colt, Dongbo Xueying entered the majestic Qinghe Prefecture.