Elite Yellow Turbans

Lin Maoxian carefully crept toward the group, but just as he reached a point three or four meters away from Wang Hu and his men, he was spotted.

"Who's there? Who's hiding over there?" Wang Hu sensed something amiss and shouted toward Lin Maoxian's direction, his hand gripping his blade as he stood on guard.

Wang Hu's shout startled the others awake, and upon hearing that someone was lurking nearby, they immediately stood up and prepared for a fight.

Realizing he had been discovered, Lin Maoxian abandoned the idea of a stealthy approach and charged at full speed toward Wang Hu, the leader holding the blade. As he rushed forward, he activated his Copper Skin skill. He knew that with his 15 points of Constitution, these men couldn't even push him back a single step, let alone cause him any harm.

With Lin Maoxian's 15 points of Agility, he covered the short distance in less than a second, arriving right in front of Wang Hu and throwing a punch at his chest.

The time between Lin Maoxian's charge and his arrival was so short that Wang Hu couldn't react in time. Seeing a dark shadow rush toward him and swing a fist, he instinctively raised his blade to hack at the figure. In his mind, no matter who this was, the attacker would surely retract his fist to avoid the incoming blade.

However, he was wrong. Lin Maoxian's Constitution alone had reached 15 points, and with the bonus from his basic skills, he had no fear of the blade—it simply wouldn't cause any damage.

"Boom!"

"Clang!"

Lin Maoxian's fist slammed heavily into Wang Hu's body, the immense impact force knocking the men behind him to the ground, where they groaned in pain.

"Wah!" Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Wang Hu clutched his chest in agony, feeling as if his internal organs were shattering. He stared in disbelief at the man's chest; when his blade struck, it had actually produced the sound of metal clashing against metal. He had assumed the man was wearing some sort of precious armor, but looking through the torn fabric of the man's clothes, he saw nothing underneath. The man's own body was simply that tough.

Realizing that the person before him could withstand a blade with his bare body without injury and had nearly killed him with a single punch, Wang Hu ignored his own pain and stammered, "This brave warrior, I don't know how we have offended you, but please, spare our lives."

"Please, spare us!..." Seeing Wang Hu injured and begging for mercy, the others quickly followed suit, crying out for their lives.

Lin Maoxian glanced at them coldly. In his eyes, these men were already dead; he couldn't let them go just because they begged. If he spared them and they returned to report, not only would his wish to explore the valley be thwarted, but he would likely face even greater danger. Most importantly, he couldn't just let people go every time they begged for mercy; if he did, he wouldn't live long. If it didn't affect him, he wouldn't mind giving them a way out, but this was not the case.

Without wasting words on pleasantries, Lin Maoxian charged toward where they had fallen.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

With no room to resist, Lin Maoxian coldly ended the lives of the four men, including Wang Hu, with four punches. When he saw a ball of white light flickering over Wang Hu's corpse, he smiled, his heart stirred, and he collected the light into his storage space.

To Xiao Zhang, Lin Maoxian's smile looked like that of a demon. He didn't know why this demon had spared his life while killing the others, but he still offered what he hoped was a friendly smile. He was still young and didn't want to be killed by a single punch from the demon before him; he hoped this smile would earn him his life.

Looking at the ugly smile on Xiao Zhang's face, Lin Maoxian tightened his expression and said, "What are you smiling at? Do you want to die? Smile again and I'll punch you."

"I'm not smiling, I'm not... I wasn't smiling, I wanted to cry," Xiao Zhang hurriedly explained. Although he had thought it was a friendly smile, since this man didn't want him to smile, then what he had just done wasn't a smile, but crying. He didn't want to take that punch; he didn't think he would survive it.

"So you're saying there's something wrong with my eyes and I saw it wrong?" Lin Maoxian deliberately clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking with a sound that seemed exceptionally terrifying.

Hearing the horrific cracking sound and looking at his fallen companions, Xiao Zhang quickly said, "No, no... that's not what I meant. It's... it's my way of expressing myself that's wrong, it has nothing to do with you."

"You're sensible, kid. Do you know why I spared your life alone?" Seeing that Xiao Zhang was extremely nervous, Lin Maoxian stopped scaring him, lest he be unable to answer his questions later.

Xiao Zhang replied timidly, "I... I don't know."

"I heard your conversation earlier. I want to know what that monster you mentioned is, and what it has to do with 'General Earth'?" Lin Maoxian asked the question he most wanted answered, which was the reason he had spared Xiao Zhang.

Hearing Lin Maoxian ask about the monster, Xiao Zhang said in terror, "That monster... it's not human, but it can walk and eat just like a living person. And its combat ability is so strong that even our centurion is no match for it."

"How do you know that monster is stronger than your centurion? Did you see them fight?" Lin Maoxian wasn't surprised that the monster wasn't human; when he heard the word "monster," he assumed it wasn't a human, but perhaps some animal. However, Xiao Zhang's claim that it could act and eat like a person surprised him. He had initially thought it might be some kind of puppet, but now it seemed things were not that simple.

"Not only have I seen it, but everyone has. That monster only stays in the deepest part of the valley. Once, when the centurion was drunk, he accidentally stumbled in, and the monster chased and attacked him relentlessly, as if it wanted to kill him. The centurion sobered up immediately and fought the monster, landing several punches on it. To my surprise, the monster didn't suffer any injuries at all. Instead, after the centurion took a few hits, he coughed up blood and only managed to survive by retreating from the inner valley in time." Xiao Zhang didn't dare not answer, telling everything he knew. As for lying, he couldn't be sure if the man before him knew something, and if he were caught, he would certainly lose his life.

"A centurion, huh?" Lin Maoxian muttered to himself before asking Xiao Zhang, "Let me ask you, what is Wang Hu's rank in the Yellow Turban Army? How is the army organized?"

Xiao Zhang answered truthfully, "Brother Wang didn't have any official rank in the army, but because he was an elite, his status was higher than ours. As for the organization, besides us common soldiers and the elites, above us are the decurions, then the centurions, then the chiliarchs and ten-thousand-man commanders, and above that..."

"Alright, I'm not interested in what's above that. I won't be running into those big shots anytime soon anyway." Lin Maoxian cut Xiao Zhang off. If he ran into those big shots now, he would surely die, so knowing about them was useless.

Lin Maoxian calculated silently: a common Yellow Turban Soldier's stats wouldn't exceed 10 points, and an elite's stats would be just over 10. By that logic, a decurion should have around 20 points, and a centurion might have 30. If that monster was stronger than a centurion, how high would its stats be? He just didn't know if this world had a maximum limit. If it were like the previous world where the cap was 25, then he might have a chance. No, wait—his own stats exceeded 30 after using his skills, so they must also be able to exceed 25.

Holding onto a glimmer of hope, Lin Maoxian consulted the system: "System, can the character stats in this world exceed 25 points?"

"Insufficient adventurer clearance. Request denied."

Lin Maoxian didn't care much about the system's response; he just thought about upgrading his clearance as soon as possible. Looking at the trembling Xiao Zhang, Lin Maoxian asked, "Do you want to live?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhang nodded frantically, "Yes... yes... I want to live."

"Good, come with me." Lin Maoxian turned and walked toward the cliff. He wasn't afraid of Xiao Zhang running away; with his stats, he would catch him in no time.

Xiao Zhang watched Lin Maoxian's back, feeling a slight urge to run, but remembering the speed at which the man had charged earlier, he lost the courage to flee and followed obediently.

Sensing Xiao Zhang following behind, Lin Maoxian smiled. If the kid dared to run, he would definitely die, but he was still useful for now. Killing him just for running away would be a waste. This situation was perfect; he didn't have to keep a constant eye on him or worry about him escaping.

Lin Maoxian picked up his pace, and before long, he saw the medicine basket Old Man Sun had dropped on the ground. He walked over and looked inside; a golden herb was glowing in the basket. This must be the Dilong Grass. Looking at the glowing herb, Lin Maoxian's heart stirred, and he used his Inspect skill to see its stats.

Dilong Grass: A common medicinal herb, indispensable for certain prescriptions.

Lin Maoxian looked at the simple stats—it didn't even have a grade. He had originally thought it might be something special, but it seemed he had overthought it.