Let's team up

By the time Niu Feng and the others rejoined the group,

a faint smile had appeared on Qin Shujian's face.

This round

had brought in another small amount of life source.

There was only a little, but even a mosquito's leg was still meat.

He understood how small gains could add up.

Moreover, as time passed, his life source kept ticking upward.

Subduing the Cloud River Stronghold had already added three hundred points of life source. Combined with what he already had and the points that had trickled in afterward, his life source was once again approaching the thousand-point mark.

With nearly a thousand points of life source,

apart from the Body Tempering Scripture and the Black Tiger Saber Technique, which could not be upgraded,

all his other techniques had a plus sign beside them.

However, Qin Shujian only glanced at them before moving on.

Unlike last time,

now that his life source had reached this amount, he had a feeling.

He was close to gathering enough to upgrade the Body Tempering Scripture again.

The tenth level of the Body Tempering Scripture

corresponded to Martial Entry Tenth Level.

And reaching Martial Entry Tenth Level meant he would truly stand at the pinnacle of the Martial Entry realm.

When that time came,

his strength would likely undergo another transformation.

"Soon, very soon!"

Watching his life source tick upward, Qin Shujian suppressed the restlessness in his heart.

Immediately afterward,

the bandit group continued toward Chaotic Gold Mountain.

But unlike at the start,

every player they encountered along the way came under attack.

With so many bandits working together with two Martial Entry Fifth Level bosses, Niu Feng and Xu Yuanming, very few players managed to escape their fate.

For a time,

the number of player deaths shot upward.

White flashes of resurrection appeared in Novice Village No. 23012 every so often.

After reviving, many players wore dark, furious expressions.

"I've been gaming for so damn long, and this is the first time mobs have chased me down and killed me. I won't forget this!"

"Fuck, let's get the guys together and wipe those bastards out, base and all."

Some players shouted furiously.

Others looked at their system messages with strange expressions. "The one who killed me seems to have been a bandit from somewhere called the Liangshan Stronghold."

"Me too!"

"I was killed by a fucking Liangshan Stronghold bandit too."

Those words immediately drew a flood of responses.

"I was only passing by at a distance and happened to run into them, but they chased me down and hacked me to death anyway. That boss in the middle had to be the chief of the Liangshan Stronghold..."

An ordinary-looking player spoke indignantly.

But—

once he finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the crowd.

Those words echoed through everyone's minds.

The chief of the Liangshan Stronghold?

Liangshan—

Stronghold Chief!

"Holy shit!"

The players who realized what that meant immediately jumped.

"That's the fucking Liangshan Stronghold Chief's stronghold! The Liangshan Stronghold Chief who destroyed Beginner Village 10021! Has that damned boss set his sights on our Novice Village No. 23012 now?"

"The Liangshan Stronghold Chief!"

At those words, quite a few players sucked in a cold breath.

If there was one boss who was the most famous in the game right now,

it was unquestionably the Liangshan Stronghold Chief.

The Liangshan Stronghold Chief might not have been the strongest boss players had ever encountered, but he was certainly the most famous and most vicious.

Even the more than ten thousand players in Beginner Village 10021 had been powerless against that boss.

They could only watch helplessly as he swallowed up their village.

When that video had spread,

other players had mocked the players of Beginner Village 10021 for their incompetence.

Deep down, however, they had also labeled the Liangshan Stronghold Chief a boss they could not defeat.

Had they been players from Beginner Village 10021, they would have struggled to change anything when faced with a boss like that.

It was just that—

although the Liangshan Stronghold Chief had caused quite a stir,

things happened every moment in the game. No one would deliberately keep a Novice Village boss in mind.

Even if that boss had once destroyed a Novice Village.

So when they encountered the bandits, none of them immediately connected them to the Liangshan Stronghold Chief.

But after someone pointed it out, those buried memories finally resurfaced.

After a brief commotion,

the players quickly calmed down again.

They could not deny the Liangshan Stronghold Chief's strength, but players grew stronger very quickly.

Players were now several notches stronger than they had been before.

Players had generally reached Entering Martial First Layer, and quite a few had even reached Entering Martial Second Layer or Martial Entry Third Level.

There were even players who had gone higher.

At that thought, the players felt reassured.

"Heh, I didn't expect the Liangshan Stronghold Chief to start roaming around so soon after destroying Beginner Village 10021. If he isn't targeting our village, fine.

But if he is, we can take him down in one go.

Then we'll be famous!"

"Exactly. A Novice Village boss is still only a Novice Village boss, no matter how strong he is. With the overall strength of players now, how much trouble could one measly boss possibly cause?"

"What kind of treasure would he drop if we killed him?"

In an instant, the players launched into another heated discussion.

Everyone was fired up, their faces brimming with excitement.

Meanwhile, among the crowd,

some players had already turned to leave.

Most of them belonged to a particular team or faction.

They needed to report the Liangshan Stronghold Chief's appearance as quickly as possible.

After all—

if someone else beat them to the punch and killed this major boss first, their loss would be enormous.

He was the first major boss to destroy a Novice Village.

As long as they killed him,

whether or not he dropped any treasure,

at the very least,

the players who took part in the fight would make a real name for themselves in the game.

Most people lived for little more than fame and fortune.

Faced with those two things, very few could remain unmoved.

At the same time,

Liu Qinghong and the others also received the news right away.

"Now everyone knows about the Liangshan Stronghold Chief. This is going to be troublesome!"

Inside the room, Liu Qinghong looked grim.

He had originally planned to improve his team's strength in the short term, kill the boss in one decisive strike, and then release the video.

But things had clearly gone beyond his expectations.

Liu Qinghong had never imagined

that a boss would wander all over the place instead of staying in his own territory.

Wandering around was one thing, but he was even being so blatant about it.

Now every player knew the Liangshan Stronghold Chief had appeared nearby.

As a result,

other players would inevitably covet him, ruining Liu Qinghong's plans.

Zhang Quan said gravely, "Brother Liu, we can't keep the Liangshan Stronghold Chief a secret anymore. Should we get ahead of everyone else and kill that boss first?"

"No."

Liu Qinghong shook his head immediately and said with a serious expression, "We're still a little too weak to take that boss down by ourselves. Besides, the other players won't give us the chance. There's only one option left."

"What do you mean, Brother Liu?"

Zhang Quan asked tentatively.

The others also looked at Liu Qinghong, waiting for him to continue.

"Let's team up with Fu Moyan and his people!"