Zhao Cang roared, unleashing the full force of his peak Grandmaster Realm aura. The pressure made it difficult for Yun Che to breathe, and his expression grew grave.
He even felt his movement speed drop under the crushing pressure of the Grandmaster's energy.
Just then, however, Zhao Cang suddenly felt a stab of pain in his head. It was still tolerable, but it left him deeply uncomfortable and irritated.
"Well, boy, you even know mental attacks. Unfortunately, with your current mental strength, they're no more than a tickle to me."
Yun Che said nothing. He kept using Thunder Shadow Divine Movement to dodge while repeatedly forming Mental Thought Swords to stab at Zhao Cang's soul.
Zhao Cang nearly exploded with rage. Despite his speed, he couldn't even touch the hem of Yun Che's clothes.
Worse still, Yun Che kept pestering him with those irritating mental attacks.
I already told him they were useless. Why won't he listen?
Fine!
They weren't completely useless.
At the very least, Yun Che really was driving him insane.
And so, yet another expert was forced by Yun Che to burn his blood essence.
"You little bastard! Let's see how you escape this time!"
After burning his blood essence, Zhao Cang's speed surged. He appeared before Yun Che in an instant, sending a shudder through him.
Fortunately, at that critical moment, the stun effect with its 5% activation chance finally triggered.
Seeing Vice Dean Zhao frozen in front of him with a ring of little stars spinning above his head, Yun Che hurriedly swung his sword and slit his throat.
When Zhao Cang came to his senses, he desperately clutched his spurting throat and pointed at Yun Che in horror.
Unfortunately, the wound across his throat was too large. The gushing blood prevented him from uttering a single word.
In less than three breaths, the great Vice Dean Zhao collapsed, dying an utterly humiliating death in this forgotten patch of wilderness.
Ding! Grab successful. Congratulations, you obtained a Treasure Map. Ding! Peak Grandmaster Realm bandit slain. Experience +5,000, righteousness +150, death qi +150. Ding! Congratulations, your Second Profession, Order Annihilator, has reached level 2. Agility +300. Takes effect when you switch to your Second Profession.
Yun Che was thrilled. Combined with the 300 agility he had received when he first acquired the class, the class alone now provided 600 agility—an astounding amount. Unfortunately, it only took effect when he switched to his Second Profession.
Until he obtained stronger defensive equipment, Yun Che didn't dare use the Order Annihilator's power. It was far too suicidal.
Just then, the Gluttony Mask, one of the Seven Sins Treasures, emerged on its own again. It hovered about a meter above Zhao Cang's corpse and frantically sucked up his blood essence.
In just three to five breaths, the already gaunt Vice Dean Zhao had become nothing but skin and bones. Miserable hardly began to describe him.
"You..."
Yun Che was about to give it a lecture, but the Gluttony Mask plunged straight into his body and obediently returned to his game inventory, becoming a well-behaved little darling once again.
After a brief daze, Yun Che sighed helplessly. He had figured it out: the Gluttony Mask had the privilege of entering and leaving his game inventory entirely on its own. It was practically a bug!
What's more, it seemed to be a picky eater. It ignored every corpse that wasn't at the Grandmaster Realm.
He opened the Gluttony Mask's information again and discovered that its stats had actually increased.
[Gluttony Mask (initial awakening): Feed it fresh blood to accelerate its awakening. While worn, strength +400, agility +400. Note: While worn, there is a chance of entering a frenzied state, suffering a collapse of will, losing your humanity, and becoming a demon prematurely. Use with caution.]
"Does this thing have no limit?"
The sight left Yun Che shaken. This was only its initial awakening. Just how powerful would it become once fully awakened?
He set those thoughts aside for now. There was no point dwelling on it. He already had plenty of tricks at his disposal and didn't need the Gluttony Mask.
Next, Yun Che opened the Treasure Map he had grabbed from Zhao Cang and examined it. This had been an unexpected bonus.
"It's actually there!"
After seeing the location shown on the Treasure Map, Yun Che was stunned.
He had never imagined that the Treasure Map’s marked burial site would be on the island occupied by the Red Skull Bandits.
"Looks like that old man had his own motives for working for Red Skull. Too bad it's all mine now."
After stripping off Zhao Cang's mid-grade soft armor, Yun Che spotted a silver ring on his left index finger, and his face lit up with delight.
It was a storage ring. Normally, only King Realm experts could afford one. He hadn't expected Zhao Cang to own one as well.
A storage ring was linked to its owner's mind. Once the owner died, the mental imprint upon it would dissipate, so Yun Che easily retrieved its contents.
There was a low-grade longsword and a low-grade suit of soft armor, presumably equipment Zhao Cang had replaced and stopped using. There was assorted money, including fourteen gold coins. Among the various pills, the most valuable were two fourth-grade Essence-Raising Pills, the best pills for assisting cultivation in the Grandmaster Realm. There were also various spirit herbs and fruits, the most valuable being a Middle-Grade Essence Fruit.
It was a relatively rare spirit fruit that could increase mental strength, effective for anyone below the Grandmaster Realm.
Without hesitation, Yun Che ate the Essence Fruit in a few bites. It was crisp and sweet, much like a plum.
Ding! Congratulations, you gained 20 mental strength.
"The demonic beasts in the Poison Miasma Snake Forest aren't strong, but I'd better upgrade my equipment just to be safe."
Including the low-grade soft armor and longsword he had looted from Wang Hao, he now had three spare suits of soft armor and three spare longswords. Two of those items were even Middle-Grade. He definitely needed to smelt them.
After smelting, the Radiant Annihilation Sword's attack increased by 30, bringing its total attack to 285. It remained high-grade.
The Dark Rong Silk Soft Armor's defense increased by 35, bringing its total defense to 110. It was Middle-Grade.
"Nice, very nice. With my base attack and defense added in, both stats have finally passed a thousand."
What did a thousand attack mean? It already matched the base attack of the weakest early Grandmaster Realm expert.
Five minutes later, Yun Che arrived at the Poison Miasma Snake Forest. Pale red poisonous miasma filled the area. Even King Realm experts would die if they stayed inside too long.
Of course, moving around inside wasn't entirely impossible. One only needed to buy a third-grade Poison-Repelling Pill. Holding it in one's mouth provided an hour of immunity.
However, a third-grade Poison-Repelling Pill only allowed someone to move around the outskirts. Venturing deeper still meant certain death.
Yun Che walked slowly through the Poison Miasma Snake Forest. As he had expected, the poisonous miasma could no longer harm him.
"A low-grade poison-stem orchid. Grab!"
Ding! Grab successful. Congratulations, you gained 2 poison resistance.
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