[You are suffering from the cold] [HP -1] [You are suffering from the cold] [HP -1]
Watching the damage notifications drift endlessly across his vision, Zhou Heng swam with all his strength, searching for a way out of the deep water.
Soon, he spotted the surface. Surprised, he burst out of the water and climbed onto a fairly sizable patch of ground.
Deepwater Cave really wasn't entirely water. There was a cave, too.
[You have discovered Deepwater Cave] [EXP +10]
Ten EXP was neither much nor little.
Stepping onto the ground in Deepwater Cave, Zhou Heng felt breezes blowing out of the cave stretching ahead and quickened his pace.
Only after walking for nearly ten minutes did Zhou Heng reach the depths of the cave.
Here lay a small grassland hidden beneath the surface. It should have been dark and lightless, but under the glow of the mysterious ore overhead, the entire grassland was as bright as day.
Standing at the entrance to the small grassland, Zhou Heng used Extreme Long-Range Vision to clearly see vast numbers of level 10 wild monsters roaming throughout it.
Deepwater Snake Level: 10 Attack: 31-62 Magic: 0-0 HP: 300/300 Mana: 0/0 Armor: 5 Attack speed: 1.5/s Movement speed: 1.8 m/s Skills: Feint, Venomous Fangs
Level 10 wild monsters were precisely what Zhou Heng needed most right now.
With this batch of wild monsters, the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) would have excellent nourishment and could gain a massive boost to its stats.
If there were enough of them, maxing out the Sakast Imperial Sword's (Holy Sword) stats right here wasn't impossible.
If he maxed it out, with 1,000 attack, he would have what it took to take on even Black Bear Ba.
"Time to grind!"
Zhou Heng drew the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) from his waist and charged into the small grassland.
Deepwater Snakes had decent movement and attack speeds, but that was only by ordinary players' standards.
After equipping the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword), Zhou Heng's attack speed reached 2.0/s, and his movement speed reached 2.9 m/s.
That was with four pieces of bronze set equipment on. If he took them off, his movement speed could reach 3.2 m/s.
At that speed, Deepwater Snakes were mere playthings in his hands, nothing to fear.
As for his grinding efficiency, it was far higher than before. With a base attack of 88.5-177, he could kill a Deepwater Snake in a single second.
Sword in hand, Zhou Heng pretended not to notice the Deepwater Snake approaching from his flank. The instant it launched its sneak attack, he delivered two slashes in one second.
-172!
-172!
Both strikes landed precisely on the Deepwater Snake's weak points, dealing the maximum physical damage.
The terrifying damage instantly emptied the Deepwater Snake's health bar, killing it.
[You have killed a Deepwater Snake] [EXP +100] [Copper coins +2] [The Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) absorbs power] [Killing +1; protection +10]
Seeing the increase of 1 attack and 10 HP, Zhou Heng couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
Although these stats came from the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword), as long as the sword remained in his hands, they were tangible stat increases.
"Let's set a small goal first: convert every Deepwater Snake here."
At this moment, EXP and copper coins no longer mattered to Zhou Heng. Improving the Sakast Imperial Sword's (Holy Sword) stats took absolute priority.
Zhou Heng became a snake slayer, scouring the small grassland for Deepwater Snakes.
[You have killed a Deepwater Snake] [EXP +100] [Copper coins +2] [The Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) absorbs power] [Killing +1; protection +10] [You have killed a Deepwater Snake] [EXP +100] [Copper coins +2] [The Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) absorbs power] [Killing +1; protection +10]
While Zhou Heng slaughtered Deepwater Snakes to improve the Sakast Imperial Sword's (Holy Sword) stats, elsewhere, the Longevity Family Girl also logged into this area.
She held a wisp of blue light between her fingers. It drifted unsteadily, pointing toward Zhou Heng.
This was a guidance item. Different guidance items had different effects.
The wisp of blue light in the Longevity Family Girl's hand, for instance, was a special guidance item called "Guidance of Revenge."
After being killed once, a player could use Guidance of Revenge to track the player who had last killed them within a certain range.
"Zhou Heng, this time, you'll be the one to die!"
With a cold expression, the Longevity Family Girl looked down the cave passage stretching into the depths and strode forward.
Originally, she hadn't known Zhou Heng's name, but after he killed her twice in succession, all her plans had been disrupted, leaving many of her resources unusable in combination.
Left with no choice, she could only visit the Black Bear Guild and trade some of her resources with Black Bear Ba and Yang Kai.
Through those dealings, she happened to learn about Zhou Heng, who had stolen the Great Sun Divine Bow (Fake). Once she compared their appearances, the identity of her killer was obvious.
Precisely because of this, her interest in Zhou Heng kept growing.
Now, she was eagerly anticipating her third encounter with Zhou Heng.
This time, she had three major sources of strength.
First, the special passive skill "Resolve," modified by the Longevity Family, which granted immunity to all physical damage below 100 points.
Second, the special fruit cultivated by the Longevity Family, the "Agility Fruit," which permanently increased movement speed by 1.0 m/s.
Third: Burning Rage!
Zhou Heng had only been able to kill her through Burning Rage combined with the "Extreme Long-Range Shooter" class. But as long as he couldn't break through her defenses, with equal speed, she would always have the upper hand.
So, she had no reason to lose this battle.
Following Zhou Heng's direction, the Longevity Family Girl raced ahead and soon vanished from the spot.
[You have killed a Deepwater Snake] [EXP +100] [Copper coins +2] [The Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) absorbs power] [Killing +1; protection +10]
With the latest round of notifications, Zhou Heng couldn't suppress his smile.
As the last Deepwater Snake on the small grassland fell to his sword, the stat bonuses granted by the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) reached a new height.
Killing: 300/1000 Protection: 3000/10000
With all his stat bonuses, Zhou Heng's attack reached 388.5-777 while he had the Sakast Imperial Sword (Holy Sword) equipped, and his HP had climbed all the way to 3,590.
With stats like these, it wasn't that he looked down on that Longevity Family Girl, but even if she appeared before him right now and he stood still for her to kill him, it would take an enormous amount of time.
It could be said that, from this moment onward, he and that Longevity Family Girl were no longer on the same level in terms of strength.
Zhou Heng surveyed his surroundings with Extreme Long-Range Vision, looking for any stragglers.
He didn't spot a single Deepwater Snake. Instead, he saw the Longevity Family Girl sprinting toward him along the path he had taken.
"Huh?"
"Guidance of Revenge?"
Zhou Heng's gaze sharpened, locking onto the Guidance of Revenge in the Longevity Family Girl's hand.
The reason players from the Longevity Family couldn't be killed wasn't merely the immense difficulty of killing them. More importantly, they had more than enough means to track down whoever killed a Longevity Family player.
Among those means, Guidance of Revenge was one of the most widely known items.
It was precisely this item that made many players who wanted to kill members of the Longevity Family in secret back down.
Before you continue