Chapter 23: Five Pages of an Anonymous Daoist Scripture, Frostfire Guild (Special thanks to our benefactor, Wushang Zhonglin)

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PS: Bonus for the Alliance Leader.

"Enemy attack!"
"It's humans."

A wolf demon leader pointed his long saber at them.
"The humans are there! Boys, kill them!"

The patrolling demon soldiers reacted quickly. Two or three hundred wolf demons split up, raised their shields, and advanced rapidly.

Three-foot wind blades struck the steel shields with dull, thumping sounds.

Su Yu opened his mouth and spat out his Ice Soul flying sword. It hovered before him, and with a flick of his finger, it transformed into a ten-meter-long sword rainbow that slashed into the ranks of the demon soldiers. In an instant, a dozen damage numbers popped up simultaneously.

He joined his fingers and made a sweeping motion; the sword light wove back and forth, weaving through the ranks. Howls of pain and cries of alarm filled the air.

Dozens of rat spirits quickly dispersed to occupy the high ground, their fire crossbows aimed directly at them, unleashing a barrage of fire arrows.

He Shoucheng swung his banana leaf fan with force. A gale arose, and wall after wall of wind formed in front of them, blocking and deflecting the fire arrows.

However, after continuous firing, the wind walls were pierced, and the arrows were caught by the second layer. He waved his fan repeatedly, forming a third and fourth layer, wall after wall, blocking the relentless hail of fire.

Standing beside him, Zhang Yunfei took out a circular mirror and aimed it forward. A beam of white light, as thick as a human thigh, tore through the air, shattering the shield of a lunging wolf demon and sending it flying with the remaining force.

Zhang Yunchen summoned a fire pot, which expanded to the size of a round table. A vortex of flames spun within its mouth, from which fire spirits flew out one after another.

Gu Zhiqiu produced a Hundred-Gu Banner, summoning twelve Golden-Winged Flying Centipedes and eighty-eight Scarlet-Flame Flying Centipedes.

The Golden-Winged Flying Centipedes were level 40 elite units, about five meters long, with pure gold carapaces and a pair of golden wings on their backs. As they flew, golden mist wafted from the gaps in their segments, looking quite beautiful.

He kept the Golden-Winged Flying Centipedes in reserve, circling around them to intercept any demon soldiers that might break through.

The fire spirits summoned by Zhang Yunchen were mostly fire birds, fire monkeys, fire horses, and fire bears. Being non-corporeal, they feared no casualties, turning every place they touched into a sea of flames.

However, the demon soldiers were incredibly tenacious. They waded through the sea of fire, and several bull demons in the center raised their massive axes and struck down hard. The axe qi plowed a trench through the ground, breaking through two layers of wind walls in one go.

Although the wolf demons couldn't unleash such powerful long-range slashes, they were exceptionally agile, leaping twenty or thirty meters like fleas, their steel sabers constantly flashing with sword qi.

Hundreds of wolf demons slashed in unison, their blade qi crisscrossing, overwhelming and oppressive.

"I'll block it!"

He Shoucheng switched from offense to defense, gripping his massive banana leaf fan with both hands and waving it repeatedly, stacking layer upon layer of wind walls.

Thousands of blade qi tore through the wind walls, but behind them were even more layers. Layer by layer, they were consumed, and ultimately, all were blocked.

"These demon soldiers are much stronger than ordinary wild monsters."

He Shoucheng took a medicinal pill to restore some of his mana and continued to fuel the wind walls.

While manipulating his flying sword, Su Yu raised his hand and unleashed a Purple Origin Force blast, striking a rat spirit eight hundred meters away that was perched on a rock with a heavy sniper crossbow, shattering it into pieces.

The flying sword transformed into a rainbow, weaving through the wolf demon pack. In group combat, there was no need to worry about kill credit; one simply maximized output.

Although he lacked large-area magical treasures, his lethality was the highest in the team.

"Kill the rat demons first; they are the biggest ranged threat."

Zhang Yunfei raised the mirror again, blasting a rat demon over ten meters away with a beam of white light, then several fire birds dove in, bombing it until it turned into a roasted rat.

Su Yu flicked his sword finger. After slaying a wolf demon, the Ice Soul circled back and lunged at another rat spirit on a rock. A flash of cold light slowed the rat, and the sword light circled its waist—seven damage numbers floated up, disemboweling it on the spot.

Without a moment's pause, the flying sword darted toward another rat spirit standing on a nearby rock.

"Bang!"

A series of axe qi tore through the wind walls, heading straight for He Shoucheng. The next second, a Golden-Winged Flying Centipede lunged forward to block it.

"Thanks!"

He Shoucheng quickly activated his treasure bell to protect himself, waving two more layers of wind walls to block the lunging wolf demons, and shouted: "There are too many; we can't take them head-on."

"Fall back! Fight while retreating."

Fortunately, they were at the entrance of the demon stronghold, and there was open ground behind them.

The group fought and retreated, intercepting and killing. The number of demon soldiers gradually dwindled. After retreating two or three kilometers, the number of enemies dropped by half, and the pressure eased significantly. Only then could He Shoucheng barely manage the defense.

They fought on the spot for another four or five minutes before finally killing the last of the demon soldiers.

When the last bull demon fell, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the ground, completely ignoring their image.

"That was so hard!"
"These guys are much stronger than wild monsters."
"Much stronger. Their attack power, speed, and reaction are far superior to ordinary monsters."
"But although they're difficult, their experience is about 20% higher than monsters of the same level."

Su Yu checked his panel and felt this place was quite suitable for leveling.

"And the drop rate for loot is higher, too."

Gu Zhiqiu was already collecting the loot; there was no need for him to do it himself, as his Gu insects had already retrieved everything.

From over two hundred demon soldiers, there were 35 loot orbs—a drop rate nearly double the usual.

Opening the loot orbs yielded 6 steel shields, 4 steel sabers, 5 fire crossbows, one battle axe, over a hundred wolf fangs, two bull tendons, and a pile of wolf pelts, meat, hearts, and rat tails.

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The steel sabers, shields, and axes were Tier 1 weapons, while the crossbows were Tier 2, usable by body-refining cultivators or Daoist soldiers.

Su Yu had previously accepted a quest at the River God Temple: 5 reputation points for a Tier 1 weapon, 15 for Tier 2, and 50 for Tier 3.

By the time they finished resting, about twenty minutes had passed. Another squad of over two hundred demon soldiers emerged from the stronghold, with the same configuration of wolf demons, rat spirits, and bull demons, though the numbers varied slightly—this time there were forty or fifty rat spirits and only two bull demons.

"Let's go again."

Having gained experience, He Shoucheng no longer needed to participate in the front-line combat, focusing instead on defense.

He only needed to keep fueling the banana leaf fan to create wind walls to block the fire arrows and intercept the wolf demons, while the others killed them from behind.

Fighting while retreating, they inflicted heavy casualties on the demon soldiers while on the move.

After retreating two or three kilometers, they had killed most of them and could finish the rest off in one go.

Repeating this process, they killed a wave every twenty minutes or so, earning about 6,000 experience points per wave, or 12,000 with talent bonuses.

They would grind ten waves or so at a time, then rest for half an hour before continuing.

They kept at it until dark, and feeling exhausted, they packed up to head back.

"This efficiency isn't great."

They had cleared 34 waves today, accumulating a total of 400,000 experience points—much more than the 250,000 per day they got in the Poison Mist Swamp.

At this rate, without stopping for a month, that would be 12 million, and 36 million in three months, which was only enough to...

"Raise my Qi-Refining cultivation technique to level 50."
"If it were the Taibai Sword Manual, I wouldn't even reach level 50."

Of course, this wasn't actually slow, considering he was getting double experience. But Su Yu wasn't satisfied; he felt this speed was still too sluggish.

"Right."

He suddenly thought of something and asked He Shoucheng, who was cuddling with his girlfriend in front: "Your Qi-Refining technique is so high-level, where do you get so many cultivation points?"

He Shoucheng didn't even turn his head and replied: "I hitch a ride. I use an Essence Refinement Jade Talisman every day for double experience, then join a guild's high-level fleet to enter the level 60-70 monster zones. I can passively earn one or two million cultivation points a day."

"I did that for three months straight, accumulating over 140 million cultivation points in total, just to get my Qi-Refining technique to level 58."

"Damn!"

Su Yu felt depressed.

Returning to Chensha Town, they sold off the unused loot, earning a total of 11 taels of silver. Split five ways, each received 2 taels and 250 copper coins.

There were 26 Tier 1 weapons and 6 Tier 2 weapons, which Su Yu kept for the time being to be split once more accumulated.

Besides that, there were other useful items, including a "Nameless Dao Book (Part 2)," which Su Yu claimed.

They ate something at the town night market together before parting ways. Some went back to sleep, others went to browse the market.

Su Yu couldn't sleep, so he wandered with his hands behind his back to the South Gate Square.

Lights were just flickering on, and the night market was at its most bustling. Players who had been busy all day finally had some leisure time after dinner.

A rack here, a table there; goods were laid out, and the "Display" spell was cast—a common spell that made items shimmer and automatically display their attributes when someone focused their gaze on them.

Selling items at the flea market didn't require paying taxes to a guild, though stall fees were required.

Su Yu strolled slowly through the market, eyeing the items on the counters from time to time.

The items sold at the flea market were numerous and varied, ranging from flying swords and magic treasures to raw materials. There were finished medicinal pills crafted by players, spiritual herbs and minerals needed for alchemy and smithing, and all sorts of miscellaneous junk.

He stopped after just a dozen steps, looking with surprise at several pages of paper on a stone table to his right.

"Nameless Dao Book (1): One page of the Nameless Dao Book. Collect ten pages to synthesize the complete book."

There were five copies. There were also four copies of "Nameless Dao Book (2)," two of "Nameless Dao Book (3)," two of "Nameless Dao Book (6)," and one of "Nameless Dao Book (7)."

"Boss, how much for these Nameless Dao Books?"
"Part 1 is 1 silver, Part 2 is 3 silver, Part 3 is 5 silver, Part 6 is 50 silver, and Part 7 is 1 gold."
"I'll take one of each: 1, 3, and 6."
"That'll be 56 silver."
"Here!"

Completing the transaction, Su Yu now had parts 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7—five pages in total.

"Boss, is this Nameless Dao Book hard to complete?"
The boss laughed and replied: "It's definitely hard for one person to collect them all, but if you have money, it's easy. If you walk around the market, you can collect the first eight pages. Only the ninth and tenth pages are rare. You'll probably have to make a trip to Qianyu City; that's the only place to find the last two."
"What's the usual price for the last two?"
"The ninth page is 3 gold, and the tenth is 5 gold."
"Oh, thanks!"
"You're welcome."

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Su Yu cupped his hands in thanks, feeling a bit tempted.

The price wasn't expensive; it was worth a try. However, it would have to wait a while; he didn't have time to go back to Qianyu City recently.

Setting those thoughts aside, he continued his stroll.

Without realizing it, he drifted to a stall where many people were gathered. He glanced inside and was quite surprised.

This stall sold pet eggs. The large stall was divided into two sections: one side was a stone table displaying many monster eggs, and the other side was a five-tiered rack with many cages containing newly hatched young beasts.

Bloodthirsty Gray Wolf.
Wild Ancient Bull.
Gray Eagle.
Spiral Turtle.
Mystic Snake.
Three-Legged Fire Crow.
Cloud Roc, and so on.

From those that fly in the sky to those that swim in the water, there were dozens of varieties.

The quality was also good; most were elite templates, and two were "Terror" templates. If they could be raised, they would indeed be great helpers.

But the point was whether they *could* be raised.

Tiny little things like these, no matter how strong their bloodline, were useless until they grew up. At the beginning, even a common monster could kill them. These weren't like players who could spend lifespan to resurrect; if they died, they were gone for good.

Moreover, leveling them up wasn't easy. The stronger the template, the higher the experience requirement.

Common templates were the same as players, elite templates required double experience, Terror templates triple, Peerless templates five times, and if it were a Legendary template, it would be ten times.

Of course, if one truly had a Peerless or Legendary template, that cost would be worth it, but unfortunately, those pets were too rare.

In summary: the low-level ones weren't worth the effort, and the high-level ones couldn't be found. Not to mention he was still a newcomer, busy improving himself; where would he have the excess experience to train a pet?

"Maybe later."

Su Yu shook his head, turned away, and walked to a shop next door.

"Clang!"

Just as he stopped, a deafening sound suddenly came from the sky. Everyone in the flea market looked up.

"Clang!"

Another resounding, melodic boom. A sun suddenly rose in the void outside the town, its boundless light illuminating the surroundings. The entire Chensha Town turned into broad daylight, and they could clearly see two Taiyi Azure Spirit Boats parked in the void outside the town.

Su Yu had sharp eyes and immediately saw the mark of the Frostfire Guild on the flying boats.

"Did the Frostfire Guild attack?"

But he noticed that no one around him was panicking; instead, they looked as if they were waiting for a good show.

Looking toward the center of the town, the Qianyu Guild's station showed no signs of panic either. After a while, several groups flew out and arrived in the sky outside the town to confront the Frostfire Guild.

"What's happening?"

A man standing next to him, also watching the show, glanced at him and smiled: "New here?"

He immediately cupped his hands: "Indeed, I'm new. Could you enlighten me, brother?"

"It's simple. The Frostfire Guild is here to provoke them. They come once or twice a month."
"Will they fight?"
"Hard to say. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't."
"Won't this affect the town?"
"How could it? The Chensha River Temple is right here. Unless the Frostfire Guild doesn't want to survive in the Chensha River anymore, they would never dare to attack Chensha Town directly."
"Oh!"

Since that was the case, it was fine. He relaxed and watched the show.

He didn't know what was said outside, but both sides soon made their intentions clear and started fighting. It seemed they had agreed on a duel between experts.

Since the battle didn't involve them, everyone stopped browsing the flea market and swarmed to the edge of the town to watch.

A moment later, a handsome man in green robes with a smile walked out from the Frostfire Guild side. He lifted a brass bell and gave it a gentle shake. With a loud "Clang," the air distorted visibly, rippling outward in layers.

To their ears, it was just a slightly dull bell toll, but it was like a crushing force, grinding the hundreds of level 50-60 fierce ghosts summoned by the Thousand Souls Banner into dust. Their protective treasures twisted violently, and their defenses plummeted.

He defeated one in a crushing display, taking less than fifteen seconds.

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