"I'm not stupid. Why would I go and provoke Bai Qingxue and throw myself into a dead end?" Juetian shook his head.
"You didn't provoke Bai Qingxue? Then who took you out? I doubt anyone in Red Leaf Town is that skilled," Nan Lang said, genuinely shocked and curious.
Based on the information he'd gathered, the strong players in Red Leaf Town were limited in number. If it wasn't someone like Bai Qingxue at the top tier, could some other top player have shown up in town without him hearing about it?
Nan Lang's curiosity cut deep into Juetian's pride, his clenched fists nearly drawing blood.
He'd spent so long planning, prepared so many contingencies — he should have been able to guarantee Shi Feng's elimination one hundred percent. Yet Shi Feng's combat strength had skyrocketed far beyond anything he'd anticipated.
Seeing Juetian's silence, Nan Lang couldn't help but smile, growing even more interested in whoever had managed to take him down.
"Juetian, you know what kind of work I do. Now that some unknown powerhouse has surfaced in Red Leaf Town, I need to know who it is." Nan Lang turned to Juetian with a grave expression.
Juetian's face was gloomy. The last thing he wanted was to share this humiliating story with anyone, least of all Nan Lang standing in front of him.
He'd maintained a flawless record for three years, and today it was broken by a nobody named Shi Feng. To make matters worse, today was supposed to be his grand initiation into the Underworld — and now this had happened. It would definitely damage his standing within the organization.
"Sigh, I get how you feel. You just got into the Underworld, and then something like this happens — of course you're upset. But this is my job. If you don't cooperate, as an outer member you could be expelled. Think carefully," Nan Lang said sharply.
"You—" Juetian was seething inside, but he had no choice but to swallow his anger. The words coming from Nan Lang weren't something he could afford to disobey. "His name is Ye Feng. He's a Swordsman."
"Swordsman Ye Feng? Isn't he the one who cleared the Hell Difficulty Dark Moon Cemetery together with Bai Qingxue?" Nan Lang fell into thought. "I've seen his battle footage and analyzed his capabilities. He's decent enough, but just average at best — nowhere near qualified for the Underworld. And yet he managed to take you out. Looks like he was hiding quite a bit of his strength before."
"Hidden strength? He just got lucky. I have no idea where he found that flame, but its power is immense. During the fight it could even damage my equipment — even Mythril-rank weapons lose a massive amount of durability. Without that flame, there's no way he could have killed me," Juetian scoffed.
"A flame? One that destroys equipment? One that can chew through even Mythril-rank weapons?" Nan Lang's curiosity only deepened. "I'm pretty sure Swordsmen don't have any skill like that. It's probably from some special equipment effect. But the fact that it can overwhelm Mythril-rank gear means it's no ordinary ability. The quality of that piece of special equipment must be extremely high — likely Dark Gold special equipment or item. Though Dark Gold items probably wouldn't produce this kind of effect. More likely it's Epic-grade."
"Epic-grade." Juetian was stunned. "No way. I haven't even heard of anyone obtaining a Dark Gold item yet, and you're telling me some solo player got his hands on an Epic-grade item?"
"It's not that outlandish. The Divine Realm is full of extraordinary opportunities. Even at current levels, it's not impossible to get an Epic-grade item. In our Underworld, more than a handful have already obtained Dark Gold items. Epic-grade would be a first, though — but for now it's still just speculation. I'll need to verify further." Nan Lang's face lit up with excitement. Even a hunch like this could earn him a decent reward from his superiors, and if he could confirm it, his own standing within the Underworld might rise considerably.
"That's all the business I had with you. I'm going to go investigate that flame. If it really is an Epic-grade item, and Ye Feng hands it over along with his skills, he might actually qualify as an outer member of the Underworld. In the meantime, I'd lay off him for a while — you could end up as colleagues." With that, Nan Lang turned and left with a grin.
"Damn it!" Once Nan Lang had gone, Juetian slammed his fist down on the table. Bottles crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.
Silent Swamp, near a stream and waterfall.
Shi Feng was leading Hei Zi and Jimo Ruxue in an attack on a massive three-headed serpent with a body of brilliant jade green.
Three-Headed Serpent, Rare Elite, Level 16, HP: 15,000.
A Rare Elite wasn't much stronger than a regular Elite of the same level, but because they were so uncommon, they earned the distinction. They did have fixed spawn points, though — the problem was that those points were scattered everywhere, making them extremely hard to find.