Yixiao Qingcheng's hundred-man raid team took turns farming the Dragonman Lair.
Within the Dragon Highlands, the Dragonman Lairs were treasure troves. Every lair contained all manner of treasure chests, and each was guarded by at least one boss — usually a Leader-tier boss, rarely a Lord. It was the perfect place for a hundred-man elite squad to grind levels and upgrade gear.
The raid team had no idea that
However, when Shi Feng drew to within roughly a hundred yards, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Why is he here?"
Shi Feng stared at the man tanking at the very front of Yixiao Qingcheng's formation, surprise flickering across his heart.
The man was none other than Canglang Zhantian — a Shield Warrior Shi Feng had crossed paths with several times before. Canglang Zhantian was now a Level 27 Tier 1 Shield Warrior, and his gear had changed considerably. Every piece of his equipment was 25-level Gold-grade, and his HP was pushing close to 7,000 — not far off from
Shi Feng had once considered recruiting Canglang Zhantian, but the man disliked being shackled to a guild, so the idea was dropped. Now, not only had he joined a guild, it was Yixiao Qingcheng.
"No wonder Yixiao Qingcheng has been clearing dungeons in Maple Leaf City so quickly — they have him helping." The realization dawned on Shi Feng. He had seen Canglang Zhantian's skills before, and given that the man was a Tier 1 Shield Warrior, any raid team with him would naturally move fast.
What Shi Feng couldn't figure out was how Yixiao Qingcheng had managed to recruit him.
Besides Canglang Zhantian, Shi Feng spotted several other experts among the hundred-man elite squad. These individuals were clearly different from Yixiao Qingcheng's regular elite members. They radiated a sharp, decisive killing intent, and in both attack and evasion they were several cuts above the rest — obviously not on the same level at all.
A few had even crossed the threshold into the realm of true experts. In any guild, they would be top-tier combatants. Their technique was on par with Teng She of Snake of the Body, and when it came to battle experience, they actually surpassed the naturally gifted Teng She.
"Yixiao Qingcheng has been hiding more than I thought. It's a good thing I found out now — if I'd let these people quietly build up strength in the shadows, they'd become a serious threat to Zero Wing down the road." After a brief period of observation, Shi Feng had already identified seven true experts. Counting Canglang Zhantian, that made eight.
Eight experts of this caliber — even Zero Wing didn't have that many.
Those seven might not reach Canglang Zhantian's level, but they were definitely stronger than Ke Le and the
Of course, when it came to growth potential, Ke Le alone could eventually surpass these people — to say nothing of Shui Se Qiangwei and Ziyan Liuyun, both of whom had the potential to reach the God tier.
In the Divine Realm, every supreme expert who achieved God-tier was a figure of extraordinary stature, utterly incomparable to those who had merely glimpsed the gates of the Subtle Realm.
What's more, these fighters all shared the same combat lineage as Canglang Zhantian. They had clearly been trained by him over many years to reach this level. In contrast, Ke Le, Fei Ying, and Huo Wu were all ordinary people who had relied on trial and error to find their own way. They naturally couldn't compare.
"The Divine Realm is teeming with experts. Not a single one can be underestimated." Seeing these people, Shi Feng suddenly felt he had been careless.
The world's population was vast, and in an era of universal technological fitness, talented individuals were everywhere. Even as a second-tier guild master in his previous life, the slice of the Divine Realm he had been able to observe was minuscule — nothing but a frog at the bottom of a well. There were countless hidden corners of the Divine Realm that someone of his former stature could never have seen.
Canglang Zhantian was a case in point. Shi Feng had never even heard of him in his previous life, yet his strength was already this formidable — and there was every chance he could one day become a Tier 6 God-tier expert. And this was only in the Star Moon Kingdom. The Divine Realm boasted hundreds of kingdoms and empires, and the Star Moon Kingdom held fewer experts than most. If this was just a glimpse, one could only imagine how many experts and unknown secrets existed throughout the Divine Realm.
"It looks like the expert training program needs to be accelerated." Shi Feng had always wanted to train Huo Wu and the others to help them step into the Subtle Realm and become true top-tier experts, but he had been far too busy. He also lacked sufficiently advanced equipment and facilities, so he had let them study and practice on their own for now.
Watching Canglang Zhantian and his group push deeper into the Dragonman Lair, Shi Feng didn't rush to strike. Instead, he followed in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.
It wasn't that Shi Feng couldn't kill these people — he simply wanted to eliminate all of them in one fell swoop, especially Canglang Zhantian. The man hadn't been a friend before, but at least he hadn't been an enemy. Now, however, with Canglang Zhantian wearing Yixiao Qingcheng's emblem, he had placed himself on the opposite side of Zero Wing. Shi Feng couldn't let him go.
But Shi Feng was alone, while the other side numbered over a hundred. If those hundred decided to flee, how could he possibly cut them all down? Moreover, eight top-tier experts were among them, including the particularly troublesome Canglang Zhantian. Two fists were no match for four hands — if Canglang Zhantian managed to pin him down even briefly, and the other top-tier experts teamed up against him simultaneously, Shi Feng's life would be in genuine danger.
So he had to be patient.
A good hunter needed patience above all, and secondly, precise timing. Especially for a first ambush. Shi Feng was well accustomed to launching surprise attacks and lying in wait for his enemies. But harvesting these people in one go was clearly impossible right now — the terrain was too open, dotted with trees everywhere, making it easy for them to scatter, escape, and cover their tracks. He wasn't about to lose his head and charge in, exposing himself.
Besides, he had all the time he needed. Night had fallen in the Divine Realm, and player visibility was poor. Hiding in the darkness made him even harder to detect. On top of that, Shi Feng was Level 30 — higher than the monsters in the Dragonman Lair — so the chance of being noticed by them was drastically reduced.
Time trickled by as Shi Feng trailed Canglang Zhantian deeper into the Dragonman Lair.
He didn't sit idle during the wait, either. Every time the cooldown on Divine Blessing refreshed, he opened another Dawn
After the Heart of Icarus had evolved, his Luck stat had increased considerably. Activating Divine Blessing now brought it to 32 — seven points higher than before. Each activation let him open nine treasure chests, and among those nine, there was a good chance of obtaining one or two pieces of a Tier 1 set.
After nearly four hours of waiting, Shi Feng had almost without realizing it completed the Swordsman's Tier 1 set: Hurricane.
"Truly a minor divine artifact. I've only opened about half the treasure chests, and I've already assembled a full Tier 1 set. If I upgrade the Heart of Icarus to Epic rank and open every Dawn Treasure Chest, I might end up completing Tier 1 sets for every class." Shi Feng stared at the brand-new Hurricane set in his inventory with barely contained excitement.
As a Swordsman's Tier 1 set, it was the gear that maximized a Tier 1 Swordsman's combat power to its absolute limit — short of Epic-tier equipment, of course. It was far superior to the Level 20 Dark Gold Dragon Claw set he currently wore, and it was specifically tailored to the Swordsman class.