After Jue Tian died, his body dissipated with the wind.
Shi Feng toyed with the dagger Jue Tian had dropped. The blade looked sharp enough to slice through air — a level of sharpness that was truly rare.
"Assassin's Blade?" Shi Feng checked the item description and confirmed it was indeed a top-tier piece of equipment for Assassins.
Assassin's Blade, Dagger, Mythril Rank, Level 8 requirement, Class restriction: Assassin.
Attack: 51 Strength +5 Agility +12 Attack Speed +2 Durability: 35/60 Passive Skill — Sharp Edge: Attacks have a 15% chance to trigger Armor Break, reducing the target's Defense by 50% for 10 seconds. Does not stack.
With such high Attack and Agility stats, it was no wonder this weapon had dealt him such devastating damage.
The Assassin's Blade was a weapon built entirely around boosting Attack and Speed — the perfect assassination tool. Any Agility-based Assassin would kill for it. In Shi Feng's estimation, it was worth at least one gold coin.
"With Jue Tian dead this time, it's going to take him a very long while to recover." Shi Feng gazed at the Assassin's Blade and smiled.
Before, he'd been worried about Jue Tian ambushing him on a daily basis. But now that he'd given Jue Tian a brutal lesson with the Ice Blue Demonic Flame — not only did Jue Tian lose a level and have all his equipment destroyed, but he also dropped the Assassin's Blade — there was no chance Jue Tian would be causing him trouble anytime soon.
"Feng-ge, you… you were absolutely incredible! That was practically the Fire God reborn! I was watching from a distance and it was so hype! I had no idea Swordsmen had skills like that. If I'd known, I would've rolled a Swordsman. Use this move to pick up girls from now on — guaranteed one-shot, every time!" Hei Zi came running over, buzzing with excitement. He stared in envy at the Ice Blue Demonic Flame blazing across Shi Feng's body.
As for the fact that Shi Feng had killed Jue Tian — Hei Zi didn't think much of it at all.
In his eyes, Jue Tian was a skilled player, sure. But he was just an Elite of the Martial Alliance. Shi Feng taking him down was perfectly normal. What was truly shocking was that cool-as-hell blue flame engulfing Shi Feng.
Hearing Hei Zi treat the Ice Blue Demonic Flame as a tool for picking up girls left Shi Feng speechless. He had no idea what went through Hei Zi's head half the time.
"This flame isn't a Swordsman skill. It's a Strange Fire — it boosts a player's Attack damage," Shi Feng explained.
"Strange Fire?" Hei Zi looked completely blank.
He didn't know what Strange Fire was, but hearing that it could increase Attack damage told him it had to be extremely valuable. Seeing that Shi Feng possessed something like that, he felt no jealousy — only genuine happiness. This meant Shi Feng would get even stronger, and then who would dare push them around?
By now, Jimo Ruxue had finished collecting the drops and caught up. Seeing Shi Feng wreathed in blazing flame, radiating intense heat while controlling those stunning blue flames, she was also stunned. She nearly mistook him for a Hidden Class user, but after Hei Zi gave a half-informed explanation, she came to understand just how precious and powerful the Ice Blue Demonic Flame really was.
The Ice Blue Demonic Flame was absolutely one of Shi Feng's secrets. If others found out, countless people would stop at nothing to obtain it. And yet Shi Feng had been willing to tell him about it. That meant Shi Feng trusted him — and that trust alone, Jimo Ruxue felt, was worth giving her life for.
"No more chatting. Let's take down the Steel-skin Hippopotamus right now and get out of here. Once Jue Tian respawns, he might tell the Martial Alliance people to come hunt us down." Shi Feng didn't bother explaining further and charged toward the Steel-skin Hippopotamus in the distance.
Hei Zi understood they couldn't afford to linger and began chanting spells, providing support to restrict the Steel-skin Hippopotamus while boosting Shi Feng's attacks.
The Steel-skin Hippopotamus had high Defense and a massive HP pool, but its poor eyesight meant Shi Feng could easily run circles around it.
Shi Feng's strategy was straightforward: rush in, unload every burst skill he had, then retreat. Hei Zi would pour on damage from a distance. Meanwhile, as soon as Shi Feng's skills were on cooldown, he used Evil Thrash to restrict the hippo's movement. Jimo Ruxue would charge in, cripple its legs, then dodge away. Once Shi Feng was more than 25 yards out, the hippo would lose its target and charge around blindly. Then, once Shi Feng's cooldowns refreshed, he'd unleash another round of devastation. And so the cycle repeated.
This time, Shi Feng held nothing back. He activated the Ice Blue Demonic Flame directly, boosting his damage by 20% while increasing the power of all Ice and Fire skills by 40%.
That power spike made the fight against the Steel-skin Hippopotamus effortless. Even his basic attacks were dealing fifty or sixty points of damage, and his Flame Lightning Burst was hitting for over four hundred.
Despite the hippo's thick Defense and enormous HP, its life bar was plummeting.
After a few minutes, the Steel-skin Hippopotamus let out a tragic cry and crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud, dropping four items and a massive amount of experience.
Among the drops were two pieces of Level 15 Bronze Equipment, a Tier One Strength Gem, and a Bronze Rank leatherworking material — the full effect of the Shadow Blessing at work. Without it, a Level 15 Elite would normally only drop a single piece of Bronze Equipment and some materials on top of the experience.
"Let's move. We'll go somewhere else to farm the Swamp Hippos."