Undying Dynasty’s Response and a New Main Quest

Lin Shenyue and her three companions continued to farm red-name mobs.

To avoid further disturbance from the Undying Dynasty, they moved to a more distant location, where they steadily began clearing monsters.

Harick’s main quest for Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue was to investigate the Undead vanguard, which essentially meant killing a certain number of Undead warriors.

This task wasn’t difficult, so the rewards likely wouldn’t be very high.

****

The guild leader of the Undying Dynasty, Undying Emperor, frowned slightly upon receiving news that several of his assassin teams had been wiped out.

As a guild leader, he naturally possessed keen insight and judgment.

Wiping out three assassin teams without a single loss indicated that the opposing party was at least equivalent to his guild’s top-tier teams.

Provoking such a team meant they absolutely could not be given a moment to breathe. They must either be subdued or destroyed.

Undying Emperor narrowed his eyes, then coldly addressed the person beside him.

“Send out the order,” he commanded. “Upon encountering them, first attempt to recruit them. If they refuse, gather our forces and destroy them directly.”

Not everyone, upon realizing an enemy’s growth potential, would foolishly let the tiger return to the mountains, constantly feeding them experience only to be crushed later.

Guilds like the Undying Dynasty never left their opponents even a sliver of an opportunity.

It was precisely this ruthless approach that allowed them to gradually grow into a super guild.

While they had indeed stifled numerous talented players, it was also how they avoided capsizing midway and continued to thrive as a colossal entity to this day.

However, what the Undying Dynasty perhaps didn’t anticipate was that this time, their opponents, though few in number, would not be easily destroyed.

Although the Undying Dynasty could certainly suppress Lin Shenyue and her companions if they concentrated their forces, the actual implementation by the lower-ranking members would not strictly follow Undying Emperor’s instructions.

As a super guild, with the passage of time, the lower echelons had gradually grown complacent, and the overall atmosphere had begun to deteriorate.

Yet, Undying Emperor paid it no mind. Or rather, in his eyes, his subordinates were merely a bit overbearing, which was perfectly acceptable for a super guild.

Lin Shenyue and her four companions had no inkling of the Undying Dynasty’s plans.

However, Ye Jue had more or less guessed some of it, as he had extensive experience dealing with such guilds.

Ye Jue could surmise that the Undying Dynasty would not easily let them go, but he had already considered their fallback options.

****

No other incidents occurred during their monotonous process of farming red-name mobs.

After a solid three hours of grinding, everyone’s level had generally reached Level 11.

Their efficiency was quite high; even Lin Shenyue could contribute damage.

Thanks to Ye Jue and Divine Wind’s small-scale AOE skills, they had slain nearly three hundred Skeleton Warriors in those three hours.

Lin Shenyue directly advanced to Level 12 with 30% experience, while Ye Jue reached nearly 10% of Level 12.

The other two had also surpassed 70% of Level 11 experience.

The experience required to level from 12 to 13 was a staggering 2,000,000. Players relying solely on killing ordinary monsters would need to defeat 1,000 of them to advance.

However, these Skeleton Warriors provided considerably more experience. As the Skeleton Warriors’ levels increased later on, the experience gained would also rise, making leveling easier.

They had already spent five hours today, and Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue had completed their initial main quest, intending to return and submit it.

Divine Wind and Dark Demon also planned to return for supplies. Unlike Lin Shenyue, they had to purchase their own potions.

Lin Shenyue was unaware of Divine Wind and Dark Demon’s need for potions, as they hadn’t mentioned it to her.

Ye Jue, though aware, didn’t know the quantity of potions Lin Shenyue had crafted. Moreover, he understood that unless Divine Wind and Dark Demon explicitly asked, it was generally better not to offer, as it might appear as charity.

****

When Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue arrived to submit their quest to Harick, he seemed slightly displeased.

“Why did your investigation take so long?” he asked.

Lin Shenyue hastily explained, “It’s like this: we were entrusted to investigate the strange phenomenon in their village. We discovered their village was destroyed by a formation, and all the villagers had turned into Undead.”

Harick frowned, his expression suddenly changing. “Did you notice anything unusual when you entered?”

Lin Shenyue shook her head. “No, only the Undead tribe.”

Harick pondered for a moment before finally speaking. “The formation you encountered is likely an auxiliary formation of the Ten Thousand Destruction Array. Your discovery suggests that the Demon Race might be preparing their next conspiracy. I hope you can go and destroy this formation.”

Lin Shenyue asked, “But we don’t know how to destroy this formation. What should we do?”

Harick mused, then said, “I will give you a Formation Compass. Use it at the very center of the formation, and you will be able to destroy it.”

Lin Shenyue accepted the compass and appraised it. [Formation Compass (Unknown): A compass imbued with the Way of Formations, which can be used to construct or destroy formations.]

It was an item whose grade Lin Shenyue couldn’t even appraise, indicating its extreme rarity.

Ye Jue, standing nearby, was well aware of the preciousness of such an item.

In the mid-to-late game, all grand formations required this compass as their core. However, the drop rate for the Formation Compass was abysmal, and its crafting method was intricate, making it a highly sought-after item with no supply.

Harick continued, “Although destroying a formation with the Formation Compass typically requires an experienced formation master, this is merely an auxiliary formation without an operator.”

“You should be able to directly operate the Formation Compass to destroy it.”

Harick nodded. “Go quickly. Furthermore, if possible, I hope you can find as many of these auxiliary formations as you can. For each formation you destroy, I will give you a corresponding reward.”

“Ding! Congratulations on completing the quest ‘Investigate the Undead Vanguard’! You have gained 260,000 (220,000) experience points and 5 gold coins.”

“Do you accept the quest ‘Destroy the Formation’?” “Yes” “Yes”

“Ding! You have accepted the main quest ‘Destroy the Formation’. Time limit: 7 days.”

[Destroy the Formation: Harick has discovered that the formation is an auxiliary formation of the Ten Thousand Destruction Array. He hopes you will take the Formation Compass and destroy these formations.]

After Lin Shenyue followed Ye Jue out, she asked, “Should we do this quest now?”

Ye Jue frowned and shook his head. “No, I’m afraid we need to prepare thoroughly.”

Lin Shenyue asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Don’t we just need to take the compass and go?”

Ye Jue refuted, “If only it were that simple. But I fear we are about to face something terrifying.”

As the core and weak point of a formation, the Undead tribe would undoubtedly have some defenses. This meant they would likely encounter a BOSS.

Lin Shenyue nodded, appearing to understand somewhat, but said no more. At this point, having Ye Jue think for them was enough.