A pile of gold coins was collected, followed by the heavier, golden "jin zhi qian". A total of 25 were gathered. The game "Tian Xia" was undergoing a change. In the current version, only bosses of Saint-tier or higher dropped "jin zhi qian", while those of Ghost God-tier and below only dropped gold coins. Thus, despite only a one-tier difference, the value of Ghost God-tier and Saint-tier bosses became vastly different. Large guilds in the national server were meticulously planning to use human wave tactics to tackle Saint-tier bosses. After all, putting aside whether equipment would drop, the "jin zhi qian" alone was enough to pay substantial salaries.
On the ground lay a messy pile of equipment, seven pieces in total, ranging from armor to shields to staves. They were diverse, but their luster was not promising. With Lin Zhao's extensive experience, he knew at a glance that there was nothing good. Fortunately, after collecting all the Heavenly and Earthly artifacts, there was a shield radiating a tea-white glow beneath it – a Saint artifact!
[Divine Ruin Shield] (Saint Artifact)
Defense: 10500
Block: +155
Strength: +225
Stamina: +220
Agility: +218
Spirit Power: +216
Special Effect: Damage Reduction +10%
Special Effect: Steadfastness, 30% chance to reduce incoming damage to 20% when attacked.
Special Effect: Increased Damage, User's attack damage +100%
Special Effect: Resilience, Increases user's HP cap by 80000 points.
Bonus: Increases user's attack power by 95%.
Bonus: Increases user's defense by 93%.
Required Strength: 3500
Required Stamina: 3000
Required Level: 165
"This is good!"
Holding the Divine Ruin Shield, Lin Zhao beamed. With this single item, this boss was worth conquering. He immediately threw the Divine Ruin Shield into his inventory and picked up a golden Star Stone from the ground. To clear this map, nine Star Stones had to be collected to summon the final boss. Otherwise, the map could never be cleared, and the fate of the treasure "Seven-Treasure Glazed Tree" would remain uncertain. This was likely why the game developers created this map, provoking player competition for the Star Stones. Only through continuous player attrition could the game developers maximize their profits.
"Ding!"
He attached the image of the Divine Ruin Shield and sent a message to Chen Xue: "A Xue, this shield just dropped. Do you want to swap?"
"Huh?"
Chen Xue was stunned. The attributes of the Divine Ruin Shield were too domineering, leaving her momentarily speechless. Her beautiful eyes were filled with adoration. After all, as long as a player was a veteran, their pursuit of game attributes was always obsessive, and Chen Xue, a super beauty, was no exception. However, after a brief hesitation of a few seconds, she smiled and shook her head, "No need. And in my opinion, Lin Zhao, you don't need to keep this Divine Ruin Shield for internal use."
"What do you mean?" Lin Zhao asked with a smile, "I'd love to hear your thoughts."
Chen Xue smiled calmly, "It's simple. There are too many things that can enhance players at this stage – equipment, magic treasures, cultivation realms, skills, and so on. Especially with the opening of the magic treasure system, the importance of equipment has been greatly diminished. Unless one is pursuing absolute attributes, the difference between a Saint artifact and a Ghost God artifact isn't that significant. If I took your shield, I would indeed become a bit tankier, but such an enhancement isn't very meaningful. It would be better for you to put this shield on the auction house and sell it, making a killing before most players in the national server realize the reduced importance of equipment. Using this capital to enrich Scarlet Moon Transport is the way to go. After all, our ultimate reliance and trump card is Scarlet Moon Transport. We can't play games forever, can we?"
"Mm."
Lin Zhao nodded, "You're right."
He directly put away the Divine Ruin Shield and said with a smile, "Alright, no more talk. I'm going back to my fish-out-of-water routine."
"Okay, I'm also playing hooky."
"~~~"
...
Closing the communication, Lin Zhao prepared to head to the next map when he suddenly heard a rustling sound from the nearby woods. Immediately after, a man wearing half-body tea-white Saint artifact armor, riding a high-tier warhorse, charged out of the jungle. Behind him, skills and flying swords whizzed. One of the flying swords was particularly sharp, piercing directly through his chest and dealing over 50000 damage, causing the young knight's health to drop to 13%, leaving him on the brink of death.
"Mu Yun!?"
Lin Zhao exclaimed in shock. The one fleeing from the woods was Nangong Muyun!
In an instant, Lin Zhao drew his Zhan Lu sword without hesitation and swung it. A Golden Sword Qi Cage, his favorite skill that had reached level 10, appeared behind Nangong Muyun. The dense barrage of flying swords, Flame Burst spells, and Soul Burning Arrows that were pursuing him became chaotic within the sword qi cage, their trajectories disrupted.
Below level 10, the Sword Qi Cage could block player displacement skills. At level 10, it could block flying trajectory skills or magic treasures, thus increasing the status of Sword Masters. In team battles, their position was no less than that of mages.
"Lin Zhao!?"
Nangong Muyun was surprised and delighted. He gestured to cast a Revival Wind on himself and said in a deep voice, "I'm being targeted by Ding Chunqiu and his gang!"
"You go, I'll cover the rear."
"Alright!"
Nangong Muyun tugged at the reins and charged into the dense forest behind him.
Lin Zhao raised his long sword. The next moment, as Ding Chunqiu and his elite group of "All Villains" emerged from the forest, a special skill, Blazing Sun Infusion, descended from the sky. It poured down like scorching solar flames, stunning Ding Chunqiu and dozens of his men in place. Simultaneously, the Moonfall skill of the flying sword Ming Yue descended from the sky, fiercely bombarding the crowd. Creating distance, he unleashed Broken Sword Style, and countless sword qi rapidly struck the crowd. At the same time, the Ephemeral Flying Sword, ten Immortal Swords, and twenty-four Great Desolation Ancient Swords surged out, attacking the crowd indiscriminately.
Ding Chunqiu didn't even blink. While stunned, he was heavily targeted by Lin Zhao and instantly killed by the flying sword Xin Huo. Most of the other players also perished under the barrage of flying swords. After one round of offense, the dozens of people who had rushed out of the forest were dumbfounded. Seeing Lin Zhao standing not far away, with countless flying swords swirling around him, they didn't dare to attack.
"You win this time. We'll settle this another day!"
A team leader uttered a harsh threat and led his men away.
Lin Zhao stood dumbfounded.
He spun and ascended, stepping on the flying sword Red Leaf to hover above the forest. Nangong Muyun waited not far away, his health fully restored. He said with a smile, "I knew you'd handle it without bloodshed."
"Not that impressive, just caught them off guard with a sneak attack."
Lin Zhao frowned and asked, "Muyun, are you always going to solo without joining a guild?"
"Mm."
Nangong Muyun replied, "Alone, carefree, free and unfettered. If I want to bring girls, I bring girls. If I want to log off, I log off, without any constraints. I like this feeling. Once I'm used to this gaming life, I don't want to change it."
"Mm, a lone wolf is also good."
Lin Zhao smiled and nodded. In fact, for any lone wolf in any game to do well, they either have substantial financial resources and their equipment strength is among the best on the server, or they possess exceptional skills and are night owls who can outlast their opponents even if they can't defeat them. Nangong Muyun seemed to possess both, which is why he could basically move around with impunity on various maps. The only ones who could truly threaten Nangong Muyun were top-tier players in the current version like Ding Chunqiu.
Just looking at Nangong Muyun's half-body Saint artifacts, one could tell how difficult he was to kill as a dual-offensive and defensive Holy Knight.
"By the way."
Nangong Muyun privately messaged a coordinate to him, saying, "When I was being chased by Ding Chunqiu and his gang earlier, I passed by an entrance to the second floor, but didn't have time to enter. I've noted the coordinates down, sharing them with you."
"Alright."
Lin Zhao nodded, "Thanks. I'm leaving then?"
"Mm, I'm leaving too!"
The two parted ways. Lin Zhao headed straight for the second-floor entrance, while Nangong Muyun planned to take a detour. After all, he didn't have Lin Zhao's terrifying burst damage and lacked absolute countermeasures against the "All Villains" group. Therefore, to prevent his opponents from ambushing him at the second-floor entrance, he had to scout all the points thoroughly before proceeding. After all, after years of playing as a lone wolf, he possessed this cautiousness.
...
"Swish!"
Lin Zhao stepped on his sword and glided into the second floor of the Seven-Treasure Glazed Tree. It was still a map with dense forests. Just as Lin Zhao was carefully discerning the direction, a message arrived from Shen Xingchen: "Lin Zhao, Passerby Wuming's group has entered the second floor. There are over 400 people. Be careful, there are quite a few of them, and they specialize in killing smaller teams or solo players. Don't get capsized in the gutter."
"Mm, I will."
Lin Zhao frowned, "Xingchen, how many people do you have? Do you want me to reinforce you?"
"No need."
Shen Xingchen smiled lightly, "I have enough manpower. Even if Passerby Wuming brings his people to eat our team, he'll definitely lose two front teeth."
"Only two front teeth?" Lin Zhao's eyes twitched.
Shen Xingchen giggled, "Alright, just focus on your solo run, don't worry about us."
"Mm."
...
Deep within the second floor.
A peerlessly beautiful woman in a green dress, wielding a translucent, radiant spear, with a flowing cape behind her, sat atop a gnarled ancient tree. She seemed to have something on her mind, murmuring to herself. Birds chirped merrily around her. When she raised her finger, bold birds even landed on it, chirping at her and making the young girl chuckle like silver bells.
Everything was breathtakingly beautiful, like a celestial being from a divine painting.
However, on this map, she was not so harmless.
The young girl was named Yu Qingxuan, the Saintess of the Pill Valley, a Saint-tier boss.
"Rustle..."
Amidst the sound of horse hooves, a middle-aged sword cultivator, carrying a long sword on his back and riding a horse, entered the nearby woods. As his gaze swept up, he saw Yu Qingxuan on the branch, feeling as if his soul had been stirred. He then turned to look in another direction, where another group of people entered the woods. Leading them was a ninth-realm Nascent Soul sword cultivator.