Chapter 627: Cold-Blooded Ghost!

Nie Yan was hiding in the distance when he saw the Frost Spirit wandering by. He suddenly lunged forward, his dagger emitting a sharp, blinding glow.

Just as Nie Yan’s dagger was about to strike the Frost Spirit, it suddenly vanished into thin air.

Nie Yan’s attack missed, and his heart skipped a beat. He watched as the Frost Spirit reappeared to his right, its once hollow and lifeless eyes now filled with menace and bloodlust.

Hissing, the Frost Spirit exhaled a freezing breath, sending a wave of icy coldness toward Nie Yan.

The temperature dropped rapidly, as if it intended to freeze everything in its path.

In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan rolled sideways, narrowly dodging the attack and landing several yards away.

The Frost Spirit vanished again, only to reappear behind Nie Yan, unleashing a torrent of icy energy.

The Frost Spirit’s fighting style was different from any monster Nie Yan had encountered before. It floated unpredictably, its dodges and attacks were lightning fast, and as a ghost-type creature, it had a strong passive ability—it was immune to all forms of control skills.

This opponent was tougher than expected, and Nie Yan dared not be careless.

While constantly evading, Nie Yan also adjusted his combat techniques, making his movements faster to barely keep up with the Frost Spirit’s pace.

Dodging another attack, Nie Yan suddenly noticed the Frost Spirit had exposed its back to him. His heart sank, and he immediately lunged toward it.

Nie Yan suddenly burst into extreme speed, faster than ever before. He channeled all his strength into his knees and delivered a powerful knee strike to the Frost Spirit’s back.

With a dull thud, the Frost Spirit staggered forward a few steps.

Nie Yan would not let such a good opportunity slip away. He suddenly dashed forward, delivering an elbow strike that smashed hard into the Frost Spirit’s back. Twisting his body sideways, he drove Zeinald’s Sword into the Frost Spirit’s back with a brutal spine-slicing motion.

The blade sank completely into the Frost Spirit. Nie Yan gripped Zeinald’s Sword tightly and pulled hard, executing a slicing maneuver.

The Frost Spirit let out a piercing scream.

Just as Nie Yan was preparing to continue his assault, the Frost Spirit suddenly vanished, causing his attack to miss.

Nie Yan glanced at the system prompt and saw that he had just landed a three-hit combo, dealing over 50,000 points of damage. This meant the Frost Spirit was not invincible after all.

Just as Nie Yan steadied himself, he felt a chilling breeze from behind and quickly activated Windstep.

A wave of freezing cold swept past. The ground was instantly covered in thick frost, and many Emerald Golden Orchid plants nearby were instantly turned into ice sculptures. Fortunately, Nie Yan had dodged quickly enough, or he would have been frozen solid.

Thankfully, there were plenty of Emerald Golden Orchids here; otherwise, Nie Yan would have been heartbroken.

The two figures clashed rapidly across the grasslands. Nie Yan gradually integrated various martial arts techniques into the game’s skills, surprised to find they had an astonishingly high compatibility. Although his attack speed couldn’t match the Frost Spirit’s, he relied on unpredictable moves to gain the upper hand.

This was a prolonged chase. Unlike the previous monotonous method of running and attacking while using skills, Nie Yan’s movements were highly flexible, unrestricted by any skill limitations, thus offering more variability.

This freedom made Nie Yan feel exhilarated during combat.

After such intense fighting, Nie Yan could feel his martial arts skills continuously improving.

The Frost Spirit attacked ferociously, but after prolonged combat, its health dwindled down until it had less than 5% left.

Letting out a piercing scream, the Frost Spirit began emitting waves of intense cold.

As soon as Nie Yan came into contact with the freezing gas, thick frost covered his body, drastically reducing his speed. Every movement became extremely difficult. He quickly drank a Master-level Anti-Cold Potion. A wave of warmth spread from his lower abdomen through his limbs and meridians, making his body flexible again.

Seeing the Frost Spirit showing signs of going berserk, Nie Yan charged forward, delivering a powerful kick to its abdomen, followed by a throat slash. Zeinald’s Sword, ablaze with fiery energy, swept across the Frost Spirit’s throat.

The Frost Spirit screamed shrilly. Its fingernails suddenly extended several centimeters, razor-sharp, and its attacks became vastly stronger and faster.

The Frost Spirit furiously attacked Nie Yan, who now found dodging increasingly difficult, narrowly avoiding several hits.

As the Frost Spirit’s claws swung down, seemingly about to finish him off, Nie Yan executed a Shadowstep and dodged away.

Level 16 Shadowstep! Nie Yan disappeared from sight.

The Frost Spirit looked confused, completely unable to sense Nie Yan’s presence. Nie Yan had seemingly vanished into thin air. Ordinary skills like Windstep or Vanish could be detected by the Frost Spirit, but its perception was completely ineffective against Level 16 Shadowstep.

Perfect Daze!

Nie Yan had already positioned himself behind the Frost Spirit and executed a Perfect Daze, causing it to momentarily freeze.

Purgatory Execute!

Flames erupted from Zeinald’s Sword in Nie Yan’s hand. With one slash, he cleaved the Frost Spirit from its back, slicing it cleanly in half with a blazing red blade.

Purgatory Execute successful!

The Frost Spirit’s health dropped to zero. It let out a piercing scream, releasing waves of icy energy before slowly dissipating into the air.

Phew, Nie Yan exhaled in relief. Finally, he had defeated this stubborn opponent.

After restoring his stamina in place, Nie Yan looked into the distance. The area was covered in vast fields of Emerald Golden Orchids, stretching far into the horizon, swaying gently in the wind. Although many had been destroyed during the battle with the Frost Spirit, there were still plenty left.

Even if he spent over ten days harvesting here, he might not be able to collect all the Emerald Golden Orchids.

Nie Yan crouched down and began harvesting. One by one, system prompts sounded.

System: You obtained an Emerald Golden Orchid.

System: You obtained an Emerald Golden Orchid.

…

The rhythmic system prompts kept coming as the number of Emerald Golden Orchids in Nie Yan’s backpack steadily increased.

After collecting six stacks, Nie Yan began using them to craft High Potency Instant Recovery Potions. His Alchemy Master skill allowed players to create certain specific potions without recipes, such as Low, Medium, High, and Master-level Instant Recovery Potions, as well as some types of poison resistance and poison potions.

Nie Yan took out an Emerald Golden Orchid, processed it simply, and began the crafting process.

One by one, High Potency Instant Recovery Potions were created under his hands. Each successful creation earned him 3 points of skill proficiency. After completing a stack of High Potency Instant Recovery Potions, he placed them in a corner of his backpack and continued working diligently.

Nie Yan repeated the simple yet monotonous crafting process. Since the Alchemy Master skill required relatively little proficiency to level up, his progress was quite fast.

Meanwhile, as Nie Yan focused on improving his Alchemy Master skill, Chu Chenghao and others had gathered at the entrance of the auction house in the center of Carol City. They planned to first train and build synergy with Xu Yan’s group before entering the dungeon together.

Including Chu Chenghao, there were thirteen people in total. Two had gone to purchase consumables and would return shortly.

“Xu Yan and the others will be here soon.”

“I heard from Xu Yan that he just applied for Chu Ge to join the Bull Tribe. They should respond in about two days.”

As they were chatting, a group of seven or eight people approached from a distance.

“It’s Zhao Shiyu and Fu Guangtao!”

“It seems Bai Jun didn’t come.”

Seeing Zhao Shiyu and Fu Guangtao approaching with an unfriendly demeanor, they all became alert. They stood behind Chu Chenghao, facing Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and the others.

Zhao Shiyu’s gaze swept over Chen Mo and the others. She wore a sorrowful expression as she said, “I came here to invite you all back. We were wrong before. Although we’ve had some conflicts since the team was formed, our cooperation was relatively pleasant. Do we really have to part ways?”

“Chu Chenghao, I admit I was too impulsive before, and my tone was harsh. I apologize. Come back with us. What future do you have following trash like Xu Yan and Xia Tianyu? With their levels and equipment, can they really lead a team well?” Even while apologizing, Fu Guangtao still carried an air of arrogance.

“Whether our previous team experience was pleasant or not is obvious to anyone with eyes. Zhao Shiyu, you don’t need to pretend pitiful anymore. We all know exactly what kind of people you are. No need to say more. From now on, you go your way on the sunny road, and we’ll take our own narrow bridge.” Chu Chenghao showed no sign of yielding.

“Damn it,” Fu Guangtao started to curse at Chu Chenghao but thought better of it and suppressed his anger. “If you come back, we can discuss things further. We don’t have to go to the Spider Cave anymore. We can continue staying in the Mysterious Cave. Once our equipment improves, we can go to the Spider Cave later.”

Chu Chenghao remained unmoved, and the other team members also showed no inclination to return.

“No matter how much you say, it’s useless. Go back. We don’t want you,” one of the teammates scoffed disdainfully. They had already seen through Fu Guangtao and others long ago.

“Well then, you asked for it. I tried to invite you back nicely, but you refuse to drink the toast and instead choose the punishment. From now on, every time I see you in a dungeon, I will kill you, until you’re too afraid to leave the city. I keep my word.” Fu Guangtao said with a fierce expression. He did have some backing behind him.

“We’ll see if you have the ability to do that. We’re ready to face whatever you bring.” Chu Chenghao’s eyes turned cold. He wouldn’t be easily intimidated.

“You think trash like Xu Yan and Xia Tianyu can protect you?” Fu Guangtao sneered.

“We’d like to see what ability you have to keep us from leaving the city.” At that moment, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and others approached from behind.

Upon hearing the voice, Fu Guangtao turned around, intending to say something threatening. However, his gaze fell upon the equipment worn by Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and others, and he was momentarily stunned into silence.