Chapter 688: The Shadow of Light

Nie Yan’s movements were lightning-fast.

Qin Han never expected Nie Yan to suddenly lunge from the side. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late; his own reactions couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s speed.

Just as Nie Yan’s Zennadard Sword was about to make contact with Qin Han’s body, a black light shield abruptly rose, blocking Nie Yan outside and resisting his strike.

Qin Han had been granted a trigger-based protective shield spell by the necromancer Bodman. This shield magic had just saved Qin Han’s life.

Nie Yan frowned. The sudden appearance of the shield caught him off guard. In the previous moment, had Qin Han not had the shield, he would have been almost certainly doomed! With this unexpected change, Nie Yan had no choice but to adjust his tactics.

Lucky to have narrowly escaped death, Qin Han quickly retreated backward. He was preparing to wave his staff and cast an offensive spell. In his opinion, the necromancer Bodman’s shield must have been very powerful and could probably withstand Nie Yan’s attacks.

Nie Yan stepped forward, swung his sword downward, and roared, “Annihilation Slash! Break!”

The Zennadard Sword ignited a surge of blazing flames, forming ten massive sword shadows in the air, each twenty yards long, successively slashing downward and converging together. With a thunderous boom, the black shield surrounding Qin Han shattered into pieces.

What an incredibly powerful skill! Qin Han’s heart sank; he never expected the shield to be so easily destroyed.

As the swift sword shadows descended upon him, Qin Han had nowhere to dodge. The Annihilation Slash was an area attack skill, five yards wide and twenty yards long. Nie Yan had already left him no room to maneuver.

Qin Han waved his staff and summoned a massive skeleton to block in front of him. With a loud bang, the skeleton was sliced into dust.

Nie Yan’s sword energy did not stop. After slicing through the skeleton, it continued to slash downward toward Qin Han.

A flash of hatred and despair crossed Qin Han’s eyes. With a bang, he took the full force of the blow and was sent flying backward.

-27307!

Qin Han was unquestionably killed in one hit.

After completing the Annihilation Slash, Nie Yan sheathed his sword with a slight smile. Got him!

He was quite satisfied with the result of that slash. Indeed, the Annihilation Slash was incredibly powerful.

Nie Yan’s killing of Qin Han was completed within just a few seconds. By the time the necromancer Bodman noticed what had happened, it was already too late.

“Damn it!” the necromancer Bodman cursed furiously. The person he was protecting had been instantly killed by a mere mortal right before his eyes. It was a disgrace. He waved his staff and launched a massive ice orb toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was already satisfied with defeating Qin Han and did not expect to defeat the necromancer Bodman. His gaze shifted toward Qin Han’s distant corpse, where several Scrolls of Order were floating downward.

Seeing the ice orb hurtling toward him, Nie Yan could no longer dodge. He simply ignored the orb and leaped toward the Scrolls of Order.

With a thunderous boom, the ice orb struck Nie Yan. His Karlena’s Shield of Protection shimmered faintly, its glow significantly dimmed, and its durability dropped by over 30,000 points.

However, it had not yet shattered!

Nie Yan was unharmed. In midair, he grabbed two Scrolls of Order. As the remaining scrolls drifted further away, he shot out spider silk from his left hand, sticking one scroll and yanking it toward him.

He had obtained three scrolls, with four more still floating in the air. At this point, Nie Yan’s body was already airborne, rapidly descending.

He quickly used the feather fall gem, which significantly slowed his descent.

Upon realizing Nie Yan was attempting to seize the Scrolls of Order, the necromancer Bodman abandoned Cars and furiously controlled his bone dragon to charge toward Nie Yan.

Cars noticed this and maneuvered his Royal Gryphon to charge at the bone dragon. The Royal Gryphon’s massive body heavily collided with the bone dragon, sending both colossal creatures flying.

In midair, the two began to grapple fiercely, and the necromancer Bodman could no longer focus on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan used his spider silk again to retrieve the remaining four Scrolls of Order. After chanting a spell, he summoned his Shadow Winged Dragon.

The Shadow Winged Dragon appeared out of thin air, and Nie Yan leaped onto its back.

The Shadow Winged Dragon’s size couldn’t compare to the bone dragon or Cars’s Royal Gryphon. Both the bone dragon and Cars’s Royal Gryphon were flying creatures of over ninth tier, legendary-level beings, while the Shadow Winged Dragon was merely seventh tier.

The difference between them was quite significant.

Nie Yan understood that if the bone dragon broke free from the Royal Gryphon’s assault, the Shadow Winged Dragon wouldn’t be able to withstand the attack. He quickly urged the Shadow Winged Dragon to descend rapidly and flee toward the distance.

At this time, more Royal Gryphons appeared in the sky, all belonging to the forces of Carol City. They surrounded the necromancer Bodman, and an intense aerial battle was about to begin.

The necromancer Bodman might even die here!

Although Nie Yan was eager to know the final outcome, his rationality told him he absolutely couldn’t stay here any longer!

To be absolutely safe, it was better to escape as far away as possible. After all, he had already obtained the Scrolls of Order. If something unexpected happened later and the necromancer Bodman suddenly unleashed his power, snatching the Scrolls of Order back from him, that would be a serious problem.

Even though Nie Yan knew the chances of the necromancer Bodman breaking free from Cars were very slim, he remained extremely cautious. Let the necromancer Bodman and Cars continue their fight; he needed to escape quickly, as he couldn’t be of any help here anyway.

Riding his Shadow Winged Dragon, Nie Yan soared toward the distant horizon.

Looking back, the shadows of the bone dragon and the Royal Gryphon grew increasingly distant until they finally disappeared.

More than ten minutes later, Nie Yan’s Shadow Winged Dragon slowly landed on an open field outside Carol City.

Nie Yan returned to Carol City. At this moment, there were a total of nine Scrolls of Order in his backpack. Among them, six scrolls could already form one volume, and he couldn’t help but feel excited.

The treasures that Qin Han had obtained were now seized by Nie Yan, and he must be furious—this was already the second time Qin Han had fallen into Nie Yan’s hands!

With an excited and hard-to-calm mood, Nie Yan entered the Starlight Pharmacy and found a room.

He checked his backpack, where nine Scrolls of Order lay quietly. He picked out six of them, which belonged to the second volume, and placed them together.

Brilliant and magnificent rays of light, as hot as the sun, radiated from the scrolls. Slowly, the six Scrolls of Order fused together, forming one volume—a black book identical to the Shadow of Darkness. Then, it continued to merge with the Shadow of Darkness in Nie Yan’s backpack, ultimately becoming one book.

Nie Yan could feel the energy contained within the Shadow of Darkness was even stronger than before. He took the book out; its thickness had more than doubled, making it appear more substantial. As he touched the pages with his hand, his mind and spirit calmed.

Nie Yan looked at the cover of the book. Written in four ancient characters were the words “Book of Order,” in a cursive, flowing script that appeared very lively, as if it were about to leap off the paper.

Opening the first page, the title page of the first volume bore the words “Shadow of Darkness.” The Shadow of Darkness section had basically not changed at all. Flipping further, he reached the second volume. The title page displayed a grayish-white tone, with four words inscribed on it: “Light of Evasion.”

This second volume, “Light of Evasion,” granted Nie Yan additional bonuses.

Looking at the attributes of Light of Evasion:

Volume II of the Scrolls of Order: “Light of Evasion”—Legendary Item. Item Level: 1. Item Level increases by defeating evil creatures.

Item Description: The bearer of the Scrolls of Order will receive divine heritage; your mission is to spread the glory of the gods.

Item Attributes: The bearer gains +2 to maximum skill level, +100 Strength, +200 Agility, +30 to all attributes. Additionally gains ten skill slots.

Usage Restriction: Only for player Nieyan.

Note: This item takes effect as soon as it is placed in the backpack.

The attributes of the Light of Evasion skill were clearly very impressive. Gaining +2 to maximum skill level meant Nie Yan could achieve higher skill levels than other players. Ordinary players could only reach level sixteen for their skills, but Nie Yan could attain the astonishing level of eighteen. Additionally, gaining ten extra skill slots meant he could learn more skills than the average player, which was a significant advantage. Skills were the lifeblood of a thief; there were many high-level skills to learn, but due to limited skill slots, players had to make choices, learning some while abandoning others of the same type. With ten more skill slots than ordinary players, Nie Yan would have far more options.

Turning to the second page of Light of Evasion, there was an illustration depicting five differently colored gems. Each gem had its own name: Light Inheritance, Darkness Inheritance, Fire Inheritance, Life Inheritance, and Secret Art Inheritance. Their shapes varied—some were octahedral, others had 64 faces—each was beautifully shaped, crystal clear, and flawless. There were clues to a quest for collecting the five Inheritance Gems, though Nie Yan had no idea what purpose they would serve once collected. These gems were somehow related to the Abak Set, as Nie Yan noticed rune markings from the Abak Set in a corner of the illustration.

Nie Yan hadn’t even collected the first volume of the Abak Set yet, so naturally, he put this quest aside for now, to be dealt with later.

Nie Yan thought about the Abak Set component located in the Sacred Mountains. He didn’t have time for it at the moment, but once the conflict with the undead was over, he could go and collect that piece of the set.

Out of the six volumes of the Book of Order, Nie Yan now had two complete volumes plus eight individual scrolls. It seemed that obtaining the complete Book of Order was not an unattainable goal.

After placing the Book of Order into his backpack, Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai, instructing him to dispatch someone to closely monitor the situation in the Sacred Mountains.

The battle in the Sacred Mountains had not yet concluded. Two legendary-level mages dueling could last for ten or twenty hours, even several days—it wouldn’t be surprising.

Would the necromancer Bodman die there? If the necromancer Bodman perished, Nie Yan could then lead the Bull Tribe in a full-scale counterattack.