Nie Yan was about to be completely surrounded by these mutated lords when he activated his Ring of the Jumper and leaped into the air, soaring more than twenty yards high.
At that moment, countless spells shot upward like fireworks.
Several druids immediately transformed from bear form into massive black eagles and soared into the sky.
Dozens of spells from below whistled toward him, ready to strike Nie Yan in the next instant.
Nie Yan felt his heart tighten. Was he unable to escape?
His eyes fell upon a tall stone pillar nearby. Extending his left hand, he shot out a strand of spider silk, over ten yards long, which stuck firmly onto the pillar. Then, he abruptly pulled, sending himself flying sideways through the air. Dense spells zipped past him, causing him to break into a cold sweat.
Activating a climbing skill, small suction cups immediately formed on his hands, and with a slap, he firmly adhered himself to the pillar. Seeing several massive black eagles rapidly approaching from behind, Nie Yan crawled like a gecko, quickly circling behind the pillar. He then leapt off, flying dozens of yards away.
The group of mutated lords behind him became momentarily chaotic, chasing after him from all directions.
These mutated lords moved extremely fast. Nie Yan had no choice but to use every trick he had, weaving through the ruins for nearly half an hour before finally shaking off the mutated lords.
Nie Yan caught his breath, hiding among a pile of scattered rubble. According to descriptions from Bo Mu Weiliang and others, this area originally had few guards, but their numbers had gradually increased. If there had only been one or two mutated lords, Nie Yan could have handled them. But with such a large number, even Nie Yan, with all his abilities, was helpless.
The mutated lords searched all around but found no trace of Nie Yan and eventually dispersed.
Circling around this ruined area, Nie Yan continued deeper into the ruins. Everywhere was in ruins, and every so often, he encountered mutated lords of around level 180 patrolling about.
These mutated lords had strong detection abilities, forcing Nie Yan to carefully hide and wait until they moved far away before daring to advance again. Sometimes, he had to waste over half an hour.
Nearly an entire day was spent here before Nie Yan gradually made his way through the outer hall and arrived at the edge of the inner hall. Ahead, towering stone pillars came into Nie Yan’s view, no more than a hundred yards away. These pillars, standing fifty to sixty yards tall and requiring five or six people to encircle them, created a striking visual impact.
The entrance to the inner hall was a series of steps leading upward, beyond which his vision could not reach.
Nie Yan turned a corner and looked toward the entrance. On the steps stood about sixty to seventy mutated lords, gathered in small groups, chatting with each other.
To avoid being discovered, Nie Yan immediately retreated and counted silently, “…sixty-seven…seventy-three. A total of seventy-three. This time, it’s troublesome.” With so many mutated lords guarding here, it would be extremely difficult for Nie Yan to sneak past unnoticed without engaging them.
Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a headache. What method could he use to bypass them?
After thinking for a long time, Nie Yan’s gaze fell upon one of his skills in the skill bar—Disguise!
This skill might be useful, but he needed to hunt and kill a level 180 mutated lord first!
If it were just a one-on-one fight, Nie Yan could take down a level 180 mutated lord. However, these mutated lords usually traveled in packs. Where could he find a lone mutated lord?
Nie Yan wandered through the ruins, searching everywhere. He could only rely on luck. Until logging off, he found nothing.
During the day, Nie Yan attended classes with Xie Yao as usual. After returning home in the afternoon and having dinner, he logged back into the game.
Nie Yan continued searching through the ruins. He hadn’t encountered any lone mutated lords—these mutated lords always traveled in pairs at least. However, he did make a pleasant discovery: a silver-gray chest quietly lay in a corner of the ruins, covered in dust and debris.
Although it was hidden very well, Nie Yan still discovered it. He walked toward the chest and squatted down. Due to the dust and debris, he couldn’t see its true appearance. He reached out and brushed off the dust and debris, gradually revealing the chest’s original form.
It was a dark green chest. Checking its level, it was sub-legendary.
Nie Yan began opening the chest.
System: Chest opening in progress. Completion: 35%…67%…
With a click, the chest opened.
Nie Yan reached inside and fished out a black book.
It was a skill book!
Besides this skill book, there was nothing else.
Nie Yan checked the book’s attributes. It was a rogue skill book.
Supreme Stealth: Sub-legendary skill. Temporarily suppresses your aura, increasing stealth effectiveness by 300% for 5 seconds. Skill cooldown time is 20 minutes. Skill can be upgraded.
Nie Yan looked at the skill’s effects and showed a hint of surprise. He had always wanted to find a skill to enhance stealth effectiveness, but the effects of those skills were unsatisfactory, so he eventually discarded them. This Supreme Stealth skill was quite good. If he used it while stealthily approaching enemies during combat, it could definitely produce unexpected results.
Nie Yan placed the Supreme Stealth skill book in his palm. A white light shone, and the Supreme Stealth skill book vanished, adding a new skill to his skill bar.
After learning the Supreme Stealth skill book, Nie Yan continued wandering nearby, searching for a lone mutated lord.
Time passed quickly. After five or six hours, although Nie Yan hadn’t found a lone mutated lord, he made an unexpected discovery—he found the library mentioned by Bo Mu Weiliang. The entire library building was already in ruins, filled with many books, each describing unknown secrets.
Looking at the books neatly arranged on the shelves, all covered in thick layers of dust, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what material they were made of that they hadn’t decayed. He picked up one book, intending to put it in his backpack to read later, but received a system prompt.
System: This book cannot be placed in the backpack.
These books couldn’t be taken away!
Nie Yan hesitated in front of the bookshelf for a moment. Since he still had time, he decided to read some materials here. He browsed the catalog, searching for keywords related to the Goddess of Life, Abak, and divine essence, quickly flipping through the pages and absorbing as much information as possible into his mind.
It was unrealistic to resolve the matters of the Temple of the Goddess of Life and obtain the Abak Focused Leggings in a short time. Nie Yan calmed himself and began thinking of a plan.
He spent an entire day in the library and logged out when it was time, having read many legends related to the Temple of the Goddess of Life. He planned to continue sorting through all the clues related to the Temple of the Goddess of Life the next day.
After logging out of the game, today was a weekend, a day off. He could go out with Xie Yao. Looking outside, the weather was quite nice.
Nie Yan went to the garage and drove out his Solon, glancing at the time on the car’s computer: July 8th.
For some reason, his heart inexplicably raced, as if something was about to happen.
It was a very unsettling feeling. Nie Yan didn’t know where the problem lay or what was wrong.
The Solon drove to the surface, and Xie Yao opened the door and got in, showing a sweet smile: “Where are we going?”
“Just wandering around,” Nie Yan replied absentmindedly.
“Nie Yan, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Xie Yao quickly noticed Nie Yan’s unusual behavior and asked with concern.
“No,” Nie Yan replied uncomfortably, shaking his head.
“If you’re feeling unwell, we can just stay home and rest,” Xie Yao said gently, looking at Nie Yan. She reached out and felt his forehead, which wasn’t feverish.
“Let’s go to the seaside,” Nie Yan said. He didn’t want to spoil Xie Yao’s mood. He pressed the accelerator, and the Solon sped off.
The two played at the seaside for the morning and were just preparing to find a nearby restaurant for lunch when Nie Yan’s phone rang. For some reason, this call made his heart inexplicably skip a beat. He glanced at the caller ID—it was Guo Huai, probably something related to the guild, Nie Yan thought.
“Guo Huai, what’s up?” Nie Yan asked.
“This morning, I was at Huahai Mingyue Chunchun with Yaozi and some friends. One of his friends invited him to go out, but when I tried calling him at noon, no one answered. His phone has been turned off for three consecutive hours. I’m a bit worried…” Guo Huai said.
Hearing Guo Huai’s words, Nie Yan immediately felt tense, as if his inner thoughts were suddenly confirmed. A strong sense of unease surged within him.
“Did he say where he was going?” Nie Yan urgently interrupted Guo Huai.
“Seems like a bar. He wanted to refuse, but couldn’t resist his friend’s invitation, so he agreed. Before he left, he wanted to call you, but eventually gave up,” Guo Huai replied. Noticing Nie Yan’s unusual tone, he asked, “Is something wrong?”
“That idiot! I told him not to go to bars!” Nie Yan angrily cursed, his heart violently pounding. Please, let Yaozi be safe! Nie Yan abruptly turned the Solon around and sped toward Huahai. However, even at the fastest speed, it would take more than two hours to get there!
Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai also sensed something was wrong. He said, “I’ll immediately send people to find Yaozi. If anyone dares to harm him, I, Guo Huai, will never let them off!”
Guo Huai hung up and immediately arranged for people to search.
“Nie Yan, what’s going on?” Xie Yao asked with some confusion, sensing something from Nie Yan’s conversation with Guo Huai.
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