Swish! Swish! Swish! swish!
Faced with the dozen or so skeleton warriors that suddenly appeared around Ji Ningshuang, the Blood-Drinking Guild players were all stunned.
"Where did these skeleton warriors come from?"
"Who cares! Get them! Cut them all down!"
The surrounding Blood-Drinking Guild players continued charging forward, immediately engaging the skeleton warriors.
Unexpectedly, the skeleton warriors, enhanced by three layers of A-grade talent buffs, were extraordinarily powerful.
In just an instant, they sent dozens of Blood-Drinking Guild players tumbling all over the place.
Once the three-second duration of Soul Suppression ended, Ji Ningshuang broke free of the control and transformed into a phantom, dagger in hand, cutting through the crowd.
Amid a series of screams, dozens of Blood-Drinking Guild players were instantly slaughtered to the last.
The guild leader, Blood-Drinking Crazy Battle, was also killed by Ji Ningshuang with a slash to the throat.
Clutching his neck, he stared wide-eyed at the cold and beautiful woman before him. With a "thud," he fell to his knees before turning into white light and disappearing.
As the battle ended, the skeleton warriors on the field all turned to ashes and disappeared.
At the same time, a man dressed in a blood-red cloak appeared in Ji Ningshuang's line of sight.
That great priest was none other than Nether.
Ji Ningshuang had thought she was doomed this time, and might even be killed all the way back to level 0 and become completely useless.
Nether's sudden appearance was like a second salvation in Ji Ningshuang's life.
The first had been when she was ten years old. Her older brother had died after standing up for justice, while the gangsters who had beaten him to death had been declared not guilty by the court on the spot. Just when she was in despair, her godfather had suddenly appeared before her, avenged her brother, and handled his funeral arrangements.
Ji Ningshuang stared blankly at Nether, somewhat dazed.
"You actually believed what those people said," Nether's words pulled Ji Ningshuang back to reality.
"Thanks for this time..."
Ji Ningshuang regained her composure and said, "I was a little desperate and willing to try anything. I just wanted to find the God Refining Cauldron as quickly as possible."
"Then you still need a direction instead of blindly searching around like this."
"I..."
Ji Ningshuang was left somewhat speechless.
She looked at Nether, "Do you have a way?"
She had only asked casually and hadn't placed much hope in it.
Unexpectedly, Nether really brought her a major piece of news.
"There's a player called Hero of Troubled Times in the Inferno City who posted a high-paying recruitment notice on the Divine Oracle forum."
"A ten-million bounty, specifically recruiting Heavenly Ranking experts from the beast-race cities of Shadow City, Rakshasa City, Blood Moon City, and City of No Hope."
Hearing this, Ji Ningshuang immediately clicked into the official Divine Oracle forum.
Sure enough, she saw the hottest post on the forum's homepage.
[Rich Beyond Measure · Hero of Troubled Times (Lv62 Tier-3 Sword-and-Shield Warrior · Beast-race Inferno City Heavenly Ranking Fifth): "Ten million to recruit Heavenly Ranking experts from the beast-race secondary main cities of Shadow City, Rakshasa City, Blood Moon City, and City of No Hope! Must be Heavenly Ranking experts! If you're strong enough, DM me!"]
The post had only been published for ten minutes.
It already had 37 million likes.
And 5.45 million comments.
It shot straight to the top of the popularity rankings.
After all, ten million yuan, such an enormous offer was simply too shocking.
The replies beneath the post were all over the place.
[Money-Grubber · Little Money Fan (Lv59 Tier-3 Great Priest · Beast-race Shadow City): "Fuck! Ten million! Big bro, am I good enough? I'm not a Heavenly Ranking expert, but I'm really strong. And I don't need ten million. Just give me one million."]
[Slaughterer · Broken Halberd Sinks Sand (Lv63 Tier-3 Berserker · Beast-race Blood Moon City Heavenly Ranking First): "How do I sign up? I'm in."]
[Lone Warrior · Loving You Alone in a Dark Alley (Lv62 Tier-3 Soul Archer · Elf Starshine City Heavenly Ranking Eighth): "Does it have to be one of those four cities you named? What about someone from the elves' Starshine City?"]
Looking at this recruitment post, Ji Ningshuang pondered, "Isn't this Hero of Troubled Times supposedly that rich but brainless second-generation rich kid from Jiang Province?"
"His Chaotic World Guild's main force is all in the Inferno City, and its main area of development is also concentrated in the Inferno City. He hasn't established branch guilds anywhere else. Why would he suddenly recruit Heavenly Ranking experts from other main cities at a time like this?"
"And more importantly, the four main cities he's specifically recruiting from all belong to the beast race?", Ji Ningshuang had finally noticed the key point.
Nether, however, wasn't in a hurry to explain.
Instead, he brought Ji Ningshuang a second major piece of news.
"We're not the only ones looking for the God Refining Cauldron."
"There's also Rulebound."
Rulebound was also looking for the God Refining Cauldron.
Hearing this from Nether made Ji Ningshuang's eyes wide.
"How do you know?"
"What does Rulebound want the God Refining Cauldron for? Does he know that we're going to use the God Refining Cauldron to release the Ghost King and use it against him?"
Nether said casually, "Mo Chen told me."
"Rulebound is looking for the God Refining Cauldron so he can combine it with God's Water to forge exclusive equipment for the Divine Advent Seraph, the Eternal Set."
Ji Ningshuang immediately understood, "So you're saying... the reason Wang Junjie is recruiting Heavenly Ranking experts is to find the God Refining Cauldron for Rulebound?"
"We can't be completely certain yet. It's just my guess," Nether said, "But whether that's the case or not, we'll know after testing it."
"But Wang Junjie won't bother with ordinary people. Only players who meet the requirements can test the waters."
"I understand," Ji Ningshuang said, "Leave this task to me! I'll investigate!"
Thus, Ji Ningshuang immediately put her "godfather" to work.
She quickly contacted a Heavenly Ranking player from the beast-race City of No Hope.
Through him, she began a private-message negotiation with Wang Junjie.
[Unfearless Warrior · Emperor Hero (Lv62 Tier-3 Sword-and-Shield Warrior · Beast-race City of No Hope Heavenly Ranking Tenth): "Brother, ten million, really?"]
[Rich Beyond Measure · Hero of Troubled Times (Lv62 Tier-3 Sword-and-Shield Warrior · Beast-race Inferno City Heavenly Ranking Fifth): "Of course! Go look up who I, Wang Junjie, am."]
[Emperor Hero: "Brother, you're awesome! So what do you need me to do?"]
[Hero of Troubled Times: "Help me clear a map over in your City of No Hope. I need something from inside. Just get that thing and send it to me."]
[Hero of Troubled Times: "One million upfront, nine million afterward. Can you do it?"]
[Emperor Hero: "Yes, yes, yes! But what exactly are we clearing for? Can you tell me, bro? Having a target gives me more motivation!"]
[Hero of Troubled Times: "Find a treasure map fragment. That thing is useless to you. I'm also helping someone look for it! Anyway, don't ask too many questions. If you can do it, just wait for my message when the time comes."]
[Emperor Hero: "Got it, bro! No problem!"]
———
Soon, Ji Ningshuang received screenshots of the conversation between [Emperor Hero] and [Hero of Troubled Times].
She looked at Nether, confidence filling her cold eyes.
"First, Wang Junjie is helping someone find it. Second, the target is a treasure map."
"Unless something unexpected happens, there's an eighty-to-ninety percent chance you've guessed correctly."
"The person Wang Junjie is helping is Rulebound. And the thing sealed by this treasure map is the God Refining Cauldron."
After a pause, Ji Ningshuang continued, "The rumors in the Inferno City say that Wang Junjie keeps trying to show off in front of Rulebound. This behavior fits Wang Junjie's personality perfectly."
"And the reason Rulebound had Wang Junjie post this instead of doing it himself is, first, Wang Junjie's identity as a rich second-generation heir gives him greater appeal, and second, it allows him to conceal his true objective."
"As long as we follow Wang Junjie's direction and find all the map fragments, we can intercept the God Refining Cauldron from Rulebound."
Thinking of this, Ji Ningshuang crossed her arms, and a hint of arrogance appeared in her cold eyes.
"Hmm! Rulebound, you were careful in every way, yet you still made a mistake. You actually miscalculated."
"I thought you were so smart, but I never expected you to expose such an important secret to us yourself."
"I told you, you only had one chance to defeat me."
"And there will never be a second."
"From this moment on, you have no chance left."
[🙇🏻 You Can Support the Story Through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ Chapters of all the novels and fanfics. Thanks for reading~]