In the northern part of the celestial realm's map, within a one-kilometer radius centered on the Jade Void Palace, players were swarming to participate in the event. Some moved in small teams, while others, like Jiang Yuan, chose to split up. All of them were searching for the first boss of the "Black Tortoise Seven Mansions" quest: Dou Mu Xie.
Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding had barely walked five hundred meters when a green coordinate appeared in the team channel. Wen Ding Cang Sheng had found the location of Dou Mu Xie!
"Let's go!"
Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding quickly turned around and rushed toward the target Wen Ding Cang Sheng had sent. About a few minutes later, when the other four team members arrived at the coordinates, Wen Ding Cang Sheng was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?"
Ding Ye looked around, scratched his head, and looked utterly confused.
"I pulled the boss over here. Hurry up and come!"
Just as Ding Ye finished speaking, Wen Ding Cang Sheng sent a new set of coordinates in the team channel.
Following the new coordinates, Jiang Yuan and the others found that Wen Ding Cang Sheng had actually pulled the first boss, Dou Mu Xie, behind a massive rock about two to three meters high.
"Brother Cang Sheng, you're a genius!"
The spot was extremely concealed, perfect for avoiding detection by other players. The team couldn't help but admire Wen Ding Cang Sheng's cleverness, giving him thumbs up in praise.
Jiang Yuan took a look at the boss. It was entirely earth-yellow, wearing a costume reminiscent of Peking Opera attire, with several flags stuck on its back and a sword in its hand.
[Black Tortoise Seven Mansions: Dou Mu Xie (Event Boss)] Level: 120 HP: 300 million Attack: 50,000 Defense: 30,000
The boss's HP wasn't too high. With Jiang Yuan's team's damage output, they could finish it in about ten minutes—provided there were no interruptions.
"Pudding, buff us up. Everyone, unleash your strongest damage and take down this boss as fast as possible!"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng knew they couldn't afford to delay. The competition for the first boss was the fiercest. Whichever team could take it down quickly would gain the upper hand!
Beams of white light continuously fell on Ding Ye, Wen Ding Cang Sheng, Jiang Yuan, and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun. Hamster Pudding quickly applied buffs to the four team members.
"Hehe! Let me show you my super mythical skill!"
With Hamster Pudding's stat boosts, Ding Ye's HP soared to over 1.2 million. He turned back to Jiang Yuan and the others with a grin and unleashed the super mythical skill he had obtained in the Huan Yue Cave dungeon.
"Phoenix Cry Imperial Slash!"
A blood-red blade aura erupted around Ding Ye. Four ten-meter-long crimson blades hovered above his head and then slashed down at the boss in sequence!
-5.49 million -10.99 million -16.48 million -21.98 million
Four damage numbers floated above Dou Mu Xie's head. Ding Ye had finally shaken off his damage output woes, dealing a massive burst of nearly 55 million with that single strike!
"How about that? I'm awesome, right?"
After unleashing the skill, Ding Ye turned to Jiang Yuan with a "praise me" expression.
"What's the cooldown on that skill?"
Jiang Yuan asked while summoning his two sacred beasts.
"Originally 120 seconds, but with my cooldown reduction stats, it's down to 70 seconds."
Ding Ye replied. After using that skill, his damage output dropped back to the usual 20,000 to 30,000.
"When you get the chance, find some accessories that reduce skill cooldowns. Try to minimize this skill's cooldown as much as possible."
After Ding Ye spoke, Jiang Yuan finished summoning his beasts and offered him some advice.
"Right! Why didn't I think of that? If I could make this skill instant-cast, wouldn't I be invincible?"
Ding Ye's eyes lit up, a dreamy look on his face.
"Getting it down to 30 seconds would be impressive enough. Instant-cast? Dream on."
Jiang Yuan immediately mocked him, dousing Ding Ye's newly kindled hopes.
"Sacred Beast Art: Water Submerges the Eight Wastes!" "Sacred Beast Art: Blazing Blood Feathers!"
Commanding his two sacred beasts, Jiang Yuan unleashed a burst of nearly 20 million damage. But compared to Ding Ye's super mythical skill, it still fell short.
Soon, Dou Mu Xie's HP dropped below half. By Jiang Yuan's estimate, they could kill it in at most another two or three minutes.
But just then, over a dozen teams searching for Dou Mu Xie finally discovered Jiang Yuan and his group sneaking behind the massive rock to take down the boss!
"Nice! So it was pulled here!" "Dammit! You made us search so hard!" "How shameless, secretly pulling the boss!" "Everyone, charge! Take them down!"
These teams had been searching nearby for ages without finding Dou Mu Xie. Seeing that Jiang Yuan's team had pulled it behind the rock, they all shouted and rushed toward them.
"You guys keep fighting the boss. Leave them to me!"
Seeing the others coming to steal the boss, Jiang Yuan shouted to Wen Ding Cang Sheng and the others. He then activated "Team Kill Mode," instantly turning the names of Hamster Pudding, Wen Ding Cang Sheng, Ding Ye, and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun gray, just like his own.
"Summon Sand River Turtle!"
Switching to kill mode, Jiang Yuan summoned ten thousand Sand River Turtles, which surged in a tidal wave toward the surrounding teams, blocking their approach to the boss.
The dense swarm of Sand River Turtles taunted all the players from the dozen or so teams, preventing them from getting near Wen Ding Cang Sheng and the others as they fought the boss.
"Attack!"
Seeing that his team had already reduced Dou Mu Xie to a sliver of HP, Jiang Yuan's eyes sharpened. Without hesitation, he ordered the Sacred Beast Vermilion Bird above to strike.
"Caw!"
The Sacred Beast Vermilion Bird let out a long, clear cry, opened its beak, and spewed streams of flames at the crowd below.
[Ding! Kill value increased by 1!] ...
Dozens of notification sounds rang out in Jiang Yuan's ears one after another. In just one minute, his kill value had increased by over 50. The name above his head turned blood-red, and the other four team members also became red-named.
Having taken out dozens of players in one go, Jiang Yuan wasn't flustered at all. He had anticipated player clashes before coming, so he had bought a full stack of avatars—99 of them. He wasn't afraid of dying. After the event, he could just buy some red-name cleansing items to clear his name.
[Ding! Congratulations! Your team has defeated the boss Dou Mu Xie and obtained the item "Dou Mu Xie's Waist Token!"]
Since it was an event boss, no equipment dropped. Each team member received only one Dou Mu Xie's Waist Token to turn in for the quest.
"Done. Let's go find the next boss!"
After finishing the first boss, Dou Mu Xie, team leader Jiang Yuan waved his hand and led his red-named teammates to search for the second boss of the Black Tortoise Seven Mansions: Niu Jin Niu.