"Boss, if we go out now, we'll die. What do we do?"
Inside Peace City, members of the Arrogant World guild, who had been killed several times by Jiang Yuan, gathered around their guild leader, Arrogant Dragon Emperor, asking anxiously.
Most of them had already lost between 18% and 30% of their experience points, and some were even worse off, having had several pieces of their equipment stripped by Jiang Yuan.
"Let's just stay here and not go out. I refuse to believe that a red-named player like him can charge in and kill us!"
The vice guild leader of Arrogant World, Arrogant Little Rage, said the most cowardly words in the strongest tone.
"Huh? Where'd they go? Hiding in the city and not coming out?"
Outside Peace City, Jiang Yuan, whose name had turned blood-red, waited for a while but didn't see a single Arrogant World member charge out again. He couldn't help but mutter in confusion.
After waiting a bit longer, Jiang Yuan confirmed that the Arrogant World guild members were probably hiding in the city, too scared to come out.
"Tch, you think hiding in the city means I can't do anything to you?"
Every main city's entrance was guarded by sentinels. If a red-named player tried to enter, the guards would kill them without mercy.
But even though Jiang Yuan's name was blood-red, preventing him from entering the city, his summons didn't have red names!
"Go! Little bears!"
With a wave of Jiang Yuan's hand, ten thousand Mang Mountain bears appeared in a dark mass outside Peace City, roaring angrily as they rushed into the city.
"Monsters are attacking the city! Kill them!"
The guards at the entrance saw the massive horde of Mang Mountain bears charging toward the city gates and shouted in alarm, raising their long blades to strike at the bears Jiang Yuan had summoned.
"Pfft!"
Two guards each took down one bear, and the two leading Mang Mountain bears fell to the ground. But with tens of thousands of bears charging into Peace City, the guards at the entrance couldn't stop them!
"Look! What's that?!"
At the Peace City respawn point, a sharp-eyed member of Arrogant World spotted hundreds of blurry figures rushing toward them and pointed at the city gate, screaming.
"Summons! They're Jiang Yuan's summons!"
When Arrogant Little Rage, the vice guild leader of Arrogant World, saw the figures charging at them, a deep-seated fear rose in his soul, and he trembled in terror!
A series of screams rang out as the Arrogant World players died once again under the paws of Jiang Yuan's summoned beast tide.
"Ding! You have killed player Arrogant Little Rage. Kill value increased by 1!"
"Ding! You have killed player Arrogant Brother Ji. Kill value increased by 1!"
"Ding! You have killed player Arrogant Yang Yang. Kill value increased by 1!"
"Ding! You have killed player Arrogant Hot Girl. Kill value increased by 1!"
"Ding! You have killed player Arrogant Dragon Emperor. Kill value increased by 1!"
"Ding! You have killed player One Blade Breaks All Laws. Kill value increased by 1!"
Standing outside Peace City, Jiang Yuan listened to the constant prompts in his ear and felt an immense sense of satisfaction!
Ever since the first guild token, Jiang Yuan had forged an irreconcilable blood feud with Arrogant World. There was no room for a peaceful resolution between them, so Jiang Yuan used this conflict with One Blade Breaks All Laws to thoroughly teach Arrogant World a lesson from top to bottom!
Estimating that the cooldown for the Mang Mountain bears was about to expire, Jiang Yuan raised his hand again, and another ten thousand Mang Mountain bears charged toward the Arrogant World members in Peace City.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
At the respawn point in Peace City, the Arrogant World players kept screaming, respawning, falling, respawning again, and falling again!
For a time, colorful light pillars appeared at the respawn point. Many independent players passing by saw this and eagerly grabbed the equipment that Jiang Yuan had stripped from the Arrogant World players, shouting in excitement!
After about half an hour, except for the guild leader Arrogant Dragon Emperor and One Blade Breaks All Laws, almost all Arrogant World players had dropped below level 60, triggering Peace City's level restriction and being forcibly teleported back to Jinyang City.
Using others as shields in front, Arrogant Dragon Emperor and One Blade Breaks All Laws found an opportunity to use random teleport scrolls, escaping the attacks of Jiang Yuan's tens of thousands of Mang Mountain bears. The two now appeared in an unknown valley outside Peace City.
Arrogant Dragon Emperor had died ten times, losing 60% of his experience points, dropping to level 60 and falling off the top ten of the level leaderboard. One Blade Breaks All Laws, relying on the strong defense of his hidden class Overlord Blade, had only died five times, losing 30% of his experience, barely clinging to the tenth spot on the leaderboard, teetering on the edge.
"Dammit! This loss is huge!"
Looking at himself, now out of the top ten on the level leaderboard, Arrogant Dragon Emperor felt like crying. Tomorrow was the day for the level leaderboard reward settlement, and with Jiang Yuan messing things up, Arrogant Dragon Emperor would lose a massive amount of generous rewards!
"If we don't get rid of Jiang Yuan, he'll be a huge headache for our guild!"
One Blade Breaks All Laws rubbed his forehead, also finding Jiang Yuan's habit of summoning tens of thousands of beasts extremely troublesome.
"Let's not worry about Jiang Yuan for now. Find a place to level up quickly, or we'll miss the level leaderboard reward settlement deadline!"
Arrogant Dragon Emperor said weakly, then immediately started looking for a spot to grind monsters.
Outside Peace City, Jiang Yuan watched Arrogant Dragon Emperor fall off the level leaderboard and One Blade Breaks All Laws dangling at the bottom, finally releasing all the pent-up frustration in his heart!
Currently, the top spot on the level leaderboard was held by the guild leader of Dominator Guild, Dominator of All Creation, at level 69, just one step away from the level 70 milestone. The second to eighth spots were occupied by Dominator Guild's Dominator Ruthless and Dominator Proud, Creation Guild's Hamster Pudding and Jiang Yuan, plus two others from other guilds, one named "I Poke Your Gallbladder" and the other "Writing to Tell of Sorrow."
"Tomorrow is the level leaderboard reward settlement day. I need to find a way to get into the top three to get more rewards."
Jiang Yuan checked the gap between himself and the third-place Hamster Pudding—less than three levels. A few kills of demonic monsters should close it.
Opening his character panel, he looked at his current kill value: over 560 points, far beyond what the "Pardon Notice" item could clear.
"Looks like I'll have to use the Iron Pardon!"
Jiang Yuan opened the shop and checked the price of the "Iron Pardon" item—it cost a whopping 1,200 Longguo dollars!
"It seems killing people in the *Myriad Realms* game comes with a pretty high price!"
Luckily, Jiang Yuan wasn't too poor now. By selling two guild tokens, he had earned 30 million. He found the recharge page, topped up 2,000 Longguo dollars, and bought an "Iron Pardon."
[Item: Iron Pardon] Description: A pardon decree bestowed by the Immortal Emperor of the Celestial Realm, capable of absolving all crimes.
Using the "Iron Pardon" item, Jiang Yuan's 500-plus kill value was cleared instantly, and the ID above his head turned white again.
After clearing his red name, Jiang Yuan started searching for demonic monsters outside Peace City. He got lucky this time—just a short walk away, he encountered a demonic Cruel Serpent.
"Ding! Congratulations on defeating the elite monster Demonic Cruel Serpent. Gained 20 million experience points!"
Summoning ten thousand Mang Mountain bears, he took down the demonic monster in no time, and his experience bar jumped by 50%, leveling him up to 65.
"Wait!"
Jiang Yuan looked at his level and suddenly thought of something, quickly opening his skill menu.
"I've been so focused on killing people, I almost forgot I can learn new skills again, haha!"
Seeing the level 60 "Sand River Turtle" skill icon in his skill menu turn from gray to white, Jiang Yuan's mood instantly brightened.
"Let's see what the Nine Spirit Summoner's level 60 summon looks like."
After learning the level 60 Nine Spirit Summoner skill "Sand River Turtle," Jiang Yuan eagerly summoned it and checked its details.
[Jiang Yuan's Summon: Sand River Turtle] Health: 500,000 Defense: 5,000 Attack: 3,000 Duration: 60 seconds Passive Skill: Turtle Spirit Blessing—A natural talent of the Sand River Turtle clan, taunting all nearby enemies and reducing damage taken by 20%.
"This is a natural MT!"
Looking at the Sand River Turtle's description, Jiang Yuan grinned. With a summon that had a taunt skill, he no longer had to worry about the boss's aggro landing on him!
Climbing onto the Sand River Turtle's shell, Jiang Yuan continued searching for demonic monsters scattered in the wilds outside Peace City.
About twenty minutes later, near the edge of the Shadow Forest, he found another demonic Orchid Enchantress.
[Demonic Orchid Enchantress] Level: 70 Health: 900,000 Defense: 2,000 Attack: 5,000
Checking the monster's info, Jiang Yuan saw it only had 900,000 health. He summoned a thousand Sand River Turtles, which swarmed in and took it down.
"Ding! Congratulations on defeating the elite monster Demonic Orchid Enchantress. Gained 15 million experience points!"
Compared to the previous Demonic Cruel Serpent, this Orchid Enchantress gave 5 million less experience, but it still boosted Jiang Yuan's experience by 30%.
Continuing deeper into the Shadow Forest, Jiang Yuan had barely walked 200 meters when he suddenly encountered two demonic Minotaurs.
Defeating the two demonic Minotaurs earned him 50 million experience points, bringing Jiang Yuan to level 66.
"Strange, why are there so many demonic monsters today?"
As Jiang Yuan went deeper, after clearing the sixth demonic monster, his confusion grew. Normally, he could barely find one demonic monster in half a day, so why were they appearing one after another today?
As he pondered, Jiang Yuan suddenly realized he had unknowingly reached the deepest part of the Shadow Forest—a cliff edge. Below was an unfathomable abyss, and a crack spanning several thousand meters appeared before his eyes!
"Why do I feel such an evil presence coming from here?"
Looking at the black gas emanating from the crack, Jiang Yuan's heart felt a sense of dread, as if the abyssal rift before him held immense danger!