53: Chapter 53 Shadow Clan

"Jiang Yao."

With enough slaughter points saved up, Lin Xiao did not delay and immediately woke Jiang Yao, who was immersed in Cultivate.

"My Lord."

A heroic figure sped over, and upon reaching Lin Xiao, Jiang Yao immediately bowed respectfully.

"Prepare yourself for a quality upgrade," Lin Xiao said calmly.

Hearing this, Jiang Yao's body trembled, and her eyes revealed intense anticipation.

"Is it finally time?"

Lin Xiao opened the attribute panel, his mind stirring slightly.

[Target detected as Rare-grade hero. Do you wish to spend 200,000 slaughter points to upgrade their quality?]

"Confirm."

As Lin Xiao made his decision, 200,000 slaughter points instantly vanished from the attribute panel, and immediately after, streams of rich, blood-colored radiance merged into Jiang Yao's body, forming a massive blood-colored cocoon that enveloped her.

Inside the blood-colored cocoon, Jiang Yao began her fundamental transformation.

This process did not last long.

After just ten minutes, the blood-colored cocoon shattered with a roar, and Jiang Yao reappeared before Lin Xiao.

An aura far more powerful than before slowly emanated from her body.

At this moment, she looked no different from before her transformation, yet the heroic sharpness she exuded seemed to have returned to the moment she was first summoned.

"I will never forget the grace of your re-creation, My Lord. I am willing to die for you, with no regrets even unto death."

Jiang Yao knelt on the ground with a thud, her expression filled with emotion.

It was no exaggeration to say that Lin Xiao had changed her fate.

As a Rare-grade, her future would have either been dying on the battlefield, becoming gradually marginalized, or even being dismissed. However, Lin Xiao's special authority had allowed her to be reborn, giving her the hope of climbing even higher peaks.

"Rise."

Lin Xiao encouraged her with a few words and opened Jiang Yao's attribute panel.

[Jiang Yao]

[Quality: Perfect-grade]

[Rank: Tier 3]

[Physique: 13,000]

[Spirit: 11,000]

[Cultivation Technique: Azure Sky Origin Technique (A-grade)]

[Skills: Exceptional Talent (A-grade), Dual Mastery of Spear and Arrow (A-grade), Prairie Fire Spear Technique (A-grade), Exploding Flame Arrow (A-grade)]

Jiang Yao's transformation was truly astonishing.

Her quality had changed from Rare-grade to Perfect-grade, and her Cultivation Technique had changed from the B-grade Azure Sky Formula to the A-grade Azure Sky Origin Technique.

The three original B-grade skills had all been upgraded to A-grade, and she had gained an additional A-grade skill.

Compared to before, her attributes hadn't changed, and her rank hadn't changed, but her strength had suddenly increased many times over.

It wasn't just her strength; after upgrading to Perfect-grade, Jiang Yao's current Cultivate Aptitude was now on the same level as Tu Lie and the others. She would no longer be the one dragging the heroes down, and the only difference between her and Tu Lie or Zhong Yue would be their attributes.

The news of Jiang Yao's successful quality upgrade spread throughout the territory at lightning speed.

Everyone's morale soared.

Where there is one, there will be two; it was Jiang Yao now, but it could be them next.

More importantly, they saw hope. Their Lord's talk of upgrading quality wasn't empty words, but a concrete reality.

If loyalty values didn't have a cap, there's no telling how high their loyalty would have soared at this moment.

The ninth day.

[Your territory is under invasion.]

With one day left until Lin Xiao made his move, the territory was invaded once again.

The Burning Sky Flame Dragon patrolling the edge of the territory immediately transmitted the situation of the invaders.

Although Lin Xiao had instructed them to focus entirely on increasing their strength over these two days, unit types like the Burning Sky Flame Dragon and the Frost Giant had different growth methods compared to Human Race units. Digesting items like Dragon Blood Grass and Fusion Core Crystals didn't require their full, undivided attention, so they still had the spare capacity to take turns patrolling the edges of the territory.

However, they wouldn't need to take action.

"Shadow Race?"

Seeing the images transmitted by the Burning Sky Flame Dragon, Lin Xiao couldn't help but frown.

The Shadow Race, another vassal race of the Purgatory Race.

The strength of this race was no greater than that of the Bull Demon Race, yet they were the ones Lin Xiao feared the most.

If the Bull Demon Race were warriors on the front lines of the battlefield, then the Shadow Race were undoubtedly assassins walking in the shadows.

What Lin Xiao cared about was not their assassination ability, but their stealth ability.

Invisible units were a headache for all major Lords; after all, as long as they were allowed to drag things out until the tenth day within the territory, they could obtain information about him and the coordinates of the territory.

Lin Xiao naturally could not accept such a consequence.

Therefore, he was most guarded against invisible units, and the Shadow Race, which abounded in invisible units, posed a greater threat to Lin Xiao than the Sin Race.

The tower of true sight was exchanged for this very reason.

However, one tower of true sight was far from enough.

Although it was Perfect-grade, in the First Source Sea, it was only equivalent to Rare-grade; when encountering Perfect-grade or Epic-grade heroes and units, its effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Moreover, its coverage area was limited to only one square kilometer.

There were still 99 square kilometers not covered by the tower of true sight.

"Fortunately, the Shadow Race Lord appeared quite late."

In his transaction with Fang Yizhou, besides bringing back growth resources for the Burning Sky Flame Dragon, Lin Xiao had also brought back a batch of revealing equipment and items.

Through the images transmitted back by the Burning Sky Flame Dragon, Lin Xiao saw that one-third of the hundreds of invading Shadow Race members had disappeared from their spots, entering a stealth state.

The location where the Shadow Race appeared was the east side of the territory.

Guarding this area was Tu Lie, and upon receiving news of the invaders' appearance, he immediately led his troops to face the enemy.

The battle erupted instantly.

Tu Lie took the lead; with a savage grin on his face, he was the first to charge into the Shadow Race army. As he swung the mountain-splitting axe, streaks of terrifying, ribbon-like blood light crisscrossed the battlefield, slaughtering all the Shadow Race within a hundred-meter radius as if harvesting weeds.

He alone was capable of cutting through this Shadow Race army.

Those invisible Shadow Race members still wanted to launch a sneak attack, but before they could even get close, they were crushed by the aftermath of the Blood Shadow Slash.

There was no suspense; the invading Shadow Race were soundly defeated, and hundreds of them were wiped out in the blink of an eye.

The Dragon Cavalry did not participate; they were dispersed around the battlefield.

An item was used by them.

[Revealing Powder], Rare-grade.

In an instant, an incredibly blinding light flashed across the entire battlefield.

Under the illumination of the strong light, some figures were revealed—these were the Shadow Race members who had entered the stealth state.

This was also a common trick of the Shadow Race.

If they couldn't win on the front lines, they would hide and drag things out until the tenth day.

This Shadow Race army was the same; those invisible Shadow Race members, upon discovering that Tu Lie was too powerful, stopped throwing their lives away in vain.

The Shadow Race members revealed by the Revealing Powder, except for a few who were captured, were quickly killed.

"There are still fish that slipped through the net."

Lin Xiao shook his head.

The Burning Sky Flame Dragon patrolling the skies above the east side of the territory had marked their numbers the moment the Shadow Race army appeared. It had not participated in the battle, but it had observed the entire process.

The total number of Shadow Race members killed and revealed by the Revealing Powder, when added up, was short by two.