The wind rises

“Quick, Hunter, use Misdirection to pull another monster over! This one is almost dead! We need to be efficient!”

As the team's healer, the Shaman had always been the squad leader and commander, overseeing the entire situation.

The Hunter readily complied, casting Misdirection directly on the Paladin, then shot an arrow at a level 13 male lion wandering in the distance.

The male lion roared as it approached, its roar attracting three surrounding lionesses… “Are you an idiot? You can’t even pull a monster properly?”

The Shaman cursed under his breath, but deep down, he wasn't too worried.

Their team members were mostly just over level 11.

The five of them had come all the way from Newbie Village to now, so they were considered a powerful group!

They had no worries about not being able to defeat them; it was just a little strenuous.

Especially for the tank and healer… Just then, the monster the Paladin was tanking was killed!

“Pull the next one, pull the next one!”

The Hunter marked the leading male lion with one hand, and the damage dealers tacitly focused their attacks on it.

The leveling teams now were also divided into different tiers.

First-tier teams fought humanoid monsters. Sub-intelligent races were indeed difficult to fight due to linked aggro.

But the rewards were also high; not only did they drop money, but various usable materials also dropped frequently!

Murloc cloth and pearls.

Kobold gold dust and ore.

Gnoll weapons and herbs.

More importantly, they almost all dropped money, with richer ones dropping silver coins and poorer ones dropping copper coins… Second-tier teams would fight beasts above their level.

They were a bit poor, but the advantage was that they were simple-minded and easier to kill!

Safety was the priority!

The lowest-tier teams could only struggle with monsters of the same level.

Some of them hadn't even reached level 10 yet.

Even those who had reached level 10 were barely surviving at the city gates!

Yang Jian couldn't even be bothered with such East Asia teams… The squad began fighting the lion pride.

The tank's health was constantly being depleted, and the healer's mana was also running low… “Everyone, pay attention to your surroundings. I saw in the group chat that several teams have been attacked by unknown forces. Hunter, fire a flare to check the area…”

It would have been better if he hadn't shouted, but with his shout… “Look out!”

The Shaman was immediately stunned in place, unable to move.

Before he could react to what was happening, several damage numbers floated above his head.

“It’s Rogues! Quick, Frost Trap!”

Why not use Freezing Trap? The answer was simple: he hadn't learned it yet… The Mage was even more miserable, with three Rogues ganging up on him!

With everyone here in a panic, no one was looking after the Paladin!

Unfortunately, he was being besieged by three lionesses and couldn't fend for himself.

This team didn't even manage to put up a proper effective resistance before they reunited at the graveyard!

The game started at 8 AM, and such attacks were spread throughout the entire Zhenhai City area.

All non-Xia Kingdom player teams were attacked at the same time… Zuo Zhi Yue was stunned!

“Holy crap, things are about to change…”

When they reached the graveyard, they found that a large crowd of people was already there… “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! Who did this?”

The people here belonged to various countries in East Asia, and many small teams usually had some grudges.

For a time, the entire graveyard was filled with noisy souls arguing.

Soon after, they scattered to retrieve their corpses!

Half an hour later, most of these souls gathered here again!

“Damn it, I died twice and lost 20% of my experience!”

“My only purple leg guards dropped! I %￥&*”

“What exactly is going on? Who is targeting us?”

…At the same time, a wave of accusations quickly swept through the foreign internet.

As many people lost experience and even levels, the clamor grew louder and louder.

“No need to think, it must be Star Palace. They treat Zhenhai City as their own…”

“Fighting so many of us at once? Impossible, right?”

“Xia Kingdom people… What outrageous things can they not do? I think we should unite, and we will be the new anti-Xia heroes!”

If it were in reality, these people might not dare to even utter a word, fearing that Great Xia would find out and settle accounts with them.

But online… everyone was an anti-Xia hero!

As time moved into the latter half of the night, the usually quiet foreign internet was even livelier than during the day!

Everyone was complaining about their experiences, resentful of Star Palace's tyranny and dominance.

To monopolize Zhenhai City, they carried out inhuman encirclement and suppression of vulnerable East Asia players, and even camped their corpses!

This was a completely inhumane playstyle!

The online shouting was lively, but in the game, most players cowered in the city and didn't come out.

The rest went offline directly and cursed freely online… Bai Youyou: Have you been following the foreign internet? The whole internet is condemning us!

Yang Jian: Ignore them. Can their cursing take a piece of flesh from me?

Bai Youyou: The public opinion is so serious, aren't you going to do anything about it?

Yang Jian: Hmph, a bunch of people who can only rant online. We just need to push them to the brink. If they dare to cause trouble, we'll immediately launch the second phase!

Bai Youyou: So domineering, awesome! We'll make sure players from other countries don't dare to come to Zhenhai City again… Yang Jian: If there's nothing else, I'm going to level up!

As Yang Jian’s level increased, he could now only gain 6% experience from clearing a wave of monsters here.

On one hand, the experience bonus for killing monsters above his level had decreased.

On the other hand, the experience required to level up had also greatly decreased!

Bai Youyou: There is something… My new battle robe arrived, and coincidentally, the mirror in my room broke. Do you want to help me take a look?

Yang Jian: …We’ve been good friends for so many years. This small favor is my bounden duty! I’ll wait seven minutes; I’ll log off after my cooldowns are ready!

Bai Youyou: I also have some work to report, and I need to show you the morning battle report!

The two understood each other tacitly… After logging off, the transition from the afternoon's clamor at 3 PM to the dead silence of the late night was abrupt… No normal person would be accustomed to it!

Unfortunately, those who played “salvation” were no longer considered normal people!

“Your report is so bright, so dazzling! No, I’m dizzy, I need to go to the room to rest for a while!”

“Dizzy? I’ll help you there…”

A long while later, Bai Youyou emerged from Yang Jian’s bedroom, her complexion rosy.

“Quickly change the sheets… Did you buy three identical sets of sheets back then, already planning for today?”

Yang Jian's limbs felt a bit sore, and he didn't really want to talk!

Seeing his state, Bai Youyou simply took it upon herself to change the sheets.

Hearing Bai Youyou close the door, Yang Jian forced himself to get up.

No, I need to quickly defeat the Abyssal Monster. I need to bring out Tianmu Zhenjun's intelligence… At least, I need to bring out his strength and stamina!

After resting for over three minutes, Yang Jian got up and re-entered the game to wait for his cooldowns.

Leveling up couldn't stop.

His original plan was to go to the Green Dragon Tomb after reaching level 20!

Yang Jian had originally thought of leveling up two more times and then officially confronting the Abyssal Monster in the Green Dragon Tomb to see what was going on!

After all, Abyssal Monsters had only been heard of in legends before.

Old Ma had hyped them up as peerless powerhouses, and Yang Jian felt a little intimidated.

Moreover, he didn't know if there were monsters above level 30 in the Dragon Tomb!

After all, Abyssal creatures might not necessarily abide by the rules of your “salvation” world… So, Yang Jian decided to scout the Dragon Tomb at 12 AM game time tonight… If there were any unexpected situations, he would retreat and plan for the long term!

If their strength was all laid out in the open, then it would be his time to shine… Yang Jian naturally had confidence.

His confidence lay in the now blue druid king ring… [malorne's oath of loyalty (Blue)]

[Finger: Ring]

[All Attributes +30]

[Skill: Travel Form (Land, Water, Movement Speed increased by 80%)]

[Skill: Melee Specialization, Cat Form (Skill: Stealth)]

[Note: A demigod artifact made from the shed antler of the Wild God Malorne, once gifted to his second son, damaged after being lost.]

[Repair Requirements]

[Condition One: Collect Souls (987 / 10000), required soul level no lower than host's level.]

[Condition Two: Dragon Blood (Purple) 0 / 30, Troll Jade (Purple) 0 / 30, Silver Spirit Crystal Water (Purple) 0 / 30, Heart of Silver (Orange) 1 / 1]

[Condition Three: Golden BOSS Soul 0 / 1]

[Bound, cannot be dropped, cannot be traded]

Originally, Yang Jian thought this upgrade would give him a Flying Form.

Unexpectedly, it gave him a Melee Specialization Cat Form transformation, with an added Stealth skill!

There were pros and cons!

For Yang Jian, the Stealth skill allowed him to access various places he couldn't go before, which were now unsealed for him!

For example, he was more confident about his upcoming trip to the Dragon Tomb!

But he couldn't fly over mountains and seas.

It was a regret after all!

Seeing that it was still early, Yang Jian cleared two waves of monsters!

As the game world's sky gradually darkened, Yang Jian also logged off.

After all, he planned to explore the Dragon Tomb tonight, so he had to rest well!

At least, he had to let ‘Tian Mu Zhenjun’ rest well!

Sharpening the axe doesn't delay chopping wood, right!

As the day-night cycle arrived, the entire Qianlong City fell into a brief, eerie calm.

By the time Blue Star's daytime arrived.

Last night, the actions in Zhenhai City sparked an even greater public opinion storm!

“What? Yesterday, Star Palace attacked East Asia players outside Zhenhai City? They were the first to make a move?”

“I am the diplomatic spokesperson for Star Palace, and we in Star Palace didn't do it! Did you hear that? He's slandering me! He's slandering me!”

“Exactly, did Star Palace admit it? Maybe those players are just dog-eat-dog!”

“What? Star Palace actually dared to do such a thing? Then I have to go help out…”

“Star Palace is really going too far! How can they treat foreign friends like this? Not to mention opening the door for them to farm guild dungeons, they should at least treat them with courtesy, right? We strongly condemn Star Palace's behavior of destroying diplomatic friendship!”

“Yes, we call on the officials to intervene and ban Star Palace!”

Short video platforms, Weibo, WeChat Moments, and other social platforms were all stunned by the changes in Zhenhai City last night!

Yang Jian lay in his office chair, scrolling through various trending posts!

“Shocking! Starting at 8 PM last night, over a thousand East Asia players outside Zhenhai City were ambushed, with an average of three deaths or more!”

“Shocking! The ‘salvation’ game's first main city brawl may already be brewing!”

…“Pure nonsense. I've seen the reports; we only ambushed over six hundred people in total…”

Of course, these six hundred-plus people arranged by Mo Suqing were all players above level 11 with established leveling teams.

Players who already dared to venture far from Zhenhai City to level up!

Yang Jian currently didn't care for those players who only dared to mess around at the city gates!

He had Mo Suqing arrange them for the next batch.

When the guild mobilizes, they'll kill two birds with one stone!

Swat both flies and tigers; none will escape!

Both the Xia Kingdom internet and the foreign internet were incredibly lively.

Star Palace's various group chats were even more bustling.

“When did our guild take action? I didn’t even know…”

“Do the big shots need to report their decisions to you?”

“Well said, I want to do PVP too!”

“Brother, you’re only level nine… If you were notified, could you even come fight?”

“I just arrived late, wait and see, I must reach level ten tonight and fight foreigners in the main city…”

“By the way, will we go to all-out war later? I’m not very good at fighting!”

“If you're not good at fighting, how did you get into the guild? And you’re still level nine? Are you a connections guy?”

“No, I have a purple tailoring talent…”

“Boss, I’ll kowtow to you now, can you not hold it against me?”

“Ah…?”

In the small group chat for guild management.

Yang Jian: Have the tech team monitor the activity in all guild groups and track the WeChat accounts of suspicious players!

Bai Youyou: Understood! This is also a good opportunity to screen the guild members!

Yang Jian: It’s the Blood Moon… They’re probably even more eager to level up! Tonight, we’ll increase the intensity and eliminate everyone who dares to level up during the Blood Moon!

Mo Suqing: Boss is mighty, boss is so handsome!

Zhou Yue: /[Angry]