84: The Thirteen Bandits of Qingzhou

【Disciple Shop】

Blazing Intercept (Gold): Price 10 Gold Disciple Points, remaining quantity 1.

Blazing Intercept is a single-target skill for the Mage class, with an additional terrain modification ability that can condense black flames to block targets. It has a wide range of uses, including survival, pursuit, and damage.

However, it’s not suitable for Li Si, and he can’t learn it anyway.

Let’s just forget about this Gold skill.

In fact, ever since Flash upgraded to Legendary tier, Li Si no longer had a strong desire for Gold skills. The gap was too large; there was a world of difference between Gold and Legendary.

However, he still needed to learn Seven-Shot Barrage, which he had acquired, as it could be combined with Skill - Life Scourge.

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! You have learned a new skill—Seven-Shot Barrage (Gold).】

【A Flash of insight, a burst of comprehension, upon first learning—Seven-Shot Barrage, it has been raised to max level.】

【Current Skill Slot Status: 8 / 8】

Without a doubt, learning meant max level.

Compared to before, Li Si’s hidden attributes were higher: 30 Luck, 40 Comprehension, and 30 Charm.

【Seven-Shot Barrage Max】

Quality: Gold

Active: Seven arrows in an instant, each arrow dealing 370% physical damage to a single target.

Requirements: 50 Mana consumption, 10-second cooldown.

If it were before, Li Si would have said that Seven-Shot Barrage’s percentage was good, but after knowing about the BOSS’s King’s Power, he could only say it was just okay.

Against high-tier BOSSes, low percentages were useless because BOSSes could reduce a fixed amount of damage.

For example, with Seven-Shot Barrage’s 370% percentage, if each arrow dealt 3000 physical damage, seven arrows would accumulate to 21000 physical damage. It didn’t seem low, but when attacking a Level 30 Gold BOSS, the final damage result would be 0. It was not as good as a single-segment 400% damage, or even a single-segment 380% damage.

“It’s barely passable.”

Li Si learned Seven-Shot Barrage as a utility skill to trigger Skill - Life Scourge.

“Swish!”

His figure appeared at the entrance of the Wind-Sand Stone Forest.

“I hope this last area can help me complete Zhou Guang’s quest.”

Zhou Guang’s quest had dragged on long enough. Li Si wanted to finish it quickly, then deal with the guild token in his hand. Whether he used it himself or auctioned it off, both would require a lot of preparation time.

“Oh oh oh—”

Shadows emerged from the surrounding wind and sand, closing in.

Li Si directly drew his sword through the air, and in an instant, a ferocious sword qi swept through, instantly killing all the shadows.

Shaking the Great Wilderness Bow in his hand, he couldn't help but sigh, it still had to be the Great Wilderness Bow, with its 100% damage bonus. Although it couldn’t enhance the true damage of Skill - Life Scourge, it could still enhance the abnormal damage of Calamity Arrival.

It was just a pity that the cooldown of his sword drawing skill was a bit long, a full 60 seconds.

If it could be reduced to within 10 seconds, that would be great.

This was a small, beautiful wish in Li Si’s heart.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh….”

Arrows whistled, slaying everything.

Experience points soared.

This time, he didn’t just sweep through; he cleared everything to accumulate experience points for upgrading Flash.

Time passed, and five hours later.

As yellow sand rolled, Li Si finally noticed something unusual. Within the rarely visited Wind-Sand Stone Forest, a camp had appeared.

【Temporary Camp of the Qingzhou Thirteen Bandits】: The Thirteen Bandits, originally located in the unowned lands of Qingzhou, have suddenly established a temporary camp here for unknown reasons.

What kind of NPCs were the Qingzhou Thirteen Bandits?

And why did they come to Luanxing City?

“This….”

Li Si’s heart pounded.

Although he hadn’t seen the attribute panels of the Thirteen Bandits, Li Si could foresee that the Thirteen Bandits were definitely ruthless characters. To become great bandits in the unowned territories of Qingzhou, these thirteen NPCs were at least Epic-tier Kings.

Perhaps among them… there might even be a Legendary Monarch.

“Is the quest about to be completed?”

Li Si activated the divine smith token and returned to the Divine Smith Valley. Five hours of accumulation meant he had enough experience to upgrade Flash.

He picked up two Legendary upgrade stones—

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! Your skill—Flash has been upgraded to Lv3.】

“Buzz!”

Brilliant red light flashed.

Flash’s stats received a significant boost.

【Flash Lv3】

Quality: Legendary

Active: Breaks through the surrounding space, instantly teleporting once within a range of 【300 + Player Movement Speed x 200%】 → 【300 + Player Movement Speed x 300%】 meters. Can control teleportation distance, not exceeding maximum distance.

Release Requirements: 1000 Mana consumption → 950 Mana consumption, 5-second cooldown.

Upgrade Requirement ①: 300 million experience points.

Upgrade Requirement ②: 3 Skill Upgrade Stones (Legendary).

“Not bad.”

Flash’s maximum teleportation distance increased significantly.

Then the surrounding scenery shifted, and Li Si arrived at the back street of Luanxing City, at the entrance of Baiyun Abode.

“Bang bang bang!” He knocked hard on the door.

Soon after, Zhou Guang slowly walked out, holding a rice bowl and wolfing down a mouthful, saying, “Kid, what damn business do you have with me again this time?”

“The Qingzhou Thirteen Bandits have appeared in the Wind-Sand Stone Forest, which might be related to the signs of the Fallen God Disturbance.” Li Si’s speaking speed was more than twice as fast as usual.

“You’ll know if it’s related if you go and check,” Zhou Guang mumbled, taking another large mouthful of rice.

His ravenous eating style was a shame not to be a mukbang streamer. He didn't look like a reclusive master at all, but rather a crude old man.

“Tsk tsk….”

Li Si swallowed, feeling hungry. Seeing Zhou Guang eating meat heartily, he also wanted to eat something. But the quest was more important, and this wasn't physical hunger, but spiritual greed.

“Lord Zhou, it’s not that I don’t want to investigate, it’s that I don’t dare to. The Qingzhou Thirteen Bandits… I can’t afford to provoke them.”

“If you can’t afford to provoke them, can I? Goodbye then.” Zhou Guang turned and walked back into Baiyun Abode with his bowl, and then with a “boom,” the vermilion door closed tightly.

“….Damn it!”

Li Si was taken aback, this son of a bitch Zhou Guang, he really changed his attitude quickly.

After pondering for a moment, he got a useful piece of information from Zhou Guang’s reaction: at least one of the Qingzhou Thirteen Bandits was a Level 99 Legendary Monarch. Otherwise, Zhou Guang wouldn’t have said he couldn’t afford to provoke the Thirteen Bandits.

“What do I do now?”

Should he abandon the quest? Li Si was unwilling, because Zhou Guang had said that after the quest was completed, he would give him an irresistible reward. He was very much looking forward to it.

After all, helping Zhou Guang find his younger brother Zhou An had already rewarded him with a Skill Slot Expansion Crystal. What’s more, Zhou Guang’s original quest should at least be on par with the Skill Slot Crystal as a reward.

“Should I ask Beatrice?”

Li Si began to hesitate, feeling that asking Beatrice wasn’t ideal. When you use someone, you’re beholden to them; if you can solve it yourself, it’s better to solve it yourself.

【Ding!】

【Your friend—Qian Duoduo has sent you a private message.】

Qian Duoduo: “Boss, two Gold BOSSes have appeared in the Tiger-Leopard Forest north of Luanxing Plain. Do you want to come?”

Two Gold BOSSes?

Perhaps they might even drop a guild token! If a guild token really dropped, he could use one himself and save the other to sell to other players.

“Heh heh—”

Thinking this, Li Si chuckled aloud.

“I’ll be right there!”

He quickly replied with a message, then opened the Disciple interface and clicked on Unbearable Past’s avatar.

“Disciple, what’s the cooldown of your time reversal skill?”

“24 seconds.” Unbearable Past replied almost instantly.

“It’s still 24 seconds until it’s ready?”

“No, this talent of mine has a total cooldown of 24 seconds.”

“……”

24 seconds?

Li Si was stunned on the spot. Was it really 24 seconds, not 24 minutes, or 24 hours? Wasn’t that too overpowered?

“Come to Tiger-Leopard Forest quickly, your master will take you to do something big!”

“On my way!!!”

……

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! You have arrived at a new area—Tiger-Leopard Forest (Level 30 - Level 33).】

Towering green mountains reached into the clouds, bordering a river.

“Roar—”

Long tiger roars continuously echoed through the forest.

“Brothers, let’s kill the Gold BOSSes together!” Players rushed from all directions, their numbers terrifying, like a plague of locusts during harvest season.

Xia Country had a total population of 1.5 billion people, and after excluding those under sixteen, there were at least a billion. The Xia Country War Zone only had 27 main cities, with an average of 37 million people per main city. Even if it was only one percent, that was a terrifying number of 370,000 people.

“It’s going to be heaven-defying.”

Looking at the sea of people, Li Si couldn’t help but sigh.

Unlike the Black Wind Mountain Range, the Tiger-Leopard Forest was not large, with only two mountain peaks. The two Gold BOSSes were located at the summits of the two peaks, one a fierce tiger and the other a swift leopard.

Soon after, Li Si ascended the Tiger Mountain peak like lightning.

“Holy crap! So fast!”

“So awesome!”

“Who is this big shot?”

Many players stared at Li Si’s retreating figure in shock.

“Damn, although I can’t see his face, based on his physique and posture, I guess it’s Crazy God,” a warrior player’s voice rang out.

“You’ve seen Crazy God before?”

“I was fortunate enough to see him in the Black Wind Mountain Range, wearing the black fashion from Novice Village. He was incredibly fast, coming and going like the wind!”

“Holy crap, this might really be Crazy God!”

“Uh… never mind, I’m leaving.”

“Heh heh—I’m leaving too. Crazy God is here, so I won’t join the commotion, it’s a waste of time.”

“I’m hungry, going offline to eat, then back online to see the results.”

“……”

Many players, knowing Li Si had arrived, directly returned to their leveling areas. But there are all kinds of birds in a big forest, and many players held onto a slim hope. Although they knew their chances were small, what if they could snatch the BOSS?