306: Gold Four Stars

After emerging from the small space, Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli arrived at the backyard of the City Lord’s Mansion.

He placed the ice source stone from the Qiankun Ring into the octagonal pavilion in the middle of the garden, then waved his hand to release the Gold Beetle.

"From now on, you will stay here and guard the ice source stone for me. Aside from me and the three City Lord wives, any creature that dares to approach the ice source stone, eat it for me."

He turned his head and said to Zhang Xiaoli, "Zhang Xiaoli, you are to give orders to designate the backyard as a forbidden area, prohibiting anyone from approaching it."

"Also, remember to arrange for people to deliver some exotic beasts to the front gate of the backyard every day."

The Gold Beetle is an exotic beast at the peak of Gold Realm, possessing intelligence almost equivalent to that of an ordinary human.

Even if Qin Shilei were to leave Hope City in the future, Zhang Xiaoli would still be able to easily command the Gold Beetle, so there was no fear of it causing harm or committing evil within Hope City.

"Okay, is this the ice source stone? It's truly amazing."

Zhang Xiaoli reached out and touched the ice source stone, immediately feeling a surge of mental clarity.

Source stones need to absorb spiritual energy from the outside world, so they are not suitable for placement in a small space and can only be kept here.

"Zhang Xiaoli, I'm going to see how effective this source stone is for cultivation, so I won't be accompanying you."

After Qin Shilei finished speaking, he sat down cross-legged beside the ice source stone.

Zhang Xiaoli saw that her husband was well-protected by the Gold Beetle and was very safe, so she turned to attend to her own matters.

Two days passed by unknowingly.

Qin Shilei opened his eyes once more.

After a single cultivation session, he successfully advanced again, reaching Gold Four Star.

He looked up and found that the ice source stone had shrunk by almost one-third.

He took out another source stone that he kept close to him.

It had been almost three days since this source stone consumed one-third of its spiritual energy last time.

It had only recovered about one-thirtieth of its original state.

A simple calculation showed that it would take almost three months for it to fully recover to its initial state.

This meant that he could advance one level approximately every three months without any damage to the source stone.

The ice source stone, however, had the attribute of 'Whale Swallowing Dragon Absorption', and its recovery speed was three times that of this source stone; it could return to its two-meter height in just one month.

Qin Shilei also tried to refresh this attribute-less source stone, but unfortunately, no good attributes appeared, so he had to put it back close to his body.

After leaving enough food for the Gold Beetle for one day, Qin Shilei left the backyard.

He enjoyed a warm dinner with Zhang Xiaoli.

After dinner, Zhang Xiaoli nestled in Qin Shilei’s arms and said, “Qin Dage, Xu Jun from Xinluo City just sent a message. A group of survivors arrived in their city today.

They escaped from the Indians and hope Xu Jun can send people to rescue their compatriots.

Xu Jun wrote to inquire how to handle this matter.”

Qin Shilei opened his mouth to eat the grape offered to him and asked calmly, “Did he say anything about the strength of the Indians, or if Hope City needs to send people to assist?”

Zhang Xiaoli peeled a grape and replied, “Xu Jun said he can handle it; he only asked us because he was considering the international impact.”

Qin Shilei said casually, “Alright then, let him arrange it himself. We can’t let our compatriots be bullied by the Indians.”

“Hmm,” Zhang Xiaoli agreed, “It’s time to teach these hateful Indians a good lesson.”

After feeding the grape in her hand to Qin Shilei again, she got up and went out to arrange for someone to reply to Xu Jun.

Qin Shilei didn't take this matter to heart, but he didn't expect Xu Jun almost died because of it.

........

After receiving the message brought by Zhang Xiaoli, Xu Jun once again called the escaped survivors in front of him and questioned them carefully.

These survivors had fled from Xiang Township, a small border town.

Xiang Township was half part of Great Xia Country and half part of India.

In the early days of the apocalypse, residents of both countries were relatively harmonious, each striving for survival without interfering with the other.

However, ten days ago, the Indians suddenly launched a sneak attack, killing three top Silver Realm experts from the Great Xia side, and then captured the low-strength family members of the Great Xia people.

With their relatives captured and their own strength inferior to the enemy, the Great Xia people quickly surrendered.

From then on, they fell into a dark, sunless state of enslavement.

Women with any beauty were humiliated by the enemy, and low-strength survivors either did dirty and tiring work or were directly used as bait to lure monsters.

Even powerful Evolution users became tools for the enemy to earn crystals.

“There are over a thousand of them in total, with nearly ten people above the Silver Realm, and the strongest one should be Silver Five Star,” one of them said.

“Good,” Xu Jun said confidently, “Tomorrow, you will lead the way for us, and watch how I blast these beasts into dust.”

Early the next morning, Xu Jun led eight hundred elite soldiers and headed towards Xiang Township.

It wasn't that Xu Jun was arrogant and didn't bring all five thousand of his men.

It was simply unnecessary.

In Xiang Township, although the Indians numbered over a thousand, more than half of them hadn't even reached Bronze Realm.

Whereas Xu Jun's eight hundred men were all Bronze Five Star and above, with nearly a hundred Silver Realm experts, and he himself was a top Silver Seven Star expert.

Xiang Township was nearly three hundred kilometers from Xinluo City, and they drove for almost five hours before reaching a village near the town.

“Our compatriots are being held by them in the residential area on the east side of the town,” the guide said, pointing to the tallest commercial buildings in the distance.

Xu Jun turned to a young man beside him and said, “Xiao Lin, send your pet to scout for information.”

“Yes, Commander,” Xiao Lin immediately released his pet.

A skylark quickly flew from his palm towards the commercial buildings in the distance.

Xiao Lin had an ability that allowed him to share his pet's vision, making him the ideal candidate for reconnaissance.

Soon, he spoke, “Commander, there are only a few dozen of them left in the residential area, and our compatriots are being held on the top few floors.”

Xu Jun pointed forward and commanded, “Advance rapidly, let’s catch them off guard.”

The thousand elite soldiers once again boarded the trucks and rapidly drove towards the town ahead.

The Indians in the residential area had no idea that danger was approaching; they were sitting in groups of three or five, chatting and fooling around, and several of them were even beating and abusing the detained Great Xia people.

Screech!

With a series of sharp braking sounds, Xu Jun and his convoy stopped one by one near the residential area.

“Leave no Indian alive, kill them all!”

At Xu Jun’s command, the eight hundred elite soldiers charged into the residential area like wolves and tigers.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The piercing alarm sound had just rung for less than a minute when it abruptly stopped.

Indians were swiftly cut down and killed one by one, and soon all the Indians in the entire residential area were slaughtered on the ground.

The hundreds of ragged compatriots who were imprisoned were also safely rescued.

“Commander, should we wait here for the Indians who went out hunting to return, or should we temporarily send these compatriots to the neighboring town?” a middle-aged man with a mustache asked.

“Send a small team to take them to the neighboring town first, and we will ambush those Indians here,” Xu Jun replied after a brief thought.

“Commander, someone is coming towards the town, a lot of people,” Xiao Lin said, his face changing, alarmed.