197: Kill them all and advance to the fourth level

Ye Xiao's words did not reach the ears of the four assassins.

A sky full of Fireballs had already covered the entire area.

Although the four moved incredibly fast and scattered to avoid, their close proximity, combined with Ye Xiao's dense bombardment of massive Fireballs, made evasion impossible.

Don't let Ye Xiao's previous display of Black Dragon's Wrath, which stunned the entire field, fool you.

In reality, the damage of a single Fireball from Ye Xiao had already reached a terrifying six-digit number, and the four were all high-burst, squishy assassins, making it impossible for them to withstand the attack.

In an instant, the four figures were completely melted.

This scene directly slapped countless people in the face.

Everyone found it unimaginable that Night Shadow, after unleashing such a powerful Black Dragon's Wrath, still possessed such formidable combat strength.

At this moment, countless people looked at the lingering power of the Fireball spell, their faces filled with horror.

Inside the City Lord's Mansion, Zhi Boqing had long been too stunned to speak by Ye Xiao's terrifying strength.

As for the others beside him, they were even more dumbfounded.

However, before they could react, a red light appeared in the sky again.

Immediately after, the already precarious defensive array began to tremble violently right before their eyes.

Suddenly, someone cried out in terror, "Oh no! The defensive array is about to break!"

Following his startled cry, another round of Fireball bombardment struck.

The already overburdened defensive array suddenly let out a piercing shattering sound.

"Bang!"

With the defensive array gone, the remaining Fireballs transformed into a scorching torrent, sweeping across the entire city wall.

On the city wall, screams once again erupted.

However, the remaining Zhi Family members, including Zhi Boqing, were considered top-tier combatants at level 180.

After being weakened by the defensive array, the remaining Fireballs could only cause them a little trouble and posed no fatal threat.

After dodging these residual Fireballs, Zhi Boqing and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

However, just then, someone suddenly screamed in terror, "Ye... Night Shadow!!!"

With this startled cry, all the remaining Zhi Family members, including Zhi Boqing, looked up.

What met their eyes was the slender figure who had just brought them boundless terror.

Ye Xiao, at some unknown point, was already standing atop the city wall.

In an instant, everyone's pupils contracted sharply.

Zhi Boqing looked at Ye Xiao, who was within arm's reach, and a bitter feeling arose in his heart. However, having controlled Liyue City for many years, he was not as flustered as the others.

Almost immediately, he decisively said, "Night Shadow! Today, my Zhi Family admits defeat. From now on, the Zhi Family will no longer participate in your pursuit, and at the same time, the Zhi Family will offer you some compensation."

The other Zhi Family members, who had been scared out of their wits by Ye Xiao's arrival, perked up upon hearing this.

They hadn't expected Zhi Boqing to be so decisive.

They had thought Zhi Boqing would, for the sake of face, stubbornly fight Night Shadow to the end.

Fortunately, Zhi Boqing had not been blinded by today's humiliation and remained rational at the last moment.

As long as he was willing to admit defeat, then they could all live.

As for whether the higher-ups would later blame them for the Zhi Family suffering humiliation, that was Zhi Boqing's concern, and it would have little impact on them.

Besides, no matter how great the punishment, it couldn't be more important than their own lives, could it?

In an instant, the remaining people breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions no longer as tense as before.

However, upon hearing Zhi Boqing's words of surrender, Ye Xiao was first stunned, then shook his head in amusement.

"Surrender? It's quite rare to hear such words from someone of the Eight Great Families," Ye Xiao said with a mocking tone, "But what makes you think that a mere surrender from you will make me spare you?"

These words made everyone tense up again, though compared to before, a hint of anger now mingled in their hearts.

Zhi Boqing looked at the condescending Ye Xiao, his shame and anger intensified, but he forcibly suppressed it, trying to keep his tone calm.

"I said, this time you killed over five thousand of my Zhi Family members and even invaded the City Lord's Mansion, causing my Zhi Family to lose face. My Zhi Family is willing to withdraw from the operation to capture you, and will also agree to give you some compensation. This is already the Zhi Family's greatest sincerity. Do you still think it's not enough?"

Ye Xiao shook his head, "Not enough."

"Then what do you want?" Zhi Boqing asked with a cold face, suppressing his rising anger.

Ye Xiao grinned.

"I want all of your lives."

At these words, Zhi Boqing's face changed dramatically.

The crowd behind him erupted in fury.

"Night Shadow! Don't push your luck!"

"That's right! I admit your strength is somewhat unexpected, but do you, alone, dare to challenge my entire Zhi Family?"

"My Zhi Family is already overlooking what you just did, which is our greatest leniency. Aren't you afraid of the true powerhouses of my Zhi Family descending?"

...Ye Xiao listened to the shouting, a slight smirk on his lips, not bothering to waste words.

The massive Black Dragon's shadow reappeared behind him.

Upon seeing this, the shouting of the crowd abruptly stopped, their faces filled with terror.

However, Ye Xiao did not hesitate.

His aura suddenly erupted.

Black Dragon's Wrath!

"Night Shadow! Wait!!!"

Zhi Boqing had not expected Night Shadow to be able to continuously unleash such a terrifying, heart-stopping skill. His face instantly changed, and he hurriedly retreated, simultaneously shouting to stop Ye Xiao from casting this dreadful skill.

However, only a terrifying dragon's roar answered him.

There was no fierce conflict, no chaotic screams.

The moment the dragon's roar sounded, the entire City Lord's Mansion could no longer accommodate a second sound.

A moment later, Ye Xiao stopped unleashing Black Dragon's Wrath.

He looked indifferently at Zhi Boqing and the others, who had already lost their vitality.

"To think that not bothering with me is the greatest grace, that truly is your Eight Great Families' consistent style."

Ye Xiao murmured, stepping over the Zhi Boqing in front of him, and quickly entered the City Lord's Mansion to search for surviving Zhi Family members. Since he had decided to destroy the Zhi Family, not a single one could be spared.

As long as these active forces were eliminated, the Zhi Family would completely lose control of the Novice Area for the next few years.

After all, Professionals in the Advanced Zone could not stay in the Novice Area for long, and three-quarters of the Eight Great Families' true power was in the Advanced Zone.

As for the Zhi Family members in the Novice Area, Ye Xiao was also considering whether to use Xiao Jin's ability to go back once.

With Xiao Jin's help, he could stay in the Novice Area without any consumption. If he also wiped out the younger generation of the Zhi Family in the Novice Area, then the Zhi Family's influence would only be left in the Advanced Zone.

He could even apply the same method to deal with the other factions.

This would allow the Zhou Family to control Liyue City more easily.

Of course, this premise was that the Zhou Family members were still alive.

However, according to Zhi Boqing's previous words, this was a bit difficult, so it seemed he would have to re-evaluate the candidates.

After all, it was unrealistic for him to manage the entire Liyue City alone.

He just didn't know if there were any factions willing to take over.

That was a bit of a headache.

Never mind, he would see how things developed then.

Finally, Ye Xiao completely suppressed the idea of going to the Novice Area.

Mainly, it was too time-consuming.

Recalling his thoughts, Ye Xiao began to search continuously within the City Lord's Mansion.

It had to be said that this City Lord's Mansion, which once belonged to the Meiya People, was indeed large enough.

It took Ye Xiao quite a while to search the entire City Lord's Mansion.

During this time, he did indeed find several guys who were hiding.

Although these people trembled in fear and even knelt to beg for mercy when they saw Ye Xiao.

However, Ye Xiao did not go easy on them.

Since they enjoyed the benefits that the Zhi Family had exploited from others, they must also bear the consequences that the Zhi Family brought.

There was no free lunch in this world.

If you ate, you had to pay the price.

All Ye Xiao could do was let them go without pain.

This was the greatest mercy he could show.

The only thing Ye Xiao found regrettable was that he did not find any trace of Zhi Zi Jiu.

Ye Xiao's only impression of Zhi Zi Jiu was in the final trial of the Path of Exile. That guy was not weak and took second place, just behind himself.

If Zhou Yi hadn't told him before he came that Zhi Zi Jiu had successfully reached level 90 and arrived in Liyue City nearly a month ago.

Ye Xiao would have almost forgotten about such a person.

And according to Zhou Yi, Zhi Zi Jiu was the son of the Zhi Family Head.

Therefore, a large part of Ye Xiao's search was for Zhi Zi Jiu.

Unfortunately, this guy was either no longer in Liyue City, or he had some special means to escape beforehand.

Ye Xiao felt a little disappointed, then came to the Professionals Hall in the City Lord's Mansion.

Every main city's City Lord's Mansion had a small Professionals Hall.

All the facilities available in the main city were also available in the City Lord's Mansion, although on a much smaller scale, but fully functional.

Some facilities even had unique effects enhanced by the City Lord.

While searching for surviving Zhi Family members, coming to this Professionals Hall was also one of Ye Xiao's goals.

Because he was already level 120 and could accept the promotion quest for the Fourth Advancement. And accepting it in the City Lord's Mansion's Professionals Hall not only reduced the difficulty by 30% compared to outside, but also offered three chances to refresh the quest if unsatisfied.

This was why the Eternal World only had the Eight Great Families—because there were only eight main cities.

Anyone who could occupy a main city would gain benefits far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

After entering the Professionals Hall, Ye Xiao scanned the area and came to the relevant quest monument.

He was also curious about what his Fourth Advancement quest would be.

He placed his hand directly on the monument.

---

【Ding! Detecting that you meet the qualifications for the Fourth Advancement promotion quest, generating promotion quest now...】

【Fourth Advancement promotion quest generated.】

【Please collect 70 monster hearts of six different elemental attributes, each not lower than level 120. Upon completion, you will automatically advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

---

"Hmm? It's this quest?"

Ye Xiao looked at the Fourth Advancement quest in his quest log, feeling a bit amused and frustrated at the same time.

This quest was considered the most difficult among all recorded Fourth Advancement quests.

Could it be that his luck at the Xiling Ruins earlier was too good, causing his luck to turn so bad when accepting the Fourth Advancement quest?

There was indeed that possibility.

Ye Xiao showed a helpless expression.

Although the City Lord's Mansion's blessing reduced the number of hearts to collect from 100 to 70, which was a 70% reduction in difficulty.

However, while this might be a significant challenge for an ordinary level 120 Professional, with Ye Xiao's current combat strength, as long as he could find monsters, whether it was 100 or 1000, it made no difference to him.

The true difficulty of this quest lay in the six different elemental attribute monsters.

Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Darkness, Light—these six attributes were the fundamental elemental attributes that constituted the laws of the Eternal World.

The first four were quite common. Dark-type monsters, though rare, were still traceable.

Among other things, Ye Xiao had encountered quite a few in the Path of Exile.

Moreover, large numbers of dark-type monsters existed in certain specific secret realms.

However, only the last one, light-element attribute monsters, was problematic.

It wasn't that they didn't exist; on the contrary, there were quite many types, and they appeared in many places.

But the problem was that currently known light-attribute monsters mostly came from the Advanced Zone.

And there were no light-attribute monsters in the Novice Area.

As for the Novice Area, there were some.

But they only appeared in one secret realm.

However, the entrance to that secret realm automatically shifted every 30 days.

Finding it wasn't impossible, but it would take some time.

And the situation inside was somewhat bizarre. As for how bizarre, Ye Xiao couldn't say, because the Professionals who had entered couldn't explain it themselves, as if they had lost all memory of that secret realm.

And that in itself was an extremely strange thing.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Xiao placed his hand on the monument again.

He wanted to use his three quest refresh opportunities.

---

【Ding! You have chosen to use a refresh opportunity. Fourth Advancement promotion quest is being generated.】

【Ding! Quest generation complete. Please choose any one of the following four quests to complete. Upon completion, you will automatically advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

【Original Quest: Please collect 70 monster hearts of six different elemental attributes, each not lower than level 120. Upon completion, you will automatically advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

【Newly Generated Quest One: Kill 7000 wild monsters not lower than level 120. Upon completion, you will automatically advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

【Newly Generated Quest Two: Please collect 35 claws of 100 different types of monsters. After collecting and bringing them back, you will advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

【Newly Generated Quest Three: Increase any one of your four-dimensional attributes to 2500 points. Upon meeting the condition, you will automatically advance to the Fourth Advancement.】

---

The unique refresh function of the City Lord's Mansion was not like the First Advancement, where each refresh only generated one new quest and overwrote the original.

The City Lord's Mansion's privilege allowed it to directly present three additional quest options, making a total of four, for the Professional to choose from.

This way, Professionals didn't have to worry about whether the new quest would be harder than the original.

At this moment, Ye Xiao looked at the four quests on the panel and suddenly grinned.

Did he even need to think about it?

In other people's eyes, perhaps the last quest option was the most impossible to complete among the four.

For a level 120 Professional, excluding equipment, the maximum value of a single attribute generally ranged between 2000 and 2100 points.

There were some differences due to varying growth rates between different professions, but these differences were not significant.

However, even for professions with the highest growth potential, it was generally impossible for their base attributes to reach 2500 points at level 120.

It could only be increased through skills or some special items.

But a Professional's skill slots were limited, and there weren't many skills or items that could boost attribute points.

Under normal circumstances, let alone a single attribute reaching 2500 points, it was extremely difficult to even break 2200 points.

Furthermore, very few professions would choose a pure single-attribute allocation model, as such attributes would be too rigid in combat.

However, these difficulties in the eyes of normal people posed no challenge whatsoever to Ye Xiao.

Without any hesitation, Ye Xiao unhesitatingly chose the last option.

The next second, white light surged from Ye Xiao's body.

Along with it appeared the quest completion notification.

--- ---

【Ding! Congratulations on completing the promotion quest and successfully advancing to the Fourth Advancement! You have gained Constitution +25, Intelligence +80...】

【Ding! Now, for every level you gain, all attributes will increase by 5 points, and free attribute points will increase by 25 points.】

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