198: Discovered Chieko Nine, the Red Moon Recruiter?

The moment he saw the promotion notification, Ye Xiao felt an indescribable comfort.

It wasn't because of the benefits this promotion brought him; to be honest, with his current attributes, the growth attributes added after the Fourth Advancement weren't much.

What truly made Ye Xiao happy was how effortlessly the Fourth Advancement promotion quest was completed.

He had practically fulfilled the quest requirements the moment he accepted it.

He could guarantee that no one could complete it faster than him; this Fourth Advancement quest was essentially given for free.

Especially when compared to the Third Advancement promotion quest he had just experienced, which almost made him unable to complete it, this was simply too blissful.

For a moment, Ye Xiao even felt a bit annoyed.

If he had known it would be this result, he should have kept some people waiting for him to complete the Fourth Advancement before continuing; perhaps he could have immediately accepted the Fifth Advancement quest now.

“What a pity! There's no such thing as knowing in advance in this world.”

After a light sigh, Ye Xiao turned and left.

The vast City Lord's Mansion was already empty; there was no point in him staying here any longer, he might as well return the black dragon scale to Pochy in Starfire City as soon as possible.

However, the only problem now was finding a faction to help him manage this City Lord's Mansion.

This was a place he had conquered; he didn't have the habit of letting people freeload.

Ye Xiao naturally couldn't stay here indefinitely; he just didn't know if Zhou Yi was still alive.

If Zhou Yi and the Zhou Family were dead, finding someone to manage the City Lord's Mansion would be truly difficult.

Ye Xiao suddenly felt a headache.

However, just as Ye Xiao was about to leave the Professionals Hall...

The teleportation zone behind him suddenly lit up.

At the same time, the crimson moon token on Ye Xiao's brow also reacted.

This is?

Ye Xiao instantly turned around and saw a figure rushing rapidly towards the teleportation array.

There's still a fish that slipped through the net?

Ye Xiao's heart stirred, and the next second, he used Divinity Speed to arrive at the teleportation array a step ahead.

That figure obviously didn't expect Ye Xiao to be so fast; his running figure suddenly froze.

The next moment, without any hesitation, he turned and darted away.

However, that momentary pause in his breath had already allowed Ye Xiao to catch a glimpse of the person's face.

Zhi Zi Jiu?

Ye Xiao hadn't expected that person to be Zhi Zi Jiu, whom he had been searching for earlier.

“To have evaded my search, this guy must have a skill to conceal his aura.”

He muttered, and Ye Xiao directly gave chase.

Since he had found him, Ye Xiao had no reason to let him leave like this.

What's more, since the red moon token on his brow reacted, it proved that this Zhi Zi Jiu also possessed a similar red moon token.

Since this Zhi Zi Jiu was also a Crimson Moon Summoner, Ye Xiao had even less reason to let him go.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Xiao and Zhi Zi Jiu left the Professionals Hall, one after the other.

Ye Xiao watched Zhi Zi Jiu desperately increase his speed, naturally without any unnecessary words.

A sky full of Fireballs instantly rained down on Zhi Zi Jiu.

However, a scene that surprised Ye Xiao appeared.

A barrier actually opened behind Zhi Zi Jiu, and all Fireballs that touched the barrier disappeared.

Ye Xiao saw it clearly; the Fireballs genuinely did not come into contact with Zhi Zi Jiu, nor were they intercepted or negated by the barrier.

Instead, they vanished without a trace.

This miraculous scene made Ye Xiao's brows furrow tightly.

However, despite being shocked by the strangeness of Zhi Zi Jiu's barrier, Ye Xiao's movements did not slow down.

Void Phantom!

Ye Xiao's body instantly dematerialized, entering the void dimension.

And Zhi Zi Jiu seemed to sense something, unable to resist glancing back, and after discovering Ye Xiao's disappearance, Zhi Zi Jiu did not relax his guard, instead, he maintained a cold expression, and his speed increased again.

In an instant, he bypassed the lingering crowd of onlookers and fled directly towards the outskirts of Liyue City.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiao, in the void dimension, although his speed was also quite fast, found that he could only barely keep up behind Zhi Zi Jiu and couldn't completely catch up.

This discovery surprised Ye Xiao even more.

Logically, with his current attributes and speed, even a Level 180 Professional shouldn't be faster than him.

However, Zhi Zi Jiu, a rookie like himself, was even faster than him.

This was simply unbelievable.

At this time, Liyue City was still filled with a large number of Professionals; even after Ye Xiao entered the City Lord's Mansion, they still hadn't left.

Everyone was still paying attention to the situation inside.

Therefore, the moment Zhi Zi Jiu appeared, everyone noticed him immediately.

However, because Zhi Zi Jiu's speed was too fast, no one could clearly see who it was.

In a flash, Zhi Zi Jiu had already left Liyue City.

And Ye Xiao, in the void dimension, was closely following not far behind.

He did not act rashly.

He already knew how Zhi Zi Jiu had evaded his previous Black Dragon's Wrath; it should be related to that barrier just now.

If he continued to attack, he could easily be shaken off by Zhi Zi Jiu.

The two sped along like this, and after a while, seeing that the Void Phantom's duration was about to end, Zhi Zi Jiu finally stopped under a towering tree a few hundred miles outside Liyue City.

Ye Xiao looked at the somewhat exhausted Zhi Zi Jiu, knowing that his chance had come.

In an instant, energies of various colors slammed towards Zhi Zi Jiu without warning.

Fireball!

Ice Spear!

Whirlwind Slash!

Dark Night Soul Erosion!

... As long as the skills could be used instantly, Ye Xiao unreservedly unleashed them all at once.

However, Zhi Zi Jiu seemed to be constantly on guard; the moment Ye Xiao attacked, the barrier on his body reappeared.

This time, the barrier enveloped Zhi Zi Jiu's entire body.

As expected, all of Ye Xiao's attacks disappeared again the moment they touched the barrier.

Seeing this, Ye Xiao was surprised but did not hesitate.

Activating Divinity Speed, he appeared behind Zhi Zi Jiu in the blink of an eye.

His staff swung out fiercely.

There was no collision sound as imagined.

Nor was there a powerful recoil force from his hand.

Ye Xiao's staff seemed to swing through the air, passing directly through Zhi Zi Jiu's body.

Ye Xiao's pupils contracted as he looked at Zhi Zi Jiu's body, which was like an afterimage.

What kind of ability is this?

Zhi Zi Jiu's body recovered again; at this moment, there was no hint of panic in his eyes, but rather a faint hint of amusement.

“Very surprised?”

Hearing Zhi Zi Jiu's words, Ye Xiao, not believing it, launched another round of attacks.

The result was still unable to harm Zhi Zi Jiu in the slightest.

Seeing this, Ye Xiao simply stopped attacking and began to carefully observe Zhi Zi Jiu.

He even suspected whether the Zhi Zi Jiu in front of him was similar to his Phantom Doppelganger.

But the scorching heat at his brow clearly reminded him that the Zhi Zi Jiu in front of him was indeed the main body.

So, he nodded, admitting quite frankly.

“It is a bit surprising.”

The mockery on Zhi Zi Jiu's lips grew stronger, but he still praised, “You also surprise me greatly; your strength is not something a rookie should possess.”

After speaking, Zhi Zi Jiu seemed to remember something and added another sentence.

“No! Even if you are also a Crimson Moon Summoner, it's absolutely impossible to possess such power; it seems you have quite a few secrets.”

Ye Xiao was not surprised that Zhi Zi Jiu revealed his identity as a Crimson Moon Summoner.

As fellow Crimson Moon Summoners, since he could sense the other party, there was no reason why the other party couldn't sense him.

However, compared to that, Ye Xiao was more concerned about whether Zhi Zi Jiu's miraculous ability just now was brought by the Crimson Moon.

As if seeing through Ye Xiao's thoughts, Zhi Zi Jiu, uncharacteristically, kindly explained, “Don't bother thinking about it; my Mirror Flower, Water Moon is not an ability that the Crimson Moon can possess.”

Mirror Flower, Water Moon?

Is that the name of that ability just now?

Ye Xiao thought to himself, feeling a slight regret at the same time.

If that Mirror Flower, Water Moon was an ability that came with the Crimson Moon, wouldn't he be invincible as long as he dodged it?

At this moment, Zhi Zi Jiu suddenly scoffed.

“It seems you're very interested in my abilities, but you seem to have a misunderstanding.”

“Oh? What misunderstanding?” Ye Xiao asked casually.

Zhi Zi Jiu then sneered, “Do you think I was chased all the way here because I was afraid of you?”

Ye Xiao heard this and wasn't too surprised.

When his previous several attacks failed to harm the opponent in the slightest, Ye Xiao already knew that since the opponent possessed such a bizarre ability, there was no need to flee desperately as before.

The reason he did so was probably to lure himself here.

It seemed the opponent was very confident in wanting to deal with him.

However, Ye Xiao was not flustered in the slightest, because he also had absolute confidence that Zhi Zi Jiu could not harm him.

So, he looked at Zhi Zi Jiu and said unhurriedly, “I'll be watching.”

Zhi Zi Jiu burst out laughing.

“I'm growing to like you more and more now. If it weren't for you stealing the Rookie King title that should have been mine and disrupting my plans, perhaps I would have taken you under my wing, making you my most obedient dog.”

Ye Xiao chuckled, “Barking dogs never bite.”

Zhi Zi Jiu's expression immediately turned cold upon hearing this, “You're looking for death.”

As he spoke, the towering tree behind Zhi Zi Jiu suddenly erupted with dazzling light.

Immediately after, Ye Xiao saw three huge fruits forming on the tree.

The fruits appeared, then instantly fell, revealing what was inside.

Suddenly, a look of astonishment flickered in Ye Xiao's eyes.

From within those fruits, three identical humans, looking exactly like Zhi Zi Jiu, emerged.

However, when Ye Xiao looked closely, he realized that these three newly appeared humans only resembled Zhi Zi Jiu in facial features.

But their heights and builds were all different.

The three slowly came before Zhi Zi Jiu.

Among them, the “Zhi Zi Jiu” standing at the very front was enormous, standing a full three meters tall, and his entire skin, seen from afar, resembled hard rock.

The “Zhi Zi Jiu” on the left was short and slender, standing beside the giant “Zhi Zi Jiu” like an infant, looking very strange.

However, what surprised Ye Xiao the most was the “Zhi Zi Jiu” on the far right; compared to the previous two, this “Zhi Zi Jiu” appeared to be of normal human build, but his entire skin was red like magma, his eyes had two wisps of eerie blue flames floating, and above his head, there was also a reddish horn, making him particularly eye-catching.

The appearance of these three made Ye Xiao's brows furrow tightly.

At the same time, Zhi Zi Jiu's expression at this moment returned to calm, and his tone was no longer as cold as before, but rather carried a hint of understated indifference.

“Your performance in the City Lord's Mansion earlier truly surprised me. I have to admit, relying solely on this body, even if I could handle your astonishing damage, I wouldn't be able to kill you, so I could only call for help.”

Ye Xiao's gaze swept back and forth across the four “Zhi Zi Jius,” not answering Zhi Zi Jiu.

At this moment, Zhi Zi Jiu looked at Ye Xiao and slowly said, “You should feel honored; you are the first enemy to see them.”

As soon as his voice fell, the short Zhi Zi Jiu had already disappeared from his spot.

The fiery red Zhi Zi Jiu also, at the same time, gestured with both hands towards Ye Xiao.

Immediately after, a burst of explosive energy erupted from his hands, aimed directly at Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao felt the power contained within that energy and chose not to confront it head-on.

Instead, he dodged immediately.

However, the moment he moved...

The previously disappeared short Zhi Zi Jiu appeared out of nowhere beside him.

Two fierce gusts of wind struck simultaneously.

The power of the wind was not great, but it sealed off the space on both sides of Ye Xiao.

The instant they made contact, Ye Xiao clearly felt a strange resistance slowing down his movement.

Due to the negative effects of his magic robe, Ye Xiao's evasion rate had dropped by 50%, plus the projectile speed of the opponent's energy was unusually fast.

After being obstructed, Ye Xiao no longer had time to dodge.

But he had no intention of using Absolute Evasion.

His over 50 million health points and strong dual defenses gave him absolute confidence in dealing with such an attack.

In fact, seeing the short Zhi Zi Jiu approach, Ye Xiao decisively unleashed hundreds of Fireballs; at such close range, with the trajectory of Ye Xiao's Fireball, the opponent would absolutely not be able to avoid it.

However, to Ye Xiao's utter surprise, the short Zhi Zi Jiu had no intention of dodging, and even flashed a mocking smile at Ye Xiao.

The Fireballs passed through his body, and Ye Xiao was astonished to find that this short Zhi Zi Jiu also knew Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

At this moment, that energy had already reached him.

With no way to avoid it, Ye Xiao could only activate his three major shields and the Death Domain, preparing to endure it.

But unexpectedly, the short Zhi Zi Jiu, while enduring Ye Xiao's Fireball bombardment, once again unleashed a huge gust of wind.

The gust of wind was not aimed directly at Ye Xiao; instead, it formed a massive wind wall around him.

It was also at this moment that the red Zhi Zi Jiu's attack arrived, directly merging into the wind wall.

Instantly, the fierce wind absorbed this energy, transforming it into a scorching wall of flames.

And this was not the end.

The giant Zhi Zi Jiu, not far away, had, at some unknown point, plunged his hands into the ground.

Four rock walls suddenly rose from around Ye Xiao without warning, instantly trapping Ye Xiao within them.

For a time, the already explosive energy, amplified by the fierce wind and sealed by the rock walls, erupted with power several times greater than its original force.

“Boom, boom, boom!”

Within the rock walls, a tremendous roar echoed.

Ye Xiao smelled the scorching air.

His health points plummeted visibly.

Ye Xiao couldn't help but feel surprised.

So strong!