97: Accept the third-level promotion task.

Deep within the Miasma Hidden Forest, in the 702 Novice Zone.

Two beams of light flashed.

In the once utterly silent Dense Forest, the figures of Ye Xiao and Xue Ling suddenly appeared.

Before Xue Ling could even grasp her surroundings, Ye Xiao pointed to the unrotted Plague Source Grub not far away and asked, "The corpse is right there. What do we do now?"

After extorting 10 million eternal coins from the Black Tiger and Silver Dragon Legions, Ye Xiao didn't delay.

He immediately returned to the Shadow Legion and brought Xue Ling to the Miasma Hidden Forest.

He was eager to know if the method Xue Ling spoke of was feasible.

As the controller of the Miasma Hidden Forest secret realm, it was naturally easy for Ye Xiao to teleport people into the original Miasma Hidden Forest.

Hearing Ye Xiao's question, Xue Ling steadied herself. She first approached the Plague Source Grub, observed it carefully for a while, and then turned back to Ye Xiao, saying, "Master, according to the extent of this Plague Source Grub's damage, it will require at least a thousand Professionals to sacrifice themselves to fully revive it. And if the Professionals are too weak, that number might even need to increase."

Ye Xiao nodded and then approached the Plague Source Grub. With a wave of his hand, a strange, red-glowing door instantly appeared behind him.

Immediately after, over 2300 corpses appeared out of thin air.

The next moment, they piled up around the Plague Source Grub.

This scene completely stunned Xue Ling.

She had thought Ye Xiao only brought her to check on the Plague Source Grub's condition.

She never expected Ye Xiao to have even prepared the corpses.

Smelling the pungent scent of blood in the air, Xue Ling's face paled slightly, and her fear of Ye Xiao intensified.

"There are a total of 2334 corpses here. That should be enough, right?"

Xue Ling said somewhat stiffly, "E-enough... but besides the corpses, there are also eternal coins..."

Ye Xiao nodded, then pulled out the 10 million eternal coins he had extorted earlier and handed them to Xue Ling.

To revive the Plague Source Grub, in addition to the corpses of Professionals, a large amount of eternal coins was also required.

This was the true reason why Ye Xiao had previously robbed the Black Tiger and Silver Dragon Legions.

Furthermore, these eternal coins were not only for reviving the Plague Source Grub.

They would also be needed for the subsequent refining of the exquisite gem.

According to what Remi revealed before his death, to put it plainly, refining was merely a transformation of energy forms.

And eternal coins themselves were composed of energy crystals. However, these energy crystals could usually only be directly absorbed by NPCs, not Human Job Holders.

So, for Human Job Holders, eternal coins were simply currency.

However, according to estimates, reviving the Plague Source Grub and the subsequent refining of the exquisite gem would likely not require that much money.

But just in case, Ye Xiao didn't dare to spend the money yet.

Otherwise, if it wasn't enough, all his efforts would be in vain.

Seeing Xue Ling accept the eternal coins, Ye Xiao asked, "Then how long will you need to revive the Plague Source Grub?"

Xue Ling quickly calculated for a moment, then said, "According to the records in my sister's notes, it will probably take five to six hours."

Ye Xiao heard this and was not displeased.

"Alright then, you revive the Plague Source Grub here, and I'll go out for a bit."

Xue Ling naturally dared not say more and nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Ye Xiao directly left the secret realm.

While she was busy, he needed to go and accept the Third Advancement Quest.

He had been stuck at level 90 for most of the day.

--- ---

Ten minutes later, in Yellow Sand City, the closest city to the Miasma Hidden Forest.

Ye Xiao, familiar with the route, arrived at the Job Change Stele in the Professionals Hall.

The Third Advancement was an incredibly important threshold for every Professional.

It was different from the First and Second Advancements.

Some newcomers could even be stuck on the Third Advancement Quest for a year or two or more.

This was also a major reason why people like Kuang Long and Lei Laohu stayed in the Novice Zone.

Professionals like them were as numerous as cattle in every Novice Zone.

The reason for this was naturally due to the fall of NPCs.

This led to some items and abilities required in the advancement quests becoming completely extinct.

Looking at the stele before him, Ye Xiao took a deep breath.

Although his current combat power was already beyond what any newcomer could compare to, he was still a little nervous at this moment.

After all, the difficulty of the Third Advancement Quest sometimes really depended on luck.

Once luck was bad, the time and effort spent were secondary; the real fear was getting a quest that was simply impossible to complete.

That wouldn't be fun at all.

Silently praying in his heart, Ye Xiao then placed his hand on the stele.

The next moment, the entire stele instantly lit up.

And Ye Xiao's heart, following this burst of light, rose and fell.

---

[Ding! Detecting that you meet the qualifications for the Third Advancement Quest, generating advancement quest...]

[Third Advancement Quest generated.]

[Rescue the Fallen Linhai Village. Automatically advance to Third Rank upon completion.]

---

Linhai Village?

Upon seeing the quest name, Ye Xiao's heart sank.

He quickly opened his quest log to check.

---

[Quest Name: Rescue the Fallen Linhai Village]

[Quest Content: Linhai Village is a small fishing village on the outskirts of the Star Empire, constantly under attack by Oceanic Monsters. To maintain peace in Linhai Village, the Star Empire has issued a bounty, hoping for brave warriors to repel these demons. Your goal is to eliminate all Oceanic Monsters occupying Linhai Village. After completion, find the Linhai Village Chief to deliver the quest. Upon completion, you will receive rewards and advance to Third Rank.]

---

After reading the quest content, Ye Xiao's expression immediately froze.

What he feared most had come true.

Actually, when he saw the words 'Linhai Village,' Ye Xiao already had a bad premonition.

And it turned out to be true.

Eliminating Oceanic Monsters was not difficult for him now.

The difficult part was that NPCs had long since withdrawn from the stage of the Eternal Continent.

Where was he supposed to find that village chief to deliver the quest?

For a moment, Ye Xiao felt like crying without tears.

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