52: Hidden mission, immortal sect secrets
Beside Yan Hong, the several people exchanged glances.
Their faces were all blank with confusion.
Because they also didn't know where this fierce General had come from.
It wasn't until Wang Hu jogged over to them that they finally understood who this person was!
"It's someone from the Ten Thousand Treasures Sect. I never imagined that my Demon Slayer Division would have such capable individuals!" Yan Hong said, stroking his beard.
"Yes, that Song Ming is said to be a Disciple from the younger generation of the Ten Thousand Treasures Sect who is out traveling!" Wang Hu added.
Yan Hong nodded, then looked towards the Howling Moon Mountains in the distance and pondered for a long time before speaking: "In a short while, this person will probably be able to eliminate the invading demons.
At that time, please invite him to The General's Mansion; I have important matters to discuss!"
Wang Hu quickly agreed.
He then looked at the state of the crowd, wanting to speak but hesitating.
Yan Hong didn't say too much to him. After giving some orders for cleanup and clearing the battlefield, he led the remaining dozen people towards The General's Mansion.
...
At this moment.
Song Ming was focused on killing the demons invading Qingzhou City and was not concerned about the arrival of Yan Hong and his group.
As he cleared area after area of demons, his Professional advancement progress also rapidly increased.
"[Professional Advancement Quest Requirement: Slay Demons (796/1000)]"
He was only a little over two hundred demons away from completing the Professional Advancement Quest.
However, Song Ming looked around and found that he had already killed most of the demons.
This time, there were only about eight hundred demons in total that invaded Qingzhou City.
Although the momentum was not small, for Song Ming, it was actually not enough.
A few minutes later, as Song Ming dealt with the last demon, the quest completion notification appeared before him.
"[Guard Qingzhou City]"
"[Quest Completed]"
"[Quest Rating: SSS]"
"[Quest Reward: EXP +40000, received one green top-tier accessory type equipment, Banshee's Tooth]"
"[Experience points full, excess experience stored]"
He glanced at the description of Banshee's Tooth; its stat bonuses were not even as good as the equipment he had obtained in the beginner dungeon before.
It was rather useless.
So Song Ming lost interest.
He turned and walked towards the city.
"Junior, your skills are a bit unreasonable; those demons didn't even leave corpses behind!"
Meng Li looked at the unusually clean battlefield and couldn't help but marvel at Song Ming's abnormality.
Zhang Xinhua also felt a chill.
She truly didn't know how Song Ming had mastered such terrifying skills.
"By the way, have you completed your Professional Advancement Quest? You've killed almost all the demons here!" she asked with concern.
"No, I only killed over eight hundred just now!"
Song Ming's tone was calm.
However, to outsiders, this was a clear act of showing off.
If it were Meng Li and the others, killing these eight hundred demons would take at least a week.
And that was for Geniuses like them.
In reality, an ordinary Professional would take even longer.
How many minutes did Song Ming take?
Did he even take ten minutes?
His skills were as if they cost nothing, casting them wherever he went.
Yet the damage was extremely high.
The casting speed of those skills was almost as fast as their normal attacks.
Meng Li knew he couldn't possibly be like Song Ming, because skills all have cooldowns.
Plus, this was in the real world, and demons often attacked in groups.
If he frequently used skills and ended up in a cooldown period, it would be extremely dangerous.
"Good heavens, Junior, from your tone, you're not even satisfied!" Zhang Xinhua's tone was a bit sour.
"Hey, by the time school starts, I bet even the senior students in the academy won't be as high Rank as you!"
Meng Li was actually very curious what expressions the senior students would have when school started.
That scene would surely be hilarious.
Song Ming didn't dwell on this topic for too long.
After all, he wasn't here to show off.
Killing demons as quickly as possible was his main task.
As long as someone could give him the exact locations of nearby demons, he would let these people know what a ruthless demon harvesting machine was.
"By the way, I heard Commandant Wang say that there are many demons in the mountain range outside the city. Why don't we go there now!" Song Ming said, wanting to take the initiative.
Meng Li and Zhang Xinhua exchanged glances upon hearing this.
They were about to advise Song Ming not to be too hasty.
After all, a Rank 40 demon king was entrenched in that mountain range.
But then they reconsidered.
Song Ming's casual skill dealt over 700,000 damage, so a mere Rank 40 demon king didn't seem like such a big deal!
At most, it would have a little over 800,000 health.
Could it withstand Song Ming's skill once, let alone twice?
Just as the three were about to head out of the city, Wang Hu approached with a few soldiers.
He first respectfully bowed to Song Ming, "I thank you, young brother, on behalf of the city's common people for your righteous action. Since I joined the Demon Slayer Division, we have never achieved such a victory!"
He was speaking the truth.
Who would have thought that a Disciple from the Ten Thousand Treasures Sect, with a single move, would solve their urgent problem?
Even the soldiers only suffered a dozen casualties!
Song Ming awkwardly returned the bow, as he was still not quite used to this ancient world.
Wang Hu continued, "Please, the three of you, come to The General's Mansion. General Yan has important matters to discuss with you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, another quest notification appeared before Song Ming.
"[Successfully attracted the attention of Qingzhou General Yan Hong, triggered the current world's hidden quest: Immortal Sect Secret]"
"[Quest Introduction: The people here refer to their world as the Immortal Sect. Within the Immortal Sect, the Da Qian Dynasty, Jin Yang Cave, and Qinglu Mountain, three top-tier forces, have emerged. Besides these, there are countless demons. Why do they exist, and why do they reside in the most important Immortal Sect Ruins? What secrets truly lie within the Immortal Sect Ruins?]"
"[Do you choose to accept the quest?]"
"[This quest is a phased quest. Completing each phase will grant rewards for that phase.]"
Since Song Ming and the other two were currently in a party, this quest notification appeared before all three of them.
"Hidden Quest, Immortal Sect Secret!"
Meng Li's eyes widened, almost exclaiming aloud.
Although he had come to this Secret Realm world to grind monsters more than once or twice and was very familiar with the process of accepting quests, and this was also the most effective way to obtain resources, this was the first time he had seen a hidden quest like this.
No, it could be said that all Professionals who came here to level up and gain experience had never encountered such a situation.
Therefore, even though they knew of the existence of hidden quests, they had no idea how to activate them.
Among all quests in the Secret Realm, hidden quests were universally acknowledged as the most rewarding, most difficult, and rarest of all quests.
Furthermore, it was a phased quest; after completing each phase, they would receive corresponding rewards.
It could be said that the benefits were absolutely maximized.
Seeing this, Meng Li and Zhang Xinhua had no hesitation whatsoever.
They nodded vigorously, afraid of missing out.
However, the quest panel in front of them showed no change.
The two were momentarily confused, but then immediately realized that this world was assigning the quest to Song Ming.
In other words, it favored Song Ming, not them.
At best, they were just an add-on, or to put it bluntly, just tagging along, so the quest panel naturally showed no change.
Meng Li coughed a few times, winking and signaling Song Ming to quickly accept the quest.
Zhang Xinhua also looked at Song Ming, her eyes full of excitement.
Song Ming didn't delay any longer and immediately chose to accept the quest.
At this moment, the quest panel before the three finally changed.
"[Quest Accepted Successfully]"
"[Quest Name: Immortal Sect Secret]"
"[Phase One Quest: Qingzhou Crisis]"
"[Quest Introduction: Demons run rampant, and the Da Qian Dynasty is powerless to resist. South of Qingzhou, in the Howling Moon Mountains, numerous demons, led by their demon king, have repeatedly invaded, threatening to engulf Qingzhou. Therefore, the Qingzhou General intends to take the initiative to eliminate the hidden danger in the Howling Moon Mountains!]"
"[Quest Requirement: Clear the concentrated demons in the Howling Moon Mountains]"
"[Reward: EXP +110000, one Rank 30 random blue top-tier equipment, one Rank 30 random purple top-tier equipment, quality treasure chest (awarded based on contribution)]"