320: Chapter 320 The City Lord's Hidden Rewards

Chen You sheathed his sword and stepped toward the spatial vortex that had completely turned blood-red.

His figure submerged into it and disappeared.

Outside the mine entrance, the wind and snow continued to rage.

But the thousands of players seemed to have been hit by a pause button, falling into a dead silence.

It wasn't until a gust of wild wind swirled the snow from the ground and slapped it against their faces that someone suddenly shuddered and snapped back to reality.

"Holy crap..."

No one knew who started it, but the crowd instantly exploded into a frenzy.

"He split it again! He really split it!"

"I forgot to breathe just now! What kind of sword technique was that? The stone tablet... was just sliced open like cutting tofu?"

"What do you know!" Bloody Battle is a Bit Sweet suddenly turned around, his face flushed red as he roared at the surrounding players.

"This is called breaking the rules! God You is declaring war on the system!"

His saliva flew everywhere in his excitement: "You think God You is just grinding a dungeon? Wrong! Completely wrong!"

"He's telling us that as long as your strength is sufficient, there are no indestructible settings!"

"With this strike, God You didn't just split a stone tablet; he split the shackles on our minds!"

The surrounding players were stunned by this impassioned speech, and one by one, looks of sudden realization appeared on their faces.

"So that's it! God You has such painstaking intentions!"

"As expected of God You, his vision is too grand! I was actually feeling sorry for the material of that boundary stele just now; I truly deserve to die!"

"Look!" An assassin player suddenly pointed ahead and cried out.

In just a few seconds, a brand new, dark-red boundary stele rose from the ground.

This new boundary stele was even taller than the previous one, emitting a terrifying aura that made one's heart palpitate.

And at the very top of the boundary stele, a line of words was deeply carved in an extremely arrogant, ancient font.

【Destroyer: Chen You】

These five words seemed to possess some kind of magic; looking at them for too long even made one's eyes sting.

Bloody Battle is a Bit Sweet stepped forward, his expression solemn, looking at that line of words as if he were on a pilgrimage.

"Do you see that? Now that's what you call status!"

"The boss is right!"

"God You is awesome!"

The players began to flatter him frantically, all sorts of praise jumping out as if they cost nothing.

Although Chen You couldn't hear them at all, it didn't stop them from using this to express their inner shock and fanaticism.

A few fanatics even tried to rush up to stroke the blood-colored boundary stele, cautiously wanting to touch that name.

In the end, they pulled back tremblingly, not daring to get any closer.

...

On the other side, to be safe, Chen You applied another substitute talisman to himself.

Then he spent another 3,000 gold coins to purchase the mob-gathering and BOSS suicide services.

He had to admit, Destruction Mode was still the same price; this system was actually quite decent.

It was basically getting more for the same price.

After finishing the Destruction Mode run, Chen You used a recall talisman to return directly to Cangxing City.

He walked through the familiar streets and entered the City Lord's Mansion.

The basketball hoop from last time was gone from the courtyard, replaced by a solid black iron pillar two meters in diameter.

James Sander, the female City Lord who was over two meters tall with muscle lines comparable to a bodybuilding champion, was wearing a tight combat suit and performing some ancient and mysterious ritual against the black iron pillar.

Her legs were slightly bent, her center of gravity lowered, and her right shoulder leaned forward.

After a brief moment of powering up, she suddenly stepped forward and slammed her entire right shoulder into the black iron pillar.

Clang!

A dull thud echoed out.

The black iron pillar didn't budge an inch, but Sander was jolted back two steps by the counterforce.

She frowned, staring at her shoulder and muttering something under her breath.

Chen You stood at the courtyard entrance, his eye twitching.

This City Lord is already practicing.

Sander caught sight of Chen You out of the corner of her eye, her eyes lit up, and she strode over.

"Adventurer, you're back." Sander's gaze was full of inquiry.

"Did you see my movements just now? I always feel like something is missing, the force isn't transparent enough."

Chen You took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to complain.

He walked a circle around Sander, his gaze deep.

"It's getting interesting." Chen You nodded, acting profoundly.

"Your force-exertion technique has already touched the threshold, and your muscle coordination is impeccable."

"However, this move of yours lacks soul."

Sander was stunned: "Soul?"

"Yes, a spirit of moving forward regardless of everything and despising all." Chen You put his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

"You need a mantra. At the moment of exerting force, shout this spirit out along with the mantra to reach the realm of unity between person and technique."

Sander looked solemn and cupped her fists to ask: "What mantra?"

Chen You turned around, looked directly into Sander's eyes, and spat out two words one by one.

"because of!"

Sander's brow furrowed as she repeatedly chewed over these two words in her mind.

She nodded thoughtfully and turned to look at that black iron pillar.

Sander assumed her stance again.

Shoulders dropped, elbows tucked, her gaze instantly became sharp.

She suddenly stepped out, her right shoulder striking toward the iron pillar with the sound of breaking wind.

At the moment of contact, Sander sank her Qi to her Dantian and let out a violent shout.

"because of!"

Clang!

This time, the black iron pillar made an ear-piercing sound of metal fatigue, and a visible dent actually appeared on the pillar's body.

Sander steadied herself and looked at the dent on the iron pillar, her eyes bursting with ecstatic light.

"Transparent! So transparent!" Sander laughed loudly and patted Chen You's shoulder hard.

"You truly are a genius! This mantra is simply the finishing touch to this combat technique!"

Chen You rubbed his shoulder, appearing as steady as an old dog on the surface, while internally he had already cursed eighteen generations of the programmer who designed this NPC.

"The City Lord is too polite; let's talk about business." Chen You decisively changed the subject.

Sander restrained her smile, her expression returning to the majesty of a City Lord.

"How is the situation over at the mining area? Have you found the source of the merchant caravan's disappearance?"

Chen You took out the 'Purified Power Core' that was automatically generated after completing the mission from his backpack and handed it to Sander.

"The source is in the Power Room deep within the mining area. An unknown source of mental pollution was controlling the machinery and miners; I have already cleaned it up."

Sander took the Power Core and examined it carefully.

"Well done, Adventurer." Sander put away the core, her tone solemn.

"You have not only saved the missing members of the merchant caravan but also eliminated a huge hidden danger for Cangxing City."

"On behalf of all the citizens of Cangxing City, I express my gratitude to you."

A system notification sounded in Chen You's ear.

【Congratulations on completing the main quest 'Shadow of the Snowy Region'.】

【Reward: Experience +200,000, Cangxing City Reputation +5,000 (Current Status: Respected).】

【Special Reward: City Lord's Mysterious Private Stash.】

Chen You opened his backpack to check the so-called 'City Lord's Mysterious Private Stash'.

【Patinaed Basketball】

【Introduction: It is unknown how many generations have handled this; the light reflected on it carries the glory of a family.】