Encountering the Boss Again
Outside Wild Wolf Materials.
Xue Ren stepped out and walked toward a black hover-car bearing a fierce dog-head emblem. A black-suited man in dark sunglasses stood at attention beside the rear door, holding it open.
Xue Ren paused at the car door and glanced back at the shop.
After a moment of silence, he got in.
Just as the suited man was about to close the door, something came to Xue Ren. "There's still someone inside the shop," he said, his tone flat. "Find out who he is."
The man paused, then nodded. "Yes, sir."
The hover-car lifted off, banked, and was gone in seconds.
Xue Ren watched the materials shop recede and vanish, then slowly closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat, exhaling quietly.
He kept getting the nagging feeling that the aura of the person inside that shop was somehow familiar — like he'd sensed it somewhere before.
——
The atmosphere inside had gone quiet. After a moment, Lu Yuan glanced at Xue Wang and probed carefully, "Old Xue, who was that man just now?"
Xue Wang came back to himself and let out a cold laugh. "A scoundrel. Nothing more."
Lu Yuan watched him fall silent and return to tallying the materials. He could tell Xue Wang had said all he intended to say, and let it go.
As long as the man hadn't come for *him*, that was fine.
——
Land of Origin. Ancient Sea Oasis.
Inside a stretch of forest.
A low mountain range lay spread out ahead. Lu Yuan looked left and right, figured one direction had to lead toward the Ancient Sea proper, and didn't dwell on it — he just picked one and ran.
He hadn't gone far when a foul, reeking wind slammed into his face.
The next instant, a massive head lunged out from the trees.
An Ancient Sea Giant Python — its body coal-black and as thick as a barrel — had come straight at him with jaws thrown wide. Scales shimmering with an inky luster, it roared and snapped down.
Lu Yuan let out a low grunt, gripped his heavy sword in both hands, and brought it down.
The blade sheared through the python's heavy scales as though they weren't there, sliced clean through that massive body, and took its head off.
Blood erupted in a torrent. The Ancient Sea Giant Python crashed to the ground, its headless body writhing madly. Its tail whipped into a tree trunk, setting a tree dozens of meters tall shuddering and swaying.
A green sphere of light materialized above the python's corpse.
Lu Yuan's eyes lit up. He absorbed it and checked: an Elite Grade leather armor set.
His third Elite Grade armor. He hadn't sold any of the three — he was planning to take them all back to Sandy Rock City and put them up for auction.
He gathered the Spirit Crystals and materials. The python had made quite a commotion; this was no place to linger. The feral beast density around the Ancient Sea Oasis was far higher than in the Sandy Rock Underground Palace — stop moving, and a whole pack would find you. He collected everything and pressed on.
——
Before long, Lu Yuan reached a river — a little over five meters wide. The sight of it caught him off guard for a moment; then he reasoned it was probably a tributary branching off from the Ancient Sea itself.
The current's direction led into a mountain valley.
He scanned both banks, decided one direction must wind toward the Ancient Sea, and followed the river upstream.
Walking along the bank, he ran into Ancient Sea Giant Crocodiles with regularity — and occasionally even an Elite Grade one. Their strength was comparable to Sand Crocodiles, tempering ranging anywhere from fifty to a hundred percent. They were distributed throughout the Ancient Sea and its tributaries, one of the dominant predators of the region.
After walking for a stretch, the forest fell away and the terrain opened up.
At the valley mouth, the riverbank spread out considerably — roughly twenty meters of flat ground on each side, running from the valley's entrance all the way inside.
On that bank, over twenty Ancient Sea Giant Crocodiles lay prostrate, basking in the sun. Some lounged at the waterline; others drifted in the shallows like waterlogged timber.
Among them, two stood apart — pitch-black, each over eight meters long, with a single horn jutting from their foreheads. Imposing creatures.
For other Feral Beasts, they would have been a serious problem.
For Lu Yuan, they were prey.
He raised an eyebrow, hefted his sword, and walked over.
Not far onto the bank, he spotted two others: each about three meters long, their bodies sheathed in gray scales, lying still. They had been dozing, but the moment Lu Yuan got within thirty-odd meters, they raised their heads. By twenty, both were locked onto him.
*Two Elite Grade Feral Beasts.* A grin spread across his face. He raised his sword and charged without a second thought.
He planted his foot, launched himself into the air, threaded through the gap between the two crocodiles — and a flash of sword light swept past.
Blood fountained from both their necks at once. The massive bodies slid forward several meters and collapsed.
All thanks to Black Steel Force.
During this stretch, through relentless training, his Black Steel Force had broken through the first level — now close to the second. At this stage, it could amplify his raw strength by eighty percent.
*An Elite Feral Beast at least ninety percent tempered, killed with one strike. Black Steel Force is incredible.*
With Black Steel Force active, his strength was simply overwhelming — especially against thick-skinned, hide-tough types like these. That was why a single sword was all it took to bring down an Elite Feral Beast not far below him in power.
Roused by the deaths of their two Elite companions, the rest of the crocodiles on the bank surged to their feet, roaring as they charged. Over twenty of them in total.
Lu Yuan bared his teeth and threw everything into it — Black Iron Body and Black Steel Force together. His first stroke nearly carved the fastest-charging crocodile clean in half.
Common Grade Ancient Sea Giant Crocodiles couldn't even scratch his defense. No threat whatsoever.
He flickered back and forth across the bank, every sword stroke claiming another Common Grade body, and cleaned up the rest without much effort. He gathered the Spirit Crystals and materials, then pressed on into the valley.
——
Inside, he ran into another Elite Grade Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile almost immediately.
It charged straight at him, scales blazing with jet-black light, jaws stretched wide.
Lu Yuan kicked off the ground, vaulted two meters into the air, and let the lunge pass beneath him. The moment he landed, he gripped the sword in both hands and hacked down hard.
The shimmering black scales shattered under the blow. The sword bit deep into the crocodile's back, and the sheer force of the impact crushed its footing, toppling it flat against the bank.
The crocodile screamed and went still.
He turned — another Elite had appeared right beside him, jaws angled to swallow him whole.
He smirked. His left hand pressed flat against the creature's upper jaw; he shoved off, and his body launched into the air. He landed squarely on the thing's head.
The crocodile felt the weight and thrashed, trying to shake him free.
Too late.
Lu Yuan stood on the thing's skull, braced both hands on the sword, and drove it through.
The crocodile screamed and went still.
He looked down at the bodies slowly losing their fight on the ground, and a quiet smile settled on his face.
——
Once inside the valley, the numbers thickened considerably — far more than outside.
Lu Yuan found himself surrounded by twenty or thirty crocodiles at a time on a regular basis. They were fast enough on land — just not as fast as him. And Common Grade ones were no threat at all.
He began to wonder if he'd blundered into a crocodile breeding ground.
That area was said to be the absolute center of the oasis — dense with Elite Feral Beasts, and where Boss Feral Beasts had been known to appear from time to time.
He carved his way through. By the time he reached the far end of the valley, he'd killed several hundred Ancient Sea Giant Crocodiles. The Spirit Crystal haul alone had to be upwards of six thousand.
——
At the valley's end sat a pool — roughly thirty meters across.
Four Elite Grade Ancient Sea Giant Crocodiles lay resting at its edge.
Lu Yuan was moving in on them when the pool's surface suddenly began to churn — the water heaving and surging as though it had been brought to a boil.
Then a head broke the surface.
*Just the head alone was five or six meters long.*
Lu Yuan froze. His pupils contracted. Every muscle locked tight.
On that enormous head, a pair of fierce Vertical Pupils fixed on him — watching the intruder who had just stepped into the pool's domain.
*That size...*
*A Boss?!*
This was not something he could handle alone.
If it came to running, though — he was fairly sure he could still manage that.