chapter 27

Liu Chuan made Wu Zewen the captain of the team and went to brush the normal mode alone.

Even with the chaotic event around him, Wu Zewen calmly opened the webpage to watch a Five Poisons strategy. Li Xiang asked on the team channel: “Master Taoist, are you familiar with this Tangmen?”

Taoist Qingfeng said, “Don’t know him well.”

Li Xiang was very confused: “Then why did he invite you to the team?”

Taoist Qingfeng said, “Brush the hero mode.”

Li Xiang: “............”

The hero mode in this game is very difficult. Generally, only the elite groups of the great guilds would try this mod and most people in the novice stage would upgrade by brushing the normal mode. Although the normal mode has lesser experience points, at least, players can get through smoothly without having to suffer terribly.

Unlike the hero mode which will make the group lose 5% of the experience points once they die making it strenuous and unrewarding!

However, Li Xiang was embarrassed to say “We can’t beat it” so he waited silently on the side.

Five minutes later, Liu Chuan came out of the instance of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion again and asked to join the team. He sent a trading application to the owner of Qingfeng shop with all the ordinary blue equipment that was rewarded and sent a smiling expression: “Do you believe it now?”

Taoist Qingfeng was silent for a moment before asking, “Five minutes, how do you fight?”

As if the method was common knowledge, Liu Chuan said, “Gather all the little monsters and kill them all at once.”

Taoist Qingfeng: “......”

Li Xiang was stunned. This Tangmen seemed to be a bit too powerful, right? If he remembers correctly, there are 12 monsters in the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion instance! Can the crispy* Tangmen hit all 12 monsters at once?

* Can be easily killed

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “Okay, let’s go play the hero mode. The normal mode is too boring and the rewards are too few.”

This was the first thing Wu Zewen saw when he came back after reading the strategy. He obediently typed “en” and then gave Liu Chuan the captaincy back.

Li Xiang was dumbfounded. “Are we equipped to fight the hero mode? You think we can pass?”

They don’t have a lot of blue outfits on their body, let alone a powerful purple outfit needed for this instance! There were some parts where they were wearing level 25 equipment!

Liu Chuan said: “The three of us might not be able to, so add the Taoist master.”

Li Xiang was shocked. “Damn, you mean just the four of us are going to fight?”

All six elite members of other great guilds are wiped out but he actually wanted to go inside with only four people!

Liu Chuan said, “Of course four people can pass but you have to listen to my command.”

Li Xiang: “......” You really aren’t modest.

Liu Chuan continued: “There are many rewards in the hero mode, let’s talk about it first. Equipment should be divided according to our positions. In addition, aside from the equipment the four of us need, the equipment of other sects would be hung in the Qingfeng shop and sold. Other materials should first be put in the warehouse since it’s not cost-effective to sell materials right now. We can stock up first.”

Taoist Qingfeng quickly understood. “Do you want to rely on the hero mode instances to get materials?”

Liu Chuan said: “The hero mode is the fastest way to get materials in the early stages. I want to fight the world boss but with just the four of us, we can’t beat it.”

Taoist Qingfeng said in surprise: “Are you also interested in fighting the world boss? Isn’t your appetite too big?”

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “Let’s talk about it when we reach level 40.”

Li Xiang was speechless! Can you stop jumping from one topic to another?! The instance hasn’t been cleared yet and we’re already discussing the distribution of rewards and fighting the world boss?! Being interested in the world boss, this appetite is simply an ant swallowing an elephant*, isn’t it?

* Very big appetite; greedy; like a tiny ant trying to swallow a big elephant

Wu Zewen said, “Okay. I have no objections.”

Li Xiang wants to burst into tears…

Stuck between a master and a novice, he, an old player can’t keep up, is like a joke.

Liu Chuan gathered his teammates, checked their equipment, and said, “Our equipment is barely enough to fight against the hero mode. Fortunately, we just bought the Five Elements Stone to strengthen the weapons. It’s almost level 4 otherwise, the damage really wouldn’t be enough.”

5 Level 1 stones can synthesize Level 2 stones, 5 Level 2 stones can synthesize a Level 3, and so on. The Level 1 stones required to synthesize Level 4 stones are exactly 125! The blue outfit is strengthened to level 4 at most and the Five Elements Stone they just bought is enough to strengthen their weapon to Level 30!

Li Xiang immediately understood!

Just now, the Tangmen’s intention when he let everyone buy the Five Elements Stone at the wedding site was actually because he wanted to enter the hero mode instance?!

It’s a bit difficult to fight the hero mode with a level 30 blue weapon but if you strengthen the weapon, the data will be upgraded by one level. It’s just that few people in the novice stage will strengthen their recruitment and those who use stones to strengthen level 30 equipment would be ridiculed as a rookie if other players see it…

But now, facing the Captain Tangmen, Li Xiang couldn’t connect him with a rookie at all. He obviously already had thought about fighting the hero mode instance before he could buy stones on the wedding site…

Everyone quickly strengthened their weapons.

Taoist Qingfeng didn’t bring any Five Elements Stone with him and planned to go back to the city to buy it but Liu Chuan said, “Taoist master doesn’t need it. Your equipment output is enough.”

Li Xiang checked the equipment of Taoist Qingfeng and sure enough, he saw that the Wudang already had a level 30 blue outfit and his jewelry such as his rings that were imbued with attack power was a piece of advanced purple equipment. At first glance, he was very well-off…

Taking responsibility for his teammates, Li Xiang proposed: “Why don’t we ask for another nanny? How are we going to fight without anyone adding blood?”

Liu Chuan said, “No, just the four of us. It takes money to recruit outsiders to get materials which is too troublesome. It’s enough for four sects to deal with this instance. Have you all learned the skills at level 30? Check the equipment and enter the instance if you have no problem.”

Li Xiang felt a little complicated. This Tangmen said “no outsiders” which makes it seem like he already regarded the three people in the team as “one of his own”. It’s just that why does Li Xiang feel like… the Tangmen they’re following is particularly unreliable?

It’s practically unheard of for four people to challenge the hero mode…

***

At this time, a lot of players in the Shuilong Yin server have already crossed the level 30 threshold. Except for the players who love to do tasks, most of the level 30 players gathered in the Mingjian Pavilion area to team up for the next instance. 80% of the players were going to play the ordinary mode and only some elite players from the great guilds will try the hero mode. The map of the Mingjian Pavilion is very large and there are countless NPCs scattered everywhere. As long as you talk to any NPC, you can directly teleport into the instance.

Liu Chuan casually found an NPC to talk to and chose the hero mode.

A line of prompt pops up on the screen of the four people simultaneously—--

Your team is about to challenge the hero mode of [Ye Tan Mingjian Pavilion]. The instance map is loading, please wait……

After a while, the map was loaded and the four players were teleported to the front of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion.

The setting of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion in the game is a neutral organization in Jianghu that collects various magical weapons. The entire Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion is divided into the front yard, the backyard, the central council hall, the back mountain, and the sword pool of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion.

The plot of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion instance is: “Suspicious characters have been found in the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion. It seems they’re conspiring for the peerless god weapons in the sword pool. Please assist the knights in the investigation.”

Players will be teleported to the front yard of the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion. They have to fight all the mobs in the yard. After fighting the mobs, they would encounter Boss No. 1. If they manage to kill Boss No 1, they can pass through the central council hall where NPCs who can repair equipment and sell medicines are inside. After taking a break and adjusting, they will fight mobs in the backyard. Just like in the first fights, after clearing the mob, they will encounter Boss No. 2. Even if they are killed, players are granted game clearance.”

The level 30 instance isn’t complicated. Just hit through the front yard, council hall, and backyard to pass.

The four of them entered the Ye Tanming Jian Pavilion together. It was a full moon night and from time to time, there were disciples patrolling around. Patrol disciples will mistake the intruder player for an assassin and will automatically attack the players who teleport inside.

Although Li Xiang is a bit of a novice, he is still a very reliable meat shield Shaolin at a critical moment so he rushed to the front of the team to protect his teammates. Knowing that this is an instance in the hero mode, he couldn’t mess around so he stood firmly in place, waiting for his teammates to arrive before fighting.

In the hero mode, even a small monster can destroy the entire team!

Soon, his teammates arrived. Before Li Xiang had the time to throw out the beads, he saw the Tangmen use light step skills to rush to the corridor on his right. Poison dart, poison dart, one after another, three poison darts were immediately shot. Then, he quickly jumped and flew back using his light step skills!

It took less than three seconds to rush in, pull the monster and fly back!

Three mobs rushed over from the right at the same time. The Tangmen actually used the three poison darts to pull the monsters and all of them accurately hit their target.

Seeing the mobs rushing over, Li Xiang hurriedly threw the Buddha beads to pull its aggro. Unexpectedly, the Tangmen continued to rush to his right. Like before, he hit them with the poison dart, jumped quickly, and flew back with his light step skills! The three patrol disciples were hit by the poison dart accurately and they also rushed towards him!

——Li Xiang felt his jaw drop!

Enduring the urge to vomit blood, he pulled the six mobs together, hurriedly grabbing the aggro while quickly typing a line on the team channel: “Brother, this is the hero mode instance! You’re going to destroy the team by messing around like this!”

Liu Chuan said very simply: “Ideal Master will absorb the damage for a while, the others quickly follow me!”

After saying this, the Tangmen directly walked towards the right corridor and the other two could only follow.

The two groups of patrol disciples on the right were all pulled away by the Tangmen just now so there were no more mobs in the right corridor. Tangmen took them to the end of the corridor, stood on the stairs, and jumped, directly flying to the roof with light steps!

“Stand here with me, go up the roof with light steps.”

At first, looking at his movements, the others were puzzled. Seeing him on the roof confused them even more.

Taoist Qingfeng didn’t say a word and with Snowfall Passing through the Clouds, the Taoist Wudang landed precisely on top of the roof!

Liu Chuan couldn’t help but glance at his side: this cold and indifferent Wudang’s light step skills were no joke.

Unlike the Wudang, Wu Zewen’s light step skills weren’t as proficient so he had to jump twice.

He was in a hurry because he couldn’t jump up. A hook suddenly flew in front of him and only the sound of the chain was his warning before the scenery in front of him changed in a flash. Wu Zewen saw that his Five Poisons was directly hooked to the roof and landed firmly beside the Tangmen!

Tangmen Skills: Zimu Flying Claw!

Throw a chain with a hook to pull the opponent in front of him.

This is a pulling skill that Tangmen learns at level 30, which is the same as the Five Poisons of the Long Whip School using their whips to pull people.

Wu Zewen glanced at the Tangmen beside him. As a novice, the feeling of being covered by a master in every aspect made him uncomfortable. Wu Zewen thought seriously that he must practice light steps well in the future.

All of them jumped on the roof. The Tangmen said on the team channel: “Okay! Ideal Master pull the monsters into the middle of the yard. No one will be able to add blood to you so withstand it yourself! Grasp the rhythm of the damage reduction skills and take the red potion yourself if the blood falls down, don’t panic!”

Li Xiang: “......”

This is simply a lot of pressure! Without a nanny, I feel like I’m struggling between life and death!

Li Xiang vomited blood silently and pulled the six mobs into the middle of the yard.

Liu Chuan continued: “Mobs will randomly choose one player to attack, which affects the teammates around them. The people on the roof disperse. Five Poisons go to the right, Wudang on the left, and me in the middle. Stand up and fight!”

Li Xiang looked at the people standing in three directions at the roof above his head and suddenly realized!

That’s right! The most annoying thing about this instance is that the mob will randomly bind itself to a player. The bounded person cannot make any actions within 5 seconds which affect the teammates within 5 meters around him, causing the teammates within 5 meters around him to continuously bleed!

This is where many passers-by are killed. There are too many mobs in the courtyard and if everyone stands together, they will be bound and bounded until death. Even if they stand separately, it’s easy to attract the patrol monsters on the other side of the corridors and they would still be killed.

Tangmen let the three fly directly to the roof because the roof couldn’t attract the mobs. All of them stood separately so that even if one of them is bounded, the other two won’t be affected because they are far away from each other and can still continue to inflict damage. What’s even more amazing is that the three people on the roof wouldn’t be hit by the mobs and would not shed blood at all…

In this way, only the Shaolin had to work a little harder. He gathered the six mobs together, mastered the rhythm of his damage reduction skill, and kept taking the medicine to preserve his life. The other three output positions who jumped on the roof could unscrupulously hit the 6 mobs at any time.

As for the Shaolin, his skin is thick and he even changed into a level 30 defensive outfit. Even after being surrounded by 6 mobs, he wouldn’t easily die. Taking a low-level red potion bottle “Huoxue* medicine” can restore 1000 points of blood with a cooldown time of 30 seconds. Li Xiang’s Ideal Master was surrounded for 30 seconds and the blood volume was about to fall to the end. Grasp the rhythm of the damage and take the red potion, and you can pass the level without a nanny!

* To improve blood circulation

If it’s 7 mobs, it won’t work! This Tangmen actually counted the damage so accurately!

The front yard, which originally destroyed countless teams, suddenly became so simple by his command…

Li Xiang was amazed and couldn’t help but say, “This is the first time I’ve heard of this style of play!”

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “The low-level instance isn’t that complicated. Once you figure out the principle, there are countless ways to deal with it. The configuration of the four of us is the fastest way to play. If there’s a nanny, you can pull a few more and there’s no need for four people to fight this hard. 6 is the most stable since it would ensure safety.”

Li Xiang sighed. “Brother, you’re too strong…”

Liu Chuan suddenly said, “Damage reduction.”

Li Xiang was taken aback for a moment before he immediately turned on the Buddha Shaolin’s damage reduction skills, typing embarrassedly: “Ah*! I was so surprised that I almost forgot…”

* Literal translation is sweat or to be speechless out of embarrassment or helplessness but I don’t know how to phrase it so I chose to tl it like that

Liu Chuan reminded: “Master the rhythm. Take the red potion every 30 seconds. If the time period isn’t calculated well, no matter what you’re certainly going to die.”

Li Xiang hurriedly said, “I see!”

If Li Xiang was still doubting the level of the Tangmen before, now he doesn’t doubt it at all. All that’s left is the admiration as five bodies fall to the ground!

Wu Zewen stood on the roof and waved his whip rhythmically. The advantage of the Poisonous Insect School was after level 50. In the early stages, the group attack skills of the Long Whip School were more useful for hitting mobs so this time, even without the Tangmen reminding him, he consciously changed to the long whip.

But Wudang, who was standing on the roof, remained silent.

——Who are these people? Taoist Qingfeng couldn’t help frowning.

The Five Poisons was obviously a rookie who couldn’t even do light steps but occasionally, there are dazzling operations. The hit rate of hitting mobs is extremely high and the accuracy of the long whip is well calculated. The Shaolin talked too much but grasped the timing of taking potions and the damage reduction skills very well. While pulling monsters, he still had the time to type so it’s safe to say that his hand speed was very fast.

As for the Tangmen, needless to say, he’s an absolute master.

Not only are his operations sharp but more importantly, he has a deep understanding of the game. He has reached the point where he doesn’t need to read the strategy guides at all and could even think of a new strategy on the spot according to the occupations of his teammates!

——Is this a group of friends of a master with two novices?

——No, it should be said that this is a top master with extremely rich experience, with two novices with great potential!

What the hell does he want to do?

Taoist Qingfeng pondered for a moment and sent a private message: “Are you an expert from a guild in the old district?”

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “There's no guild yet, why don't we build one ourselves?”