Chapter 1 The Forest's Perils

The forest was fraught with danger, traps lurking everywhere. While scouting ahead, Chen Bo nearly stumbled into a mud pit filled with sharp spikes. Luckily, he was careful enough to avoid it. If he'd fallen in, he would have lost face. A thought struck him; he stopped checking for pits and started following Nie Yan's path, glancing around for show.

For more than ten minutes, Chen Bo was fine. The path Nie Yan cleared left no traps behind.

Seeing Nie Yan walk across an open space ahead, Chen Bo pretended to examine the area nearby and walked towards where Nie Yan had gone. When he reached the center of the open area, the ground felt a little soft. Without thinking, he stepped forward.

With a loud crash, the ground gave way, and he fell into a deep mud pit. He was covered in mud, which was also poisonous. Damage numbers of -2 floated above his head. Annoyed and frustrated, he looked up. It was about three yards to the top, and it would take considerable effort to climb out.

Nie Yan walked to the edge of the pit, leaned over, and peered down. "Oh, Morning Wood, how did you fall into a pit again? I told you before, a Thief must learn to avoid traps. How could you just step right in?"

"Damn it! I clearly saw you walk through here just now. How come you're fine? You set me up!" Even the dull-witted Chen Bo understood what was happening. He cursed from the mud.

"You stepped into the trap yourself. I didn't push you. How could you say I set you up? You can only blame yourself for being careless. Let me add, you can't walk wherever I walk. People are different." Nie Yan looked down at Chen Bo with contempt and wagged his index finger. "You're just not good enough!" In his past life, Nie Yan had already understood that Chen Bo was petty and couldn't tolerate others. If he was going to offend him, he might as well offend him thoroughly. Bring it on!

"Nie Yan, you bastard! I curse your ancestors! I'll remember this! If you've got the guts, let's duel! I'll kill you!" Chen Bo raged.

"You're not good enough for a duel, either. Next time, bring some more people, or it'll be too boring." Nie Yan completely ignored Chen Bo and said to Dumpling and the others, "Pull him up. We need to keep moving forward."

Twilight and Tang Yao exchanged glances, both thinking that Chen Bo had been humiliated enough by Nie Yan.

System: Chen Bo has left the party.

Chen Bo, feeling too ashamed to stay in the party, left to end his misery.

"Alright, the annoying guy is gone. It's better without him. Let's continue." Nie Yan thought, Chen Bo does have some self-awareness.

"Aren't you going a bit too far?" Yu Lan frowned. Although she also disliked Chen Bo, he was still part of their team. She wasn't happy about Nie Yan kicking him out.

"You all saw it. I didn't make him crash into a Treant, nor did I make him step into a trap. It was all his own doing. I just said a few extra words, and he got angry and ran off. You can't blame me for that." Nie Yan looked at Yao Yao and asked innocently, "Was I wrong?"

Seeing Nie Yan's expression, Yao Yao couldn't stop herself from laughing. This guy was clearly enjoying the situation while acting innocent.

"Sister Yu Lan, Chen Bo's attitude was terrible before. Although Nie Yan was a bit much, Chen Bo was careless the entire way. He shouldn't put all the blame on Nie Yan," Yao Yao said. Chen Bo's behavior had made a bad impression on her. So she helped Nie Yan.

"Let's clear the dungeon first. We can talk about the rest later," Yu Lan said, shaking her head.

"Anyway, I'm only working with you this once. After this, if Chen Bo is still around, even if you beg me, I won't come. Out of sight, out of mind. If he tries to cause me trouble, it won't be your problem," Nie Yan said. If Yao Yao hadn't asked, he wouldn't have come to Treant Forest with Yu Lan and the others. He didn't like Chen Bo and kicked him out. So what? Even a clay Buddha has a fiery temper. If Nie Yan had endured Chen Bo's anger and kept quiet, that would be a wimp move.

"Nie Yan, I'm sorry," Yao Yao said apologetically. After all, she was the one who had asked Nie Yan to come, and he ended up getting angry.

Yao Yao was too kind. It was Chen Bo's fault, but she blamed herself.

"It has nothing to do with you. I'm just a vindictive person. If anyone opposes me, I'll make trouble for them. I'm used to being carefree. It's fine to be a free man, but I can't stand the restrictions of a team. In the future, if I want to clear a dungeon, I'll just form my own party," Nie Yan said with a chuckle, very casually.

Nie Yan brushed the problem aside lightly. In Yao Yao's eyes, Nie Yan was quite easygoing, and her impression of him changed somewhat.

"That's right. In a while, we'll pull together our own group," Tang Yao said, deeply agreeing.

Nie Yan was thinking that if he were to recruit people, they would have to be at least super-expert level to join.

"If you guys form a party, I probably won't go," Yao Yao said apologetically. She had a fixed party. Although Chen Bo was annoying, Sister Yu Lan was here, so she couldn't leave her to join Nie Yan's party.

"I understand that. Alright, let's focus on clearing the dungeon. If we get wiped, wouldn't that be a joke for Morning Wood?" Nie Yan said with a smile.

"Brother Nie Yan has some good methods," Twilight said with a smile. He thought Nie Yan was an interesting person.

In the dark jungle in the distance, a group of Treants were moving ahead, completely blocking the path. Nie Yan sneaked closer and counted them. There were a total of eighteen. These Treants had 30% more health than the ones in the normal difficulty dungeon. Their attributes were also enhanced a lot. They also had the Treant-specific Entangling (restraint) and Whiplash (damage amplification) skills. His team could only handle three Treants at a time. If there were more than three, it would be a little dangerous. If they had to face five or more at the same time, they would be wiped. Because their levels were too low, the Priests didn't have Heal and Revive skills. One of their goals in coming to Treant Forest was to find a Heal Minor Wounds skill book.

"There are eighteen Treants ahead. You guys stop in this forest for now," Nie Yan said, scanning the surrounding terrain to analyze the best course of action.

"We can't handle that many Treants," Yu Lan said. To be honest, she had been a little uneasy ever since entering this expert-level dungeon. If they wiped again, some of their teammates would lose a level. It would take a long time for their team to recover.

"Don't worry. I'm not stupid enough to make you face so many Treants at once." Nie Yan observed the distance. The nearest Treants were about ten yards away. He looked up and saw a tall tree next to him. There was a branch he could stand on. He stretched out his left hand, and the Ring of the Weaver shot out a strand of spider silk, sticking to the branch. He flipped up onto the branch with a swift and agile movement.

"What's Nie Yan doing?" Yao Yao asked, looking at Yu Lan, White Soot, and the others beside her, puzzled.