Chapter 1 The Gathering Place

The underground world was a gathering place for dark creatures. At least ninety-nine out of every hundred creatures there were dark beings.

So, it was the perfect place to farm dark creatures.

Nie Yan checked the progress of the Sage's Heart. It had reached 98%. For some reason, after reaching this point, improving it even a little became extremely slow, making him anxious. Fortunately, even though it was increasing very slowly, it was still increasing, so Nie Yan didn't completely lose hope.

"I should prepare first," Nie Yan thought, heading to the Starry Night Potion Shop to replenish his consumables.

This time, he would be staying in the underground for a long time, unless something happened to the Ni Ren Tribe. With the Ni Ren Tribe's current strength, even if they encountered a full-scale attack from Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group, they could handle it with ease, so Nie Yan wasn't worried.

After getting some necessary potions at the Starry Night Potion Shop, Nie Yan, with his large backpack space, was able to store quite a few things. He prepared the necessary consumables and, after leaving Okoron City, headed north, entering the Valley of Doomsday.

Dark Transmission still needed several days to cool down. Without Dark Transmission, he could only enter through the underground passage.

This was his first time taking the underground passage. In his previous life, as a professional player who valued stability, he wouldn't dare to take such a dangerous path. But now it was different. With his skill, he had the courage to do anything. Even if the underground passage was completely occupied by underground players, he would dare to闯a 闯 (chuǎng yī chuǎng - take a risk).

He passed through the dense jungle of the Valley of Doomsday, where players from both major factions were active, engaging in a game of hunting and being hunted. Those who dared to roam the Valley of Doomsday were basically experts among players, seeking equipment and glory.

Nie Yan swiftly passed by, heading towards the entrance of the underground passage in the center of the Valley of Doomsday.

On the edge of the Valley of Doomsday, near a small forest close to Okoron City, five players had just finished a battle. An undead thief and a dark elf dual-wielder were acting as sentries, on full alert. A dark elf Dark Word mage, a fallen human Dark Word mage, and a fallen human dark priest were sitting on the ground, drinking magic spring water to restore their magic.

They were chatting.

"Cuo Luo, how much more glory do you need to become a Warlord?" the undead thief asked, looking at the dual-wielder next to him.

"Only five points left, I should be able to level up after killing a few random guys," the dark elf dual-wielder said, glancing at his status bar.

"You're the slowest one here. We'll leave the team for a while to kill some guys, and then we should go back underground to replenish our supplies," the undead thief said, checking his backpack.

"Understood."

Among these players, the undead thief was clearly the leader. He wore a set of silver-gray leather armor, the level 130 Legendary Dark Adherence set. This Legendary set didn't add much to health or defense, but mostly boosted skills. This set was battlefield armor purchased from an NPC after reaching a certain level of honor, and it was very cheap.

Battlefield armor and ordinary equipment belonged to different systems. Ordinary equipment had a greater advantage when dealing with monsters, while battlefield armor was more suitable for those who were skilled in PK (player versus player).

"Boss Hei Tong, how long until you reach High Warlord?"

"Still a long way to go, probably a few more months of grinding," the undead thief said. High Warlord was still very distant for them.

"Boss, new clue. The guy with the Death God's Blade is heading towards the underground passage," the dark priest said, having just received a system message.

"Isn't the Death God's Blade in the hands of Kuang Zei Nie Yan?"

"That was an unconfirmed message. It might be a rumor spread by some people to discourage others."

"The person with the Death God's Blade is heading towards the underground passage, could it be that he wants to go to the underground world?"

"Maybe someone got the Death God's Blade and is planning to go back to turn in a quest!"

Everyone looked at the undead thief named Hei Tong.

"Boss, what do we do?"

"Follow him and see what happens!" the undead thief said after a moment of contemplation.

The mages sitting on the ground stood up, and the five of them quickly ran towards the entrance of the underground passage. The undead thief suddenly accelerated, activating Gale Steps and disappearing.

Nie Yan forgot one thing: the Death God's Blade in his hands was coveted by the entire Evil and Order factions. From the moment he entered the Valley of Doomsday, many people had already noticed him. What kind of storm would he cause if he entered the underground world?

As Nie Yan headed towards the underground passage, Cancan Daoguang and others led their team into the World Barrier, initiating the process of opening the World Barrier in the name of the Ni Ren Tribe guild.

The World Barrier was divided into ten regions. Cancan Daoguang and the others entered the first region, which had a total of two large checkpoints, with more than one hundred and fifty bosses ranging from level 150 to level 180.

The moment Cancan Daoguang and the others opened the World Barrier, it attracted the attention of the entire server.

Factions such as Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group organized players to enter the World Barrier and engaged in difficult exploration. Angel Faction was slightly faster, having already defeated more than one hundred and twenty bosses, while the Century Financial Group's guilds had reached more than ninety bosses. The progress of other factions was less than half that of Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group. The Ni Ren Tribe had not entered the World Barrier, which made players very curious. Ni Ren Tribe's delayed action meant they were far behind Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group. What exactly was the Ni Ren Tribe planning to do? Because of this curiosity, the Ni Ren Tribe's opening of the World Barrier sparked heated discussions on the forums.

"The Ni Ren Tribe should be improving their equipment before entering the Century Barrier."

"Having fallen so far behind, it's probably not easy for the Ni Ren Tribe to catch up with Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group."

"Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group should have gotten a lot of good equipment inside the World Barrier."

The forums were full of discussions about the World Barrier and the Ni Ren Tribe's elite team.

However, after Cancan Daoguang and others entered the World Barrier, all doubts disappeared.

Cancan Daoguang and the others began a frantic dungeon run, taking down the first boss in five minutes, setting a record. But this was just the beginning. They took down the second boss in fifteen minutes, and then continued to advance at an astonishing speed.

Each boss in the World Barrier had special skills. Other guilds basically wiped out repeatedly before finally defeating one boss after another. However, not only did the Ni Ren Tribe elite team have excellent coordination, but their equipment was also frighteningly good. They effortlessly took down ordinary bosses.

The speed of the Ni Ren Tribe's advance was astonishing. In just three hours, they had already defeated five bosses.

A system announcement rang out.

System: The Ni Ren Tribe has completed the first phase, creating the best record and receiving an extra reward.

The forums exploded.

"Damn, they took down five bosses in three hours, are these guys even human?"

"It is said that each member of the Ni Ren Tribe's thousand-man team has at least two pieces of sub-legendary equipment, and more than one hundred people have legendary equipment or higher. The average spell damage of mages is more than six thousand!"

"I heard that Kuang Zei Nie Yan isn't in the team. If Kuang Zei Nie Yan was there, the result would be even more terrifying."

Cancan Daoguang used a finishing move to kill the level 160 mutated Bloodthirsty Butcher leader, picked up the equipment dropped by the Bloodthirsty Butcher from the ground, glanced at the system announcement, and asked in the group chat, "What's the reward?"

Shui Se Yantou was responsible for commanding this elite team. Shui Se Yantou was the leader, and the items went directly into Shui Se Yantou's backpack.

"It's a blueprint for a new type of catapult, with a range of two thousand yards and three times the power. Not bad," Shui Se Yantou said. This blueprint for a new type of catapult was of great significance to the Ni Ren Tribe, and was more valuable than some sub-legendary or legendary equipment.

"We made a profit today. Let's continue pushing forward, and take down fifteen leaders today!" Cancan Daoguang said with great enthusiasm.

The Ni Ren Tribe's actions immediately put a lot of pressure on Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group. The Ni Ren Tribe was too abnormal. What kind of advance speed was this! Back then, it took them a full two days and several team wipes to take down the first five bosses. A comparison immediately revealed the gap between the two sides. In order not to be overtaken by the Ni Ren Tribe, Angel Faction and the Century Financial Group had to speed up their advance, but sometimes, haste makes waste.

Nie Yan received the news from Cancan Daoguang and the others, and smiled slightly. As he had expected, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the work. Their decision to collect equipment outside before entering the World Barrier was correct. With their current equipment, the Ni Ren Tribe's thousand-man team could naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort in the World Barrier.

The entrance to the underground passage in the distance was already close, the deep cave embedded in the mountain, winding and twisting, with very dim light inside.

Nie Yan looked at the surrounding environment and recorded a coordinate here. After recording the coordinate, Nie Yan could teleport to this location at any time.

Just as Nie Yan approached the underground passage, a thief stealthily moved over, stopping about one hundred yards away from Nie Yan, and enhanced his stealth.

Nie Yan suddenly had a strange feeling, his eyebrows raised. A thief!

His powerful perception allowed him to sense very subtle movements around him, and he noticed the thief the moment he appeared.

Eye of Truth!

A strange red light suddenly burst out from Nie Yan's pupils, scanning towards the direction where the thief was.

A faint figure fell into Nie Yan's eyes, but it disappeared in an instant, running away far away at quite a speed. He withdrew his gaze, ignored it, and walked straight towards the underground passage. Nie Yan didn't bother to attack such players in the wild.