Seeing that Su Ming’an had beco the Ghost of Jiu Shen, the other Players were not very delighted.
Under ideal circumstances, they would have hoped it would be soone like JingXue Chunzi or Margaret, Players who ranked around eightieth or ninetieth, to beco the Ghost of Jiu Shen. It would have made things much easier for them.
Pursued by other Players compared with being chased by Su Ming’an, the pressure was completely on different levels. With the forr, they could casually stroll down the streets or even gather and bait for a counter-kill, but with the latter... it essentially turned into a farming village slaughter ga where their only option upon encountering him was to run.
And the next words from Shadow made their faces turn even paler.
"Moreover, the ’Ghost of Jiu Shen’ will receive a 500% boost in strength, while the other twelve will have their strength suppressed by 50%. But once the eight altars have been inscribed, this change in strength will be removed—of course, as the escaping side, you will also gain so reconnaissance and escape Skills."
Upon hearing this, the twelve Players all had serious expressions. Many cast furtive glances at Su Ming’an, their bodies involuntarily leaning back.
They had seen the world ranking list. Before the eighth World began, Su Ming’an’s Combat Power had already soared to 2400. With a fivefold increase, it could even reach four thousand...
"It seems that this instance encourages us to hide and run away, which is why they have bestowed upon us reconnaissance and escape Skills. Anyone’s strength increased fivefold would beco terrifying, and with our own strength halved, it’s impossible for us to confront the Ghost of Jiu Shen head-on," Cyrus analyzed.
"We’re here," said Shadow as he halted.
They had walked past the dirt road and through layers of wheat fields, arriving in front of a large processing factory. Smoke was billowing from the chimney of the factory, where a lazy mongrel lay napping in front of the iron gates. At the mont, an old man smoking a dry pipe and a dark-skinned young man dressed in coarse hemp were sitting around a cylindrical machine that was ’puff puff’ jetting steam.
Having seen the stone houses and farmland of the Fourth Tribe before, Su Ming’an had thought this was a World with a Primitive Age setting. Yet seeing the industrial era-like factory and steam engine in front of him, he felt it wasn’t quite the case.
The sense of disconnection between the eras seed very clear here.
Seeing the thirteen Players approaching, the old man exhaled a ring of smoke and slowly stood up.
"I’m Old Te, the owner of this farm," he said. "To the twelve contestants, I will teach you these Skills about ’escape’."
"I’m yatu. I’m a foreigner who ca a few years ago and work on the farm," said the dark-skinned young man, glancing at Su Ming’an. "I will teach you the Skills regarding ’pursuit’."
"Eh? There are NPCs here?" Wang Chaoze muttered to himself, while Cyrus directly asked, "Excuse , what does Black Sheep an? And what is Jiu Shen?"
Listening to Cyrus’s questions, Su Ming’an was sowhat surprised, but he realized that many Players seed to have the sa confusion.
...These people, they don’t even know what Jiu Shen ans?
Su Ming’an suddenly realized that he might possess a significant information gap. He even knew that the Black Sheep was one of the three Authorities of Bai Shen. According to the nursery rhy sung by Chang Sheng, the other two Authorities of Bai Shen were the Black Python and the Raven. However, he was clueless about what these three animals specifically represented.
Old Te’s dry, wrinkled face creased slightly, his skin bunching up like old tree bark: "...Do not ask too much, adventurers, and esteed Guides. I am only here in accordance with the Oracle left by Bai Shen, dedicated to impart all my Skills about ’escape.’ Beyond that, I do not know the specific aning of this competition."
A few players furrowed their brows.
At this mont, with their keen senses, they also realized that these instances weren’t rely simple gas. They seed to have a background and a storyline embedded within.
Old Te and yatu seed to have co here only to fulfill the prerequisites for this ga instance. The so-called "pursuit" and "escape" abilities they possessed were brought about by personal curses and didn’t materialize out of thin air—that is to say, this ga instance didn’t seem to be generated from nothing, but was based on sothing.
On their way here, Su Ming’an had also seen so people moving around in the houses on the farm. Those seed to be farmworkers, possibly locals responsible for night work. They had been living here for quite a while.
"Follow ," yatu said, glancing at Su Ming’an.
Su Ming’an followed yatu and left.
After he left, twelve players gathered together to begin learning skills from Old Te.
"The curse on has granted so abilities. After subdividing them, I can teach you skills in five areas, and each of you can choose two to learn," Old Te said.
Lu listened and, instead of rushing to learn, looked around and t the eyes of the other eleven players.
"Everyone!" he shouted loudly, his voice resonant, "Clearly, we twelve have beco a large group. Currently, we share a common goal and a common enemy."
The other players looked at him, and surprisingly, they had no objections to Lu’s act of seizing the initiative to speak. Perhaps it was indeed because Lu genuinely had good popularity.
"Our common goal is to complete the blood runes of eight altars and open the gate of escape. Unfortunately, our common enemy is the Number One Player, whom none of us wishes to confront," Lu said. "Given the rules, any one of us facing the current Number One Player would be badly defeated, even if the twelve of us were to band together. Therefore, as the side that needs to hide and escape, we must avoid encountering the Number One Player as much as possible during our actions... I think these skills are our ans of escape. As a group, we should distribute these skills properly."
Lu already checked out the five skills: "Agile Perception" that could sense the movent of others within a ten-ter radius, "Eye of Tracking" that could see the positions of other escapees, "Remote Communication" that allowed communication with a player within a thousand ters, "Hand of Redemption" that could forcefully teleport a critically injured player at the cost of regressing altar progress, and "Concealnt Color" that blended in with the surrounding environnt.
Each person could only choose two, and it was clear that "Eye of Tracking" and "Remote Communication" were essential skills for a leader.
Lu led by example and chose these two skills, which were obviously not conducive to individual escape. He then communicated with the other players to arrange the distribution of skills.
"I have healing skills, so Hand of Redemption is more suitable for ," JingXue Chunzi said.
"I’d like to choose Agile Perception and Concealnt Color. I have multiple teleport skills in my occupation, and if necessary, I can hold off Su Ming’an for a while. My Guide is also good at hiding, so my safety should be secured," proposed Wang Wanyu.
"Isabella is my friend, and I need Remote Communication. So of her skills need to be utilized with my guidance. She has a chanical Hand, and can temporarily create so reconnaissance machines that can be controlled."
"Margaret, don’t you have the skill of Archangel’s Wings? With Eye of Tracking, you should be able to pinpoint the location of all other Black Sheep Players. Combined with Remote Communication, you can achieve a full-map vision effect..."
"Hmm, I suggest..."
"I’m inclined to..."
It was very comforting that, the players present communicated with each other conveniently and quickly, and there were no fierce quarrels over a skill. The atmosphere was harmonious, like friends who had known each other for years talking, and even their individual live streaming rooms were calm.
In Lu’s live streaming room, the audience was cheering them on.
[This match has a big advantage! Twelve against one, even a five-tis boost for the Number One Player would be useless, right?]
[If it were against average players, it might be fine, but these twelve are all within the top hundred players, each a crafty individual with plenty of trump cards up their sleeve. To say they’d be easily killed off seems unlikely.]
[Once the gates open, Su Ming’an’s boosted strength will be stripped away, then he’ll be in trouble, probably getting counter-killed instantly.]
[Co on, Brother Lu! Cheering for you! May Lu beco famous in one battle!]
[Lu’s fa should have risen long ago. I’ve watched his progress, Lu is both strong and kind to us. If the Number One Player really loses, as the leader among the Black Sheep Players, Lu’s na will truly spread far and wide. Maybe there’s even a chance for him to move up in ranks, huh?]
[I’m really curious about the hidden plot of this small instance... I particularly like delving into these world backgrounds, but it seems like the top players aren’t inclined to dig deeper.]
[Surviving on your own is already tough. In the Eighth World, there’s only one survivor, who has ti to explore the world’s storyline... Oh, except for Su Ming’an, who truly is so bold it’s indescribable, it seems like he’s still at ease up to now.]
[...]
"Also, the Number One Player’s terrifying Spatial Vibration skill, after being strengthened fivefold, is a big trouble," Margaret, who had blond hair like a sanctuary’s saintess, said, "If he activates that skill, anyone nearby who senses it must quickly move locations. Don’t be greedy and stay where you are to progress on the altar, or if you are caught, you are practically dead."
"Yes, I know, we’re all world-class powerhouses, with a strong will to win. When facing the Number One Player head-on, there is inevitably a desire to challenge him," Lu Wen said calmly. "But the Number One Player in this state is not soone we should confront directly, and there’s no sha in running away for the ti being. As long as everyone stays alive, after he leaves, we can continue to inscribe the nearby altars, and once eight altars have been inscribed, his power boost will be removed, and we can achieve an even more glorious victory."
He explained things clearly. This was indeed a team ga for them. With twelve altars scattered throughout the area, opening the escape door required inscribing eight of them, which would then weaken Su Ming’an. In the anti, they were like grasshoppers on a string; losing any player would reduce their numbers and slow down the pace of inscribing the altars, leaving them to be defeated one by one.
Wander, hide, maneuver, continue inscribing the altars after the ghost is lured away—that was the correct strategy for them.
"There are so props like soul stones left on the farm; the fog’s influence is getting bigger and bigger. Before we inscribe the altars, we need to find soul stones, as well as blood and pen... cough cough..." So players were starting to cough.
"It’s unclear what blood can be used to inscribe the altar, and there are no hints, but animal blood should work, let’s go try that first..."
As they talked, the scene was harmonious and orderly, like a well-structured eting.
...
At so distance from the players, i Yatu stopped next to a cornfield with Su Ming’an.
Like Old Te, i Yatu walked undaunted through the black mist. When Su Ming’an asked i Yatu why, he said they were teaching at night because they lacked soul stones, their curse was far from erupting, so walking for an hour or two at night was no issue.
"I have four skills here; choose two to learn," i Yatu said briefly, a man of few words.
[NPC (i Yatu) will teach you skills: (Alert Surveillance), (Fixed Point Charge), (Night Color Alert Vision), (Blood Seal Teleportation). Please select two to learn.]
...
[Alert Surveillance (White Level): Passive Skill. When soone is watching you, you will get a directional prompt.]
[Fixed Point Charge (Blue Level): Active Skill. Select a target within your line of sight and teleport rapidly to it with the target as the endpoint. Teleportation speed is related to the player’s agility attribute points (currently 10 agility points, 12m/s teleportation speed), and can last up to five seconds, which the player can cancel at will. Cooldown ti 30 seconds.]
[Night Color Alert Vision (White Level): Passive Skill. At night, you will continuously have "Night Vision", enabling you to see nearly as well as in daylight.]
[Blood Seal Teleportation (Blue Level): Active Skill. Leave a blood seal at a place with a dark aura, and if the player is within a straight-line distance of less than 3000 ters from the blood seal, they can channel for five seconds and teleport to the blood seal. Cooldown ti one hour.]
...
Su Ming’an rembered that his footwear equipnt was the Blue Level North Wind Long Boots with a 35% running speed boost, and with the activation of the North Wind Backtracking skill attached to the equipnt, he would receive an additional 35% speed boost for five seconds. If he combined this Fixed Point Charge, it would create an effect akin to instant teleportation.
Moreover, its cooldown was only 30 seconds... very suitable indeed.
After pondering for a while, he chose Fixed Point Charge and Blood Seal Teleportation. He didn’t need Alert Surveillance; in Shadow State, he had innate Alert Surveillance, and although his night vision was barely adequate, teleport skills were more suitable. He had too few uses of Spatial Displacent, which likely ant his potential hadn’t been fully unlocked.
To upgrade to Third Level space, he needed skill advancent stones, but he didn’t have any right now, they were not for sale in the marketplace either, which probably required completing main quests to obtain.
After making his choice, he suddenly realized that these two skills were permanent.
... That is to say, just by participating in this instance, he had gained two skills that he could use forever.
The benefits that the top players received in this instance were beyond imagination.
i Yatu told him that the sacrifice field would be activated in five minutes, at which ti he could start his actions. There were also so props and temporary skills on the field, which he had to explore on his own.
At this mont, the raven that had been hiding under his robe jumped out. It seed very anxious.
A line of blood-red text floated above its head, but it was indecipherable, seeming to be so kind of special ancient script; Su Ming’an couldn’t understand it.
"It says." Xiber suddenly spoke:
"... Due to its following, your strength boost rules are the opposite of normal circumstances."
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