Chapter 397: Absorbing the Flawless Purity, Heading to Merlind City (6000)

Cao Xing decided to try raising the potential of the Light Feather Chicken to the Leader level.

So, he dialed Liu Muxue.

He got straight to the point: "Muxue, I just caught another pet."

"Uh… it's a chicken…"

"Call an archer over, take this chicken out, and let it participate in the battle to level it up."

Liu Muxue was stunned when she heard Cao Xing had caught a chicken as a pet.

However, she didn't say much, simply replying softly: "Alright, I'll have someone come over right away."

The place where they were fighting was not far from the territory.

From here on, as long as this chicken was brought to the battlefield and received Cao Xing's series of buffs, its level would rise quickly.

Reaching Tier 4 or 5 would only take two or three days.

While waiting, Cao Xing fed the Light Feather Chicken some pet rations, instantly maxing out its loyalty.

Then, he applied a series of status effects to it, including Frost Magic Shield, Ice Healing Art, and Ice Armor Technique.

After the series of buffs, the Light Feather Chicken, despite being only level 12, possessed at least Tier 3 Leader-level combat power!

Terrifyingly strong!

It seemed very satisfied with its current state, emitting a "Cluck, cluck, cluck～" sound.

Its soft feathers stretched out, and from time to time, it emitted bursts of holy light and cold air.

This half-meter-tall Light Feather Chicken strolled leisurely around the territory, looking at others with an arrogant expression.

Elisa, Renice, and Sarah stood by Cao Xing's side, curiously watching this strange chicken.

It seemed completely unafraid of people and walked over slowly.

Then, it stepped on the feet of the girls standing next to Cao Xing with its claws.

Immediately, a chorus of surprised cries rang out.

"Whoa! This chicken actually stepped on me!" Elisa said angrily.

Sarah, looking at the chicken claw print on her shoe, felt a cold glint flash in her eyes.

She said in an unfriendly tone: "Rude creature!"

"How about we have chicken for dinner tonight?"

She waved the dagger in her hand, her tone full of threats!

As a taciturn assassin, Sarah was rarely this angry.

It was easy to imagine that this Light Feather Chicken had really angered her.

However, facing Sarah's threat, the chicken still returned an arrogant expression.

Holding its head high, it continued to wander leisurely around the territory.

Just then, Elisa suddenly pounced over.

The Light Feather Chicken wanted to dodge, but its speed naturally couldn't compare to the Tier 5 Elisa.

In an instant, it was hugged by her!

"Cluck, cluck~"

The Light Feather Chicken flapped its wings in panic, and actually flew up, carrying Elisa along with it.

"Cluck~ Cluck, cluck~"

The Light Feather Chicken flew into the air, fluttering around the entire territory.

Elisa hugged its neck, almost passively dragged into the sky by the chicken, nearly being thrown off several times.

At this moment, she didn't dare to let go at all.

"Whoa! Lord, make this chicken come down!" Elisa cried for help.

Cao Xing was amused watching from the side.

Seeing this, he shouted: "Buoyancy, come down."

Buoyancy was the name Cao Xing had given it, meaning it could float like a feather; nothing else, don't get any wrong ideas.

Hearing Cao Xing call it, the Light Feather Chicken stopped teasing Elisa.

It stopped flying around and slowly descended.

Elisa breathed a sigh of relief and patted her flat chest.

Just then, Cao Xing walked up to the Light Feather Chicken and stretched out his large hand.

"Slap!"

The Light Feather Chicken looked at Cao Xing, who had just given it a big smack, in confusion.

Cao Xing reprimanded it: "Behave yourself in the territory from now on. Don't tease others, you hear me?"

With the maxed-out favorability, Buoyancy could be said to be 100% obedient.

It lowered its head aggrievedly and nodded.

Seeing this scene, the girls felt a bit vindicated.

About ten minutes later, a Nightmare Court archer walked over.

She greeted respectfully: "Lord, the Madam asked me to return."

Cao Xing nodded slightly: "Take this chicken to the battlefield and let it participate in the fighting."

"Tell my wife, if this chicken doesn't listen, just beat it up."

The archer was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly: "As you command, Lord."

With that, she picked up the Light Feather Chicken and quickly walked out of the territory.

After doing this, Cao Xing clapped his hands.

Elisa blinked her bright eyes and asked: "Lord, do I need to go back to fight?"

Cao Xing thought for a moment: "No, just stay in the territory for now. I'll see if there's anything else you need to do later."

The little girl immediately nodded her head and skipped away.

Sarah and Renice also returned to their own rooms.

Soon, only Cao Xing remained.

He thought to himself: "It's been almost three days since my last trade where I obtained a large amount of herbs."

"Let's go check on Francesca."

So, he headed straight to the Alchemy Workshop.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw the busy witch and the poison master, Sabina.

"Francesca, how many bottles of Advanced Life Potion have you refined?"

Hearing Cao Xing's voice, Francesca, who was concentrating on studying a formula, had an unnatural expression on her face.

Ever since she fell from the high altitude last time and was rescued by Cao Xing, she had been staying in the Alchemy Workshop and rarely went out.

It was as if she was deliberately avoiding him.

Seeing Cao Xing come over now, she seemed to recall what happened that night, feeling a bit awkward with a flushed face.

However, as a being who had lived for hundreds of years, Francesca quickly adapted.

She said softly: "Almost a thousand bottles…"

Hearing this number, a look of surprise appeared on Cao Xing's face again.

Good guy, this efficiency is truly unmatched!

As expected of a Master Alchemist.

"Francesca, your work efficiency is as high as ever."

Hearing the praise, the witch kept a straight face and nodded politely.

Cao Xing didn't mind.

He went straight to the storage box area of the territory and collected all the potions Francesca had refined into his backpack.

[Obtained: Advanced Life Potion (Improved Version) * 946]

He glanced at the attributes.

[Advanced Life Potion (Improved Version)]

[Potion Effect: After consumption, instantly recovers 8000 HP, and recovers 6000 HP over the next 30 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds]

Cao Xing praised: "Not bad. Not only does it instantly restore so much health, but it also restores 6000 health over 30 seconds."

"Calculated, that's 14,000 recovery, enough to fully restore a Tier 3 Survivor's health."

"The value of this potion is very high!"

A smile appeared on his face.

Because this way, he had new things to cut… no, to trade with other Survivors.

"Besides, the continuous health recovery at the end of this potion should also be boosted by Eternal Power."

So, Cao Xing drank a bottle on the spot.

Sure enough, a system notification arrived.

[Successfully consumed [Advanced Life Potion (Improved Version)]. For the next 30 seconds, recover 200 HP per second. Affected by the talent [Eternal Power], it has become a permanent state.]

Looking at his HP recovery per second jump from 5200 to 5400.

He just wanted to say, comfortable…

Then, Cao Xing took out one of the five treasures he had just obtained from the King's Treasury.

It was a peculiar item that looked like a drop of pure dew, but felt chilly to the touch.

It was precisely the treasure that could reduce skill cooldowns — Flawless Purity.

The method of using this thing was also very simple; just crush it.

With a "crack" sound, the drop of pure dew flowed into his body.

At this moment, Cao Xing felt a cool sensation instantly rush into his brain.

A system notification appeared.

[Successfully used [Flawless Purity (Gold)], all skill cooldowns reduced by 5%. Remaining uses: 4]

And on the system panel, the cooldowns of those attack skills were shortened significantly.

Among them, the [Ice Breaking Flying Blade] skill was shortened from the original 90 seconds to 86 seconds.

And the [Thousand Mile Ice Seal] epic skill's cooldown was shortened from the original 180 minutes to 171 minutes.

It sounded short, but this was only the first one.

Effects like this could be stacked five times.

So, Cao Xing went all out and crushed the remaining 4 [Flawless Purity] items.

"Crack! Crack!"

As drops of pure dew were absorbed by Cao Xing.

System notifications rang out one after another.

The cooldown of all skills was reduced by a total of 25%.

He nodded with satisfaction: "Very good. For a mage, various spells are the root of our strength!"

"But those big skills have too long cooldowns. Once used up, I'll be in a long window of vulnerability and become quite passive."

"This thing can be said to have drastically shortened the window of vulnerability."

And most importantly, this thing is permanent and will also shorten the cooldowns of skills learned later.

If Cao Xing could find more items that shorten cooldowns.

Maybe he could achieve a no-cooldown, chain-bombardment effect for a skill.

At that time, a mage who could throw forbidden spells and various powerful spells infinitely—just thinking about it was terrifying!

Then, Cao Xing greeted Francesca and Sabina, and left the Alchemy Workshop.

"Next, let's go check on the Dragon Speaker's recovery."

He went straight to the basement where the Dragon Speaker was.

Following a hidden stone stair passage, he went all the way down and soon reached the basement area.

At this moment.

Three women were resting on the side.

And the white-clad Dragon Speaker was lying on the bed.

A woman was sitting next to her, taking care of her condition.

Cao Xing took a look.

He discovered that the Dragon Speaker's injuries had recovered more than half compared to two days ago.

The shocking wounds on her body had already begun to scab over.

Even the thumb-sized hole in her abdomen was recovering rapidly.

"So fast?"

Cao Xing was somewhat surprised.

He had even prepared himself for the possibility that this woman would be in a coma for one or two months.

But looking at the current situation, the Dragon Speaker would wake up in just a few days.

The woman beside him also remarked with emotion: "This young lady is truly strong."

"I can feel that although she is in a coma, she still has her own consciousness."

"She is working hard every moment, trying to wake herself up as soon as possible."

"That is why her recovery speed is much faster than we expected."

Cao Xing nodded slightly, then said: "From now on, switch to feeding her this secret medicine."

"If she wakes up, remember to notify me immediately."

The effect of the Advanced Life Secret Medicine was many times that of the intermediate one, and the life force contained within it was also several times greater.

Moreover, as she continued to recover, her daily consumption had dropped from over a hundred bottles to just a few dozen.

The woman immediately replied respectfully: "Very well, my Lord…"

Cao Xing went to the storage chest next to the basement and placed 300 bottles of secret medicine inside.

Then he left the basement.

After returning to the surface of the territory, Cao Xing began to think about whether there was anything else he needed to do.

"The Kingdom's treasure has already been opened."

"The Zhuo Mas Claw challenge outside is being led by Muxue and Assam, and the new pet is also out leveling up."

"There is nothing in the territory that requires my attention at the moment, so I can just be a hands-off manager."

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing saw the pile of vouchers in his backpack.

"Next, I might as well take some time to go and check out Merlind City."

"The matters regarding Yaskin should also be dealt with, along with these vouchers in my backpack."

With his current financial resources, that shop in Merlind City was no longer worth his attention.

But the most important thing was still those vouchers.

After all, they had a face value worth tens of millions.

If he could exchange them all for crowns, Cao Xing would become instantly wealthy!

There were also the weapons he had looted in his backpack; selling them all would also yield a significant profit.

Besides that, he had also captured four scammers last night, and they had a 2 million bounty on their heads.

This was also a source of income.

You could say that he was going to Merlind City just to pick up money.

He could easily pick up a few million crowns.

"However, my territory is a full 500 kilometers away from Merlind City."

"Even if I travel at full speed now, it will take almost three hours to arrive."

"That's just the ideal speed; if I bring people, it will definitely be slower."

Thinking of this, Cao Xing decided to take action immediately.

So, he first called for Sarah, Renice, and Elisa.

He also called over 10 Wild Boar Warriors and instructed them.

"You go to the basement now and bring those four scammers up."

"Then come with me to Merlind City."

Upon hearing this, the ten Wild Boar Warriors were immediately overjoyed.

"By the Beast God, we can go on a mission with the Lord again!"

"Great, leave it to us, mighty Lord!"

After speaking, these Wild Boar Warriors excitedly headed to the basement.

Cao Xing looked at the three women beside him and said: "You all come with me too."

Sarah and Renice were fine with it.

Meanwhile, Elisa on the side was so excited she was about to jump up!

"Wow! The Lord is taking Elisa to the big city!"

"That's great, Elisa has grown up so much and has never been to those big cities before!"

"Thank you, handsome Lord."

Cao Xing smiled and reminded her: "Don't run around after entering the city; you must follow my orders."

"Otherwise, I won't take you."

Elisa nodded like a chick pecking at rice, "Mm-hmm! I listen to the Lord the most!"

Before long, the ten Wild Boar Warriors carried the four scammers out.

They were in poor condition, looking haggard and wretched.

Their hands and feet were tightly bound, and their clothes were covered in stains.

Like four head of livestock waiting to be slaughtered, they had no power to resist.

For the past two days, Cao Xing had deliberately not let anyone bring them food or water, intending to break their will first.

Currently, it seemed this method was quite effective.

As soon as the four scammers saw Cao Xing, they couldn't wait to speak.

"My…"

However, Cao Xing didn't give them a chance and interrupted directly.

"Alright, gag them, then put them on the sled; we are ready to set off."

The Wild Boar Warriors immediately took action.

They quickly grabbed some rags and stuffed them into their mouths without question.

Then, Cao Xing called Liu Muxue to inform her of his itinerary.

"Muxue, I am going to Merlind City."

"It is quite far from our territory, so I might not return tonight."

At Cao Xing's current speed, provided there were no unexpected situations on the road, it would take four or five hours to reach Merlind City.

A round trip would take at least ten hours or so.

So he definitely wouldn't be able to make it back today.

Liu Muxue replied softly: "Alright, Axing… be careful out there."

"If you encounter any trouble, remember to contact me immediately, and I will lead the warriors to support you as quickly as possible."

"Also, the weather is cold at night; remember to bring more clothes…"

She was like a wife instructing her husband, her words full of concern.

Cao Xing didn't find her nagging at all; instead, a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, I know. I'll leave the territory to you."

Both sides hung up.

Then, Cao Xing turned over and leaped onto Dabai's back.

He gently patted the Mammoth's neck and ordered: "Dabai, let's go."

"Thump!"

Dabai stepped forward with its thick elephant hooves, carrying Cao Xing and pulling the sled, speeding all the way towards Merlind City.

On the snowy plains, Cao Xing's party totaled fourteen people.

If you count the four captives, that made 18 people in total, which could be considered a small team.

About two hours had passed since they left the territory.

Traveling at full speed, they had already traveled nearly two hundred kilometers from the territory.

There were still three hundred kilometers to go before reaching Merlind City.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing took out that pile of vouchers from his backpack.

They were printed with various numbers, ranging from 50,000 to 1,000,000, with various denominations, totaling dozens of sheets.

Cao Xing thought to himself: "I haven't tallied them up before; let's see exactly how much money these shop vouchers can be exchanged for now."

As he tallied them up.

A few minutes later, joy gradually appeared in Cao Xing's eyes, and he exclaimed.

"Good heavens, these vouchers add up to over 53 million!"

"A full 50 million, I've really struck it rich this time, hahaha!"

This would be the most money he had ever obtained in his life.

With so many crowns, not only could he purchase a large amount of supplies, but the money for the warriors in the territory to breakthrough was also resolved.

It could be said that once he returned from Merlind City, he would be able to let all the warriors breakthrough to Tier 5!

By then, he would suddenly have over two hundred Expert-level powerhouses, and the territory's strength would skyrocket.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing became even more excited.

However, he remembered another matter.

"According to that dead squad leader, to exchange these dead men's vouchers, I have to give a cut to the manager of the money shop…"

"And this guy is even a member of the Church of Light…"

Cao Xing narrowed his eyes instantly.

Obviously, letting him share the money was impossible.

Especially when it was to give it to a guy from the Church of Light.

Therefore, he had to think of other ways to make this manager cooperate honestly.

Meanwhile, Elisa's crisp voice rang in his ears.

"My Lord, we are almost at Managua Town ahead; there are many traveling merchants from out of town, and we can resupply there."

"This is also the furthest place I've ever been, hehehe…"

Cao Xing raised his head upon hearing this and indeed saw a small town of considerable size ahead.

It was about two or three kilometers in diameter, two sizes larger than his own territory.

Cao Xing shook his head and said: "We have brought plenty of supplies, no need to rest."

"Let's continue moving forward."

Elisa nodded gently.

After speaking.

The group accelerated.

Meanwhile, not long after Cao Xing and his party left.

There was a pile of boulders covered in snow nearby.

A group of beings dressed in white cotton clothes, blending in with the snow, watched Cao Xing and his party's backs from afar.

One of the men, in his early twenties, put away his binoculars and slid down from the rock.

The people below watched him intently.

"Jindi, how was it, did you see clearly?"

The man nodded, then said in a shocked tone: "I saw it clearly."

"Everything that guy just took out was money shop vouchers!"

"Such a big stack, it must be at least tens of millions!"

Hearing this number, everyone nearby was shocked, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"Are you sure it's tens of millions, not millions?" one of them asked.

The man replied affirmatively: "I'm sure! It's definitely worth tens of millions!"

After receiving the affirmative answer, everyone on the scene started breathing heavily.

Tens of millions! What kind of concept is that?

Even in a city like Merlind City, there are very few people who possess assets worth tens of millions.

Meanwhile, another man with a magic musket on his shoulder and a black hat asked.

"Captain, what do you say, should we hit him?"

"If we rob this guy, we'll be rich!"

"We can use this money to directly buy a manor and even open our own mercenary guild."

"From now on, we won't have to live a life of licking blood off the blade anymore!"

Including the few people beside him, their expressions were also very excited.