Rusty Iron Mercenaries, Treasure Map (6600)

On the way back to the territory, Cao Xing began to tally the gains from this trip.

"This time, coming to Merlind City can be said to have been very fruitful."

"Not only did I successfully exchange all the vouchers, but I also bought a Legendary weapon spearhead, a Master-level Energy Core, and a Keda Flower in the black market."

"Most importantly, I obtained the item to tame griffins."

Thinking of this, Cao Xing felt very satisfied.

"And besides these gains, I also happened to accept two quests."

"One is the Duke's commission quest: to retrieve a family heirloom sword from a griffin nest."

"The other is a B-rank difficulty quest from a Master Beast Tamer: to climb the high mountain and bring back his brother's corpse."

These two quests are actually sequential.

Because according to that Beast Tamer, even a Master-level powerhouse cannot climb Skavi Mountain.

Only by successfully taming the Griffin King is it possible to fly to such a high mountain peak.

In other words, he needs to find the griffin nest first to complete these subsequent two quests.

Thinking of this, Cao Xing decided to wait until the Centaur finished exploring the grotto to execute this quest.

It is worth mentioning that.

Kandaer sent him a communication yesterday; after several days of their exploration, that grotto was finally nearing its end.

At the same time, Cao Xing sent a message to Liu Muxue, telling her the news that he would return today.

Liu Muxue was very happy to hear this.

And she replied to Cao Xing that everything in the territory was safe and sound.

These past few days, she and Assam led the team to also obtain a large number of points, and they consecutively took first place in the Zhuoma Giant Beast challenge several times.

After hearing this, Cao Xing also opened the leaderboard to take a look.

[Four Great Regions Points Leaderboard]

[First Place: Cao Xing (Accumulated Points 682352)]

[Second Place: Bai Zhi (Accumulated Points 53217)]

[Third Place: Bo'erke (Accumulated Points 51823)]

[Fourth Place: Wei Jianyi (Accumulated Points 50382)]

[Fifth Place…]

Seeing the numbers above, a look of gratification appeared on Cao Xing's face.

"I remember, when I left the territory, it was 380,000 points, and now it has soared directly to 680,000!"

"In other words, in these two days, Muxue obtained 300,000 points for me?"

Cao Xing immediately became a bit excited.

Because before this, he had only used 250,000 points to exchange for two hundred Advanced Troop Recruitment Scrolls and drew a lottery once.

In other words, he still has 430,000 points to squander now!

It goes without saying what a terrifying number this is.

Just with the Advanced Troop Recruitment Scrolls, he could exchange for over 400 of them!

If exchanged for those common Imperial Soldiers, he could exchange for over 40,000 of them.

Under the condition of sufficient population, he could already raise an army of ten thousand!

"Not bad, not bad…"

"Muxue and the others' efficiency is getting higher and higher."

A curve appeared at the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

Then he ordered: "Everyone, full speed ahead, let's return to the territory as soon as possible."

He was now eager to return home, unable to wait to go back and digest the gains from this trip!

"Thump! Thump-thump!"

After hearing the order, Dabai moved its four hooves and galloped rapidly forward.

The warriors behind also quickened their pace, following behind Cao Xing.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at a flatland area, surrounded by giant rocks that had rolled down from the mountains.

This was a waypoint on the way back from Merlind City to the territory.

Cao Xing and the others, just like before, were traveling through the pile of rocks.

While passing through a narrow road.

Dabai seemed to have stepped on something.

"Click!"

A cracking sound came, and the ground under their feet suddenly collapsed.

Everyone felt their center of gravity become unstable and began to fall rapidly!

Renice hurriedly warned, "My Lord, we've stepped into a trap!"

Cao Xing also reacted in an instant.

However, he was not panicked in his heart.

Instead, he looked downward.

Watching as they were about to fall into this deep pit trap.

And at the bottom, it was covered with all kinds of spike traps, explosive traps, and so on!

Cao Xing quickly said: "Everyone, don't panic, you have Holy Shields on you, these traps won't cause much damage."

"After landing in a moment, just destroy these spike traps directly."

Hearing this, the dozen or so people on the scene immediately came to their senses.

Then they adjusted their angles to land.

"Click! Click!"

"Boom!"

Bursts of explosions sounded, and the explosive traps at the bottom of the pit were triggered.

The Holy Shields on everyone's bodies were also shattering layer by layer.

But just as Cao Xing said, it didn't cause any damage.

Seeing this scene, those Wild Boar Warriors excitedly said: "Wahayaya! How dare they dig a pit to harm us Wild Boar Warriors!"

"Hack them to death!"

The next moment, they raised their dual blades and hacked the surrounding spike traps one by one until they exploded.

Renice and Elisa on the side were also constantly drawing their bowstrings, destroying the traps.

And the most exaggerated one was still Dabai.

Relying on its own powerful armor and recovery ability, it rampaged at the bottom of the pit, stepping on traps until they exploded one by one!

In the blink of an eye, the traps at the bottom of the pit were basically cleared away.

And just at this moment, several voices seemed to come from above ground.

"The target has already fallen into the trap, hurry over, surround them!"

Cao Xing looked up.

He saw dozens of figures appearing at the edge of the pit.

That was a group of humans, both men and women.

Everyone was wearing one or two pieces of low-quality equipment.

Looking at Cao Xing who had fallen to the bottom of the pit, excited expressions appeared on their faces!

"Hahaha! These guys have all fallen into the pit."

"It was worth us digging the trap for two days, now let's see where you can run!"

Cao Xing below frowned and then asked: "I don't seem to know you guys, right?"

Hearing this, the eyes of these dozens of people above.

"Kid, you indeed don't know us."

"But soon, you will know our name."

Cao Xing looked at the person who spoke.

That was a middle-aged man around forty, wearing a white scale armor and holding a scimitar.

He was also the most powerful existence among this group, possessing the strength of a Tier 5 Leader.

Cao Xing asked: "What do you want to do?"

The middle-aged man with Tier 5 Leader strength said with a gloomy expression: "Hand over all the crowns you have!"

"Don't think about deceiving us, we know you kid have at least tens of millions of crowns in your hands."

"Be sensible, maybe you can still save your life."

A look of realization appeared in Cao Xing's eyes, "So that's it, you guys are here to rob me?"

Although he didn't know where these people got the news.

But obviously, it was because the huge sum of money Cao Xing possessed had aroused the greed of these people.

And just at this moment, a woman on the side said.

"Captain, stop wasting time with him, just net them and take them all away!"

"These guys are so sturdy, we can sell them to slave traders, and we can make a lot of money too."

Hearing this, that middle-aged man also nodded.

"Start throwing the capture nets, trap these people for me!"

Hearing the order, the people around each had a bundle of capture nets appear in their hands and threw them directly down into the deep pit.

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing said calmly.

"Sarah, go."

"Swish!"

Instantly, an arc of light flashed, rushing straight into the air.

Then, a shadow rushed directly into the group of figures, and the Moon Dance form was instantly activated.

Like a ghost, she arrived behind a man holding a musket.

The [Flowing Fire Blade] in her hand slashed down mercilessly!

"Puchi!"

[-21472!]

With one slash, it directly cut this person's HP in half.

Suddenly suffering a heavy blow to his back, this man immediately felt a bone-chilling coldness and a sense of impending death!

"Help…"

Before he could finish speaking, Sarah's second slash had already landed.

"Puchi!"

[-22752!]

This person's corpse fell down limply.

In less than a second of meeting, Sarah had already killed one person.

Only until this moment did the others just react.

When they saw their companion's corpse fall, expressions of terror simultaneously appeared in their eyes!

[Your territory member: Sarah Blade Dance killed Rust Iron Mercenary Group member Lv35, Tier 4 Common Creature, gained EXP: 1220]

Seeing the system prompt, Cao Xing casually brushed aside the capture net on his body and then pondered.

"Rust Iron Mercenary Group, huh?"

"I thought it was those mountain bandits and robbers."

Shaking his head, Cao Xing didn't think much more about it.

After all, the strength of this Rust Iron Mercenary Group was obviously not very strong.

Relying on Sarah alone, she could kill them all.

At the same time, after killing one person, this Dark Elf assassin seemed to have activated a Musou mode.

She rushed directly into the crowd and started a massacre!

"Puchi!"

[-22732!]

[-23923!]

[-25823!]

[-336521!]

Coup de Grace!

As Sarah slashed down with each blade, every slash was a critical hit.

Not a single mercenary on the ground could withstand two of Sarah's slashes.

And their various attacks were also flexibly dodged by Sarah.

Even those she couldn't dodge, when they landed on her, only caused pathetic three-digit damage.

By the time they reacted, Sarah had already slashed five people in a row!

The other mercenaries shouted in terror.

"Captain! This assassin is so strong!"

"We can't trap her!"

And at this moment, the mercenary captain, who possessed Tier 5 Leader strength, had an expression of shock appear in his eyes.

Before, the aura on Cao Xing and the others was very restrained, and they didn't know their specific strength.

And now, with Sarah's move, it directly made them feel a wave of terror!

The mercenary captain said in terror: "Master… this is a Master-level assassin…"

"It's over…"

Hearing "Master-level assassin," these mercenaries also simultaneously showed expressions of terror!

The Rust Iron Mercenary Group was just a third-rate mercenary group, and they usually couldn't even come into contact with powerhouses of this level.

When they occasionally met Master-level mercenaries at some mercenary guilds, they were also respectful.

And now, they had actually provoked a Master!

A fear of death surged into their hearts.

All the mercenaries couldn't help but feel fear in their hearts.

"W-what do we do? Captain?"

"If this goes on, we will be killed off…"

In their tone, there was already extreme fear!

And the captain's expression was as gloomy as water.

He hardened his heart and directly ordered: "Quick! Quick, concentrate fire, take down that Otherworld Lord below."

"This is that assassin's Lord; as long as we control him, this Master-level powerhouse won't dare to lay a hand on us."

The Survivors had already been in contact with the natives of this world for a period of time, so they also knew that Cao Xing in the crowd was the key.

However, before everyone could start moving, they saw that Otherworld Lord had already grown a pair of invisible wind wings on his back, carrying him flying out of the deep pit.

Then, a faint smile appeared on the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

"Take me down?"

"Aren't you being a bit delusional?"

In the terrified gaze of this group of mercenaries.

They suddenly saw this Otherworld Lord raise his staff.

Then, a huge hexagram formation with a diameter of over 100 meters appeared.

The already extremely freezing temperature dropped suddenly once again.

"Roar — —"

With a loud dragon roar sounding, two huge Ice Dragons rushed out from the formation!

"Whoosh!"

The two Ice Dragons rotated at high speed, instantly making those mercenaries feel as if they had suffered a crushing blow, their HP dropping rapidly.

As the Ice Dragons rotated for the second second.

That mercenary captain gasped cold air.

He hurriedly issued a warning: "Quick, quick, retreat from here! Do not enter the attack range of this Otherworld Lord!"

In an instant, the other remaining Survivors also reacted.

They scrambled to retreat in a panic.

However, as an epic-level skill, [Ice Tornado Storm] not only possessed a large-area group attack but also had a powerful slowing effect.

Everyone felt as if they were stuck in a quagmire, unable to move an inch.

When the rotation of the two Ice Dragons ended, a large number of bodies shredded to pieces appeared around them.

Their blood splattered onto the ground and froze at a speed visible to the naked eye.

[This Battle: You have cumulatively killed 32 members of the Rusty Iron Mercenary Group, gaining 54,720 experience points]

…

After the Ice Dragons disappeared, the Rusty Iron Mercenary Group, which originally had forty or fifty people, only had a dozen or so left.

On the other side, Sarah was still slaughtering their other members as if she were chopping melons and vegetables.

Seeing this scene, a terrifying chill suddenly rose up the backs of the remaining members of the mercenary group!

That mercenary captain asked in horror: "How is this possible!"

"Aren't Otherworld Lords supposed to be very weak existences? Why do you have such powerful strength!"

Cao Xing did not answer, but instead asked with a strange look in his eyes: "With only this little bit of strength, you Rusty Iron Mercenary Group members are learning to rob others?"

However, it was not that their strength was too weak, but rather that Cao Xing's strength was already considered that of a powerhouse in Gale Snowfield.

Powerful mercenary groups basically would not stay in places with relatively barren resources like Gale Snowfield.

Most of them gathered in the Eternal Frost Main City, or in those ruins.

At this moment, the captain finally realized that he had provoked a tough nut to crack!

Seeing that Cao Xing was about to raise his staff again, the captain hurriedly said: "Wait a moment!"

"It was us who were blind and offended you, Excellency!"

"I would like to use an item to ask for your forgiveness!"

"You will definitely be interested in this item!"

Upon hearing this, the corners of Cao Xing's mouth curled into an arc: "Oh? What is this thing I would be interested in?"

The captain said: "It is the inheritance of a Legendary mage!"

Cao Xing narrowed his eyes instantly: "The inheritance of a Legendary mage, why don't you use it yourself? How come you only have this little bit of strength?"

A bitter smile flashed across the captain's face as he said: "The inheritance of that mage is hidden in a dangerous place."

"With my strength, I cannot enter it at all; I can only explore the periphery."

"However, even though it was just the periphery, it allowed me to harvest a large number of magic items!"

"If one could enter inside, they would definitely be able to obtain that Legendary mage's inheritance."

"As long as you are willing to let us go, I can tell you this location!"

Cao Xing laughed: "Why should I believe you?"

"What if you give me a fake location and trick me into going there?"

Upon hearing this, the captain said excitedly: "I stake my life on it!"

"If it is a fake location, you can kill me at any time!"

Cao Xing shook his head: "Your life is worthless, and besides, I was already planning to finish you off."

After speaking, he had already raised his staff again. A high-speed rotating ice and snow spear expanded in front of him at a speed visible to the naked eye!

"Pfft! Pfft, pfft!"

Four damage numbers exceeding ten thousand appeared above his head, and his HP dropped by another large chunk!

"Stop!" the mercenary captain exclaimed.

However, Cao Xing did not want to pay any attention to him at all. Seeing that, Cao Xing raised his staff again, and terrifying ice elements gathered.

A sense of impending death struck. The mercenary captain took out a scroll from his backpack, a look of heartache appearing in his eyes.

"Damn it, you forced my hand!"

Instantly, he began to inject power into the scroll in his hand. At the same time, a powerful magical fluctuation appeared!

Then, Cao Xing saw a burst of intense holy light appear before his eyes.

Because this holy light was too intense, it even interfered with the vision of everyone on the field, causing even Cao Xing to lose his target.

Then, all the holy light gathered towards the same position. A humanoid creature, nearly three meters tall and composed entirely of pure light elements, appeared!

It radiated intense holy light, held a golden longsword, and on its chiseled body, light elements fluctuated like flowing water.

Cao Xing swept his gaze over.

[Temple Guardian: Summoned Creature]

[Level: 67 (Tier 7 Leader-level Creature)]

[HP: 3,128,923 / 3,128,923]

[Attack Power: 11,923 ~ 12,232]

[Armor: 2,892 ~ 3,126]

[Skills: Master-level Swordsmanship Mastery, Divine Punishment, Dark Buster, Shimmering Light, Honorable Sacrifice]

[Talent: Body of Light Elements (When receiving light-attribute attacks, reduce damage taken by 50%)]

[Remaining Summon Time: 177 seconds]

…

Seeing the attributes of this creature, Cao Xing was instantly startled: "Good heavens, it's actually a Tier 7 Leader-level creature."

"And it looks like this was summoned by that mercenary captain using a magic scroll."

He was now somewhat inclined to believe that this guy might have really been to the inheritance place of that Archmage. After all, such a precious scroll is not something an ordinary person could obtain.

At this moment, after summoning the Temple Guardian, the mercenary captain seemed to have regained his confidence. He said with a crazy smile on his face: "Damn guy, let's see how you can be arrogant now."

"Guardian, kill them all for me!"

After speaking, this Temple Guardian turned into a light shadow and charged towards Cao Xing at high speed.

And just at this moment, Renice, Elisa, and the Wild Boar Warriors had already jumped up from that deep pit.

Cao Xing said unhurriedly: "Sarah, you come over to deal with this Temple Guardian. Everyone else, go deal with the other mercenaries."

As he spoke, a black shadow had already rushed towards that glowing figure at high speed!

And this Temple Guardian, upon seeing Sarah appear in front of it, directly raised the longsword in its hand and stabbed instantly!

This sword strike was like an exploding sun, with its light blazing intensely!

However, the next moment, it lost sight of its opponent. Before it knew it, Sarah had already appeared behind it. And she directly unleashed her burst skill—Death Dance Combo!

"Swish! Pfft!"

[- 17236!] [- 18235!] [- 19246!] [- 21527!] …

As one terrifying damage number after another appeared, the HP of this Temple Guardian began to pour out like flowing water!

This Guardian instantly turned around, wanting to deal with Sarah. "Crack!"

The sword of light swept repeatedly, and the surrounding boulders exploded the instant they came into contact with this sword energy! Boom! Rumble!

Violent explosions rang out continuously. This was a Master-level battle, and its terrifying momentum made it impossible for others to even get close.

However, no matter how powerful an attack it unleashed, it was easily resolved by Sarah. After all, with this Dark Elf assassin's current combat power, she could single-handedly take on a Tier 7 Commander!

A Temple Guardian with only Tier 7 Leader-level strength was clearly not enough.

Slaughter Dance, Arc Flash, Shadow Bloom… As one skill after another was thrown out, this summoned creature's HP plummeted rapidly, with absolutely no power to fight back.

And that mercenary captain, seeing the summoned creature he had pinned his hopes on being unilaterally trampled by Sarah, the expression on his face froze instantly.

Before he could even react, a battle had already broken out on the other side. Under the siege of the Wild Boar Warriors, the other members of the Rusty Iron Mercenary Group also fell one after another.

In the blink of an eye, only this mercenary captain was left standing there blankly.

And when he saw those Wild Boar Warriors surrounding him tightly, a sense of despair emerged in his heart.

With a last glimmer of hope, he forced a stiff smile and asked: "This lord, can you spare my life?"

However, Cao Xing directly shook his head: "No." With a wave of his staff, an Ice Breaking Flying Blade was flung out.

"Bang! Bang, bang!"

[- 31852] [- 29231] [- 33267] …

After three terrifying damage numbers, this mercenary captain's HP reached zero, and he collapsed softly.

[Successfully killed Rusty Iron Mercenary Group Captain: Roderick Nickerson lv48, Tier 5 Leader-level creature, gained experience points: 4800]

At this point, the few dozen people of this Rusty Iron Mercenary Group had all been finished off by Cao Xing.

On Sarah's side, she was stalling the Temple Guardian, waiting for the summon time to end. Anyway, there was no reward for killing this kind of summoned creature, so it was better to save the effort.

About a minute or so later, this Temple Guardian turned into countless light spots and disappeared from the spot.

Sarah shook the dagger in her hand and disappeared from the spot again.

Cao Xing said: "Alright, start cleaning up the battlefield." Upon hearing this, the Wild Boar Warriors acted one after another.

Everyone didn't take this little interlude to heart. From the time they fell into the trap to the total annihilation of the Rusty Iron Mercenary Group, it hadn't even been ten minutes in total.

It couldn't stir up any waves in their hearts at all.

As for Cao Xing himself, he walked straight to the mercenary captain and picked up the loot he had dropped.

[Obtained: Mercenary Captain Moore's Leader-level Soul * 1] [Obtained: Expert-level Heart of Strength * 1] [Obtained: Skilled Mercenary Scale Armor (Gold) * 1] [Obtained: Runic Longsword (Purple)] [Obtained: Unknown Treasure Map * 1] [Obtained: Expert-level Elemental Crystal * 10] [Obtained: Coins * 275231] …

"A Leader-level soul and an Expert-level Heart of Strength; this yield is actually quite good."

Cao Xing felt very satisfied; this could be considered an unexpected surprise on the road. After all, Leader-level souls were also a resource urgently needed in his territory.

"However, what is the other treasure map?"

The next moment, a quaint parchment map appeared in his hand. On it were drawn mountains, plains, and rivers. Amidst a range of towering mountains, he saw a red 'X'.

Cao Xing pondered: "This red 'X' should be the location of the treasure."

"However, where exactly is this location?"

He glanced at the attributes.

[Unknown Treasure Map] [Quality: Unknown] [Item Effect: At coordinates 85231, 6331, 2321, some treasure or some kind of trap might be hidden…] (Note: An unknown treasure map; before arriving, no one knows what is there.) …

A look of realization suddenly appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"It actually marked the coordinates; that's pretty good."

"This location recorded on it, could it be the place that guy mentioned, where the Archmage's inheritance is?"

Just now, this mercenary captain used a powerful magic scroll to summon a powerful creature like the [Temple Guardian]. This indicates that the other party most likely really had been to the inheritance place.

This piqued Cao Xing's interest. He glanced at the coordinate location, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes again.

"Good heavens, I didn't expect it to be near the Eternal Frost Main City!"

"Then it's perfect; next time I go to exchange for the Legendary dagger, I'll stop by to take a look on the way."