Cultivation: But Not a Game-Chapter 131 - 63: Winning Over Hearts, Ding Hao’s Unease and Plea for Help (Part 2)
"Whoa, why are there so many monsters even though the Demon-Attracting Incense hasn’t been lit?"
Gu Zhiqiu glanced at the river from the ship’s edge and said with some confusion,
"It looks like they’re running for their lives."
"Could it be..."
Before he could finish talking, a burst of cold air shot out from the riverbed, and the river surface quickly froze, trapping the fleeing monsters in ice that extended all the way to the edge of the Rage Whale Ship.
Soon after, the river parted as an enormous blue-scaled dragon tail emerged, slapping the ice layer with force.
The ice shattered, and countless frozen monsters were obliterated into pieces.
The shattered ice dust fell from the sky, causing everyone to exclaim in shock.
"It’s a dragon!"
"And it’s a terrifying BOSS template."
Zhao Fenglan gestured with a slicing motion towards Su Yu and asked,
"Captain, should we make a move?"
Su Yu smiled and waved it off,
"No need."
Then, in their puzzled eyes, he jumped into the river. The next second, the water below him erupted as a massive head emerged, lifting him up.
Everyone’s hearts followed Ao Run’s head as it emerged, and they were startled when Su Yu planted his foot on the dragon’s head and rose up.
"???
At that moment, at least a third couldn’t help but rub their eyes, thinking they were seeing things.
"What the heck? Is this BOSS the captain’s spirit pet?"
More people suddenly realized,
"No wonder we saw so many BOSSes yesterday; I thought we were just lucky. Turns out the captain was bringing them over."
"Impressive, I give full marks to the captain for this maneuver."
Su Yu noticed everyone’s reactions and was quite pleased. With a light tap to signal Ao Run to submerge, he leapt back onto the deck.
Gu Zhiqiu approached, his expression complicated, and said,
"You’ve kept this hidden quite deep, having a BOSS as a spirit pet."
"Got it by accident."
Su Yu smiled slightly without further explanation, and loudly announced,
"Today we’ll have a bit of a hard time; at least twenty Level 100+ big BOSSes."
Someone smacked their lips and said,
"Captain, you must be joking. If this is hard work, I’m willing to be this ’hard-working’ every day!"
"Hahaha!"
Laughter filled the boat, creating a lively atmosphere.
Half an hour later, at Su Yu’s command, the entire first squad went out on standby. Shortly, a Level 118 water snake burst out from the water, chased by Ao Run, and the well-prepared first squad quickly set up the Celestial One Profound Ice Array to trap it.
With Su Yu on the sideline holding the line, over eighty members of the first squad attacked, taking only seven minutes to take down the water snake.
Another forty minutes passed, and Su Yu ordered the second squad out.
Shortly afterward, a grass carp spirit, as big as a whale, leapt from the water, and everyone swarmed over and defeated it.
After more than half an hour, Ao Run drove another Level 100+ BOSS, this time for the third squad’s turn.
Each of the three squads took their turn, bringing in a BOSS every half an hour to an hour.
Unknowingly, a day went by, and they succeeded in drawing in twenty-one BOSSes, perfectly dividing into seven per squad.
By the end of the day, Su Yu had gained over ten million in slaughter experience, reaching a level of 122 in his cultivation, and rewarded himself with 2100 guild contribution points, at 100 points each.
On the third day, they continued with another 21 Level 100+ big monsters, gaining 10.2 million in slaughter experience, 119 cultivation levels, and 2100 guild contribution points.
On the fourth day, perhaps due to two intense previous days, they only encountered 17 Level 100+ big monsters, garnering 8.85 million in slaughter experience and 86 cultivation levels.
On the fifth day, they moved locations, traveling a thousand kilometers upstream along Chensha River.
On the sixth day, they moved again, about two thousand kilometers upstream.
In just a week, Su Yu had successfully won over the hearts of everyone in the three sub-teams.
For ordinary members like them, it was rare to participate in battles killing Level 100+ BOSSes even once a month.
In just one week following him, they each defeated nearly fifty Level 100+ big and small BOSSes, more than half of what some had seen in their entire lives.
Apart from the slaughter experience, they accumulated at least two to three hundred cultivation points, which usually took them at least half a year.
When you’re on the receiving end of such generosity, what more can you ask of such a capable leader? Naturally, they felt convinced and satisfied.
While Su Yu was leading his team to happily farm BOSSes along Chensha River, he was unaware that someone in Thousand Feather City was quietly gathering information on him, investigating his background.
"So you’re saying he has a BOSS spirit pet with a terrifying Level 136 template?"
"Yes!"
Ding Hao gently tapped the table with his fingers as he carefully perused the documents, frowning slightly as he flipped to a particular page.
"He’s been able to take down more than twenty Level 100+ BOSSes every day this past week?"
"Yes, his dragon has quite the skill, easily driving many Level 100+ BOSSes lurking at the river’s bottom out."
Ding Hao’s tapping came to a stop, and he remained silent for a long time.
The room fell into a quiet lull.
Eventually, he spoke softly,
"He’s a threat."
A man standing below him said,
"Chairman, with all due respect, although he’s taken down many BOSSes recently, the BOSS level determines that the loot won’t be too great. BOSSes just over Level 100 typically only drop Fifth Rank Flying Swords as magical treasures, and there aren’t many Sixth Rank Flying Sword magical treasures. Even if his treasure chest were full, it wouldn’t amount to much strength."
"And your young master’s power has grown significantly these three months, compared to three months ago, the difference in Qi Refining Heart Skill and magical treasures and Divine Techniques is so large that if your young master were to get serious, he couldn’t possibly be a match for him."
Ding Hao pondered quietly for a long time before speaking,
"Logically, it should be as you say, from any angle, he couldn’t possibly be a match for Yu’er."
"But you saw the results of the last mock exam: even though his Qi Refining Heart Skill, magical treasures, and Divine Techniques didn’t match Yu’er’s, he still managed to beat Yu’er."
"If in these three months he’s made a breakthrough in Swordsmanship, he could indeed pose a threat to Yu’er."
"I cannot allow that to happen; the end-of-year exam must be foolproof, and Yu’er must come in first."
Ding Hao fell silent again for a while, then retrieved an ancient-looking mirror and infused Mana into it, causing it to glow. After a moment, the image of a handsome and elegant middle-aged man appeared on it. He promptly bowed and said softly,
"Uncle, it’s Ding Hao."
The elegant man asked,
"What happened to make you contact me this way?"
"I want to request a True Immortal’s Manual." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"A True Immortal’s Manual?"
"What do you need it for?"
"For Ling Yu."
There was a long pause before the voice on the other end spoke,
"I remember Ling Yu practices the Celestial God Incarnation Skill, a Transformation Skill of the sect level. Is there someone in a small place like Thousand Feather City who can challenge him?"
Looking a bit shamefaced, Ding Hao responded,
"Indeed, there’s someone who poses a threat to Ling Yu. This year a newcomer with extraordinary talent in Swordsmanship emerged. In just one year, they’ve already mastered Sword Qi Thunder Sound to a high level. Not long ago, they went to the Chixiao Sword Vein for half a month and returned having comprehended Condensing Sword into Silk. Altogether, I feel Ling Yu’s chances at the year-end exam are lower."
The elegant man listened with knitted brows and asked,
"Such a sword genius, and you didn’t recruit them first?"
"I tried, but failed. They were recruited by that young lady from the Chu Family."
"What terms did you offer? Were they insufficient?"
"Uh....."
Ding Hao remained silent.
"Foolish."
"And after realizing they were a threat, what course of action did you take?"
"In previous mock exams, they were always no match for Ling Yu and conceded before even competing. But in the third mock exam, they took advantage of Ling Yu’s carelessness to barely win, and I believed Ling Yu had the upper hand. These three months would be enough to prepare and improve further, surely enough to take first place."
"But I didn’t expect that their Swordsmanship would advance so quickly in the last three months... I..."
"Idiot!"
The rest of Ding Hao’s words were cut off.
The elegant man harshly reprimanded,
"A lion uses its full strength to hunt even a rabbit. After losing last time, you should have known they were a threat; you ignored it, and now I don’t have enough time to help. What were you thinking?"
After venting his anger, the elegant man paced in thought for a while before asking,
"Tell me everything you know about that person’s current abilities and Flying Sword magical treasures accurately."
Ding Hao quickly nodded and recounted all the information he had gathered about Su Yu.
