Lin Feng traveled at a steady pace across the Golden Ear Plain, each step landing firmly.

The Wildfire Spear swayed gently on his back, its tip slicing through the air with a faint hum.

The wind whistled past his ears, making the hem of his clothes flutter loudly.

After running about thirty li, the scenery on both sides of the road gradually became desolate.

The ruins of villages flashed past his vision; earthen walls had half collapsed, roof tiles were shattered across the ground, and door frames leaned askew like gaping mouths.

Some villages still bore traces of fire, their walls blackened by smoke and wooden beams charred to coal, the breaks frozen in the moment they snapped.

The towns were larger in scale with higher ruined walls; occasionally, collapsed watchtowers and shattered city gates could be seen.

These places were likely destroyed during the period of the double Nightmare Tide.

Lin Feng's heart sank slightly as he thought of Allen's shelter, the city gate Gruen defended alone, and Mordred's five battles.

A full one hundred thousand Elderland soldiers!!!

In the images from Mordred's memories, those Elderland soldiers wore deep blue battle robes.

Their reaction speeds were extremely fast and their combat capabilities exceptionally strong; they were elites of at least level ten or higher.

One hundred thousand men, five battles, all buried in the Black Tide. If even elites couldn't hold them back, what about ordinary people?

Lin Feng's pace didn't slacken, but his thoughts felt as if they were being pulled back by something.

Although he possessed the heaven-defying Eye of Probability, he needed time—time to level up, time to recruit soldiers, and time to build the Great Wall.

The rules of the Nightmare World wouldn't wait for him, nor would the armies of the alien races. How much time did he have left?

Lin Feng shook his head, tossing these thoughts out of his mind.

He would take it one step at a time. At least he was currently level twenty-nine, and soon all three of his basic attributes would break sixty.

As far as he knew, even a level forty Gold Seat Lord would be forced to balance the growth of the three basic attributes during their Third Rank and fourth rank promotions.

For example, if the first promotion and second promotion added Strength and Agility, then the Third Rank and fourth rank classes would have to prioritize constitution; otherwise, the weakness would be too obvious, leaving their survival in doubt when facing high-level monsters.

He didn't have this problem. The General class provided a percentage bonus to all attributes, balancing Strength, constitution, and Agility without any weaknesses.

Once he obtained the Golden Bracelet from Zhenyue City and pushed his Agility to sixty, then stacked the 30% all-attribute boost from the Great Wall and the 20% boost from Beacon Fire Despair, he would be able to slay even a level forty Gold Seat Lord on the spot.

At this thought, Lin Feng's mood improved significantly, his steps lightened, and he even found the leisure to observe the nearby nightmare creatures.

In the grass on both sides of the road, a few Long-horned Rabbits could occasionally be seen foraging.

Their grayish-brown fur shimmered in the sunlight, and their long ears stood straight up, darting into burrows at the slightest rustle.

On the distant ridges of the fields, several Iron-beaked Birds were pecking at grass seeds; seeing someone pass by, they flapped their wings and flew off, leaving behind a string of sharp cries.

A few Gray-furred Rats poked their heads out from the stone crevices of the ruins, their bead-like black eyes watching him warily, only scurrying out with squeaks after he had passed.

They were all level two or three small fry, worthless to him, but for those Labor Awakened, such things might constitute a day's worth of food.

After running another forty li or so, he was about one hundred and seventy li away from Zhenyue City.

Intact villages and towns began to appear on both sides of the road.

They weren't ruins, but living settlements with people and curling smoke from cooking fires.

The walls weren't high, about five or six meters, and the city gates were wooden, painted with black lacquer.

Outside the towns were large stretches of farmland where people worked, driving livestock, carrying hoes, and bending over to pull weeds.

People also began to appear on the roads between settlements: merchants pushing handcarts and travelers riding Pack Beasts.

There were Farmers carrying tools to the fields and groups of Labor Awakened wearing crude leather armor.

Lin Feng sped past them; his speed of ten meters per second was already absurdly fast in the eyes of ordinary people.

Those Labor Awakened first saw a blurry figure sweeping in from the distance; in the blink of an eye, he was in front of them, and in another, he was already behind them.

Some stopped to turn and look, some rubbed their eyes thinking they were seeing things, and some even forgot the tools in their hands, standing dazed with their mouths open.

"Holy crap! Who was that? Running so fast!!!"

"Did you see that? The equipment on him... it's purple! Several purple pieces!!!"

"Purple? You must be seeing things. Purple equipment is something only second promotion Lord-level people can have!!!"

"I'm not seeing things! That spear on his back has a dark red shaft and golden runes; it's clearly no ordinary item!"

A few sharp-eyed ones huddled together, chattering in discussion.

One slightly older middle-aged man stared at Lin Feng's receding back for several seconds, his eyes suddenly widening as his voice changed pitch.

"That's... that's Lin Feng! The Lord of Fenghuo County, Lin Feng! I've seen him in a livestream! He's the one who slaughtered his way through five thousand Yellow Turban Army soldiers alone!"

"What? The Third Rank Lord? The number one person of Great Xia's younger generation?"

"Yes, yes, yes! That's him! The spear on his back, the Wildfire Spear—it's purple and unique. There's no mistaking it!"

"My god, why is he passing through here? Isn't he in Fenghuo County? Fenghuo County is hundreds of li away!"

"Why do you care? For a Third Rank Lord, traveling a thousand li a day is a piece of cake."

Lin Feng vaguely heard the discussion behind him, the corners of his mouth curling up as he suddenly accelerated.

Ten meters per second became twenty, then thirty.

The wind whistled past his ears, the sound changing from a "whoosh" to a "hiss," like a sharp whistle.

The scenery on both sides of the road was stretched into blurry lines.

Those exclamations were left far behind, becoming inaudible in an instant.

After running a short distance, flags began to appear stuck along the roadside.

The flags bore names like "Iron Pickaxe Brotherhood," "Old Elm Guild," and "Yellow Mud Mound Guild."

Behind each flag stood one or two tents, with piles of ore, timber, and animal hides nearby.

Beyond the tents were stretches of wild land ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) where a few low-level monsters could be seen wandering in the distance.

Standing by the flags were several Labor Awakened, wearing uniform leather armor and holding spears, looking like guards for the site.

The flags also bore a line of large characters: "Intrude at your own risk."

Lin Feng noticed that the Awakened in those tents rarely smiled; occasionally, someone would squat on the ground gnawing on dry rations, their eyes filled with numbness.

As he passed a resource point, he vaguely heard two guards whispering: "Last month we gave 50% to the guild, and what's left isn't even enough for medicine."

"Be content. The point next door took 60%, and don't they still have to work? If you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will."