Chapter 159: Wrathful Slaying of Qingfeng

Clang.

The entire corridor fell silent except for the sound of the chandelier crashing to the ground. The team was deathly quiet, all staring at Ye Chen in disbelief. Longteng Qingfeng was especially shaken to the core by Ye Chen’s words, looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.

How could it be possible? How could he know that the crossbow’s sight had been tampered with?

Even more impossible was that he had shot down the chandelier with the rigged crossbow, and it was a blind shot!

Longteng Qingfeng was completely dumbfounded, forgetting even to defend himself.

“Longteng Qingfeng, do you have anything else to say?” Ye Chen looked at the trap successfully triggered on the right side of the corridor, then turned back and glared fiercely at Longteng Qingfeng. No enemy, no matter how fierce, was as detestable as a traitor who betrayed his own teammates.

“I, I, you...” Longteng Qingfeng was at a loss for words.

“Brother Zhanxing, I cannot tolerate someone like this in my team. I don’t care how Longteng treats such members, but here, I must expel him from the team now.” Ye Chen’s words were resolute, his eyes sharp as blades as he stared at Longteng Zhanxing.

Longteng Zhanxing met Ye Chen’s gaze and nodded gravely. “No problem. I will report Longteng Qingfeng’s behavior to Boss Langzi later. Our Longteng will not accept such scum who stab their comrades in the back.”

“Ding, Longteng Qingfeng has been kicked out of the team.”

The prompt sounded in his ear, draining Longteng Qingfeng’s face of color. Immediately, he exploded with furious shame and yelled at Ye Chen, “How dare you kick me out! I’ll kill you!”

With that, he lunged at Ye Chen. Flames flickered over the dagger—the thief’s most powerful skill: Fire Blade.

The attack was sudden, the situation changing too quickly. The Longteng members were caught off guard. Before anyone could react, Longteng Qingfeng had already reached Ye Chen. Only then did the others shout in alarm. Longteng Kuangniu and Longteng Zhanxing rushed to stop him, but it was too late.

Whoosh! The fiery dagger sliced through Ye Chen’s cloak. Joy flashed in Longteng Qingfeng’s eyes. A caster, a shadow priest—no matter how powerful, a thief up close was a grave danger. Now, he had succeeded in closing the distance. Yet strangely, Ye Chen’s face showed no panic.

-118

A blood-red damage number floated above Ye Chen’s head, causing Longteng Qingfeng’s eyes to widen in disbelief. Here was a second-tier thief with over 350 attack power, landing such a low damage hit?

Panicked, Longteng Qingfeng immediately tried to withdraw, his body beginning to blur as he slipped into stealth. If he could hold out for a few seconds, he would be automatically teleported back to town for being kicked out of the team, escaping death.

Seeing Longteng Zhanxing trying to flee with a terrified expression, Ye Chen’s eyes gleamed with contempt as he sneered, “You really think you can kill me?”

Before his words finished, a raging black fireball had already formed.

Black fireball, fire!

Boom. Longteng Qingfeng had no chance to dodge. Before he could fully enter stealth, even a single-target spell like this could easily wound him—indeed, kill him outright.

-1567

The thief, with less than a thousand health, was instantly drained of all blood and transformed into light, teleporting back to town.

Only then did the melee fighters finally reach Ye Chen’s side. It wasn’t that they were slow—it was Ye Chen who was too fast. One strike, instant kill; they were simply unnecessary.

The teammates who had fully recovered their senses looked at Ye Chen with awe. When the Fierce Tiger Roar and another Fierce Tiger thief had been killed earlier, they hadn’t fully grasped the magnitude. But now, witnessing it firsthand, the impact was real: heavy artillery, one flash, instant kill.

Even Longteng Zhanxing’s gaze toward Ye Chen had changed. Ye Chen was now a true master in his eyes, someone worthy of respect.

“All right, the secret technique has been unlocked. Let’s get ready to wipe out these Gold Swallow Beasts.” Ye Chen smiled easily, pointing to the right side of the corridor.

Only then did Longteng Zhanxing and the others shift their gaze to the secret technique triggered by Ye Chen. Their eyes widened in surprise. On the right side of the corridor was a narrow gourd-shaped groove that had appeared unnoticed. They weren’t fools—they immediately recognized this as a perfect spot to trap monsters. If several melee fighters blocked the entrance, the casters behind could freely unleash their attacks. Mass slaughter wouldn’t be just a dream.

Upon this realization, cheers erupted within the team.

“Night Team is mighty!” “Long live Night Team!” “Night Team unites the world!”

Ye Chen sighed inwardly, thinking what a mess it all was.

“Brother Ye, you always surprise us. The Martial Soul Secret Realm has just opened, and you’ve already obtained such a secret technique, along with that gold element stone and two doors. You’re truly a god among men.” Longteng Zhanxing’s words were less flattery, more probing. He was deeply curious how Ye Chen knew all this—this wasn’t the Rocky Forest, a low-level dungeon where veteran friends could be an excuse. This newly opened map meant none of them should have much experience.

Ye Chen glanced sideways at Longteng Zhanxing, seeing right through his thoughts, and said faintly, “Longteng is a big organization. This isn’t your first battle in the fourth district. Don’t you know the library is an unparalleled treasure trove? Surely you’ve heard that the library refreshed a batch of Martial Soul Secret Realms just two days ago?”

Longteng Zhanxing’s face immediately flushed red. They really hadn’t known. He chuckled dryly, “Brother Ye, you joke. We know the library is a treasure trove, but those things aren’t for casual browsing. Every map has hundreds of biographies and legends. Not to mention, even if you skim ten or so books without finding anything, you wouldn’t discover the hidden secrets buried in just a few dozen words in one book. Only someone like you, Brother Ye, could pick out the faintest clues of secret techniques from those fragments.”

The others nodded in agreement. Most had entered the library, dreaming of discovering secret techniques amidst the ocean of books. But the result was often the same: they couldn’t even finish one book before fleeing. The historical biographies were even more tedious than school textbooks—painful to read. Only a rare few masochists dared to study them.

With this in mind, Ye Chen’s image morphed from a genius to a madman in their eyes. Yet no one doubted the source of his secret techniques anymore; after all, such prodigies had appeared even in the previous district.

“I counted—there are thirty-eight Gold Swallow Beasts in total. Zhanxing, can you confidently lure them all at once?” Though Ye Chen was captain, he trusted Longteng Zhanxing, the team leader, had a better grasp of each member’s strength. So naturally, he asked.

“Can we split into three waves? There are too many monsters. If we try to lure them all at once, we might not hold out during the process.” Longteng Zhanxing looked a bit embarrassed. Recently, the third squad had improved their gear somewhat, but their skills remained stagnant. Such a task wasn’t a problem for the first or second squad, but for the third, it was pushing it.

“Three waves?” Ye Chen shook his head. “That’s too slow. We probably won’t open the second door in time. The countdown starts as soon as the first monster dies. Splitting into three waves won’t make it. Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll lure the monsters. You melee fighters just block the entrance and receive them.”

“Brother Chen, you’re going to lure the monsters yourself? No way, that’s too dangerous. Although you’re powerful, those Gold Swallow Beasts are level 40 elite monsters. They’re jumpers and extremely fast. The casters won’t last long.” Longteng Kuangniu worriedly said.

“Don’t worry. Those monsters won’t be able to touch me. You just hold your positions and take the monsters.” Ye Chen waved and activated a speed aura.

“Ding, player Ye Chen activated speed aura. All team members’ movement speed increased by 28%, attack speed increased by 18%.”

A pale-white aura appeared beneath everyone’s feet. The team members all opened their mouths slightly in astonishment. Such an overpowered aura!

Longteng Zhanxing’s eyes widened as he swung his sword a few times, clearly noticing a significant increase in attack speed. Yet he still looked somewhat concerned. “Even with a 28% speed boost, we’re still slower than those Gold Swallow Frogs. Brother Ye personally going is too risky. How about we lure in two waves? With your aura, the melee fighters could definitely take down these beasts in two waves.”

“Forget it. Besides questioning if two waves is fast enough, my aura doesn’t cover that large an area. If you run too far, you lose the aura. In the end, it’s the same. This job has to be done by me. Besides, Brother Zhanxing, have you forgotten how I dealt with the Fierce Tiger Roar squad back in the Demon Canyon?” Ye Chen smirked faintly, pulling out a Phantom Soul Pill from his bag.

Slap! Longteng Zhanxing smacked his forehead and laughed. “I really forgot about your special medicine, Brother Ye. Now I’m completely reassured. Then it’s all yours.”

Longteng Kuangniu and the others looked puzzled by their exchange until Ye Chen took the Phantom Soul Pill. His movement speed suddenly doubled. Seeing Ye Chen’s rapid, wind-like figure, they finally understood it was a special pill that massively boosted player speed, and their mouths watered.

After swallowing the pill, Ye Chen hurled a black fireball at the stone wall. Before his body even blurred into invisibility, he broke out of stealth. After running a few steps back and forth to get used to the speed, he turned and scolded Longteng Kuangniu and the others, who were staring dumbfounded and drooling, “Wipe your drool off! A bunch of grown men gawking like that gives me goosebumps. I’ll lure the monsters away first. You guys hurry into position. You know the formation, no need for me to say. Zhanxing, you keep the door open for me, and remember to follow my orders. Don’t mess it up.”

“Brother Ye, rest assured. This task won’t go wrong.” Longteng Zhanxing nodded confidently. If he couldn’t handle such a simple mission, he might as well bang his head against the wall.

“All right, I’m going in.” Ye Chen’s voice dropped as he sped toward the horde of Gold Swallow Beasts.

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider supporting it with recommendation and monthly votes on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

P.S. Monthly votes are dropping off the first page. If you have some, please donate a few to Xiao Jiu. Thank you, thank you! Recommendation votes are welcome too, haha.