The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 262 Blood Sun (9)

"Activate the Myriad Manifestations Pivot to completely shield our aura," Su Ninglong decisively instructed Shen Zhaoming, while simultaneously handing him two strings of quasi-spirit stones.

As the mind controller drew closer, Su Ninglong keenly noticed a venomous snake following behind it. How did the snake find its way here?
The mind controller's movements were slow and eerie, its distorted face constantly shifting, seemingly resisting approaching the area, yet its steps stubbornly continued forward.

"Did a venomous snake leave a mark on you?" I've heard a bit about the abilities of the Sichuan mustard snake; it's very good at catching mice.

Under Lao Gu's astonished gaze, Su Ninglong grasped his wrist and carefully examined his entire body. Soon, she discovered that deep within the two snake bite wounds on Lao Gu's body, several tiny, invisible snakes were coiled up.

She lifted Old Gu's chin and lightly touched the wound with her fingertips.

The moment they touched, a chilling sensation spread along her fingertips, trying to take root under her skin—a sign that the mark was shifting.

Su Ninglong closed her eyes and concentrated, keeping her mind clear.

She pointed her fingers together like a sword, and a wisp of spiritual fire, as condensed as liquid sunlight, danced and swirled around her fingertips.

"Disperse," she whispered.

Where the spirit fire swept across, the tiny, transparent snake, almost blending into the air, instantly became visible. Like an exquisite ice sculpture, it rapidly melted and disintegrated in the warm flames, transforming from a solid entity into nothingness, and finally evaporating like morning dew.

Old Gu covered his neck, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

The venomous snake had a backup plan.

The moment the mark disappeared, the serpent sensed it immediately. The calm, cat-and-mouse smile on his face froze instantly, then shattered into an unbelievable, ferocious grin.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any other four-star hunters in the game, so it's impossible for anyone to be able to crack his unique mark.

"How dare he!" A suppressed roar erupted.

To him, any resistance was not a display of courage, but an unforgivable "stain" on his perfectly orchestrated plan.

Seeing the snake's incredulous, even humiliated, expression, the former hunter couldn't help but purse his lips and secretly curl the corners of his mouth.

The viper had previously confidently claimed that his plan was flawless and that he could reel in big fish over the long term.

Now, things have gotten even worse. The series of setbacks has not only affected his mental stability, but has also caused the target he was tracking to completely disappear.

Although the venomous snake successfully controlled the mind controller, the mental pollution carried by the mind controller itself continued to spread.

His out-of-control roar had already alerted the monsters lurking all around.

From the depths of the shadows came a series of teeth-grinding rustling sounds, the soft whirring of countless claws and scales scraping against the ground.

The once still shadows seemed to come alive, twisting and writhing. In the corners of alleyways, inside overturned carriages, and behind shattered shop signs, a large number of mimicry monsters shed their disguises, revealing their streamlined bodies and cold, metallic scales.

They silently surrounded the group in the center. These creatures were thin and had dark skin. They clung to any surface they could grip with the agility of geckos.

Dozens of emotionless, eerie green eyes lit up one after another in the dim light, like will-o'-the-wisps floating in the darkness. There were no roars, no howls, only a chilling, deathly silence.

At this moment, their claws were taut, ready to strike.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment, each second like a steel wire being stretched taut and on the verge of breaking.

Everyone froze in place, and even the sound of swallowing saliva was exceptionally clear at that moment.

The viper regretted bringing this rabble here; it was a huge mistake.

Their combat strength is limited and they are simply not of great use.

These ordinary players may suffer losses, but he himself is a crucial trump card in dealing with Su Ninglong, and he absolutely cannot afford to get hurt here.

On the flank of the team, a player looked at the densely packed swarms of rogues around him and also regretted following the Viper.

"It's over..." That was his only thought when he saw the group of stalkers.

He was just an ordinary player who spent his days in the game. Even though he knew that Viper had ill intentions, he still couldn't resist the benefits promised by the Star Alliance.

He simply couldn't possibly be a match for so many stalkers, and Viper would never be able to spare the attention to protect him.

The taut string in his heart suddenly snapped, his legs trembled uncontrollably, and then he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

The tiny sound was like the sound of a starting gun, and all the stalkers' eerie green eyes instantly focused on him.

The next second, countless ghostly figures rushed out from all directions at the same time.

The tight encirclement collapsed instantly, and the survivors scattered in terror in every possible direction, like a hornet's nest thrown into chaos.

Before the viper could even give the order, all his men had already fled.

Before he came here, he hadn't focused on leveling up like Su Ninglong, and was currently only around level six.

No matter how powerful one's superpowers are, without sufficient level support, their endurance is far from adequate.

Left with no other choice, he could only manipulate the Mind Controller to unleash a massive mental shock, sacrificing those players who couldn't escape in time, while he himself led the original hunters to a swift retreat.

He was truly unwilling to accept that his efforts had been in vain.

This "good show" that he wrote and directed himself completely failed before the real protagonist even entered the stage. This is probably what is called the beginning being the end.

The venomous snake was always arrogant. He did not think it was his mistake. Instead, he firmly believed that it was a trap that Old Gu had set up, deliberately leading him to the gathering place of the stalkers, intending to give him a fatal blow.

In fact, this was entirely due to Su Ninglong's keen senses, which allowed her to detect someone approaching in advance and remove the mark from Lao Gu in time.

All I can say is that the venomous snake was incredibly unlucky.

If one plan fails, the viper will surely devise a second; he will not abandon his plan to ambush them.

There weren't many Star Alliance members in Blood Sun to begin with, and they were scattered across different areas, making it the perfect place to carry out assassinations and bury bodies.

But so what?
Su Ninglong has always been bold and fearless; even knowing that danger lurks ahead, she never backs down.

For her, any ambush or trap is just a minor adjustment on the road ahead; she will deal with whatever comes her way.

After the venomous snakes left, Su Ninglong continued to focus on leveling up until she successfully defeated a Soul Rift Demon and obtained the fragments, at which point she stopped to rest for a while.

The Soul Splitter is indeed troublesome. Its form is elusive, like a twisted ghost, and conventional physical attacks are much less effective against it.

It also emits disturbing whispers and releases a strange beam of light to connect with the player, continuously draining their health and sanity while restoring its own.

Players usually need to spend a lot of time researching countermeasures and combat rhythm when encountering this type of monster.

It's only because Su Ninglong has such good combat awareness and the combat experience that Lao Gu has given her that she can't beat him. She might as well just do a handstand and wash her hair.

Their resting place remained within the amusement park grounds. Since the stalker was awakened by the venomous snake, the area had never returned to peace. The mind controller also lingered nearby, wandering aimlessly, occasionally approaching the edge of the amusement park.

Even if Su Ninglong was confident in fighting it, she couldn't help but worry that it would suddenly appear behind the battle lines, attracting a large number of stealth fighters. If that happened, Shen Zhaoming's situation would be extremely dangerous.

And so, the fortieth hour in the game passed without incident.

The battle came to a temporary end, and Su Ninglong's fierce aura dissipated. Her eyes lit up, and like a nimble rabbit, she darted to the pile of spirit stones she had just collected, eagerly beginning to count them.

She carefully held the shimmering spirit stones in her palm, her fingertips lightly touching them. With each additional stone, her face lit up with joy, her focused and excited expression as if she were holding an incomparably precious treasure.

Seeing her earnest yet somewhat greedy expression, Shen Zhaoming was slightly taken aback at first, then shook his head, a smile unconsciously appearing on his lips. He silently handed her a cloth bag so she could properly store the spirit stones.

"Thank you, Brother Shen."

"Let's go, you should rest for a bit."

"Hmm. Here, take two." Su Ninglong bent down and carefully picked out two of the best quality spirit stones from the pile, handing them to Shen Zhaoming. "These are for you."

Shen Zhaoming did not answer immediately.

He first carefully wiped away the last bit of dust and blood from his hands, leaving no trace between his fingers, before slowly raising his hand and gently placing it on Su Ninglong's head, patting it lightly twice, before finally taking the two warm spirit stones.

Old Gu watched from the side, somewhat envious of the way the two got along.

Shen Zhaoming treated Su Ninglong like a gentle and tolerant older brother.

Su Ninglong was also willing to give this "cheap older brother" the most direct and richest emotional feedback. The atmosphere was warm and natural, capable of melting away all the chill around them.

After counting, a total of eighty spirit stones were obtained from killing monsters, including ten high-grade spirit stones, sixty-eight mid-grade spirit stones, and two low-grade spirit stones.

It was like discovering a rich mine, waiting for her, the miner, to dig it out. With such an easy way to earn spirit stones, she wanted to do it every single day.

Thinking about the daily check-in, she couldn't help but recall the final step in cultivating the Enlightenment Tea—the lack of spiritual energy was one of the main reasons.

If this spiritual vein could be relocated... Su Ninglong began to seriously consider this possibility.

According to Lao Gu, this game area is extremely vast, and blood slaves are active everywhere, proving that the spiritual veins almost cover the entire area. As long as she can find the core of the spiritual vein and refine it, she can collect the entire spiritual vein.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but cough lightly. Then the question arose: faced with this sudden opportunity, she searched her entire body and found only the "Mountain Climbing Path" magic item, which could barely accommodate the spiritual veins.

Unfortunately, it's still lacking, and it might cause a serious leakage of spiritual energy from the spiritual veins.

It was only then that Su Ninglong belatedly realized that she had never expected to encounter a spiritual vein here and had not prepared any special magical artifacts for collecting spiritual veins.

It truly is a case of entering a treasure mountain and returning empty-handed, a truly regrettable situation.

As Su Ninglong lay on the portable bed, she pondered the possibility of obtaining a spiritual vein.

She fell asleep while thinking about it, and after sleeping for a few hours, she woke up with a very clear mind.

Having made a firm decision, they resolved never to easily abandon the spiritual vein. Once this polluted area is completely cleaned up, the subspace that exists within it will disappear, and no one can say for sure where the spiritual vein will move to then.

Her spatial ring contained a lot of materials, including many items related to spatial manipulation.

This game world is so vast, maybe I can actually gather everything I need to craft it.

As long as the venomous snake fails to resolve the contaminated area, she still has time to buy time.

After resting for several hours, Shen Zhaoming had just opened his eyelids when he was met with a delicate face so close to his.

Before his brain could fully recognize who it was, his body's defensive instincts kicked in, and he clenched his fist and swung it out.

A soft hand stopped his fist in time, and a familiar voice followed: "What are you doing?"

After looking closely, Shen Zhaoming recognized Su Ninglong. "What are you trying to do?"

He breathed a sigh of relief and said with a hint of helplessness, "Please keep a safe distance next time." He had been too close just now, and his facial features were magnified to the point of being distorted. He thought he had encountered some legendary "dream ghost."

Su Ninglong immediately put on a smile and spoke with exceptional obsequiousness: "Brother Shen, you are wise and insightful, with keen eyes and a penetrating understanding of everything..."

"Stop." Shen Zhaoming raised his hand and pushed away that fawning face that only appeared when begging for favors, and said expressionlessly, "Speak like a human being."

Su Ninglong immediately dropped her exaggerated performance and put on a pitiful expression: "I've thought of a way to cut off the source of the problem, but I need your help. Help me check if these two things exist in this place."

She then unfolded a drawing.

Su Ninglong's drawing style is extremely neat, with straight lines and every detail clearly marked, just like the illustrations in a rigorous engineering instruction manual.

The painting is calm, square, and full of absolute rationality, but it lacks a bit of artistic flair.

Fortunately, her art style is so "simple and unadorned".

If it were a free-spirited artist with a wild and unrestrained style, no matter how knowledgeable Shen Zhaoming was, he would probably be helpless in the face of a bunch of abstract and freehand lines.

Su Ninglong wrote a brief plan next to the blueprint: "As long as we remove all the corrosive energy here and refine a special magic weapon, we can collect the spiritual veins. At that time, the game will naturally cease to exist."

Shen Zhaoming nodded and asked, "So, are you going to continue upgrading?"

"It needs to be upgraded." Su Ninglong answered decisively, "Without upgrading, I simply cannot control such a magical artifact, let alone collect it."

"Then let's focus on leveling up first." Su Ninglong's plan couldn't be rushed. The Viper wouldn't be able to gather enough fragments in a short time, and besides, Shen Zhaoming didn't believe that simply killing the boss would be enough to leave the game. Such a simple method probably wouldn't even be enough to satisfy the Filthy Spirit's hunger.

There is no shortage of smart people in "Blood Sun". The reason why everyone has set their sights on the level 60 boss is simply because no one has been able to kill it yet, so it has become the biggest target.

Since they needed to find materials for refining weapons, Shen Zhaoming thought it best to also put finding the person on the agenda. He himself also needed to level up to better utilize his special ability.