This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 191 Passing By Your Starting Point
The moment of silence ended, but the atmosphere remained heavy. However, the situation did not allow for prolonged grief. Before the Returning Sect received the message, the advance team had to quickly approach Xunshan.

Although the sound of the main force marching behind them had not yet arrived, time was running out.

"Organize your equipment, replenish your strength, and depart in six hours." Nie Weiyang's voice broke the silence as he gave the order: "The body will be temporarily placed here. Leave two people to guard it and mark it. The main force will handle the follow-up."

No one raised any objections.

In the perilous wilderness, every second counts, and they had no time for a more solemn ceremony for the dead.

The two selected team members stepped forward silently, shouldering this heavy responsibility of guarding.

In the darkest hour before dawn, the advance team, having rested, quietly set off again, disappearing into the shadows like a sharp blade. Having lost seventeen comrades, the atmosphere within the team was much more subdued, but their pace did not slow.

As we traveled at high speed, the wind whistled past our ears.

Perhaps to dispel the deathly silence, a lithe man in the middle of the group, carrying a light crossbow, suddenly spoke up. His tone carried a hint of relief at surviving a close call, and a subtle sense of superiority: "Honestly, although it was dangerous, it was the first time I'd ever teamed up with... well, with teammates who could keep up. I didn't have to keep turning back to wait for people, or worry that the person behind me would suddenly be snatched away by something."

A female assault soldier next to him smiled and chimed in, "That's right. That's how it is. Those barbarians who only focus on strength or physique don't understand the joy of speeding on foot instead of driving fast."

As she spoke, she deftly sidestepped a branch that was sticking out horizontally, her movements incredibly fluid.

Now, with the passage of time and the accumulation of battles, players' attribute preferences have become more distinct, and many have broken through the 50-point threshold in one of their main attributes, possessing abilities beyond those of ordinary people.

However, due to limitations in personal mindset, opportunities, and choices, not everyone's advanced tasks involve extremely high risks, and naturally, the reward skills obtained vary in quality.

The attributes are divided into five types: Strength, Spirit, Agility, Constitution, and Charisma. Among them, Strength, Agility, and Constitution can theoretically be continuously improved through training and stat allocation—although it becomes increasingly difficult as you progress. As for Spirit and Charisma, it seems that most people reach an invisible limit after exceeding 50 points, making it extremely difficult to increase them further through regular training. The system also prohibits players from directly allocating points to these attributes.

However, if skills related to spirit and charm are used well, the three physical attributes are almost impossible to resist.

Charisma and charisma are both highly controlling attributes. Once a player with high charisma and charisma has a thought, they can manipulate other players at will through various 'tricks'.

This difference has subtly fostered a hierarchy of discrimination among players: Agility-based players, who pride themselves on speed and skill, sometimes look down on Strength and Constitution-based players, considering them mere brutes and punching bags; Spirit-based players, who believe they control the mysteries and possess superior wisdom, subtly look down on the former three, believing they lack "spirit"; and some Charisma-specialized players, perhaps relying on special abilities or social advantages, also consider themselves superior.

Of course, this kind of discrimination usually only exists in private or through eye contact. No one would be stupid enough to publicly provoke a strong man with a strength of 50 or a mage with an eerie high mental level, and no one would dare to play this trick on some players who break the rules.

For example, Nie Weiyang.

When he suddenly turned around and his gaze swept across the room, the group of people who were having a heated discussion immediately fell silent.

The team moved at high speed through the silence.

Over the next three days, they encountered several small groups of mutated beasts and sporadic attacks from corrupted creatures, all of which they quickly and safely resolved.

Along the way, they also saw several settlements of different sizes in the wild. Most of these settlements relied on relatively easy-to-defend terrain, with simple huts and walls built of rough wood and stone, and traps set up outside to catch wild animals and also to guard against their own kind.

Nie Weiyang led his team to a safe distance, carefully avoiding the cleverly laid animal traps and pitfalls.

They had no intention of making contact with these survival settlements, and the other side seemed to have also sensed that this group was not to be trifled with, but was hiding in the shadows and watching them pass by vigilantly.

Soon, the terrain ahead began to change.

A wide expanse of water appeared on the horizon, gleaming with a hazy light under the gloomy sky—it was a sizable natural reservoir.

According to the map, their destination was a short distance ahead after bypassing the reservoir.

Langcheng.

Nie Weiyang paused almost imperceptibly.

Three months ago, he left that place, carrying with him the complex wishes of his hometown people and... the yellow rock sugar he still hasn't finished eating. And the carefully woven, colorful bracelet on his wrist, with a small, lustrous golden bead strung on it, is said to bring him peace and protection.

He subconsciously raised his left hand and touched the seams between the armor plates.

The bracelet lay beneath the fabric, the gold beads pressed against the skin, providing a gentle touch.

The team made a brief stop at the edge of the reservoir for final rest and reconnaissance. Beneath the shimmering blue surface, shadows lurked, foreshadowing an unsettling situation.

On the other side of the reservoir, the forests were much sparser than when Nie Weiyang left.

The blurry outline of Langcheng came into view, standing silently. It had become a place Nie Weiyang no longer recognized.

I wonder what the city is like now? Are the people of my hometown doing well?
Nie Weiyang withdrew his gaze, his eyes regaining their sharpness and calmness.

“Go around the town,” he whispered. “This reservoir is a water vein boss spawn point, and it’s currently on cooldown. If you pass through it in the future, don’t underestimate its danger.”

Nie Weiyang withdrew his last glance at Langcheng, and without the slightest hesitation, turned around and led his team away quickly along a hidden route along the edge of the reservoir.

They glided silently across the ridge like ghosts, using the dense, though sparse, but still providing shelter, trees to steer a good distance from the town that was both familiar and strange.

From his vantage point, he could see farmers working in the newly cultivated fields outside Langcheng; small boats drifting along the edge of the reservoir, with fishermen casting their nets; and further away, the sounds of logging and the shouts of prying up boulders could be faintly heard.

A few fleeting figures stirred something within him—

Is it someone you fought alongside? Or someone you only met once?
He couldn't be sure; those figures soon disappeared into the busy crowds or the shadows of the buildings.

A group of soldiers dressed in uniform but with obviously outdated equipment patrolled the perimeter, vigilantly guarding against potential threats from the mountains or waterways.

My hometown is still alive, still functioning, and even seems to be trying to restore order.

But beneath this order lies a daily routine that makes him feel subtly alienated.

He suppressed the subtle turmoil churning within him, focused his mind, and activated the system's map function.

A semi-transparent, three-dimensional map, clearly perceptible only to him, appeared in his mind. Countless tiny points of light adorned the lines and color blocks representing the terrain, each representing an entity willing to trust him.

In the Langcheng area, the number of white dots representing "firm belief in Nie Weiyang" has hardly changed since he left, like stubborn stars, steadfastly remaining in their fixed positions.

And in the old city, scattered with tiny white specks of light, though faint, they were undeniably real—were they Liang Zhenduan? Or others? Or perhaps those who had shared the experience of the biological mutation or heard the oath-taking ceremony?
He couldn't tell the exact difference, but it was a good development.

His consciousness extended backward to the area representing the main force's route. Two points of light flickered hazily, their outlines not yet fully solidified, but he immediately recognized them—Han Jiangxue and Yi Jian.

They were willing to give him no less trust and strength than others, but his serious psychological problems made this judgment even more ambiguous.

Finally, his "gaze" fell on the edge of Zhongzhou, on the area marked "Xinxun Mountain".

The situation there is completely different.

A huge, chaotic, and constantly twisting halo of light lingered there, its colors indescribable, as if it were a state of mental unease, a result of countless extreme emotions being forcibly shattered and mixed together.

This is the 'Sun Lord' of today.

Feedback from the spiritual bomb that Nie Weiyang planted on the Sun Lord showed that its soul was no longer an independent individual, but had been brutally merged with seven or eight tenths of the soul fragments of hundreds or thousands of fanatical believers, and even seemed to be growing.

This horrific fusion did not lead to sublimation; instead, it resulted in utter madness and dehumanization.

The halo was no longer in a stable form, but was constantly expanding, contracting, tearing, and reorganizing, emitting an extremely unstable and corrosive aura.

Even more unsettling is that the boundary of this chaotic halo is spreading outwards at a slow but undeniable pace. Its light—if it can be called light—is like a murky tide, gradually soaking and covering the entire Xinxun Mountain area, and even showing a faint tendency to spread to the surrounding areas.

It is "growing".

In an incomprehensible and malicious manner.

—What exactly did Du Kongmo do?
Nie Weiyang frowned. He turned off the map function and didn't bother to look at the browsing information for other regions.

The reservoir's surface still shimmered, and the distant city of Langcheng remained silent, but the warning from the system map weighed heavily on his heart.

Sun Lord...New News Hill...Return to the Church...

Their time may be even more pressing than they anticipated.

"Speed ​​up." His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached every team member's ears. "If you can't keep up, stay behind and wait for the main group to move together."

—If it's not the eldest brother, who are you cursing at?!
The people behind exchanged glances, and the group silently accelerated again, shooting off into the distance like an arrow released from a bow.

(End of this chapter)