Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Just then, a hoarse cough came from the crowd.

The white-bearded old man walked out shakily, leaning on a wooden cane. The wrinkles on his face were creased together, and his cloudy eyes revealed weariness and pleading.

"Gentlemen...gentlemen, calm down." His voice was as hoarse as a broken bellows.

"In these times, it's not easy for us to even survive. We can't afford to fight amongst ourselves, we absolutely can't afford to fight amongst ourselves..."

He turned to Chen Daoba, his tone softening.

"Chief Chen, Brother Li just saved our lives. This is a real debt of gratitude."

He's young and impetuous, and his words were a bit harsh. Please be magnanimous and don't take it to heart.

Chen Daoba's expression softened slightly, and he was about to speak when the old man turned to Ian.

"Brother Li, Chief Chen has been leading the team for quite some time now and knows the roads in this wilderness well. We'll need his directions to get to Blue Cave Mountain..."

"Give me directions?"

Ian interrupted him, his eyes sharp as knives.

"Tell me, from which direction did the corrupted burrowing beasts come last night?"

The old man was taken aback: "From...from that sandy area east of the camp..."

"What spot did Scarface Chen choose when we set up camp last night?"

"Down the leeward slope..."

"Below the leeward slope, to the east is open sandy land with no shelter whatsoever."

Ian spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice as cold as ice.

"Of the men on watch last night, three were on the east side, two were sleeping, and one was dozing. Is this what you call 'familiarity with the wilderness'?"

The old man opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Chen Daoba's face instantly turned a deep liver color.

"You don't know anything!"

He practically roared it out, veins bulging on his forehead.

"It's windy at night. Do you want to freeze to death if you don't camp in a sheltered spot?!"

"It's better to freeze to death than to be bitten to death by a monster."

Ian's voice wasn't loud, but it pounded into everyone's ears like a hammer.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the panicked and exhausted faces around him.

"Gentlemen, I ask you, how many people have died along the way? How many have been injured? Did Scarface Chen care?"

A low murmur arose from the crowd.

Some people lowered their heads, and some had red eyes.

A woman holding a child suddenly started sobbing, her shoulders heaving.

"My husband... his leg was bitten off by a mutant yesterday. Chief Chen said... he can't carry him anymore, and we have to figure it out ourselves..."

The child in her arms also started crying.

Another middle-aged man with a missing arm had suppressed hatred in his eyes.

"I lost this arm while he was scouting ahead for me, and he didn't even give it a second glance!"

The sounds grew louder and louder, surging up like a tide.

Chen Daoba's face grew increasingly grim, and the trusted guards behind him exchanged glances, their resolve beginning to waver.

One of the younger men moved his lips and muttered softly, "Li Si followed him for three years... and he just killed him like that..."

Chen Daoba suddenly turned his head, his eyes slashing at him like knives.

The young guard shrank back in fright and dared not utter another word.

But that chill had already spread through the crowd.

Ian took a deep breath, the resentment he had been deliberately building up in his chest almost overflowing.

I don't force anyone.

He raised his voice to make sure everyone could hear him clearly.

"Now you have two paths: those who want to continue following Scarface Chen, stand on his side; those who want to follow me, stay."

"I can't guarantee that everyone will make it to Blue Cave Mountain alive, but I promise that if there is any danger, I will be at the forefront."

"I will find a way to treat the injured, and I will collect the bodies of the dead!"

He paused, his sharp gaze sweeping over each face.

"At least, I won't use you as cannon fodder."

After he finished speaking, there was a deathly silence.

Then, the crowd began to stir.

The woman holding the child was the first to walk up behind Ian.

Next came the man with the missing arm, limping over, followed by many more people...

The civilians, the wounded guards, and two young guards who had originally followed Chen Daoba all gritted their teeth and lowered their heads as they walked over.

Like the tide receding to reveal the beach, the crowd split into two groups.

A large group of people stood behind Ian; almost everyone had come over.

On Chen Daoba's side, only two of Tie Gan's trusted confidants remained, all alone.

There were also three or four who were hesitant and stuck in place, unsure of which way to move.

Seeing this scene, Chen Daoba's eyes turned completely red.

"Fine...fine! You guys have guts!"

His teeth were grinding together, and his hand holding the knife was trembling violently.

"Li Xing, you just wait and see! I'll settle this score with you sooner or later!"

Chen Daoba, accompanied by two of his trusted men, turned and left, cursing under his breath.

"Damn it, a bunch of ungrateful bastards..."

Just then, a calm voice sounded behind him.

"You dare threaten me?"

The hairs on the three men's bodies stood on end instantly, and they turned around abruptly.

Ian had appeared three steps behind them, his eyes cold as two bottomless wells.

"What...what are you going to do...?"

Chen Daoba panicked and frantically reached for the knife at his waist.

Don't bother.

Before Ian could finish speaking, he had already moved.

When 【Star Step】 is pushed to its limit, the body becomes like a gray lightning bolt, leaving a series of blurry afterimages in the darkness.

Chen Daoba only had time to see a flash of sword light.

laugh!

The throat of the confidant on the left had been cut open, and blood splattered dark red in the moonlight.

laugh!

The throat of the confidant on the left had been cut open, and blood splattered dark red in the moonlight.

He didn't even have time to scream before he collapsed, clutching his neck and staring wide-eyed.

"Fifth brother!"

The henchman on the right, his eyes reddened, drew his dagger and lunged forward.

Ian didn't even look, and swung his sword backhand.

The sword slid in along the short knife, precisely piercing the heart, then with a twist, it was pulled out.

The movements were so fluid, as if they had been rehearsed hundreds of times.

The second trusted confidant collapsed softly, and the dagger clattered to the ground.

It took only two seconds from the moment Ian appeared to the moment he killed two people.

Chen Daoba gripped the knife tightly, but his hand trembled so badly that the knife got stuck halfway through being pulled out.

He looked up and met Ian's eyes.

There was no anger, no hatred, only a calm as if looking at an inanimate object.

"Li...Li Xing...let's talk this out..."

Chen Daoba staggered backward, tripped over a pebble, and almost fell.

"I...I'll give you the whole team! I won't even go to Blue Cave Mountain! Please let me go, I..."

"It's too late."

Ian interrupted him, his voice as soft as a sigh.

The sword flashed again.

Chen Daoba felt a chill on his neck, followed by a dizzying sensation.

He saw his body still standing in the same spot, blood gushing from his neck, then his vision grew darker and darker until he was completely engulfed in darkness.

Ian shook the blood off his sword, looked at the three corpses on the ground, his eyes unmoved.

He crouched down, patted Chen Daoba's body, and pulled out a small cloth bag.

Inside were a few pieces of dry food, a small bag of water, and half a tattered hand-drawn map book.

Besides these, the most precious items are the six milky-white prismatic crystals and the thirty-odd fingernail-sized plate-like crystals.

This is the extraordinary currency of this world. The six are standard elemental crystals, and the smaller ones are dust crystals. The exchange rate is 1:100.

This is a really good thing; I wonder how Scarface Chen got it.

He carefully put away the Yuan Crystal and glanced at the map.

The route from Maple Leaf City to Blue Hole Mountain is roughly marked on it, along with some dangerous areas.

Ian put away the booklet and stood up.

The camp had long since fallen into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared wide-eyed as Ian walked back from the shadows, blood still dripping from the tip of his sword.

Li Yao was the first to rush forward, nervously grabbing his arm and looking him up and down.

"Brother! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Ian shook his head, then swiftly and decisively sheathed his longsword.

He turned to face the crowd, his voice not loud but clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"From today onwards, this team will have only one voice. If anyone disagrees, they can leave now; I won't stop them."

No one moved.

Those faces were filled with fear and shock.

Corrupted Beast, Scarface Chen—in just one night, this seemingly silent young man proved his strength and decisiveness in the most violent way.

It's unclear who knelt down first.

Then the second, the third...

Apart from Li Yao and the trembling old man, everyone else fell to the ground one after another, their voices, though chaotic, were unusually clear.

"We're with Lord Li!"

"Yes! Let's go with Lord Li!"

Ian glanced at everyone and nodded slightly.

"Get up, everyone, pack your things, we'll leave at daybreak."

Everyone then got up one after another, much more nimble than before, but the way they looked at Ian was different.

It was no longer just simple awe, but an almost instinctive obedience.

As dawn broke, the group set off again.

Ian walked at the front, his [Starlight Perception] spreading out like an invisible net, keenly capturing the subtle changes in the flow of energy around him.

He would sometimes raise his hand to signal a pause, and sometimes change his route.

He led the team around two areas of abnormal energy and avoided a swarm of corrupted flying insects hovering in the air.

During the midday break, Ian called Li Yao to his side.

"Watch closely," he said, drawing his iron sword, the tip tracing a smooth arc across the sand.

"Whether it's a mutant or a corrupted beast, there must be a point on its body where the energy is most disordered and the defense is weakest."

Use [Starlight Perception] to find it; once found, a single sword strike will be fatal.

Li Yao's eyes lit up as he stared intently at the marks on the sand and nodded vigorously.

"Brother, can...can I learn it?"

"You have the noble bloodline of stars flowing through your veins, so naturally you can."

Ian looked up at the group and saw several calm-looking young people.

Two guards and a boy of sixteen or seventeen.

"Come here, all of you."

Several people gathered around, and Ian began to explain the most basic techniques for generating power.

How to inflict maximum damage with minimal effort, how to coordinate and cover for each other, and how to avoid becoming a burden to teammates in critical moments.

He explained things in detail, breaking down and demonstrating each movement without holding anything back.

Not far away, the white-bearded old man watched this scene quietly, a complex expression flashing across his cloudy eyes.

"Winning people over like this isn't exactly a simple matter."

These skills were closely guarded secrets among ordinary people, and Li Xing taught them to them in this way.

After resting, the team continued its journey.

In the afternoon, Li Si's condition took a sharp turn for the worse.

The dark spots on his face had spread to his neck, his eyes were bloodshot, and he began to mutter incoherently.

"Stars... so many stars... they're calling to me..."

He suddenly grabbed the arm of a guard beside him, his fingernails almost digging into the guard's flesh.

"Take me...take me to see the stars..."

The guard turned pale with fright and hurriedly shook him off.

Li Si staggered to the ground, curled up, and began to convulse violently.

Beneath the skin, something seemed to be slowly wriggling.

Ian stopped and walked over to squat down.

Under the [Starlight Perception], the foul energy in Li Si's body, like black vines, wrapped around his blood vessels and had already eroded his heart.

The purifying power of the Starfall Core can purify, but he won't use it on this person.

"Time is up."

After a moment of silence, Ian slowly stood up. "Hold him down."

After a moment's hesitation, the two guards stepped forward and pinned down Li Si's struggling limbs.

Li Si struggled to lift his head, his unfocused pupils reflecting Ian's cold face.

"Help...help me..." His voice was hoarse, pleading with the last vestige of humanity.

Ian did not answer, but slowly drew his sword.

The sword's edge gleamed with a chilling light under the crimson sky.

The surrounding crowd held their breath, and several women hurriedly covered the child's eyes.

Ian flicked his wrist slightly.

laugh!

The sword tip pierced precisely between Li Si's eyebrows, penetrating his brain.

The movement was as fast as lightning, leaving only a fleeting afterimage.

Li Si's body suddenly stiffened, then slumped down limply.

The last glimmer of light in his eyes went out.

Ian withdrew his longsword, flicked off the bloodstains, and spoke calmly without the slightest ripple.

"Bury it."

The guards quickly dug a shallow pit and buried the body.

No one spoke during the entire process; only the sound of the wind and the rustling of shovels filled the air.

After burying the body, Ian turned to face the group:

"Now that you've seen it all, anyone who gets splattered with the corrupted blood should report it to me immediately. I'll do my best to save those I can, and for those I can't..."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping across each face like a sharp blade.

"I will give him a quick death and will never let him turn into a monster and kill any of you."

The crowd either lowered their heads or bit their lips, and no one dared to utter a word of rebuttal.

The team set off again.

Although the atmosphere was heavier than before, a silent unity was also subtly forming.

Night falls.

Ian chose a stone house with walls on three sides as his camp, leaving only one side open for defense.

He divided the Night's Watch into four groups of two, rotating every hour.

"Eyes bright, ears perk up!"

He warned in a deep voice, "There are more monsters than just monsters in this wilderness."

In the latter half of the night, it was Ian's turn to rest.

He leaned against the corner of the wall, closing his eyes to rest, but his [Starlight Perception] continued to spread out quietly like a spider web.

No matter the slightest movement, it cannot escape its notice.

Day three.

After the group had been walking for about an hour, Ian, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.

He bent down and brushed away the loose sand on the ground, revealing a series of clear footprints.

The footprints were large and hoof-shaped, unlike human footprints, and the footprints were relatively new, no more than a day old.

The footprints were evenly spaced, and the steps were neat, showing no signs of the panic and disarray of refugees.

Ian stood up and looked in the direction the footprints extended, which led to the Blue Hole Mountain.

"Someone is walking ahead of us."

He said in a low voice, "There are quite a few of them, and they are well-organized."

The white-bearded old man stepped forward to examine it closely, especially the rows of extremely deep and wide footprints, and his expression gradually hardened.

"This stride and depth... it's probably a small caravan, possibly with a powerful figure in charge."

Ian narrowed his eyes slightly. The caravans in this world that could travel in the wild were all quite powerful.

"Let's follow them and see."

He waved to signal, and the group set off again, following the trail of unfamiliar footprints.

In the distance, low-lying gray clouds hang heavy.

Dark red light seeped through the gaps in the clouds, turning the wilderness into a silent sea of ​​blood.