Chapter 133: The Demon King's Treasure

Fifteen light gates of varying colors stood in a row, each corresponding to one of the fifteen team members. Once a player entered, their designated gate would immediately vanish. Each gate functioned as a random teleportation array, casting the member into a random room within the Demon King’s Labyrinth. Aside from their colors, the gates were identical, so once Ye Chen gave the signal, the members stepped into their chosen paths.

A flash of light blinded him for a moment before Ye Chen found himself in a desolate room. In the center stood four monsters guarding a pink treasure chest. The lid was partially open, revealing a faint silvery glow from within—it appeared to be a piece of silver-grade equipment.

Ye Chen offered a faint smile at the sight. Every one of his fifteen teammates would encounter this same illusion upon their first teleportation. However, Ye Chen knew clearly that it was a trap; only the four monsters were real. With attack power exceeding 800 points each, greed would lead anyone who fell for the trick to certain death.

"Ding! Player Xianyun has died. Level reduced by one. Transported to the Soul Temple for resurrection."

"Ding! Player Silver Armor has died. Level reduced by one. Strength permanently reduced by 5 points. Transported to the Soul Temple for resurrection."

Before Ye Chen could reach the next teleportation array, screams echoed through the team channel. In this first room alone, five players had already perished. Ye Chen sneered; he had already warned them, and they had only themselves to blame for seeking their own demise.

Each room contained four teleportation arrays, leading to different locations. In truth, the way out was simple: by continuously stepping through teleportation arrays more than twenty times, one would be automatically ejected from the labyrinth. Ye Chen was not worried about Monk Dingyuan and the others. He walked briskly to a blue array, appeared instantly in another room, and followed the method provided by 2058. After passing through nineteen arrays, he arrived in a massive cavern. Ahead lay three enormous sea-blue chests—the hoard of the marmots and the site of the Demon King’s treasure.

Ye Chen’s heart raced. He stepped forward and flipped open the first chest. *Whoosh.* A cyan light erupted instantly. The chest contained 69 pieces of bronze-grade equipment, which he swept into his inventory with a wave of his hand. The second chest held seven pieces of silver-grade equipment—the very spoils dropped by the Level 300 Earth Lizard Dragon.

Five of these pieces belonged to the "Wrath of the Earth" set, a mage-class armor. The full set provided 506 points of defense, 80 points of intelligence, and 50 points of constitution. Its bonus attributes included a 20% increase in attack damage and a 10% increase in spell critical hit rate.

After checking the attributes of the silver set, Ye Chen could no longer remain calm. It was game-breaking. Whether in terms of defense or other stats, the Wrath of the Earth set was overpowered. To his knowledge, not a single person in Lieshan City currently possessed a set of this caliber. Ye Chen estimated that once equipped, even that dog-trash "Number One Thief," Feng Wuxue, would struggle to break his defense. If he stood still and traded blows, a single Chain Fireball would finish him off. Dominating Lieshan City was no longer just a pipe dream.

The remaining two items were a pair of silver-grade rings. Equipping them granted a 10% increase to physical attack damage, and their base stats were quite respectable. He decided to let his elder sister wear them for a while, then sell them later; level 30+ silver gear rarely lost much value.

The final chest held the legendary Demon King’s Treasure. Legend claimed the Demon King was a demigod-level creature, and most players would assume its hoard contained immense riches. Ye Chen, however, knew that this treasure was a massive headache—or rather, a giant pitfall. Yet, even knowing it was a trap, he had to jump in, because this "trouble" was the key to crossing the vast distances to reach the mysterious foreign continent where, according to legend, Dragon City was located.

*Click.* Ye Chen opened the third chest. A dense, water-blue light spilled out, casting a faint azure hue over his face. A palm-sized blue scale floated out of the chest and drifted slowly into his hand.

[Reverse Scale of the Golden Dragon]: This is the reverse scale of a Golden Dragon, royalty among the dragon race. The moment you opened the chest, the draconic aura upon this scale was sensed by its owner. To retrieve it, the Golden Dragon will summon you after 72 hours. You will be randomly teleported to a corner of the foreign continent. After the summoning, the draconic aura will vanish, and you must rely on your own strength to reach Dragon City. Upon returning the scale to its owner, you will receive a generous reward. (Note: You must complete this task within 30 days, or you will be afflicted by the Golden Dragon’s curse, reducing all attributes by 100 points.)

Ye Chen’s face twitched. A reduction of 100 points to all attributes was a death sentence. Liehu Paoxiao had already been rendered useless after losing 50 points to a Nether Pill; if he were to lose 100, the consequences would be...

Forget it. He didn't want to think about it; it was too terrifying. Besides, with 2058 as his backer, there shouldn't be any insurmountable problems.

Storing the Golden Dragon’s Reverse Scale in his bag, Ye Chen headed straight for the last teleportation array. One step through it, and he would leave the Southern Wilderness Demon Domain.

*Whoosh.* With another flash of light, Ye Chen opened his eyes to find himself on Falling Eagle Cliff. Not far ahead stood four of his teammates. In addition to Monk Dingyuan and the others, there was a bearded berserker. Ye Chen managed to recall the fellow’s name: Firebeard—"beard" as in the beard on his face...

"Why are there only four of you left?" Ye Chen asked, walking over.

"Hey, don't mention it. The rest of those guys got wiped. Damn it, not one of them would listen to reason. They saw the illusions and threw their lives away. A few unlucky ones even lost stats and have gone back to the city to cry," the Long-Faced Player said, waving his hand with a bitter smile.

"Team Leader Ye, did you find the gear we lost? We didn't see any of it," the bearded man asked expectantly.

Ye Chen shook his head. "I didn't find anything either. I was teleported out after stepping through twenty arrays."

Monk Dingyuan and the others nodded, confirming the same experience. They didn't suspect Ye Chen, largely because he hadn't equipped the Wrath of the Earth set yet. If he had, any fool would have known what happened. Ye Chen didn't plan on showing the set off until he reached the foreign continent where no one knew him.

"By the way, Team Leader, I told Beard about us forming a team. He's a decent guy—should we take him in?" the Long-Faced Player asked with a grin.

Ye Chen nodded. He had a good impression of the bearded man and could recruit him now. If he were to form a truly top-tier elite squad in the future, the man could serve as an outer member or even lead a secondary team. His opponents were too powerful for him to seek revenge alone, but building a team couldn't be rushed. Ye Chen wanted elites—true elites—and he preferred quality over quantity. Since the Fourth District had only just begun, there was no need to hurry.

"If that's the case, the four of us will stick together from now on. Just call us when you're ready to officially form the team," the Long-Faced Player said, looking much more relaxed now that Ye Chen had accepted his recommendation without hesitation. They had been friends before, but since they were changing allegiance, they needed to follow the rules.

"The four of you? Is the original team disbanding already?" Ye Chen asked, slightly surprised by their efficiency.

"Haha, it's over. If we're going to split, there's no point in dragging it out. Being indecisive isn't my style," Monk Dingyuan replied with a carefree laugh.

"That's fine. Since there are only four of you, you'll be squeezed out of many leveling spots. I actually discovered a secret leveling map a while ago. You four go there; with your strength, Monk, you won't even need a Saint Priest. You can tank the monsters yourself using potions, and the others can focus on DPS," Ye Chen said with a smile. He had gotten the secret map from 2058, intending to use it when he hit level 30, but since he was about to head to the foreign continent, it was useless to him now. Besides, the map was small; it was perfect for four or five people, but not enough for the dozen or so girls in his sister’s group.

"Haha, I was actually getting a headache thinking about where to go, and Team Leader Ye just solved it for us!" the Long-Faced Player laughed happily. This was the benefit of clinging to a thigh—when a pro eats meat, you at least get to drink the soup.

Ye Chen immediately shared the location and the secret method for using the map with Monk Dingyuan via private message, leaving him to take charge.

"Right, there's one more thing. You all probably know of the Qingyu Studio. I’m a member there. I’ll be leaving Lieshan City for a while in a few days, and it might be a long time before I return. If Qingyu runs into trouble, I hope you’ll do me a favor and help them out." This was one of his reasons for building a team. Beyond preparing for his revenge, he needed to protect the girls who had once saved him. Protection required power; just the opponent Linghu alone was more than Ye Chen could handle solo. Forming an elite team was imperative. And while Monk Dingyuan had dissolved his previous group, his connections remained—he could handle most ordinary troubles.

"Brother Ye Chen, you’re actually a member of that beauty studio?" The Long-Faced Player’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Monk Dingyuan agreed readily, though he looked equally surprised. "I know Qingyu. That’s the studio Jian Wuxin and his group were originally from. But I’ve never heard of them recruiting male members."

"I know, I know! I read the gossip column every day. Rumor has it they recruited a logistics worker, and God knows how many guys are green with envy. Uh, Team Leader, that wouldn't happen to be you, would it?" the bearded man asked with naive bluntness.

Ye Chen’s face darkened. Gossip—the bearded man looked like such an honest guy, yet he read the gossip column daily and had just exposed his secret...

"That’s how it is. Please help out when the time comes. We'll form the team once I’m back," Ye Chen said, pulling out a Town Portal Scroll.

"Team Leader, I think we should just start a guild. With a top-tier expert like you as our leader, plus the dozen elite girls from Qingyu and our small team, we wouldn't be lacking in management or the ability to recruit players. Who knows, we might even be able to go head-to-head with those big families," the Long-Faced Player suggested excitedly.

Ye Chen pondered for a moment. "We’ll talk about that later. Even if we do establish one, I need to go back and discuss it with the studio first."

The Long-Faced Player nodded. Exchanging glances with Monk Dingyuan and the others, they all saw the burning ambition in each other’s eyes. To vie for the world—if the opportunity arose, who wouldn't want to give it a try?