Good heavens!
It’s only been a few days since Qian Mian left the Torch of Hope Secret Realm, and they’ve already infiltrated the upper echelons of the cult?
This cult isn't as weak as the Lumina Nation officials think. They've been lying dormant for a long time, their goal being to perform a colossal ritual.
If he hadn't gotten intel from Qian Mian, he would have underestimated this cult himself.
At least two of them are Non-Human level Blood Whispers!
And there are even stronger Blood Whisper High Priests!
As for the Black Robed cultists comparable to Third Awakening, their numbers aren't small either! Far more than the Third Awakening powerhouses in his Torch of Hope, though their combat power can't compare.
His Torch of Hope follows a path of elite soldiers.
But the cult is indeed strong in numbers, and Qian Mian has already risen to a high-ranking position.
"In just a few days, no matter how strong your displayed abilities are, it would be difficult to gain the trust of a Crimson Priest, right?"
"Yes, but I didn't enter as a new cultist. I scouted several Black Robed cultists, and after observing one of them for two days to understand his information and awakened abilities, I replaced his identity. My start in the cult was at a relatively high level."
Just thinking about how the Black Robed cultist was tailed for two days without sensing anything sent a chill down Fang You's spine.
But since Qian Mian is one of his own, then it's fine.
"Be careful within the cult, your own safety is paramount."
There wasn't much else he could do, other than to provide Qian Mian with more skill training cards, allowing him/her to draw them infinitely and raise the disguise and stealth skills to the highest level as soon as possible.
Qian Mian asked, "Mentor, what do we do now? Should we take down those four ritual sites? One of them is the cult's lair, where that Priest is located."
Fang You propped his chin on his hand, pondering.
"Don't alert them for now. First, find the remaining ritual sites."
"This ritual requires seven branch rituals to be conducted simultaneously, but it's possible that even if a few are missing, the ritual can still proceed."
It's also possible that the Blood Whisper Priest has backup plans.
More importantly, the Blood Whisper Priest should possess abilities similar to the Maggot Priest. That Maggot Priest had escaped for thousands of miles and required three kills to be truly eliminated.
There was an element of luck involved.
If that person hadn't been so arrogant and happened to run into Apostles like Yin Ling and Pei Hongjing, it would have been hard for him to pursue... let alone discover them.
Similarly, the Blood Whisper Priest could kill him once, but if they escape, finding them a second time would be extremely difficult.
"Furthermore, killing the Blood Whisper Priest once is not easy."
"They are not a freshly descended Maggot Priest. As a Non-Human level... especially if their true form is of the Throne level, the Blood Whisper Priest's combat power must be considerable, and they can command wicked entities."
Dealing with them wouldn't be as stable.
If they were allowed to escape and completely hide... or abandon the ritual and cause chaos on Blue Star, that would be even more troublesome for him.
It would be best if they could use the ritual opportunity to capture the entire cult in one fell swoop.
"Continue investigating."
"I need more detailed intel, the start time of the ritual, or how long the entire ritual will last, and how dangerous it is."
"Understood."
Qian Mian said, performed a Torch of Hope ritual, then pulled up their cloak, the gray fabric billowing to conceal their form. In the next moment, the entire person had vanished.
Fang You remained on the rooftop, holding two scrolls.
One was a replica of the ritual diagrams, and the other was a map drawn by Qian Mian.
Seven ritual sites, one thoroughly understood, and the locations of three others roughly determined.
"The one Qian Mian is leading is located within Lumina Nation."
"As for the other three..."
One was in Southeast Asia, one in Peacock Nation, and one within White Bear Nation.
Strangely, none were in Huang Nation.
Does this cult avoid Huang Nation?
"It's not advisable to act yet, but preparations must be made in advance."
"An Jianyou and Black Blade both have the ability to deal with four-star wicked entities, but others..."
Xing Jinglei and Yi Luoxi are ultimately a bit lacking.
Unless they can reach Fourth Awakening.
However, Fourth Awakening requires a massive amount of mysterious accumulation, a full 8,000 mystery points!
If the timeframe were extended to years, such accumulation wouldn't be a problem, but within half a month to a month, it's almost impossible to accumulate.
The highest mystery accumulation currently belongs to An Jianyou, with over four thousand mystery points. This girl is currently the top explorer in the Torch of Hope's mystery realm.
"There are ways to quickly accumulate mystery."
"Don't light the bright torch and walk directly in the mystery realm. This way, you'll constantly be contaminated by the gray mist, continuously gaining mystery, and it will also attract a large number of wicked entities. As long as you kill them fast enough, you might accumulate eight thousand mystery points in an hour or two."
But!
It's too dangerous. He had tried it before, but it quickly attracted four-star wicked entities, and even more terrifying five-star hell-level and six-star disaster-level wicked entities.
Their colossal size was indescribable, and their terrifying appearance, equally so.
Even though such massive wicked entities could be seen from afar, even with the gray mist obscuring them, these entities appeared abruptly, emerging from the gray mist.
They arrived suddenly and were unstoppable.
If he hadn't been possessing Little Huan at the time, and had been alone, he might not have escaped.
This method couldn't be used for now.
When An Jianyou and the others explored the mystery realm, he had also instructed them to avoid combat as much as possible.
"Let's stick to the method of large-scale clearing of mountain forest wicked entities."
"There are many areas in Donghuang where wicked entities are clustered. One person can be responsible for each area."
"Once the domestic ones are cleared, we can move on to clearing abroad."
"Skill improvement also plays a role in combat power, second only to Awakening. For example, Xing Jinglei now has Cannon Fist, Bronze Skin, and Iron Bones, and both Cannon Fist and Basic Fist Technique are at Master level. The other two skills are also at Expert level. If he were to fight now... he could probably fight four-star wicked entities, just lacking in output."
"He is in dire need of high-grade wicked artifacts."
After a moment of thought, Fang You opened his game panel.
After a few days of accumulation and some previous savings, his Fate Points had once again risen to over 2,000.
It increased quickly.
After all, he now had over a hundred Apostles. Even if only a third of them did daily tasks, his daily income was several hundred points, and this was without large-scale operations.
With high earnings, he didn't hesitate to spend.
He immediately performed ten intermediate ten-draws and one advanced ten-draw.
"Notification: Obtained Skill Training Card (White)"
"Notification: Obtained a small bag of Wicked Crystals (Green)"
...
"Notification: Obtained a bag of Wicked Crystals (Blue)"
...
"Notification: Obtained Skill Training Card (Blue)"
...
"Notification: Obtained Ability Training Card (Blue)"
...
"Notification: Obtained King Hammer's Soul (Purple)"
"Notification: Obtained Frosty Flame (Purple)"
...
His eyes lit up.
Although he didn't draw a weapon suitable for Xing Jinglei, it seemed he had gotten a little lucky.
Two purples. While the number of purples wasn't high, they were both quite precious.
Master King Hammer could finally enhance his potential and gain a talent.
And this flame...
"Frosty Flame (Purple): Special fire seed. When used in forging, it can slightly enhance the quality of equipment."
A good item!
He immediately gave it to Master King Hammer and injected Life Soul into the bald old Wang.
Master Wang gained the talent 'Master Craftsman,' greatly improving his forging skills. It was expected that he could now craft green-grade standard combat suits.
"Besides the Life Soul and the fire seed, I also drew three skill books this time, but unfortunately, they are all ones I already have... The probability of drawing new items from this card pool is far less than drawing duplicates!"
"But this time, I actually drew a training card I've never seen before."
"Ability Training Card (Blue)"
"Description: Using this card can rapidly enhance the development, application, and upper limit of one's awakened abilities, similar in effect to a Skill Training Card."
This was also a good item!
To improve awakened abilities, one relied on level and constant use, similar to practicing skills. However, skill proficiency levels allowed for rapid development and application of awakened abilities.
But how could it compare to using a cheat?
Although this cheat still required self-cultivation.
He drew a total of six Ability Training Cards.
After thinking for a moment, Fang You didn't use them himself, but instead placed them on the exchange list for Xing Jinglei, Black Blade, Qian Mian, and Liu Shang.
Marked as recommended, letting them exchange for them themselves.
He was also preparing to go out and clear wicked entities to accumulate mystery when Little Huan appeared and said,
"Master, wait a moment. Pei Hongjing has already brought back the Wicked Crystals traded with the Investigation Bureau. He's almost at the warehouse."
Once they were sent to the warehouse, they would appear on the game interface.
And Little Huan knew very well that her master was waiting for this batch of Wicked Crystals.
"How many?"
"Why don't Master guess?"
Seeing Little Huan's mischievousness, he could roughly guess that the Wicked Crystals were sufficient.
Enough to upgrade the map to level seven.
Upgrading to Lv6 required 5,000 Wicked Crystals. He had been upgrading for a long time and earned Wicked Crystals quickly, several hundred a day, but there were also many places to spend them, and the accumulation had been slow.
He had been waiting for this big spender, the Investigation Bureau.
This time, the Investigation Bureau paid a large amount of Wicked Crystals in exchange for a large number of Awakening slots and trainee slots.
As the Wicked Crystals entered the warehouse, a pleasant notification sound echoed in his ears.
"Notification: Obtained 22,300 Wicked Crystals."
Combined with his previous accumulated amount, the Wicked Crystals needed to upgrade to Lv7 were sufficient!
Although it might have emptied the Investigation Bureau as well.
"Upgrade map range."
"Understood~!"
Little Huan said.
"Notification: Wicked Crystals -25,000, Map Range Lv6 → Lv7, Map upgrading."
The upgrade required a considerable amount of time, so Fang You didn't just wait.
He went out and cleared wicked entities. By the next day, when he returned to the Torch of Hope Secret Realm, he heard the "Map upgrade complete" notification.
Opening it, as he expected, the map now covered the entire Blue Star.
The entire Blue Star was within his radar range!
High-energy, high-star wicked entities were marked, as were various gates to mystery realms, all representing wealth and new recruit slots.
But in addition to these...
"Secret Lands"!
The map could detect Secret Lands; he knew this. The level six map had already marked the Secret Land in Huang Nation.
And now, there were a total of five Secret Lands displayed on the map.
One in Huang Nation.
One in the Federal State of White Eagle.
One within White Bear Nation.
Within the small area of Sunset Nation, there was also one.
The last one was located within Kangaroo Nation, but unlike the previous ones, this Secret Land had mission red markers.
"This seems to be an... unclaimed Secret Land."