Chapter 350 – This Time There'll Be Fun

“An S-Rank team?”

Su Ming and the others immediately exchanged glances.

Feng Qing’er, being straightforward, voiced her thoughts.

“An S-Rank team from Tianfeng City is waiting outside? Aren’t they going into the Hidden Realm?”

Feng Qing’er’s question was on everyone else’s minds as well.

This made Xu Xiayan feel like sighing.

There was no helping it.

“If those S-Rank teams could enter the Hidden Realm, the SS-Rank mission probably wouldn’t have been delegated to me,” Xu Xiayan pursed her lips and said. “Although the SS-Rank mission already involves the operations of Tianfeng City, compared to the Phantom Demon army that directly threatens the city’s safety and is about to charge out of the Hidden Realm, which is more important doesn’t need to be explained.”

The implication was that if all the high-Rank teams only cared about themselves and wanted to enter the Hidden Realm to plunder resources and gather rare treasures, then who would protect Tianfeng City’s safety?

The Phantom Demons in the Hidden Realm were generally much stronger than those in ordinary realms. There were likely many Hazardous Species, and Nightmare Species were also highly probable.

If they were allowed to charge out of the Hidden Realm and head south to invade Tianfeng City, even if the city could hold them off, there would still be significant losses, even sacrifices.

If among those Phantom Demons there were one or two special types with unique abilities that allowed them to directly invade Tianfeng City, enter the urban areas, and wreak havoc, the resulting chaos and tragedy would be unimaginable.

Other Base Cities might consider relying on their outer walls and various defensive arrangements to confront the incoming Phantom Demon tide, fighting a defensive battle to eliminate them outside the city walls.

But Tianfeng City couldn’t do that.

It wasn’t that Tianfeng City’s defensive capabilities were weaker than other Base Cities, but rather that Tianfeng City held a special status and absolutely could not afford any mishaps.

If something went wrong and caused major chaos in Tianfeng City, it might even lead to the Chaos Demon Cave being unguarded.

At that point, if the Phantom Demon army from the Chaos Demon Cave broke through into the mainland’s heartland, it would be a disaster for countless Base Cities.

Therefore, even if the possibility of something going wrong was extremely small, Tianfeng City’s higher-ups had to nip it in the bud.

Encircling and eliminating the Phantom Demons the moment they charged out of the Hidden Realm, stopping them outside Tianfeng City to prevent them from heading south, naturally became a necessary measure.

For this reason, Tianfeng City not only restricted teams below B-Rank from entering the Hidden Realm but also had all S-Rank teams cooperate with the military to form an encirclement, engaging the Phantom Demons outside the Hidden Realm.

“As compensation, thirty percent of the Phantom Demons that charge out of the Hidden Realm can be prioritized for distribution to those S-Rank teams.”

Xu Xiayan explained this matter.

“So, the highest Rank team entering the Hidden Realm this time is only A-Rank.”

Hearing this, everyone finally nodded in understanding.

“Thirty percent of the eliminated Phantom Demons will be allocated to those S-Rank teams?” Mu Yan murmured. “That harvest might not be inferior to directly plundering rare treasures in the Hidden Realm, right?”

What could be called “resources” wasn’t just limited to naturally occurring rare treasures but also included materials dropped by Phantom Demons.For example, Dragon Demon Saliva is a treasure born from Dragon Demons, not something that grows in the wild.

Phantom Demon materials can also be used to forge alchemical weapons, create alchemical tools, and brew alchemical potions.

These are all resources that can be used to enhance one’s strength.

In short, although S-Rank teams cannot enter the Hidden Realm, it’s still worthwhile to hunt Phantom Demons extensively outside.

In fact, the gains might even be greater than those of teams entering the Hidden Realm.

“According to the detection department of Tianfeng City, the Hidden Realm will manifest on the ground and open its entrance around dusk,” Xu Xiayan said to Su Ming and Chi Qian.

“The entrance will remain for about ten days. After ten days, it will gradually disappear due to magnetic field influences, eventually returning to the seam between the present world and the Spirit Demon Abyss along with the entire Hidden Realm.”

In other words, everyone must withdraw from the Hidden Realm within ten days after the entrance opens.

Otherwise, they would become neighbors with the Phantom Demons in the Hidden Realm, returning to the seam between the present world and the Spirit Demon Abyss, never to come back.

“During the initial stage of the entrance opening, the Phantom Demons inside probably won’t react immediately and won’t gather at the entrance to charge out,” Xu Xiayan instructed. “So, we need to rush in as soon as the entrance opens, the faster the better, and try to stay away from the entrance to avoid encountering Phantom Demons that notice the anomaly and converge there, trapping us in an encirclement.”

As she spoke, Xu Xiayan took out her Terminal and transmitted a map to Su Ming.

“This is a rough topographic map of the Hidden Realm scanned by the detection department. You can take a look.”

Hearing Xu Xiayan’s words, Su Ming immediately took out his own Terminal and opened the map.

Chi Qian, Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, and Tong Xinyao—all four of them—subconsciously gathered around Su Ming, pressing close to him and leaning in to look at his Terminal screen.

This scene surprised Bai Ruxiang, Bai Xuefei, Bai Xiaoyan, and Wang Qian.

“…Their relationship is better than I imagined,” Wang Qian whispered, earning nods of agreement from Bai Ruxiang, Bai Xuefei, and Bai Xiaoyan.

They thought the same.

Originally, having heard that Chi Qian and the others belonged to a legendary team called “Crimson,” which in the past only recruited female Professionals and never accepted male Professionals—making it a forbidden land for male Professionals—Bai Xuefei and the other two Bai Family Hunters, who shared a similar nature, assumed that Chi Qian and the others would be like them: either indifferent toward men or deliberately keeping their distance.

Moreover, since Su Ming was a new Sorcerer with a significant gap in strength compared to Chi Qian and the others, even if they didn’t look down on him, they shouldn’t have been too close to him.

Who would have thought that this subconscious assumption seemed entirely wrong?

Feng Qing’er and Tong Xinyao were one thing—one was too lively to care about boundaries between men and women, and the other was still young and naive—so it was normal for them to become close to Su Ming.

But Chi Qian and Mu Yan, one a strong-willed woman and the other an ice-cold beauty, both with considerable strength, also showed no aversion to getting closer to Su Ming. This was somewhat unexpected.

In contrast, Xu Xiayan was extremely pleased to see this.

No sense of distance is good!

That’s exactly what we want—no sense of distance!This at least indicated that Su Ming had indeed won the hearts of these formidable women. Even when the contract terms expired in the future, the likelihood of renewal would be much higher.

Although, according to Su Ming, Chi Qian had signed a lifetime contract with no expiration date, Tong Xinyao had signed for twenty years, and even Mu Yan and Feng Qing’er had signed ten-year contracts—all far from expiring—maintaining good relationships would still be beneficial when the time came.

By then, Tong Xinyao and Feng Qing’er would only be thirty-four, and Mu Yan just thirty-eight. All three would still be at the peak of their strength, with potential for further growth, making them highly valuable for contract renewals.

With good relationships, retaining them would be easier.

Xu Xiayan was worrying about such matters on Su Ming’s behalf.

Unaware of all this, Su Ming was examining the map on the terminal with his companions.

It wasn’t a flat diagram but a three-dimensional one.

The map displayed an inverted pyramid structure, divided into ten layers, with each lower layer having a smaller area.

Xu Xiayan’s voice chimed in at just the right moment.

“As you can see, the Hidden Realm we’re about to enter is a maze structured like an inverted pyramid. Not only is it divided into ten layers, but each layer has complex terrain. To proceed to the next layer, we must find the corresponding entrance.”

“There’s more than one entrance to the next layer, but the detection department couldn’t pinpoint their exact locations. We’ll have to find them ourselves.”

“The catch is, we have no choice but to search for these entrances because, although the area shrinks as we go deeper, the rarity and value of the natural treasures increase.”

Thus, anyone with ambition would want to descend further to seek out these precious treasures.

However…

“Due to this structure, the probability of encountering powerful Phantom Demons also increases the deeper we go.”

“After all, it’s not just us humans who need resources to improve—Phantom Demons can also enhance themselves through special resources.”

“For example, Red Vein Stone is a clear illustration.”

Xu Xiayan’s example was quite vivid.

Red Vein Stone’s primary function was to boost the evolution probability and success rate of Phantom Demons.

Strictly speaking, its effects were most significant for Phantom Demons. Human Hunters could only derive value from it because they possessed Phantom Demon Bloodline.

Similarly, some natural treasures were also valuable to Phantom Demons.

Since the treasures became more precious deeper down, the likelihood of powerful Phantom Demons lurking there—or even guarding these treasures directly—increased substantially.

Therefore, the deeper they went, the greater the risk of encountering danger.

“To avoid inefficiency from large-scale group movements and to maximize our chances of finding entrances to lower layers, each team will operate separately without regrouping until we reach the mission’s target destination.”

Xu Xiayan’s purpose in approaching Su Ming was actually to inform him of this arrangement.

“We’ll split up now, each leading our own teams into the Hidden Realm and descending separately,” Xu Xiayan said with a smile. “This also allows us to gather resources individually before tackling the main mission.”After Xu Xiayan’s explanation, Su Ming finally understood why so many teams were willing to accept her employment.

It turned out that before the mission strategy began, all major teams operated separately, having ample time and opportunities to gather resources without significant conflict with the mission objectives.

Under such circumstances, with Xu Xiayan offering additional benefits, the probability of successfully hiring those major teams increased considerably.

“We’ll gather at the marked destination on the map seven days from now.”

“That will be when the mission officially begins.”

“Don’t forget, alright?”

After leaving these instructions, Xu Xiayan turned and departed with Bai Xuefei and the others.

Su Ming and his companions focused on the destination displayed on the map.

That location was on the very bottom tenth level.

“It seems this time will be quite interesting.”

Su Ming thought to himself.

(End of Chapter)