Chapter Forty-Seven: The Large Goblin Village

Spirit Fruit Dungeon

After a long and arduous journey, the group finally arrived at the dungeon. Inside, five teams had already gathered, with the foremost clearly leading the rest.

“Wolf Demon Encampment... Sandstorm Encampment... White Cloud Encampment... Bright Moon Encampment, and the main city's Thunder Bird Gang!”

Lu Sheng only recognized the Wolf Demon Encampment, knowing little about the others. However, Shi Jiu was well acquainted with them and began explaining each one to Lu Sheng: who led which encampment, their names, and their general strength.

“Captain, how do you know so much?” Lu Sheng asked.

“Every autumn, the rulers of Celestial Ox City organize an autumn hunt, gathering people from all the surrounding encampments. It’s a good chance to meet others from the region and the main city. The autumn hunt should be starting soon,” Shi Jiu replied.

The “autumn hunt”—a new term lodged itself in Lu Sheng’s mind. With Shi Jiu’s explanation, he understood its significance. Each year, the masters of the Celestial Ox City, the Frost Gate, summon all the encampments around the city. The purpose is to sweep the wilderness, preventing monsters from gathering and attacking the city.

Of course, they didn’t scour the entire wilderness. The Frost Gate would investigate in advance to identify which monsters were multiplying too quickly—the targets of the autumn hunt. Typically, these rapidly breeding monsters were weak, gregarious creatures, so the assistance of the surrounding encampments was crucial.

Weak as they might be, in great numbers, such monsters still posed a threat. Moreover, their overpopulation in the wild could trigger a chain reaction: with more food available, other monsters would also multiply quickly, and the entire ecosystem would spiral, leading to threats like monster sieges. Sometimes, human intervention was simply unavoidable.

A man stepped out from the Thunder Bird Gang and called out, “Leaders of the encampments, come here.”

Thanks to Shi Jiu’s earlier explanation, Lu Sheng recognized him. Zuo Qiang, deputy leader of the Thunder Bird Gang, renowned for his formidable defenses—his true card remained a mystery. Even Shi Jiu’s knowledge was limited.

Li Kuang and the others hurried over as soon as Zuo Qiang spoke, not daring to utter a word of complaint. The Thunder Bird Gang’s leader was a fifth-tier powerhouse; defying such a figure could easily result in death.

While the leaders attended their assembly, those left behind held their own small meeting.

“Why is everyone still lingering at the entrance?” someone asked. “Why hasn’t anyone gone in to search for the spirit fruit?”

“Who knows?” another replied. “With someone as powerful as the Thunder Bird Gang’s leader around, it doesn’t make sense for everyone to hesitate—unless the dungeon houses an exceptionally strong monster.”

“‘Unless’—you sound just like a prophet. Every sentence starts with ‘unless,’” a companion teased.

“What’s the point of guessing? We’ll know once the leaders return. Besides, everyone’s here—coming last won’t hurt us.”

…

Meng Yang stood before the five encampment leaders and spoke simply and directly: “There’s no hidden agenda in calling you here. The monsters in this dungeon act as a group, and the spirit fruit is concentrated in one place.”

“It’s a large goblin village inside. I’ll break through myself. Your people may scour the outskirts for loot, but do not approach the center. Understood?”

The threat in Meng Yang’s words was unmistakable—he needed no subtlety with the weak. Disobedience would be met with death.

The five encampment leaders expressed their understanding without a trace of resentment. Years of experience had accustomed them to such exchanges. Sharing in a strong man’s spoils was more than enough for them.

When Li Kuang returned, he relayed the orders: they were to stick to the outskirts and pick up whatever they could.

“Remember, don’t approach the center no matter what you find. Don’t rush in recklessly—dying here is pointless,” he warned.

The development of an encampment depended on every individual; as a leader, he would not let his people die in vain.

Everyone agreed, and Lu Sheng was unperturbed. Obtaining the spirit fruit would be ideal, but even if he gained nothing, he believed that, with his talent and determination, he would eventually stand at the pinnacle of this world.

He was confident that this day was not far off.

The monster cards he now possessed might be unremarkable, but once he raised them all to the ninth tier, who could stop him from taking whatever he desired? When his strength grew, he could hunt stronger monsters to cultivate, steadily improving the quality of his cards.

With the plan set, all six teams advanced into the forest.

Soon, a sprawling goblin village appeared before them. Wooden houses stretched across a vast area; unlike the goblins’ usual preference for leather tents, these goblins lived in wooden dwellings, lending the place an air of sophistication.

Two sentry posts stood at the entrance, flanked by rows of wooden spike barricades. Squads of goblins patrolled the gate. The moment the teams arrived, the goblins noticed them—alarms sounded, defenders rushed forward, each with their assigned role, a hint of civilization in their order.

Goblin civilization?

It wasn’t impossible. From a human perspective, goblins were monsters. But to the goblins, perhaps humans were the monsters.

“Attack!” came a thunderous command, and the Thunder Bird Gang surged forward.

Meng Yang charged at the forefront, his body instantly wrapped in lightning, a suit of armor forged from pure electricity enveloping him. With every gesture, arcs of lightning leapt forth, reducing goblins to ash in an instant—there was no need for cremation, only annihilation.

Meng Yang led his people into the goblin village, unstoppable, monsters in their path torn apart in a heartbeat.

Such chaos couldn’t help but draw out more goblins. Hordes poured from their wooden houses, attacking Meng Yang’s team. Those too slow to join the main fray turned instead on the encampment teams lingering at the entrance.

Meng Yang tore through to the heart of the goblin village with incredible speed. At this moment, the desire in his eyes was palpable, magnified without limit.

He had never imagined that a third-tier spirit fruit dungeon, which he’d thought held little value, would contain such a treasure.

His gaze was fixed on the very center of the goblin village.

[Quality Evolution Fruit]

Tier: Third

Quality: Blue

Function: Allows monsters of blue quality or lower to evolve in quality.

Though the success rate was extremely low, any item that enabled monsters to evolve in quality was priceless—he couldn’t have bought one even if he bankrupted himself.

His natal card, the Thunder Spirit Bird, was only of green quality. If he could use this Quality Evolution Fruit to raise it to blue, his strength would rise to a new level.

Then Lü Le, the leader of the Watersky Pavilion who always made things difficult for him, would never be able to suppress him again.

Their strengths were closely matched, but Lü Le’s natal card was blue quality—one tier higher—so he often mocked Meng Yang with this fact, infuriating him to no end.