Deep in the wild forest, a blur of blue-gray light and shadow flew from the outside direction, from far to near.
I saw the latter in mid-air hundreds of meters above the ground, circling a mountain below, circling several times at high speed, and then falling rapidly towards the ground somewhere.
In just a few flashes, it fell steadily to the ground, revealing a middle-aged man with an unusually strong figure.
This person was Gao Yuan who used the art of disguise, changed his appearance, and then went out to perform the task of "whip bearer".
Since he completed and submitted the first ‘whip holder’ task of the year last month.
He was looking forward to it day and night at home, and he finally got the next two tasks.
In the past half month, including this time today, I have gone out twice in total.
The 'pious man' of 'Ember' and the other 'deacon of Feilong City' who were listed as hunting targets by the 'whip bearer' were killed very easily.
"Including today's one and the three guaranteed tasks for this year, I have completed it!"
"After I go back and submit today's task, I will be able to unlock the qualification to apply for intelligence consultation to the alliance!"
In a hidden place on the shady side of a hill, Gao Yuan opened a huge stone door covered with vines on the back and whispered to himself.
More than a month has passed since he successfully entered the Hunyuan Realm.
However, due to the lack of suitable exercises and skills, he has not conducted any practice during this period of time.
If it weren't for the refining materials of the 'Yun Shen Dan', he would have collected it very smoothly.
Every once in a while, he can collect a batch of materials for refining the 'Yun Shen Dan' and start refining the elixir at home.
It was precisely because of his errand of refining the ‘Yun Shen Dan’ every three or five that he would not stay at home doing nothing all the time.
Despite this, this state of complete stagnation in his own cultivation still made him feel very uncomfortable for him who had long been accustomed to practicing alone.
"Fortunately, I submitted the application for intelligence consultation today, and the intelligence information about the 'Deep Desert' has been found!"
"In addition, in a few days, this year's alliance spring auction will also begin."
"When I pass the auction's elixir special session and sell the excess 'He Dan', plus the trophies captured from these three 'Whip Holder' missions, I should be very comfortable in terms of spiritual stones."
"When the time comes, I will buy a few suitable skill training books in the special sale of 'Gongshu Books'."
"In the future, I can prepare for the mission of going deep into the Gray Desert and hunting down the 'Weird Demon'!"
As his mind wandered, Gao Yuan went straight to the lounge.
I saw him lying on the leisure chair, couldn't wait to take out the Exile mask, put it on, and went straight into the exclusive space.
…
"Dear 'One Star Whip Bearer', the task you submitted this time has been reviewed by the alliance, and the reward for this task has been credited to your name."
After some skillful operation, Gao Yuan successfully received the transmission note notification from the alliance official.
Then he stood in front of the 'Developing Jade Bi' and looked at his 'Whip Holder' information:
[Level]: One-star whip bearer (response)
【Meritorious】:12400
[Exchange Treasure House]: Expandable
[Information Consultation]: Can be expanded
"With more than 12,000 merits, considering the previous two times spent on consulting information, even if the consulting questions this time are a little more high-end, it should still be enough to pay for the consulting fees!"
"Well! It doesn't matter even if it's not enough!"
"Anyway, I haven't had much to do lately. I won't be in a hurry to change this task acceptance status to 'silent'!"
"If there are any more tasks assigned in the future, I will just continue to carry them out."
"The Kaiyuan realm target corresponding to a one-star whip bearer, for me now, is basically no different from delivering food!"
"While accumulating merit, I can also earn some pocket money to prepare for the upcoming auction!"
With his mind spinning, Gao Yuan skillfully opened the information consultation page and submitted his application for information consultation.
After doing all this, he suddenly remembered the trophies seized this afternoon, which he had not yet had time to count.
He immediately exited the Exile space without further delay.
…
Turning his hands to put away the Exile mask, Gao Yuan took out an exquisite-looking brocade storage bag with gold thread on a black background from the hidden pocket of his robe.
The latter was exactly the trophy he seized from his mission target, a "Flying Dragon City Deacon" with peak Kaiyuan Realm strength, when he went out to perform the "Whip Holder" mission today.
Similar to the 'Feilong City Deacon' he had seen in the past, today's mission target is not very old judging from his age.
The latter is a young man who looks to be in his thirties and has a rather sinister appearance.
Of course, these are not the point.
Regardless of the opponent's strength or age, in the eyes of Gao Yuan now, this can only be said.
What really impressed him was the other party's identity as a puppet master.
And that miraculous skill in controlling various puppets to fight.
His sophistication in puppet control techniques is far from comparable to the 'Ember' dwarf he killed in the Luofeng Mountains.
More importantly, in the process of killing the target and simply checking the loot.
He also found a mountain of spiritual stones, materials, elixirs and other conventional items in the other party's storage bag, as well as four jade slips of the same shape!
But these four jade slips were what really interested him.
Thinking of this, his thoughts moved slightly.
He saw four light yellow jade slips of the same shape appearing out of thin air in his hand and falling steadily into his hand.
Gao Yuan saw this and quickly used his spiritual consciousness to scan the inside of these jade slips one by one.
After quickly browsing the contents of these four jade slips, a smile immediately appeared on his face.
As he expected, among the four jade slips, except for one, it recorded a second-level elixir called "Heart-Calling Pill".
The contents of the other three jade slips are all related to the puppet method that he cares about.
One of them contains several exquisite puppet control methods that are self-proclaimed reminders.
The second jade slip records many complicated methods for drawing talisman arrays.
The last jade slip contains fourteen puppet design drawings with exquisite structures and functions!
Although limited by the Kaiyuan Realm strength of the 'Feilong City Deacon', the relevant contents in these jade slips are only at the second level.
But if you study it carefully, it is not difficult to find that the contents in these jade slips are rare and rare items.
More importantly, he could easily see it during his quick and quick browsing.
Although these jade slips in his hand are aimed at different directions, they are closely related to each other.
At the end of the respective contents, they are not complete, and there is clearly still considerable room for subsequent expansion.
"These few jade slips should be the Kaiyuan Realm part of a set of very extensive and profound classics that specifically focus on the way of puppets!"
After closing his eyes and recollecting it, Gao Yuan couldn't help but guess softly in his heart.
But this is not important to him. What he values more is the reference value of the contents of these jade slips.
As for the missing parts in the follow-up, with the systematic deduction function, there will always be a moment of perfection!
As his mind wandered, he focused his attention on the last jade slip containing the recipe for the "Heart-Calling Pill".
Strictly speaking, even this second-level elixir called "Heart-Calling Pill" is closely related to the application of the Puppet Method.
According to the description of its medicinal effect in the elixir, this 'heart-awakening elixir' can have a great stimulating effect on the person who takes it.
In this way, after taking it, it can greatly increase the intensity of one's spiritual thoughts within a certain period of time.
As for the cost, it's not very serious.
It only weakens the user's own spiritual strength by about 70% within one day after the effect of the medicine wears off.
After this period of weakness is over, you will be back to your original state without any other side effects.
For puppet masters who mainly rely on controlling various puppets to fight, the intensity of the power of spiritual thoughts is the main factor that directly restricts the upper limit of their combat power.
Because the strength of the spiritual power will directly affect the number of puppets that the puppet master can control at the same time.
Seeing this, Gao Yuan finally understood the main reason why the young man's fighting power suddenly soared before his death this afternoon.
Thinking about it now, the other party must have been desperate and planned to use the surge in strength after taking the 'Heart-Calling Pill' to achieve the goal of fighting with all his strength.
"It's just that this guy was really unlucky. This time he hit my hand directly."
"Otherwise, if it were another person, he might not be this guy's opponent!"
After muttering softly to himself, Gao Yuan put his spiritual consciousness into the jade slips that recorded various methods of drawing talisman arrays, and began to study them carefully.
…
As with the previous two intelligence consultations, the efficiency of the ‘whip holder’ organization this time is still very high.
Early the next morning, when Gao Yuan entered the exclusive secret room with great expectations, a ball of transmission notes wrapped in red spiritual light was already waiting there for some unknown time.
"Dear 'One Star Whip Holder', the information consultation application you recently submitted has been accepted and approved. Please check the details through 'Developing Jade Bi'."
Listening to the female voice prompt in his mind, Gao Yuan's face suddenly flashed with excitement.
“I don’t know how much the consultation fee is this time, I hope it’s not too outrageous!”
“Of course not too cheap!”
As his mind turned, his body swayed, and he came straight to the front of the 'Developing Jade', and skillfully opened the information consultation page.
"Consultation fee..."
"Huh? Do you still need to select an area?"
"Well, that's right, after all, the Gray Desert is such a big area!"
"If I don't choose a region, such a large piece of intelligence data will definitely not be something I can afford with my little merit!"
After muttering a few words softly to himself, Gao Yuan chose the Northern Territory without hesitation.
"I'm going, do I have to choose again?"
"Is it that exaggerated?"
Looking at the prompt prompting him to select the area again, he complained speechlessly.
…
After several multiple-choice questions, Gao Yuan finally narrowed down the scope of his consultation on the terrain data of the 'Deep Desert'.
The area closest to his current location and close to Qingliang City's "Hui Desert" sphere of influence was marked as "Hui Desert North No. 16" by the "Whip Holder" organization.
Just when he thought with joy that he could finally see the details of the cost of this intelligence consultation.
I saw another prompt popping up on the surface of the 'Developing Jade' in front of me.
[Dear ‘One Star Whip Holder’, the information content you consulted this time belongs to ‘restricted dissemination content’. 】
[Before obtaining the information for this consultation, you must swear to your inner demons: You shall not leak this information to anyone in any form without the permission of the ‘Exile Alliance’! 】
[You can choose to accept or reject, accept and go to the next step/reject, and return the number of intelligence consultations. 】
"I'll go, are you so serious?"
Gao Yuan muttered in surprise, and his expression became much more serious.
At the same time, he vaguely guessed in his mind the possible reason why there was no news about the several intelligence collection missions targeting the depths of the Gray Desert that he had previously announced in the alliance mission area.
In addition to some big bosses who really looked down on the reward he was offering, I'm afraid this oath of inner demons to keep silent also accounts for a large part of the reason.
As his mind turned, he clicked and accepted without hesitation.
First, he had no target to leak information to.
Secondly, at the moment, apart from the immediate intelligence consultation, he really has no additional channels to obtain this kind of information.
Following the instructions on the page, Gao Yuan faced the 'Developing Jade' in front of him and swore the oath of the inner demon with a serious look on his face.
At this point, he finally saw the cost of this intelligence consultation.
"Consultation fee...10,000 merit?"
"Fortunately, I have the merits accumulated from completing the last mission as a foundation. Otherwise, the merits obtained from these three missions this year will not be enough to pay for this consultation fee!"
Looking at the numbers displayed on the 'Developing Jade Bi', Gao Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said.
Then he moved quickly and deducted the merits in his name.
Then he couldn't wait to exit the Exile space.
…
Returning to the outside world, he quickly took out the 'cross-border disk'.
After some skillful manipulation, a jade slip with strange patterns on its surface appeared in his hand.
With the sharp perception brought by his spiritual consciousness, he could clearly sense the subtle flow of energy from this jade slip.
"Is this the jade slip that was prompted on the mission consultation page just now and can only be viewed once?"
"It's really amazing!"
Holding the jade slip in his hand and looking at it carefully for a moment, Gao Yuan sighed with emotion as he felt the vague but astonishing energy flowing on its surface.
Then he reached into his consciousness and swept towards the inside of this rather special jade slip.
As a large amount of information was printed in his mind, a line of gleaming fonts caught his attention immediately.
"Special reminder: This jade slip is a 'self-destructing jade slip'. Once any form of exploration is performed, the 'self-destructing' talisman array inside will activate itself."
"Once the investigation is over, this jade slip will be destroyed on its own!"
"Therefore, please do not end the visit easily before the inspection is completed."
"If I go, can I still play like this? Is it so advanced?"
Gao Yuan was surprised and couldn't help but admired in his heart.
At the moment, he did not dare to be careless and carefully understood the information in the jade slip.
The content in it is not too much, it is eloquent, almost four to five thousand words.
The most important thing is the rather detailed regional map in the appendix in the second half of the jade slip.
This area marked by the 'Exile Alliance' as 'Grey Desert North No. 16' is an irregular rectangle.
It is close to the north and runs east-west. It is roughly parallel to the hierarchical lines divided by the major forces in the Northern Territory on the periphery of the Gray Desert, and its length is about a hundred miles.
Taking this east-west horizontal line as a benchmark, heading due south, that is, deeper into the Gray Desert, about fifty miles, is the other edge of this rectangular area.
And between these two sides, which are about a hundred miles long, there is a rectangular area with an area of more than a thousand square kilometers, which is the location of the so-called "Grey Desert North No. 16" area.
In the northeast corner of this rectangular area, the straight-line distance is about 1,100 miles.
It is the farthest place Qingliang City has penetrated into the Gray Desert, and is the location of the No. 6 Forward Camp.
After a brief inspection, Gao Yuan finally focused his attention on the interior of this area.
The map of this area is divided into three long strips in three colors: "red, yellow, and blue" according to the different degrees of penetration into the "grey desert".
The one closest to the periphery is a blue area about ten miles deep and dominated by mountains.
According to the description in the jade slip, this area is relatively safe.
Generally, the ones that appear in this area are 'succubi' that aim at the later levels of the Kaiyuan Realm, and very few 'weird demons' that aim at the Hunyuan Realm appear here.
From the southern boundary of this blue area, about twenty miles further south, is the yellow area marked on the map.
The terrain of this area gradually slows down from north to south, with only a dozen hills of varying sizes scattered throughout.
According to the description in the text, the active monsters in this area are still mainly "succubi" from the Kaiyuan realm.
But occasionally, you will encounter 'weird demons' wandering from the deeper depths of the 'grey desert'!
As for going deeper south from this yellow area, it is marked as a red area.
In this area, the terrain will slow down further.
At the same time, as you go deeper south, you will gradually encounter some ancient buildings with weird shapes.
And as the depth increases, the frequency of these buildings will also increase.
And in this red area, there is a possibility of being attacked by 'devils' at any time.
Especially around those ancient buildings, the chance of encountering 'weird demons' will be significantly increased compared to other places.
If you are unlucky, it is common for you to be attacked by multiple 'weird demons'.
At the end of the text, some features of these ancient buildings are briefly introduced.
The most important point is that these ancient buildings themselves are not fixed.
Regardless of its location, appearance, style, etc., there will be irregular changes over time.
At the same time, while these ancient buildings are accompanied by many dangers, they also carry a lot of opportunities.
Because inside these ancient buildings, more or less, there will be some ancient relics left over from ancient times.
Most of these ancient items are worthless garbage, but the possibility of extremely rare ancient secret treasures cannot be ruled out.
At the same time, when these ancient buildings transform, it is not that they themselves have deformed, but that they are like a completely different building covering the original location.
Not only its exterior style, but also all its interior furnishings will change accordingly.
In other words, even if you stay in the same area, you may find different harvests!
…
After reading through the contents of the jade slip from beginning to end, and confirming that nothing was missing, Gao Yuan slowly withdrew his consciousness from the jade slip.
"puff!"
At this moment, a layer of dark red flames appeared on the surface of the jade slip without any warning.
As soon as the latter appeared, it expanded rapidly and instantly enveloped the entire jade slip.
In an instant, the jade seal was reduced to fly ash and dissipated into the void.
"Tsk! There is such a wonderful talisman formation, it is really magical!"
Gao Yuan looked at the jade slip quietly. It was swallowed up by the dark red flames and dissipated without even a single dregs left. He sighed in admiration.
"These ten thousand points of merit are worth it!"
"Although the information in this jade slip is not too detailed, the information that should be disclosed is also marked."
"At least in this 'Grey Desert North No. 16' area, I am somewhat mentally prepared for what I will encounter when I get there."
"Based on this, when I enter the Gray Desert in the future, I won't be too blind!"
"Next, all we have to do is wait for the league's spring auction to begin!"
"If everything goes well, I will be able to buy some useful skills. I won't talk about reaching the sky in one step, but I will still have some initial combat effectiveness."
"After a little preparation, I can consider the follow-up hunt for the 'Weird Demon'!"
Sitting on the Xiaoyao chair, Gao Yuan slightly adjusted his sitting posture and said softly.