Ji Xinghuo gave a faint smile; it was his first hunt, and he knew he had to display some real strength.
Jing Ji merely sighed and said, "Reap the spoils."
The three of them quickly gathered the Alien Species and spoils from the enemies and exited the outpost. Jing Ji then dispelled the Silent Illusion. Without this technique, the noise from earlier would have surely alerted the nearby enemies.
"Let’s go, to the next target."
Jing Ji continued to lead the way.
Yuan Chongzhen transformed into a Shadow Leopard and sneaked into the darkness, the three of them swiftly advancing through the night.
As Ji Xinghuo ran, he opened the interface of the Wanxiang Star Pupil and saw that the elimination of that sentry had earned him 35 Spiritual Origin Ability points, which he put all into Thunderbolt Hand.
He had been using all the Spiritual Origin Ability he obtained over the past few days to upgrade Thunderbolt Hand, which was now at (Third Level 624/743).
If all went well, he should be able to level up by tonight.
While moving forward, Ji Xinghuo suddenly said in a low voice.
Jing Ji activated his Mind Link necklace and asked, "What’s up?"
"There’s a Patrol Team over there. Are you interested in taking them down?" Ji Xinghuo pointed in a direction that wasn’t originally on Jing Ji’s path, over eight hundred meters away.
Jing Ji had not sensed the enemy’s location. Staring into the darkness, he considered for a moment before asking, "Is it safe? You wiped out so many Patrol Teams last month, the enemy is certainly on guard now. Could it be a trap set specifically for you?"
"I’ll go scout it out and then we’ll know," Ji Xinghuo confidently said.
Ever since his Rotating Magnetic Field broke through to the Third Level, the range of his magnetic sense had exceeded two thousand meters, greatly increasing the difficulty for his enemies to set up an ambush, and his own scouting efficiency had also improved.
Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
Ji Xinghuo turned and walked ahead, and soon the three of them approached the Patrol Team.
He had the other two wait in place while he quickly circled around to confirm there was no ambush. However, there was a Fourth Rank Dagon person among the Patrol Team, which was stronger than the average Patrol Team.
This was a normal occurrence.
Since Patrol Teams often suffered casualties, the Beiluo Shimen Clan started including even Fourth Rank Dagon people in their Patrol Teams.
In the past, upon encountering such enhanced Patrol Teams, Ji Xinghuo would generally not strike. Fourth Rank Dagon people were hard to kill, and delaying for too long could lead to complications.
But now, with two teammates, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Ji Xinghuo returned to his companions and quickly briefed them on the situation.
"You have experience in hunting Patrol Teams, so you decide how to strike," Jing Ji said, not insisting on taking charge despite being the organizer of the squad.
Ji Xinghuo didn’t make a fuss and said, "What I need most is your Silent Illusion to mask the sound of the battle..." He arranged the tactics according to the abilities of his two teammates.
Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen had no objections.
The three of them took up their assigned positions. Ji Xinghuo stood on a terrace on the mountainside, with a low forest nearby for cover. The terrain was a few dozen meters higher than the Patrol Team’s route, allowing him to shoot down from high ground and bring the preset battlefield within his shooting range.
It wasn’t long before the Patrol Team came from a distance.
Their formation hadn’t changed; it was still ten Stone Lizard People at the front and rear, with the Dagon people riding horses in the middle, and the Goraks taking turns flying to scout.
The only change was the addition of a Fourth Rank Dagon person, whose mount was a Steel-maned Beast.
In Ji Xinghuo’s hand were several silent arrows, waiting for the enemy to come within range. His gaze flicked to the sides of the road, where Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen were each hidden.
Jing Ji was a Phantom Assassin, an expert in stealth.
His body merged into the shadows, with rocks in front to hide him. Motionless, the Goraks could never detect him.
Yuan Chongzhen was in another direction, transformed into a Shadow Leopard, lying in a patch of weeds.
Ji Xinghuo inwardly praised their positioning, acknowledging that even with his magnetic sense, he might overlook them if they remained still.
Of course, with enough care, they could still be detected.
From over two hundred meters away on the mountainside, he watched the Patrol Team slowly step into range.
Ji Xinghuo thought to himself.
The Mind Link transmitted his voice to the other two.
Without hesitation, Jing Ji threw his dagger with force, silently landing it among the Patrol Team. The next instant, he teleported to catch the dagger, and a Silent Illusion immediately enveloped the entire Patrol Team.
Almost at the same time, Yuan Chongzhen, in the form of a Shadow Leopard, pounced lightly forward, instantly traversing a hundred meters and appearing in the middle of the Patrol Team.
Upon landing, his claws slashed a Dagon person’s throat.
The leopard’s body swelled furiously, turning into a three-meter-tall Black Iron Giant Ape. With a roar, the sound waves shook the three Goraks, whose ears ached in pain, causing them to crash to the ground.
The Patrol Team was instantly thrown into chaos.
But they immediately regained order. Vine spirits burrowed into the ground, and wooden spikes emerged, thrashing towards Jing Ji.
The Dagon people and Stone Lizard People rushed forward, swarming the Black Iron Giant Ape.
The Fourth Rank Dagon person, Bing Feng, reacted incredibly quickly, and ice armor had formed around him by the time of the attack. Jing Ji’s dagger hit it and only caused a minor injury, without being lethal.
He let out a furious roar.
An Ice Roar burst forth, forcing the invisible Jing Ji to reveal himself and retreat. While Jing Ji was still in midair, wooden spikes lashed out from all directions.
Jing Ji’s figure wavered, and four identical versions of himself appeared.
The vine spirit was immediately confused, pulling at several images without being able to find Jing Ji’s true body, as he had once again slipped into the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike.
Three bodies of Gorak fell from the sky, each pierced through the head by an arrow.
The Fourth Rank Dagon person sensed danger, immediately took out a Resonance Crystal, and prepared to send out a distress signal; however, the crystal had just lit up when it was shattered by an arrow, scattering pieces in all directions. The same arrow also hit his abdomen. Although he was protected by two layers of ice armor and armor, the arrowhead still penetrated a small part of it.
A severe pain came from his abdomen; the Dagon person was injured.
Jing Ji immediately appeared behind the Dagon person, stabbing straight at the heart with a dagger. At the same time, he raised his crossbow in his left hand and shot three arrows in quick succession at the back of the Dagon person’s head.
The Dagon person, enduring the pain, looked as cold as ice and turned around to swat away the crossbow arrows.
Ice blades burst from his scimitar, forcing Jing Ji back again.
Jing Ji had no intention to engage the enemy head-on in combat. Ji Xinghuo had said that all he needed to do was to hold off the strongest enemy, and leave the rest to Ji Xinghuo.
One titanium aluminum alloy arrow after another flew through the dim light, piercing the Silent Illusions and hitting the enemies.
Yuan Chongzhen, surrounded and under immense pressure, faced the Stone Lizard People on all sides. However, once the battle truly started, he found that none of the Stone Lizard People posed any real threat to him. He merely needed to fend them off slightly, and they would fall one by one.
He was just a bait to attract the enemies.
The life of the Stone Lizard People was claimed by another volley of arrows, shot from the side of a mountain.
Yuan Chongzhen was shocked. The vision of the Black Iron Giant Ape was not particularly exceptional. Under the Star Night, he could only see the vague figure of Ji Xinghuo on the mountainside. Yet none of the arrows Ji Xinghuo shot missed their mark; each one struck a vital point on the Stone Lizard People.
Moreover, Ji Xinghuo did not shoot the enemies arbitrarily. Each time he targeted those posing the greatest threat to himself or those closest to him, giving priority in a very clear manner.
Each shot was lethal, with unerring accuracy!
In addition to shooting the Stone Lizard People, arrows were also directed at a few other Dagon people and Gorak, effortlessly piercing through their heads.
A fire-red arrow flew in and struck the ground.
Both high-temperature flames burst out. The vine spirit lurking underground screamed, struggling frantically. Its plant core was hit by the explosive flame arrow, igniting all the vines and bringing it close to death.
In less than half a minute, there was only the Fourth Rank Dagon person left of the Patrol Team.
The Dagon person turned to flee.
Jing Ji dashed to block the way, and the Black Iron Giant Ape that Yuan Chongzhen had transformed into also burst forth with speed, chasing from behind to form a pincer attack.
The Dagon person bellowed, his body bursting with frost and exploding violently at the brink of desperation.
Within a radius of tens of meters, the world turned into a freezing landscape, the ground covered with ice, the air congealed, and rows upon rows of frost blades materialized. Under the control of the Dagon person, they swiftly danced through the air.
Cold Frost Ice Prison!
The speed of Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen greatly decreased, their figures faltering.
The Dagon person, not sparing any star power, was about to launch a final counterattack when an arrow wrapped in lightning suddenly shot in, the timing exquisitely precise. It flew through the swirling frost blades and, just as the after-effects of his star power burst were waning, it struck his neck with precision.
The Capacitor Arrow penetrated the ice armor and lodged into the Dagon person’s neck.
The surging high-voltage electric current on the arrow erupted, generating heat, and combined with the kinetic energy of the arrow itself, inflicted catastrophic damage; a significant portion of the thick neck was instantly blown away.
The Dagon person’s head fell off.
The headless corpse collapsed, and the frost blades swirling in the sky instantly dissipated, with the ice on the ground melting away in moments.
As Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen witnessed this, they could not help but exchange glances.
They knew that Ji Xinghuo was powerful and that the Magnetic Field Madman was considered the best among all professions, but wasn’t this a bit too exaggerated?
Ji Xinghuo was only an Intermediate Mutant!
And wasn’t the Magnetic Field Madman most renowned for his melee prowess? What was going on with his archery skill?
Even the world’s top Divine Shooters could hardly compare!
Fortunately, Ji Xinghuo was their teammate. Encountering such an enemy in the wild would indeed be despairing.
At this moment, Ji Xinghuo came down from the mountain. Jing Ji looked at him and suddenly said with a smile, "In the next month, the Beiluo Shimen Clan Patrol Team is going to have a hard time."
Ji Xinghuo was somewhat puzzled.
Jing Ji explained, "I think hunting Patrol Teams is more efficient than sniping at sentries. There aren’t many sentries suitable for ambush, and it takes time to find them, whereas there are plenty of Patrol Teams."
"Makes sense!" Yuan Chongzhen nodded.
"Xinghuo, what do you think?" Jing Ji asked.
"I’m fine with either,"
Ji Xinghuo smiled, "Whether it’s sentries, Patrol Teams, or Bounty Hunters caught alone, as long as they are the enemy, it’s fine. We strike when we have the opportunity, I’m not picky."
After all, killing enemies would bring him Spiritual Origin Ability.
"Then you’ll lead the way from now on."
After these two battles, Jing Ji had come to understand how incredible Ji Xinghuo’s perception was, and decisively handed the team’s leadership to Ji Xinghuo.
Ji Xinghuo accepted without ceremony.
The three quickly gathered the spoils of war, moved to another location, and looked for the next Patrol Team.