A golden meteorite, roughly ten meters in diameter, descended from the sky.
No one knew where it came from.
Enveloped in dense elemental power, it crashed down.
It directly covered a radius of several tens of meters around them.
The Blazes instantly petrified and shattered.
The meteorite continued its descent, plunging into the lava ocean, yet it caused not a ripple.
But this did not mean the power of Universal Pull was weak.
It was simply that anything entering the lava of the MC world would cause no waves.
The seven surrounding Blazes vanished without a trace. Just like Zhongli's touching drop rate before, they dropped two Blaze Rods.
Jiang Xuan nodded, quite moved.
"You old dog, you've still got it—"
"But in the future, if it's not necessary, don't use elemental power to kill monsters. Your drop rate is too low!"
Zhongli shook his head, ignoring Jiang Xuan's teasing, and said softly:
"Too much was suppressed…"
"Divine Power cannot be mobilized, and the Authority over Stone has vanished… All I can do here seems to be the Jade Screen Shield and Universal Pull."
Jiang Xuan rolled his eyes.
"What are you dissatisfied with? This strike in the Overworld would probably be stronger than four or five TNT explosions. I don't even have such a large-scale destructive ability."
Zhongli remained noncommittal, looking at the remaining aimlessly floating Blazes, and said softly:
"But you possess unparalleled single-target destructive power, do you not?"
Jiang Xuan raised an eyebrow, gently gripping his Battōjutsu Sword.
"So, I'll show off a bit too. Have you heard of Hiraishin no Jutsu?"
Without waiting for Zhongli's reply, Jiang Xuan lightly swung his Battōjutsu Sword.
The next moment, his figure flickered like a phantom through the entire Nether Fortress.
As Phantom Blades were plunged into the ground, Jiang Xuan seemed to have countless clones, flashing across the Nether Fortress.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Xuan reappeared beside Zhongli.
He tossed the five Blaze Rods in his hand and chuckled:
"See? Even if I didn't use Looting, my luck is still better than yours."
Zhongli shook his head, sighing with emotion.
He thought of Jiang Xuan's Kyouka Suigetsu-like figure just now.
"The power of space is truly terrifying…"
"Your Universal Pull isn't bad either."
The two smiled at each other and said no more.
Zhongli also knew that without the portion of power Jiang Xuan shared with him through his physique, it was uncertain what kind of power his Universal Pull could truly unleash.
To put it bluntly, their focus in the MC world was different.
And the MC world was too exploitative for both Archons and Demon Gods.
Zhongli possessed large-scale destructive abilities, while Jiang Xuan had unpredictable spatial teleportation.
With his Yamato (Sword), Jiang Xuan could easily perform absurd spatial skills like Hiraishin no Jutsu.
One was large-scale attack, the other was single-target attack.
Together, they could handle many dangers.
This was also their confidence in this world.
As for outside the MC world, Jiang Xuan couldn't be bothered with things like Battōjutsu Swords.
One punch would suffice.
"In the future, if it's not necessary, don't use this ability anymore."
Jiang Xuan shook his head with some regret.
"With so many Blazes, we should have gotten at least twenty Blaze Rods, but now we only have seven in total."
"Such a huge loss!"
Zhongli also understood the importance of resources and nodded:
"What about Wither Skeletons?"
Jiang Xuan looked around, confirming that there were no more Blazes outside the Nether Fortress, and said softly:
"Let's go back and get my Top-tier Looting Diamond Sword from Ganyu and the others. If two Wither Skeletons don't even drop one Wither Skeleton Skull, I'll really vomit blood."
The two left the place in a relaxed mood.
To be honest, Jiang Xuan hadn't seen anyone use elemental power during this time.
And with his own Diamond Sword and bow and arrow, he rarely used his Battōjutsu Sword or AK47.
He had almost forgotten that Zhongli and the others still had such powers, and that he still had such weapons.
But knowing was one thing, using them was another…
After all…
Killing monsters this way was efficient enough, but the loss of good items was too great.
Just like these Blazes, a dozen of them, plus top-tier Looting, should have yielded at least twenty Blaze Rods.
How many Alchemy Potions could that make!
…
Overworld.
Xiao still didn't go to the Mine today. Mine number five wasn't very dangerous, so he wasn't really needed.
Having nothing else to do, he went up to the Sky Island to deal with the Mob Grinder's Iron farm, and then went underground to harvest Slimeballs.
He inspected the various automated facilities at Jiang Xuan's Estate Villa.
As for Cloud Retainer's Mountain Renovation Project…
Xiao wasn't participating.
Are you kidding me!
That Cloud Retainer wanted to hollow out the mountain and then carve it piece by piece.
Xiao didn't have the patience for such a massive project.
It was enough to let a team of interested Miners go with her.
Thirty to forty people using Vein Miner were more efficient than a hundred.
With all that time to spare, Xiao wanted to tidy up his own Treehouse.
He had built a small room on top of Zhongli's Treehouse.
He hadn't really designed it before, but now that Zhongli and Jiang Xuan were away, he didn't need to follow them.
Xiao could finally make some improvements.
Being Zhongli's neighbor was Xiao's little dream. He just wanted to invite Zhongli up for a visit once his room was finished.
However, Xiao had no talent for craftsmanship. The tree grew squarely, and so did his room.
But Xiao didn't want to ask anyone else for help with the design, so he could only make some modifications based on Jiang Xuan's villa.
He was currently struggling with how to expand an aerial garden without ruining the tree's aesthetics.
Suddenly, a Millelith rushed over from beneath the tree.
"Yaksha, Conqueror of Demons! Something's happened! Something's happened at the base!"
The next moment, Xiao leaped down and glided gracefully to the ground with his Wind Glider.
"Speak!"
Xiao's expression was calm as he quickly headed towards the base with the Millelith.
The Millelith quickly explained:
"Just now, a group of creatures resembling Villagers, armed with crossbows, appeared outside the base."
"Deputy Captain Chang Yi thought about fencing them in to wait for Lord Jiang Xuan to take them away."
"But then those Villagers suddenly shot at Deputy Captain Chang Yi with their crossbows."
Hearing this, Xiao frowned slightly.
"Active attack, not Villagers, Hostile Mobs. How is Chang Yi?"
"The Deputy Captain is fine."
The Millelith shook his head.
"Deputy Captain Chang Yi reacted immediately, and with the help of the Wolf Pack and our brothers nearby, he only lost three Health Points before eliminating them.
"He should be fully recovered by now."
Xiao became even more puzzled.
But seeing the base in sight, he didn't ask further and hurried over.
At this moment, a group of Millelith and off-duty Miners surrounded Chang Yi.
The Wolf Pack sat obediently on the ground, on alert.
"The Adeptus has arrived!"
"Great Sage!"
"Yaksha, Conqueror of Demons!"
Seeing Xiao, the group found their pillar of strength and quickly made way.
Chang Yi stood upright, his clothes torn, revealing the leather chestplate beneath.
It was armor all Millelith wore at all times.
Even outside the MC world, they never took it off.
The Iron Armor Set was too heavy.
Only the leather armor could barely be used in Teyvat.
And the leather armor was even harder than their reformed standard-issue armor.
Chang Yi's modified armor was pierced, but the leather underneath was completely unharmed.
The Millelith never separated from their life-saving equipment.
"Yaksha, Conqueror of Demons!"
Chang Yi called out, and Xiao nodded, glancing at the arrows dropped on the ground.
Presumably, those were the loot.
After a brief thought, Xiao said:
"The enemy's appearance, numbers, and what exactly happened."
Chang Yi nodded and recalled:
"I was on watch in the guard tower at the time, and I observed several creatures with crossbows, similar in appearance to Villagers but with gray skin. The leader had a strange large banner stuck on its back."
"I thought they were just special Villagers, like the one Nigge in Lord Jiang Xuan's farm, so I planned to fence them in and wait for Lord Jiang Xuan to take them away."
"But as soon as I stepped out, the enemies attacked me."
"Fortunately, with the help of the Wolf Pack and my brothers, I was able to quickly deal with them. They dropped some arrows, and my injuries recovered because my hunger bar was full."
"However, a strange status appeared on my Personal Panel, called 'Bad Omen,' with a thirty-second countdown."
"After that…"
Saying this, Chang Yi's face showed some self-reproach, and he lowered his head slightly.
"The Millelith and the Miner brothers' Personal Panels also showed a progress bar called 'Raid.'"
Bad Omen, Raid…
Xiao nodded slightly, pondering deeply.
Jiang Xuan's Monster Notebook seemed to have mentioned these.
It was a creature called a Pillager.
More…
Xiao flipped open the notebook and, after checking it, felt a bit conflicted.
Pillagers.
Hostile Mobs.
Or rather, a group of Hostile Mobs.
What appeared just now was definitely a Patrol.
After killing it, the killer would receive the Bad Omen Effect. If they entered a Village within the countdown, the entire Village would face a Pillager Raid.
The Bad Omen could originally be removed with Milk.
But…
When Chang Yi killed the Patrol Captain, he happened to be at the base, which was recognized as a Village.
The Raid was successfully triggered.
Xiao had a headache.
If it was just a few, killing them wouldn't matter, as they would still drop many good items.
But…
The notebook stated that Raids had multiple waves, and the later waves were stronger.
Xiao was unsure of the extent of the danger, so he naturally couldn't let the Millelith resist on their own.
Furthermore, the notebook mentioned that after defeating a Raid, they would receive the Village Hero Effect.
This would halve trading prices with Villagers.
This was a very important status for Jiang Xuan and the others.
After a moment of silence, Xiao asked again:
"How long until the Raid begins?"
"Uncertain."
Chang Yi shook his head and said softly:
"Based on the progress, it should be about a day."
"A day? That should be enough…"
Xiao nodded, saying solemnly:
"Send people to Mine number five to call everyone back. You all continue to reinforce the Fortifications, making them all Cobblestone Buildings."
"The main gate will be temporarily sealed with Iron Doors. I will go find Mr. Jiang Xuan and the others."
"Bring the Wolf Pack back to the base, allocate Iron Blocks, and build an Iron Golem outside."
Everyone nodded quickly and said solemnly:
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing the Millelith and Miners begin their work,
Xiao quickly turned and sped towards the Estate Villa.
As soon as he entered, he saw Cloud Retainer sitting in an open space, frowning as she examined a Blueprint.
Before Cloud Retainer could reply, Xiao quickly said:
"Cloud Retainer, something has happened at the base! A large number of enemies are about to attack. Please go and oversee the defense. I need to go to the Nether to find Mr. Jiang Xuan and the others!"
The scroll of blueprints in Cloud Retainer's hand suddenly fell to the ground. She was shocked and said:
"Enemy Raid? Human!"
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