“Tree Shade Shelter, it looks like it’s not far away.”


  A young man with messy hair and obvious dark circles under his eyes spread a map open and looked up in a certain direction.

  Next to him, carrying a large backpack, the dirty hunter man walked up to an ancient two-story self-built house with a lot of green vines cut out of the walls, and the large letters painted on it were clearly visible.

  He read out word by word.

  “1,500 meters from the Tree Shade shelter.” Glancing another look at the young man with black eyes, “Captain, can we look at the road signs, not the map… No, can you stop leading the way?”


  ‘Your roadkill attributes are known to the entire squad.’


  Obviously, the five of them, each was a top hunter rushing from Jingcheng City to the Tree Shade. They didn’t consider the road dangerous but made their combat clothing stained with broken leaves and blood, hair messy like a bird’s nest, and proper survivor attire who had traveled a long road.

  The corners of the black-eyed Captain’s mouth twitched slightly, tilted his head, looking at the white clouds floating in the sky, some snobbishness, “…you guys didn’t stop me.”


  “Now there is only the last part of the road. It’s impossible to go wrong, look. Look at the map or the road signs… it’s the same.”


  ……


  Half an hour later, the five-member hunter squad finally saw the tall black tower representing the Tree Shade from afar.

  The hunter carrying a large backpack gritted his teeth, “Captain, from now on… forget it. We have reached the Tree Shade, but when we go back, you should not command blindly again.”


  Several people checked the equipment on their bodies and did not immediately walk in.

  The black-eyed Captain swept his eyes over several people, “From now on, we are the stray hunter squad.”


  Saying that Wu Mian looked grave and collected his aura a little.

  Eventually settled on Fifth Awakening.

  The others also did the same, holding their aura, controlling their aura fluctuations, and finally stabilizing.

  “It’s not easy to converge your aura, but it’s good that our Wu family has mastered the cultivation method.”


  “Hey, we are also considered the first people in Jingcheng to master the cultivation method. Those casual mercenaries… although some of them are also good in strength, but they don’t know the cultivation method, after all, they are just wild, I can beat two of them alone by myself.”


  “But the hunters of Tree Shade seem to have mastered the explosive method called ‘Battle Technique’.”


  As soon as a rash member of the team spoke, the squad fell silent in an instant.

  The dark-eyed Wu Mian coughed dryly, “Anyway, we may not have any chance of learning battle techniques by pretending to be stray hunters.”


  “Then that thing the Li family proposed?”


  “Since the boss has not yet decided, then we just wait for the opportunity to move. If there is a chance to persecute, or discover the secret realm controlled by the Tree Shade, whether it is to act first or stand on the side of Li’s side, it is fine, but if not…”


  Wu Mian couldn’t be sure if the Li family had some kind of assassination method in hand or if it had another purpose.

  ……


  The Wu family disguised as the hunter squad was strolling in the shelter for more than half a day. They did not feel tired at all, only felt that time passed too fast. Several people were sitting in a restaurant, devouring what’s in front of them.

  “This mutant meat is good, tasty enough!”


  “There seems to be plenty of seasoning here.”


  “Mutant sea beasts, and other mutant meat. There are so many kinds, you can’t find so many fresh ingredients in our Jing … our side.”


  “It’s also a lot cheaper… If I could eat mutant beast meat every day, at least my cultivation speed would be doubled.”


  Mutant beast meat contains a lot of nutrition, energy. If an ordinary person eats it, their body can improve and gradually strengthen.

  “Then, Captain, will we return to the hotel later to cultivate? Don’t waste this big table of food.”


  Wu Mian shook his head and lowered his voice, “Have you forgotten our original purpose?”


  Several other people’s faces stiffened and moved away to laugh dryly a few times.

  Wu Mian continued, “I thought about it, since there is no specific task, why not find an adventuring group to join. Those people… Were said to be registered adventurers. It seems that there are also sub-stars, the higher the star level, the more rune equipment can be purchased, and even learn to explode the power of qi, and even source powered battle techniques.”


  It was also easier to detect and touch the purpose of Tree Shade.

  ……


  After filling their stomachs and paying, they went to the Adventurers Guild.

  Source power crystal lights neon flashing, adding a few bright colors to the dark night.

  For the Adventurer’s Guild, Wu Mian had already investigated them. To register as an adventurer, you only need to pay the cost of one spirit stone. The creation of an adventure group is divided into small, medium, large, and extra-large. In addition to the special conditions required for extra-large adventure groups, even large-scale adventure groups can also be built.

  “We don’t have that much time to waste, find a three-star adventure group to join, and immediately enjoy the three-star treatment…” Wu Mian said, after registering their adventurer status, they re-entered the door and came to the small square outside the adventurer guild.

  Looking around, one could see that there were people yelling and even a few fixed rain-proof stalls that were leased here by well-known adventuring groups for new member recruitment.

  He took a fancy to one of them, the Purple Mountain Adventure Group, which is a three-star large adventure group.

  Wu Mian walked in with a few other people.

  The hunter sitting in the chair in charge of recruitment, an old man in his fifties, raised his head and looked, “Want to join our Purple Mountain?”


  “That’s right.”


  Wu Mian’s aura that had been collected to the Fifth Stage mixed with his aura emanated out, “Enough for us to join Purple Mountain, right?”


  The old man in charge of recruitment had an unchanged expression, “The strength of the Fifth Awakening Stage naturally meets the standard. However, for our Purple Mountain Adventure Group recruits, Awakening Stage is only one of the factors, there are also multiple tests that need to be conducted.”


  “Please explain.”


  The corners of Wu Mian’s mouth curled up slightly, and his words carried strong confidence. Their aura was converged, and they themselves were Seventh, Eight, or Ninth Awakening Stage. So no matter what kind of test it was, it would be easy for them.

  The old man took out a few forms, “Fill out some basic information that will be verified afterwards, I hope you will not falsify.”


  It was a formality.

  Wu Mian secretly took a look, the boss wrote some basic information such as name and age. He filled in the disguised name when registering as an adventurer and did not think the fake name would be detected.

  He continued to look down.

  Awakening Stage, awakening time, the number of floors of the Tower of Trials…


  ‘Wait, what the hell is the Tower of Trials floor?!’


  Wu Mian wanted to ask but turned his eyes and saw a description below his form, so he pressed on and continued reading.

  [About the Tower of Trials layer requirements]. [Only after reaching the 30th floor can you join the Purple Mountain and become an ordinary member of the adventure group. ] [If you break through to the 40th floor or above, you can join the Purple Mountain and become an elite member of the Adventure Group with 100 internal contribution points.] [If you break through to the 46th floor or above and choose to join Purple Mountain, you will be rewarded 500 internal contribution points immediately, and high-level hunters will be given the position of junior Captain, and low-level genius hunters will be personally taught by the head of Purple Mountain.]

  There were a bunch of matters listed at the back, such as the price to pay once you quit after joining the group, etc.

  Wu Mian read it word by word. However, there was no key point that he wanted to understand.

  He immediately asked, “What does the “Tower of Trials” have to do with joining an adventure group?”


  Unexpectedly, the old man who had little expression immediately snorted and said, “What qualifications does a weakling who can’t even pass the 30th floor of the Tower of Trials have to join us at Purple Mountain? You have a good aura, but I don’t expect you to be strong. Do you only have 25 floors, or you can’t even break through the 20th floor? Then you don’t want to join any adventure group. Just ask around in this square. At least you need to have the 20th floor of the Tower of Trials.

  Wu Mian and the others were confused.

  The second degree of confusion.

  People in the back were confused.

  At last, they were driven away by the old man in charge of recruitment with a face full of disgust.

  ……


  Twenty minutes later, a few people sought a corner and conferred.

  “Captain, what should I do? I just asked for a round. At least the 20 floors record of the Tower of Trial is required, and it is only a two-star adventure group.”


  “It’s not that there are no adventuring groups with lower requirements, however, those are one-star adventuring groups, instead of joining, it’s better if……”


  “Or, we will build an adventure group by ourselves. With the strength of us, we will be upgraded to three stars. It won’t be easy though.”


  Wu Mian didn’t agree, “One star to two stars, two stars to three stars, both need to complete the promotion task. With good luck, it may take two days. But normally, it could take three or four days, four or five days, or even more than a week.”


  “Furthermore, it takes a lot of points for the adventure group to rise to the stars. Although it can be replaced by the spirit stones, do we have that many spirit stones?”


  The others were stunned.

  They had quite a lot of possessions, yet most of them stayed in Jingcheng City, within the family. And it was naturally impossible to bring their entire fortune with them on a trip out.

  They didn’t have the spirit stones needed to ascend to three stars.

  “Let’s go to the training camp. The ‘Tower of Trials’ is at the training camp. With our strength, it shouldn’t take too long to break through the 30 floors.”


  ………


  Ten minutes later.

  Wu Mian, who had applied for a premium membership card, was stopped at the top floor of the training camp.

  “What, you have to be a two-star adventurer or join a two-star adventure group member to enter the top floor area?”


  “That’s not fair! Ordinary adventurers can’t enter the Tower of Trials, so they can’t meet the recruitment requirements for the adventure group. But if they can’t enter the two-star adventure group, they naturally can’t break through the Tower of Trials, so they’re stuck in a dead-end cycle?”


  “Is there no other way unless we become two-star adventurers first and then go through the Tower of Trials?”


  The hunters of the guard corps in front of the door pointed out a doorway, “If you have a two-star adventurer guarantee, you can also temporarily enter the top area and go through the Tower of Trials.”


  However, they’re not familiar with anyone here. Where can they find someone to vouch for them?

  It may not be impossible to spend time, but Wu Mian knew clearly that what they lacked most was time. They had to find out enough information before the senior management made a decision.

  “No matter, first set up an adventure group, then make plans.”


  Wu Mian and a few people darted out of the training camp, and when they brushed past a group of people, they suddenly gazed and looked back.

  The group also happened to turn around, and their eyes collided.

  Not even a sound. They acted as if they did not know each other, as if nothing happened, and walked away.

  “Captain, those people just now…”


  Wu Mian looked grave, “It’s the Ancestral Dragon War Regiment, the people of the vanguard battalion, the man in the front was none other than the vanguard battalion commander Blade, and also the beloved cadre of the one with the most power in Jingcheng…”


  ……


  “The Wu family’s people are also here.”


  The stiff-faced and serious Blade spoke, “Ye Family, Boss Huang, Lin Family mercenary guild and the other forces… I can’t imagine that they all sent people to Tree Shade as well.”


  “On the contrary, it is the Li family.” He frowned, “The Li family is obviously the first to propose, but I didn’t see any of them. Are they hiding?”


  The spies were hiding from Tree Shade, converging their aura and disguising themself as foreign hunters.

  But their appearance doesn’t change.

  Many forces sent spies, the leader was a well-known expert such as the Wu family’s nightmare Wu Mian…… Blade can recognize these experts at a glance.

  “Captain, what do we do now? We can’t join two or three star adventure groups. Do we have to create a new adventure group? Just now Ye family people have created a group, the Wu family… looking at their direction, they also headed to the Adventurers Guild. If we continue to delay, the initiative will be lost.”


  Blade pondered slightly.

  “People from the Li family should have sent someone to Tree Shade and had conflicts with them… I didn’t want to show my identity and come directly because of us. We are also from Jingcheng. The Tree Shade officials must not feeling good about us. But now, Jingcheng had sent a lot of top hunter forces. Even if they were all disguise, it’s likely Tree Shade have detected it. Rather than aimlessly spying for information, I would rather be… open and honest. This way, we might win their trust.”


  Simply put, it is to sell teammates… to sell spies from other forces.

  Blade paused, “The chief said that we do not necessarily have to stand against Tree Shade since many large shelters such as Lindong can cooperate with Tree Shade. It’s a win-win. Our Jingcheng City is the largest shelter in Tiannan. I see no reason why we can not do the same.”


  “But… we can’t recklessly show up at their door. Early tomorrow morning, we can take the formal visits.”


  ……


  Lan Qingya, who was in charge of intelligence within Tree Shade, reported the current situation to the director.

  Tang Yu nodded, “That means there are a total of eight spies from the forces in the territory.”


  He turned over the territory map and took a look. There were some light red dots, but not many.

  There were also some forces that were just small yellow dots.

  “Keep an eye on them, and I’ll have the hunters of the Guard Corps cooperate with the Intelligence Department.” He paused a moment and continued, “Those envoys before, did you find out the identity clearly?”


  “It should be someone from the Li family of Jingcheng.”


  Tang Yu wondered after listening to her. He couldn’t figure out the trouble between the Li family and him. He didn’t recall the mercenary regiment Red Moon slaughtered outside the Mage Alliance secret realm. He could hardly remember their identity.

  Suddenly, a contract transmission appeared in his mind.

  Spirit stone mine side had caught some people.

  Tang Yu was slightly stunned.

  He thought that the first target of the spy invasion was the most conspicuous castle, but he did not expect that someone had gone to the spirit stone mine instead.

  The idea is different and promising. It is the material of a good miner.

  Tang Yu immediately got up, looking for Roger, “Accompany me to the mine.”