Jiang Chen stood in front of his shop, at the same spot where he had logged off last night.
Previously, he had rented six shops, naming one "Treasure Pavilion" while the other five remained empty.
These shops could have managers and staff assigned to them.
He set the manager's name for Treasure Pavilion and the adjacent shop to Xia Rui'er's ID—Rui'er.
He then placed the [Bright Moon Dress Blueprint] and [Sunlight Tassel Skirt Blueprint] from his backpack into the shop's warehouse.
After quickly finishing these tasks, he walked towards Qing Ying, who was surrounded by a crowd in front of the mansion.
"Brother Mortal World, you're here!"
Seeing Jiang Chen, Qing Ying's face lit up with joy as she hurried over.
The people around her also followed.
"Who are these people?" Jiang Chen asked, puzzled.
"People from various guilds. As soon as I logged on, they approached me," Qing Ying replied.
"People from various guilds?"
Only then did Jiang Chen notice that most of these people's IDs had prefixes.
A quick glance revealed over thirty people with more than ten different prefixes.
And he recognized many of these prefixes.
Names like "Royal Dynasty," "Supreme Alliance," "Kingdom," and "Unmatched" were among them.
These were names of many well-established guilds.
"What do they want?" Jiang Chen asked curiously.
"They're all asking us to join their guilds."
Just as Qing Ying finished speaking, an Assassin named "Wandering King" stepped forward. "Qing Ying, consider joining our Kingdom of Heaven guild. The benefits are top-notch!"
"Qing Ying, if your team joins Unmatched Guild, our leader said you could become core members immediately, with an annual salary of at least seven figures!" a Warrior named "Unmatched Xiao Liu" quickly added.
"Sis, come to our TE Club. It's the most promising, you won't be disappointed!"
"Our Royal Dynasty guild is a long-established powerhouse, please reconsider..."
"Great one, Supreme Alliance sincerely welcomes you..."
Everyone was eager to extend their invitations, making the scene quite chaotic.
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Seeing this, Qing Ying felt overwhelmed and looked helplessly at Jiang Chen, wanting to leave as soon as possible.
"So they came to recruit," Jiang Chen realized. They must have been waiting here for a while.
These people sure are patient.
Looking at the guild members, Jiang Chen had an idea and said, "I thought you were here to buy some gold-tier equipment!"
His words immediately quieted the crowd.
"Gold-tier equipment?"
"What do you mean?"
Everyone looked puzzled and began to ask questions.
"You didn't know that the shops at Giant Deer City's mansion sell gold-tier equipment?" Jiang Chen feigned surprise, then quickly added, "Never mind, forget I said anything."
After piquing their curiosity, Jiang Chen turned to Qing Ying and Tao Xiaoyao. "Let's go to Leaving Fire City!"
With that, he led the two women away from the mansion.
Jiang Chen's words shifted everyone's attention to the "gold-tier equipment for sale" in the shops.
Some people even ran into the mansion to check the shops.
...
Jiang Chen, Qing Ying, and Tao Xiaoyao crossed the plaza and arrived at the main city's teleportation array.
They chose Leaving Fire City as their destination and each paid 5 gold coins. A flash of white light enveloped them, and they disappeared.
[You have been teleported to Leaving Fire City!]
With the system prompt, Jiang Chen appeared in the teleportation array of Leaving Fire City.
Leaving Fire City.
Located at the southernmost tip of the continent, it was slightly warmer than Giant Deer City.
The architecture here was unique.
The grand and majestic buildings were primarily white, resembling giant sculptures.
"What beautiful buildings!" Qing Ying exclaimed as she looked around in awe.
"These pavilions look like they're made of white jade," Tao Xiaoyao added, her face filled with curiosity.
At that moment, the teleportation array continued to flash with white light as figures emerged one after another.
These people had come for the server-wide quest.
"Let's head to the out-of-city teleportation array."
With that, Jiang Chen led Qing Ying and Tao Xiaoyao to the central plaza of Leaving Fire City.
From there, they used the out-of-city teleportation array to reach the southern city gate.
Scarlet Flame Ancient Land was located south of Leaving Fire City.
However, it wasn't close.
A Death Desert lay in between.
After exiting the southern city gate, they headed south.
Ten minutes later.
Jiang Chen and his companions arrived at a vast, desolate desert.
"This is the Death Desert?" Qing Ying murmured, noticing the air around them shimmered with heat waves, and a wave of heat hit them.
The scorching sun baked the fine sand, making the ground feel hot to the touch.
"So hot..."
Even the usually quiet Tao Xiaoyao couldn't help but mutter.
Suddenly.
A gust of hot wind blew, uncovering a large area of white bones beneath the sand!
"Beneath the desert are corpses?!" Qing Ying exclaimed.
"Yes, that's why it's called the Death Desert," Jiang Chen nodded and continued, "The most common monsters here are Death Sandworms, so watch your step."
Just as he finished speaking, they saw the sand beneath their feet tremble slightly.
As if something was moving underneath.
Soon, a yellow worm about a meter long and as thick as a bowl emerged from the sand.
[Death Sandworm: LV15]
"These Death Sandworms are disgusting!" Qing Ying and Tao Xiaoyao both recoiled, taking two steps back.
The sight of the hideous yellow worm made their skin crawl.
"Speak of the devil," Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow at the sight of the Death Sandworm.
He immediately cast a Healing Spell.
-1000!
A terrifying damage number floated above the Death Sandworm's head.
With 480 magic power, Jiang Chen's Healing Spell dealt exactly 1000 damage!
The Death Sandworm's health instantly dropped by 20%, and a layer of fine lightning covered its body.
This was the additional effect of the Thunderfire Staff, Thunderfire Paralysis.
The Death Sandworm, which was rapidly attacking Jiang Chen, suddenly stiffened and slowed down.
Jiang Chen easily dodged it.
Ten seconds later.
-1000!
With Jiang Chen's final Healing Spell, the Death Sandworm's health dropped to zero.
"Let's go."
Jiang Chen continued forward.
The Death Sandworm posed no threat to him.
However, for others, this level 15 monster was not so easy to deal with.
Most players were only level 12 or 13, making it difficult to handle a level 15 Death Sandworm.
Especially for many solo players, it was a real headache.
Even Jiang Chen didn't expect that most people heading to Scarlet Flame Ancient Land would fall in the Death Desert.
The official forums were already filled with complaints.
"Damn it, how are we supposed to play? The Death Desert alone is blocking most people."
"The difficulty is so high, how are we solo players supposed to get through?"
"Such a high threshold, it's ridiculous!"
"Trash server-wide quest, whoever wants to do it can do it!"
...
Although many players were blocked by the Death Desert, tens of thousands still made it through.
Many even arrived at Scarlet Flame Ancient Land in the early hours of the morning.
At this moment.
At the entrance of Scarlet Flame Ancient Land, beneath a massive ancient city wall.
A silver-haired woman was stealthily watching the continuous stream of people entering the ancient land from a corner of the city gate.
But the person she was waiting for hadn't arrived.
"Why haven't they come yet?"
The woman murmured, a hint of anxiety on her delicate face.
She was the initiator of the server-wide quest, Moonlit Dance.
She had been waiting here for the first-kill team to arrive.
She knew better than anyone how difficult the server-wide quest was.
The first-kill team was her only hope.
"I have more information than anyone else. I must find the first-kill team and tell them everything!"