The Centipede Cave was located about three hundred li northwest of the Earth City. While the post station offered direct carriages, we purchased five warhorses for faster travel toward the cave. Unlike commoners, rangers earned money more easily, so maintaining horses for transport wasn't particularly difficult, unless you were a complete newcomer. We galloped at full speed, and we weren't the only ones heading toward the Centipede Cave. Counting those ahead and behind, there were at least two hundred riders. After all, the Centipede Cave was one of the better places around Earth City for cultivation. Most rangers chose to hone their martial skills there while taking on minor quests to cover expenses.

After riding hard for about four hours, we finally spotted a range of undulating mountains rising far above the ground, winding their way to the horizon. That must be the mountain range housing the Centipede Cave! I calculated internally. Another half hour of riding brought us to the base of the mountains. From a distance, vast grasslands stretched out to the left and right, where thousands of warhorses grazed leisurely in the open fields. About twenty meters ahead of us stood a large, courtyard-like complex enclosed by wooden stakes, filled with many armored and weapon-wielding rangers sitting, drinking tea, and chatting.

This was the Fragrant Grass Ranch at the foot of the Centipede Mountain, established to serve the convenience of rangers cultivating inside the cave. Though called a ranch, it also operated as an inn, general store, and pharmacy. Since it was the closest viable lodging to the Centipede Cave entrance, business was incredibly brisk. The bosses who chose this spot for their ranch, pharmacy, inn, and store certainly had keen foresight.

A steady stream of people moved in and out—some ascending, some descending. It was clear that many were heading up to cultivate. We entrusted our horses to the ranch and then joined the flow of people heading up the mountain. At this moment, it reminded me of the legendary leveling armies in Legend.

“Um!” I hesitated, but couldn't suppress the doubt in my mind: “With so many people, are there enough mutated creatures inside the Centipede Cave to kill?”

“Don’t worry!” Long Qi laughed. “Things here are different from the Skeleton Cave! Over a thousand years ago, the Ranger Guild improved this area to make it suitable for cultivation, setting up the Mother Insect Formation! Moreover, the Centipede Cave’s unique terrain and magical elements are the perfect environment for these mutated creatures to grow. They mature from birth to full size in less than a week, appearing in every corner of the cave. No matter how many people come, they can’t be wiped out.”

“Of course, if they’re all like you, that might be different!” Long Zhan added instinctively.

“I see!” I was a bit curious. “What exactly is this Mother Insect Formation that can spawn so many mutated creatures?”

“The so-called Mother Insect Formation is actually a series of specialized magic arrays. They utilize the properties of Dark Magic to alter the growth morphology of living things,” Long Qi explained. “Actually, the mutated creatures in the Centipede Cave originated as normal creatures, but due to the influence of the Dark Magic from the Mother Insect Formation, they underwent drastic physical mutations, growing to sizes many times larger than normal.”

Could it be genetic mutation caused by radiation, perhaps!

After hearing Long Qi’s explanation, I immediately thought of segments in modern science fiction stories about genetic mutations, and I became slightly concerned. “Then, if we stay inside for too long, will we be affected?”

“Relax!” Jin Hong chimed in. “The Dark Magic of the Mother Insect Formation only affects insects or small crawling things; it causes no harm to humans. After all, this system has been refined through more than a thousand years of testing.”

“................” I was dumbfounded. Heavens, the bio-technology in this world is too advanced! “This Mother Insect Formation is incredible!”

“I give up on you!” Long Xin followed up. “As a ranger, you don’t even know about the most vital training ground in the ranger world.”

“...Heh...heh...” I chuckled awkwardly.

“Exactly!” Long Qi said. “You can think of the Centipede Cave as a beehive or an ant nest, except the inhabitants inside are far larger than their ancestors. That should help you understand the astonishing growth rate of these mutated creatures!”

“In short, don’t worry about people killing all the monsters,” Long Xin assured me. “Do you get it now?”

Damn! It’s even more impressive than the respawn system in Legend! I mused silently.

While talking, we arrived before a massive cave entrance, already crowded with a dense mass of people coming and going. We didn’t delay and walked straight in.

The cave interior was surprisingly vast, the distance between the walls wider than a football field, stretching far into the depths. Most people quickly pressed forward, and we followed the main flow along the pathway deeper inside.

According to the Ranger’s Manual, the Centipede Cave was divided into several levels, with intricate and complex terrain, essentially a giant underground world. Following the main road and taking various forks, we walked about a hundred meters in when we heard the rumbling sound of thunder and lightning mixed with the sharp clash of metal echoing from ahead—clearly, someone was fighting monsters to train.

Driven by curiosity, we followed the sound. This was also a good way to gain experience, as it was our first time in the Centipede Cave, and we were eager to see how other rangers cultivated.

Boom! Turning a corner, we saw a team of rangers holding a position in a corner, fiercely battling the surrounding monsters. In other corners of this huge training ground, many similar groups were operating. Judging by their age, they seemed about our age, organized in teams of ten—the maximum size for a group engagement.

“Looks like they’re working on a quest!” Long Qi analyzed.

“Their coordination is excellent,” Long Xin murmured.

I had never seen a ranger group consisting of exactly ten members and was eager to observe how they fought. Encountering them now, we naturally had to watch closely.

The leader was a Warrior, perhaps around twenty years old, with blonde hair and golden eyes, tall and well-built, wearing standard mid-tier Warrior gear: heavy armor, but without a helmet for his Xiuluo weapon. On his immediate left and right were two other mid-tier Warriors, forming an isosceles triangle with him. Behind them stood six young women in Mage robes, armed with Yanyue polearms. Behind the Mage girls was a young man dressed as a Daoist. Among the ten, he seemed the most relaxed.

Occasionally, he would wave his Jiangmo staff, sending out a massive golden beam that enveloped the three Warriors and six Mages. His Skeleton Warrior stood quietly beside him, seemingly acting as a guard.

The busiest members were the three Warriors. Their three Xiuluo weapons hacked relentlessly. Any vicious maggots, centipedes, or leaping bees that breached their perimeter were instantly cleaved into pieces, leaving nothing recognizable—a truly gruesome sight.

“It’s the Triangle Killing Formation!” Long Zhan exclaimed, amazed. “Incredible! Their coordination must be flawless!”

At that moment!

Slash!

Wail!

Amidst cries of agony, a leaping bee was instantly dismembered on the spot. Meanwhile, the six Mage girls’ Lightning Bolts had successfully drawn three monsters toward the corner. Because the Mages were shielded behind the three Warriors, any monster attempting to attack them would charge straight into the triangular formation formed by the three Warriors, only to meet the merciless blades of the trio. They died before they could even react.

Then, the next wave of monsters, struck by the Mages’ Lightning Bolts, rushed toward the Triangle Killing Formation, only to die immediately upon entry.

“Heh heh! We’ve certainly broadened our horizons today!” Long Qi laughed. “I’d only ever heard of the Triangle Killing Formation in ranger tales; to see it with my own eyes is something else!”

“It’s a shame we only have two Warriors,” Long Zhan lamented slightly.

“Forget it,” Long Xin said dismissively. “We have better finishing moves, don’t we?” As she spoke, Long Xin glanced at me subconsciously before leading the way deeper inside. Jin Hong looked between me, Long Xin, and Long Qi with a puzzled expression, seemingly trying to figure something out.

We continued walking until we finally found another area completely devoid of other cultivators. However, the monster density here was astonishingly high. Perhaps because no one frequented this spot, it maintained a constant, maximum population of monsters.

The open cavern floor was densely packed with an incredible number of ferocious-looking mutated creatures. The entire space was enveloped in a constant, humming drone, like the sound produced by countless bees. This noise came from the leaping bees, each as large as a man, resembling large hornets.

There were also countless rustling sounds—the movement of numerous thick centipedes, ceaselessly wriggling back and forth, their hardened exoskeletons grating against the hard ground, producing that strange noise.

The entire cavern could be summed up in one word:

Noisy!

It was an irritatingly loud world, permeated by a thick, strange odor, reminiscent of long-rotted meat—an intensely unpleasant smell.

Long Xin, who was prepared, rummaged through her spatial pouch and pulled out several helmets.

“Daoist Helmets!” I exclaimed in surprise, looking at the headgear shaped somewhat like a cat’s head.

“Heh heh!” Long Xin beamed proudly. “Put them on. They’ll make that disgusting smell vanish completely!”

Curiously, I took a helmet and placed it on my head.

I had to admit, the design of the Daoist Helmet was excellent. It covered the entire head down to the nose, leaving only the mouth exposed. Moreover, when breathing, the foul odor disappeared. Not only that, but once the helmet was on, I clearly felt a surge of mental clarity; the outside humming noise could no longer interfere with my focus.

“Heh heh,” I muttered, touching the two protruding ‘ears’ on my head. “This is truly a marvelous item.”

“Of course it is,” Long Xin replied. “Six hundred gold coins apiece—it had better be good. So, you need to pull yourself together. We’ve already exceeded our budget, and if we fail the mission I accepted yesterday, we might not even have money for food.”

“Alright! I know,” I thought. I knew I had to make Long Xin shut up, or she could unleash a noise wave more terrifying than that of the Monk Tang, a wave even the formidable defenses of the Daoist Helmet couldn’t block.

After equipping the helmets, we found a relatively safe corner to warm up first.

“Boss! Lure one over so we can get familiar with it!” Long Zhan was impatient.

“Got it! Watch me!” Long Xin casually threw a Lightning Bolt, striking a centipede about twenty meters away with precision.

Honestly, this centipede was huge. Its shape resembled those from Legend, just like the leaping bees. However, having been in this world for quite some time, I was long past being astonished by the strange creatures or magic here—this was probably what they called becoming desensitized.

The giant centipede rapidly charged toward Long Xin. Its countless legs vibrated like an electric shaver on both sides of its body, churning at an astonishing speed as it rushed forward in an S-shape.

In the blink of an eye, it was within five meters of Long Xin.

“Roar!” Long Zhan lunged forward, swinging his Xiuluo Battle Axe in a vertical chop.

Clang! The centipede’s body took the direct hit, causing brown blood to spray everywhere. The wounded creature only twisted slightly, its menacing mouthparts snapping toward Long Zhan.

Hmph! Long Zhan sidestepped slightly and swept his axe in a horizontal arc, striking the centipede’s thick, bucket-sized waist.

Thwack! A tearing sound echoed as another large gash opened on the centipede’s body, yet it still wasn't dead, bleeding dark reddish-brown blood. A dizzying and sickening (fishy/bloody) smell filled the air. The latter half of the centipede’s massive body suddenly coiled up and lashed out at Long Zhan.

Long Zhan could only sidestep again, narrowly dodging the attack. After evading, he surged forward again and delivered two more heavy axe chops directly into the previous wound.

Wail!

With a mournful cry, the centipede collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.

“Balanced in speed, power, and defense,” Long Qi analyzed.

“En!” I nodded involuntarily. “Boss, let me try!”

Boom!

Long Xin simply nodded slightly and sent another lightning bolt flying.

Wail!

The struck centipede quickly charged toward me. I adopted a lunge stance, calculating the centipede’s approach speed and the precise moment to strike. Finally, the centipede entered my attack range.

Roar!

I shot forward with an Electric Step. The Hundred Battles Saber blurred into an arc of light, then instantly vanished.

Whoosh! With only a slight sound, the centipede froze, its raised forebody then separating and falling to the ground.

It turned out my single strike had cleanly severed its body. Truthfully, its defense couldn't even match that of a Skeleton Warrior, but its speed was significantly faster. However, against me, that small speed advantage was utterly useless.

“...........” Jin Hong stared at me, wide-eyed, seemingly stunned by my method of attack. “So—so fast!”

“It seems killing a centipede in one strike isn't difficult,” Long Qi noted. “Speed is definitely not an issue either!”

“En,” I nodded subconsciously. In reality, my strength wasn't greater than Long Zhan’s, but I could easily cleave the centipede in two simply because the unique design of the Hundred Battles Saber maximized the speed of my cleaving motion, coupled with my own physical conditioning that favored instantaneous bursts of speed. This allowed me to easily bisect the centipede.

“Damn it, maybe I should just switch to using a saber,” Long Zhan lamented, looking resentfully at his axe, then at my Hundred Battles Saber. “That speed is just too ridiculous!”

“Okay, now let’s try a worm, and then a leaping bee!” Long Xin continued. “And finally, the Black Maggot!”

“En.” I nodded. Long Xin quickly lured over a worm, which, predictably, I also severed in one strike. A leaping bee followed, which I also sliced in half with one cut.

Jin Hong, watching from the side, seemed less surprised now. Next, everyone looked at the Black Maggot approaching rapidly with intense focus.

This Black Maggot resembled a high-speed spinning tire, slamming into me in a blink. However, in terms of speed and reaction time, I was absolutely confident. The Black Maggot was currently in a tightly curled, charging state, offering no apparent weak points anywhere on its body. Unsure where to strike, I swung my saber forcefully against its back.

Clang! A burst of dazzling sparks erupted. The Hundred Battles Saber struck as if hitting steel plate. The strong recoil nearly ripped the saber from my grip and sent it flying, while the Black Maggot seemed entirely unharmed. It paused slightly before executing another charge toward me.

Roar! With a sidestep, I swung my saber again, striking the Black Maggot’s hard carapace.

Clang! Almost identical to the first time, my Hundred Battles Saber could not penetrate its shell and was instead repelled. The Black Maggot seemed to enjoy the impact; after knocking me back, it coiled its hard body again and rammed toward me rapidly, forcing me back several times in succession.

Meanwhile, Jin Hong watched me with disbelief, seemingly unable to comprehend why I was being dominated by a Black Maggot.

Long Xin and the other two looked grave. “It seems Star Chen’s saber techniques still have flaws,” Long Qi analyzed. “Against opponents prioritizing defense and lacking clear weaknesses, Star Chen’s sharp blade work struggles to achieve a one-hit kill.”

“En,” Long Zhan nodded in agreement. “It seems relying solely on Star Chen’s fast blade won't be enough to rapidly improve our monster-killing efficiency.”

“If I could somehow create an opening for Star Chen when the Black Maggot attacks him,” Long Qi hypothesized.

“You mean exposing the Black Maggot’s weakness?” Long Zhan asked doubtfully.

“Yes. Only then can we create a chance for Star Chen to land a fatal blow,” Long Qi confirmed.

“But how do we do that?” Long Zhan inquired.

“I think that shouldn’t be hard. If you hit the Black Maggot the instant it charges toward Star Chen, it will certainly pause. When it prepares for the second attack, it must stretch out its body—that is the Black Maggot’s vulnerability. I believe, with Star Chen’s speed, he can certainly seize that brief moment to slay the maggot with one stroke.”

“But that seems overly complicated,” Long Zhan hesitated. “Requiring two steps will halve our kill efficiency.”

“Perhaps you all forgot about Star Chen’s characteristic of being able to store and consecutively release his Sword Qi attack,” Long Xin reminded them. “If Star Chen stockpiles his Sword Qi specifically to deal with the Black Maggots, it should be effective.”

“Heh heh!” Long Xin’s reminder gave me a sudden realization. Damn it, how could I forget I still had this trump card! Thinking fast, I instinctively began accumulating my offensive Sword Qi. Soon, I felt a powerful, abundant surge of Sword Qi within my body. Seizing the right moment, I unleashed several bursts of Sword Qi toward a few Black Maggots rapidly closing in on me.

Swish, swish, swish!! With several sounds, the few Black Maggots, halfway through their charge, were instantly pierced through their thick outer shells by the Sword Qi. Then, with several dull thuds, they exploded like bloody spheres, splattering dark flesh everywhere.

This sight greatly energized us.

“Incredible!” Long Zhan muttered. “The Black Maggot’s hard armor is completely useless against the penetrating attack of the Sword Qi!”