Leaving the City Together

About half an hour later, Kent returned to the city gates and reunited with Li Wan Feng and the others.

However, unlike when he left, Kent had now changed into the uniform of a one-star inspector, freshly issued from the Inspector's Hall. The outfit made him look even more poised and handsome. He also wore a golden one-star inspector badge on his shoulder, and in his hand, he carried a specially made short sword for inspectors, graded as Class A—sharp enough to cut through King-level and Emperor-level monsters.

"Heh, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Li Wan Feng teased.

Everyone was stunned when they saw Kent. They had thought he was just going to pick something up, but he had silently passed the one-star inspector exam and received his official rewards without anyone noticing.

Kent flashed a mischievous grin. "New clothes, right? You can't leave them sitting in the closet to gather dust. Of course, I had to wear them as soon as I got them—it's only natural."

Zhao Mengxi's eyes sparkled as she circled around him, cheeks flushed with a subtle blush. She leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Honestly, you look incredibly handsome."

Kent's heart raced, and he quickly grabbed her small hand, smirking playfully. "Little miss, have you fallen for me?"

Zhao Mengxi rolled her eyes and turned to walk away, her ears turning red.

They left the city gates, with two off-road vehicles leading the way. Qian Zhen Qian drove one alone, while Li Wan Feng and Gu Ling Ling shared another. Kent, seemingly showing off, rode an off-road motorcycle, carrying Zhao Mengxi, who tightly hugged his body as they sped across the vast, open land.

Behind them followed a mercenary group of over one hundred members, riding in five cargo trucks, closely trailing the convoy.

Since the area outside the city was largely abandoned land, overgrown with weeds and trees, the vehicles passed through without stirring up dust.

Kent observed the mercenary group, known as "Hong Dao." The name suggested that this was a well-structured group, as every member practiced a type of martial art—Hongmen Chaos Blade Technique, a fourth-grade combat skill.

Unlike most mercenary groups, which function more like a loose collection of individuals, Hong Dao operated like a martial arts school, with members living together, training together, and growing stronger together.

What made them unique was their policy of recruiting only youth with potential. If a member wanted to marry and settle down, they would leave the group.

The convoy drove steadily for nearly a hundred miles until they encountered a mountain range blocking their path. Everyone disembarked, storing their vehicles in spatial bags, and summoned their beasts to traverse the mountain.

Kent summoned Garfield, with Zhao Mengxi hopping on behind him. Garfield's back was broad, but Gu Ling Ling insisted on riding too, which caused some discomfort between Kent and Zhao Mengxi.

"Go on, Li Uncle will take you," Kent said, pushing Gu Ling Ling away from her antics.

This girl was such a handful—always interrupting their time together. If she was out here to observe the wilderness, she should just enjoy the view, Kent thought, feeling a little annoyed.

Thankfully, Li Wan Feng used his wind skills to pick Gu Ling Ling up and carry her away.

Li Wan Feng, who specialized in wind attributes, had developed his own wind-based combat technique during his university days. He and Qian Zhen Qian had experimented with wind techniques, and later, Qian Zhen Qian obtained a Rule Stone that helped him grasp the Storm Battle Technique, an eighth-grade martial art. However, Qian Zhen Qian had only mastered the first seven layers, leaving the full nine layers incomplete.

Li Wan Feng, on the other hand, had created his unique technique—"Wanfeng's Immortal Tornado Formation," a sixth-grade martial art. It was complete and had reached a high level of mastery after years of practice. With a wave of his hand, he could summon thousands of tornadoes within a ten-mile radius.

Though powerful, this technique was not as formidable as Qian Zhen Qian's Storm Battle Technique, which was a domain-based skill.

Of course, Li Wan Feng was a four-star inspector, and despite his impressive wind skills and two not-so-powerful beasts, Kent guessed he still had some hidden trump cards he wasn't showing.

When two four-star inspectors skilled in wind techniques teamed up, it was easy to see what would happen. Both Li Wan Feng and Qian Zhen Qian summoned strong winds, effortlessly lifting several members of the Hong Dao mercenary group into the sky.

However, some of the mercenaries had their own ways of dealing with the mountains.

Kent relied on Garfield's flying abilities, which allowed them to traverse the mountains without difficulty. Garfield could leap up to two or three hundred meters, not as fast as the winds that carried people over the mountains, but still efficient.

Others, like one person who summoned a large flying beast resembling a bat, managed to fly swiftly. Another person grew wings made of wind—this technique, Wind Wings, was not commonly practiced due to its difficulty, and its speed was not remarkable, unlike Qian Zhen Qian's fourth-level Wind Wings, which could allow the user to soar.

More commonly, people like Kent used their summoned beasts as mounts.

The mountain range wasn't small, and Kent spent over half an hour getting over it, after which they encountered another range of hills. Cars couldn't pass through, so everyone had to rely on their beasts.

Once over the hills, the group came across a wide river, around thirty meters across. Fortunately, the current wasn't strong, and they crossed without much difficulty.

By evening, they had traveled more than three hundred miles and set up camp on a vast plain.

Due to their strong overall capabilities, they weren't worried about monster attacks. Any monsters that were foolish enough to approach were quickly dispatched and roasted for dinner. Along the way, they had taken down several monsters.

These monsters were likely the result of mutations caused by the X-gas from another dimension, and the earlier the mutation, the stronger and higher-ranked the monsters became.