At night, the Longshou Mountains meet the hilly terrain.

Ning Yuan maintained a timid look and squatted in a corner of the improvised camp surrounded by seven or eight wooden pack carts. While nibbling on the dry food that Scar had thrown at him, he watched Scar's gang drink wine and eat meat around the campfire, while listening to their high talk.

Although Ning Yuan's current identity is a prisoner of this group, perhaps because Ning Yuan is very honest, has a weak personality, and is an ordinary person who has not yet cultivated, they did not detain Ning Yuan, nor did they send someone to watch Ning Yuan, but on the contrary, they threw the short gun back to him.

Also, in Ning Yuan's eyes, it can only be regarded as a short gun that is better than nothing, and in terms of the strength of this group, it is not even a broken copper and iron. Even if they returned the short gun to Ning Yuan, they were not afraid of Ning Yuan's slippery head. Mo said that Ning Yuan was just a player who had not cultivated, even if Ning Yuan was a soldier-level cultivator, they were not at all worried that Ning Yuan would be able to escape under the noses of cultivators whose strength was in the military level in their twenties. What's more, two of the leaders are still in their city-state, and they are also well-known master-level masters.

Through the explanation of the cold-faced scout young man named Fine Scar during the day and the small talk between the group of people along the way, Ning Yuan had almost understood the information he needed.

This group of twenty-four people, led by the two people of Scar and Scar, who were cultivated at the master's level, were the mercenaries of a city-state called Koca City, about nine hundred miles northwest of the Great Forest of Dragonblood.

The so-called city-state mercenaries are idle cultivators who have not joined the city-state's military system, and most of them exchange their cultivation resources for serving as private soldiers or guards of the city-state nobles and chambers of commerce, undertaking jobs such as monster hunting issued by various forces in the city-state, and also undertaking some work under the surface.

The city-state mercenary team called the Scar Team, led by Scar Scar, belongs to the city-state mercenaries who specialize in monster hunting and gray business, and they are well-known in Koca City. After all, even if it is a medium-sized city-state with a population of one million, more than eighty percent of the high-level cultivators are basically concentrated in the city-state's military system as the backbone of all levels, and most of the cultivators outside the system are some low-level cultivators at the military level. Even if he is a second-level master-level cultivator, he can be regarded as a small master.

Oh yes. The population limit for a mid-tier city-state is one million, usually one million. Among them, the proportion of practitioners is about 20 to 30 percent, that is, about 20 to 300,000 people.

Among these 230,000 cultivators, the lowest level of cultivators basically accounted for 60 percent, that is, 12 to 180,000 people. Eighty percent of the remaining 80,000 to 120,000 cultivators and above were in the city-state army, so there were really not many idle cultivators at the middle and senior level and above. Moreover, according to the rules, there is an upper limit on the cultivators of each city-state, except for the city lord who is the owner of the city-state.

Generally speaking, in the city-state system of the Neno continent, a person with less than 1,000 people is called a village, a town with a population of more than 1,000 people and less than 100,000 people, and a city with more than 100,000 people. 500,000 of them are small city-states, 1 million are medium-sized city-states, 5 million are large city-states, and 10 million are giant city-states. The population cap of 10 million is also the final cap for a single city-state.

According to the rules, the upper limit of a village-level cultivator is the rank of soldier, which means that as long as a cultivator becomes a practitioner, any person theoretically has the qualifications to become the head of a village. In the same way, the upper limit of a town-level cultivator is the husband level, and theoretically, every cultivator who has reached the master level also has the qualifications to become the head of a town. Then there are small city-states with a maximum of captain, medium-sized city-states with a school level, large city-states with a general level, and a giant city-state with a handsome level.

That is to say, even if it is a giant city-state, with a population and resources of tens of millions, the cultivators who occupy thirty percent of the population can cultivate to the rank of handsome in addition to the city lord, and they will be stuck by the rules of the city if they go up.

Moreover, because of the city's affordability, there is a limit to the number of cultivators in each city. For example, in Koca City, which is a medium-sized city-state, the city lord Ziger is a ground level cultivator who is about to break through to the general level. In terms of rules, except for the city lord who is protected by the rules of the city's knot, there can only be three cultivators at the same time, and once they reach three, the other cultivators will be restricted by the rules of the city and cannot break through. And now in addition to the city lord who is about to break through in Koca City, the places of the three earth-level schools have been occupied by the first general of the city lord, Asa, and the great elder of the main family, the first family of Koca City. That is to say, there is only one place left in Koka City for the cultivation of the last rank school level for all the remaining cultivators who have reached the lieutenant level to break through, no matter who breaks through, the remaining lieutenant-level cultivators can only be stuck at the lieutenant level and cannot advance an inch.

So in addition to the quota for the top-level cultivators, is there a limit on the number of practitioners for the second-level cultivators or the lower ones?

Theoretically, yes. However, because each city-state occupies different resources, the quota will also fluctuate to a large extent. However, in general, according to the rules, the maximum amount of practitioners in a city, regardless of its size, is only 30% of the total population. If you exceed, you can only choose two options: diversion and upgrading the city.

Upgrading a city is easy to understand, it is to expand the upper limit of the population.

Diversion is actually a disguised expansion of the population ceiling by establishing subsidiary city-states.

The establishment of a subsidiary city-state is the prototype of the original city-state alliance in the Nino Continent, and it is also a method discovered by the cultivators of the Nino Continent to break through the upper limit and quota limit of the city's cultivation.

As the lord of the main city, the lord of the city-state can sacrifice resources to the city by consuming resources to make it separate from the sub-knots that are subordinate to the main knots, and through this knots, it is possible to establish a branch city directly under the main city.

As the owner of the Split Heart, that is, the Dividing City Lord, the cultivator will be protected by the rules of the Split Heart, no longer limited by the quota of the main city's rules, and enjoy the same unlimited authority to break through the cultivation as the main city lord.

To put it simply, as long as a cultivator becomes a city lord, he can ignore the restrictions on the upper limit of cultivation and the upper limit.

So as long as all the cultivators become city lords, isn't it okay? Anyway, the Nino Continent is infinitely large, with infinite resources, and everyone is like a dragon, so it's not too good.

Well. It's true. But it's also stupid and naïve.

In addition to understanding the basic situation of Koka City and this group of mercenary cultivators, Ning Yuan also knew the reason why he couldn't enter the forest during this time period in the mouth of the fine scar.

In fact, the reason is very simple, it's just that Ning Yuan's realm line is not in his memory, and Ning Yuan doesn't think in that direction.

However, this also explained what was going on with the abnormal distribution of demon beasts that Ning Yuan had seen in the last few days.

The beast tide is coming. To be precise, the spring tide is coming in the two large-scale animal tides every year.

During the two months from the end of the month to the end of the month of Chen, the monsters in various places will riot due to the arrival of the breeding season and the shortage of food, and the monsters will spontaneously or passively go out of the gathering place to attack the city-states and tribes where the "humans" are located.

Since the overall strength and number of demon beasts have always been above the "human" side, every time the large-scale beast tide in the spring and autumn seasons of the upper yin and lower yin is extremely difficult for the creatures of all races, basically except for the army, no cultivator will approach any large-scale demon beast gathering area at this time.

And Scar, they will appear here at this time, which can be said to be a typical example of "people die for money, birds die for food".

From the gossip of Scar's subordinates, Ning Yuan roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter:

Originally, for a city-state mercenary team like the Scar Team, the two months from Maoyue to Chenyue basically belonged to the two months when they were dedicated to internal affairs and did not go out of external affairs, which is usually called the off-season for mercenaries.

The work of fighting against the beast tide has always been dominated by high-level cultivators in the military and above the rank of lieutenant, and the idle cultivators at the bottom can only do the work of leftovers for the sake of beating and beating.

The same is true this time.

However, just when the Scar team was about to idle for two months, the nobles of Coca City sent a mission at a high price in the mercenary guild of the city-state.

Ning Yuan didn't hear the details of the task, it seemed that the tiger bones and tiger whips of the jungle tiger were needed, the task was not difficult, but the demand was very large.

It is not clear what the specific reward of the task is, but it seems to be enough for the team to pay a high price for one or two more husband-level cultivators.

Being able to pay one or two more husband-level cultivators is naturally enough to make one of the scars and fine scars go further.

So they came to the edge of the Dragon's Blood Forest three days ago.

According to Ning Yuan's understanding, in fact, up to today, they had hunted enough jungle tigers they needed, and if Ning Yuan came out in the evening for half an hour or an hour, maybe the two would not have encountered.

Thinking of this, Ning Yuan could only sigh silently and say, "Providence." ”

It can indeed be said that it is providential.

Who knew that the original chance encounter would turn into a hijacking because of Ning Yuan's identity as a player and the fact that he had no household registration.

And because of this abduction, Ning Yuan discovered a fact that had to be shocking. It is also a detail that is not in the memory of the boundary line.

The natives of Nino seem to be aware of the player's existence as well as they know themselves.

The natives are not only aware of the rules of the player's arrival city, but also the restrictions on the player's choice of self-descent, and even the mechanics of the player's resurrection are also clear.

Ning Yuan believes that only by knowing the player as well as he knows himself, can he deduce that he is a Huangsheng just based on the identity of his player and the fact that he has no household registration, and he has the information of a certain chance.

This can be seen from the fact that the other party directly asks for the opportunity after confirming that he is a player.

And after the other party said that the Nino Continent also existed in Huangsheng, Ning Yuan had an astonishing guess.

This speculation is confirmed by some overheard information, and may be closer to some kind of truth.

The natives of Nino are not so much aborigines, but more like players who entered Nino before the Star Creatures.

Early the next morning.

Ning Yuan, who was sleeping in a daze, was dragged up from the wheel of the pack cart, and then a basin of cold water fell from the sky.

Ning Yuan, who was soaked all over, immediately sobered up under the stimulation of the cold, and immediately saw the cold-faced young man looking at him expressionlessly. A thin black man with a basin of water stood nearby. Ning Yuan remembered that the other party seemed to be called Zi Scar.

It should have been the cold water poured by the other party just now.

If it weren't for the state of being captured, last night's sleep should have been Ning Yuan's most restful sleep since his arrival, at least with this group of people, Ning Yuan didn't need to worry about his safety while sleeping. I was able to sleep peacefully in the forest, but I was worried about my safety, so I slept lightly every day.

"But if only I didn't have this basin of cold water."

Ning Yuan said silently in his heart, and then shuddered.

Although it has entered the moon, it is still quite cold in the morning.

Just when Ning Yuan's heart was broken, a hoarse voice sounded:

"Ready to go."

Ning Yuan looked up at the sky when he heard this, and said a little timidly: "It's only four o'clock now, right?" Isn't it too early? ”

Then he carefully explained: "It's so dark, I'm afraid I can't find the way." ”

The fine scar stared at Ning Yuan coldly, until a cold sweat broke out on Ning Yuan's forehead that he had just wiped dry, and then said in a serious tone:

"If you don't want to die in the beast tide, or spend two months in our team's dungeon, you'd better take us to find the chance you said in two days."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out.

Zi Scar walked over and patted Ning Yuan's shoulder, and the heavy force made Ning Yuan's shoulder crooked, and said playfully:

"Longshou Mountain is not easy to walk, I can't wait for you to go up the mountain, the sky must be bright. So don't think about procrastinating. Scold! ~”

After speaking, he carried the basin of water and left with Scar.

Just as Ning Yuan rubbed his numb shoulders and lowered his head with a sad expression, a big fan-like hand was heavily placed on Ning Yuan's other shoulder, causing Ning Yuan to stumble in an instant, turn around and fall to the ground in embarrassment.

"Hahaha." Looking at Ning Yuan's scar who was holding his hands on the ground with a painful face, he laughed wildly, and then the huge body with great oppressive force attached to him looked up at Ning Yuan, who looked up and looked cowardly, obviously showing a look of anger and dare not speak, and said in a cruel voice:

"Boy, you see you can't even stand my slap, so don't think about those who have and don't. To tell you the truth, two days early or three days later, the beast tide will definitely be launched. ”

Then he raised two thick fingers and shook them, and continued:

"Two days, you only have two days. If you don't see the opportunity you said in two days, I'll kill you once. ”

Standing up straight, he looked down at Ning Yuan with a pitiful look, and said in a factual tone:

"If you have a household registration, you will be resurrected directly in the place where the household registration is bound. It's a pity you don't. If you are wild, you can only choose to resurrect on the spot or randomly respawn within 100 meters. Either way, you can't run away. ”

Then his eyes sharpened, and he said seriously:

"Then I'll bring you back to Coca City with only one chance to resurrect, and we'll have two months to concoct you. It will definitely make you unforgettable. ”

Looking at Ning Yuan, who was pale and frightened, he sneered:

"Let's pray for a good result in two days."

After saying that, he turned around and planned to leave.

"What if I choose to be reincarnated?"

There was a sound of Ning Yuan gritting his teeth from behind.

Scar turned around, looked at Ning Yuan's stubborn eyes that seemed to be open despite fear, and chuckled inexplicably.

"If I choose to be reincarnated, give up the chance, or wait until later to get the chance, what else can you do to me?"

Ning Yuan stared at Scar fearfully and stubbornly, and asked word by word.

Scar didn't answer directly, and looked at Ning Yuan with an inexplicable smile for a long time, until his younger brother began to pack up the cart next to him, and then his face turned pale, and he looked at Ning Yuan in a cold tone that he had never seen before:

"If you choose this path. Then there is no need for me to do anything, and in the future you yourself will regret this decision for eternity. ”

After speaking, he turned around and walked towards the waiting crowd, paused halfway through, and said in an inexplicable tone:

"A piece of advice for you."

Ning Yuan looked up at Scar's huge back.

"If you don't want to regret it, then it's best to pray that you won't use the reincarnation function for the rest of your life."

After speaking, he didn't care about Ning Yuan, strolled to the front of the team and beckoned everyone to get ready to go.

Ning Yuan looked at Scar's back, and inexplicable thoughts flashed in his eyes.

Ning Yuan has been pretending. Pretending with the fact that he has not yet cultivated, pretending with a submissive and cowardly look, and pretending with an unbearable attitude, everything is to make the other party recognize Ning Yuan's weakness, relax his minimum vigilance against Ning Yuan, and strengthen Ning Yuan's character in the eyes of the other party.

In order to achieve his goal, when the other party confirmed Ning Yuan's destination, Ning Yuan did not deceive at all, and even confessed the key information of his remaining two resurrections under the constraints of the system oath.

The other party also knew that Ning Yuan was pretending, although he didn't know how much he had seen through. But as the other party said, Ning Yuan is too weak, whether he pretends or not, it makes no sense to the other party. Even if you use the resurrection, you can't run away.

The most Ning Yuan can do is to delay time, but the other party is actually not afraid of Ning Yuan delaying time, because they can afford to drag it out, and at most they feel disgusted, but Ning Yuan can't afford it. It's like Scar said. The other party can take Ning Yuan back to the city-state as a captive and imprison him in the dungeon, where he can torture him as much as he wants, until he collapses. You can also kill him once as punishment. After waiting for two months, they will bring Ning Yuan here again and force Ning Yuan to hand over their chance.

On the contrary, Ning Yuan couldn't afford to delay. If the information given by the other party about the beast tide is accurate, Ning Yuan must find a way to enter that place within two days, otherwise no matter how many times Ning Yuan has been resurrected, as long as the restrictions on the city's resurrection are not lifted, then the number of resurrections will not be enough under the impact of the beast tide.

And as the other party said, as long as Ning Yuan can't escape, Ning Yuan can only be under the other party's clamp all the time, without freedom, unable to cultivate, and watching the gap between himself and other players getting bigger and bigger, until it is irreparable.

Unless Ning Yuan is willing to choose to break up in two by means of reincarnation.

In this case, at that opportunity, Ning Yuan's voluntary arrival with many restrictions would have no meaning?

Of course, at least it's better than making a wedding dress for someone.

In fact, the worst plan Ning Yuan made was to break up in two.

If it weren't for Scar's last few words.

However, it doesn't matter how many of Scar's last few words are true or even all of them are false.

Ning Yuan, who heard this, was already destined not to dare to gamble anymore.

After everyone went on the road, Ning Yuan took the dry food, looked around, walked in front of Scar, and asked timidly:

"If you find a chance, will you really let me go?"

Scar's eyes lit up, and he pulled out an ugly smile and said:

"The oath of the system is absolute. Even if I don't want to, I can't hurt you. ”

Ning Yuan nodded, looked at Scar's eyes and said:

"Good. I lead the way. ”

Saying that, he took the initiative to go forward.

"Wait." Scar called Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan looked back at Scar.

"You're too slow, let Scar and Scar carry you up the mountain. Pathfinder in front of the fine scar. Longshou Mountain is not easy to walk. ”

Scar said solemnly.

"Okay."

Ning Yuan nodded and walked forward behind the two.

Scar nodded at Scar, and his figure scurried forward silently.

Scar saw the fine scar and went to explore the way before he said to the few people in charge of the pack cart in the team:

"Force Scar, Piercing Scar, Ha Scar, Gu Scar, Ginger Scar, Miao Scar, Mu Scar, Ge Scar, Arrow Scar, you can't take any risks for the rest of the time, stay at the bottom of the mountain and watch the pack cart and goods, and there is a situation to release arrows. If the distance is too far, I use a mechanism letter. If we don't come back at midnight and don't send any message back, you can drive back to the city by cart early tomorrow morning. ”

"Yes, Boss."

Several people who were called responded in unison.

Scar nodded, then looked at the people around him, then at Ning Yuan in front of him, and said solemnly: "Others, battle formation, follow." ”

All members of the Scar City-State Mercenary Squad have the word "Scar" in their names.

Of course, none of them are real names, all of them are pseudonyms such as code names. This seems to be a feature of the Scarring Team and a signature in the mercenary world of the city-states.

Scar and the man named Zi Scar did not deceive Ning Yuan, the road to Longshou Mountain is indeed not easy to walk.

It should be said that during this period of time, any road leading to the gathering place of demon beasts is not easy to walk.

The Longshou Mountain Range is located in the southernmost part of the entire Fulong Mountain Range, which is composed of eight peaks of different sizes, namely Longzui Mountain, Longya Mountain, Broken Tooth Mountain, East and West Longjiao Mountain, Longxu Mountain before and after, and Longshou Mountain. It occupies a huge area.

If Ning Yuan was alone, it would take four to five days to reach his destination without the danger of demon beasts. However, now that there are two cultivators from the senior rank, it is estimated that they will be able to arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

The entrance that Ning Yuan was looking for was located at the eastern foot of Broken Tooth Mountain, in a mountain crack at the corner of the mountain wall where Broken Tooth Mountain and Housu Mountain were connected.

It wasn't the official entrance to Serendipity but a back door. As for where the main gate of the chance is, Ning Yuan is not clear. He also entered this place by chance by mistake.

After passing through Qiansu Mountain and stepping on the trail of Longya Mountain, Ning Yuan began to be a little glad that he had been kidnapped involuntarily this time.

Perhaps because the beast tide was about to start, the density of demon beasts in Longshou Mountain was even larger than Ning Yuan had estimated after synthesizing various information.

The two-hundred-mile road from Mount Qiansu to Mount Longya alone has experienced at least two dozen battles. This is still when everyone has avoided most of the demon beasts.

Ning Yuan couldn't imagine how he would have to cross these two hundred miles if he were alone.

Fortunately, whether it was the outer edge of the Dragon's Blood Great Forest or the frontier of the Dragon's Head Mountain Range, it was dominated by low-level fierce beast-level demon beasts (that is, demon beasts with the same strength as soldier-level cultivators). For the time being, everyone has not encountered a middle-level fierce beast-level demon beast equivalent to the strength of the husband-level level.

Generally speaking, before the cultivator's Heavenly Rank, against a demon beast with the same strength as himself, if he fights alone, the cultivator has the advantage, because the cultivator can use various external forces to fight.

However, this is only when you go it alone. The actual situation is that most of the demon beasts below the desolate beast level mainly live in groups. A nest can range from three to five to hundreds or thousands.

That's why I said earlier that even if it is the periphery of the Dragon's Blood Great Forest, it still needs a team of more than twenty people with husband-level strength to be able to move a little.

Scar and Scar's Scar Team is one such team of mercenaries operating on the edge and outer edge of the Dragon's Blood Great Forest.

It is precisely because they belong to a full-time hunting team that they can have the experience to avoid most of the demon beasts so far.