CHAPTER 977: CHAPTER 975: WHOEVER DARES TOUCH ANYONE FROM THE RITIAN SECT

"Boom!"

The ferocious beasts surged against the city like a torrent, but with the defense system fully powered, the entire city remained as steady as Mount Tai.

Within the beast horde, the figures of several Black Warriors could be seen from time to time, hunting the advanced leaders among the beasts.

"Mr. Zhang, it’s all thanks to you. On behalf of the more than three million treasure hunters in our city, I express our gratitude. This amount should cover our accommodation fees today." A treasure hunter transferred nearly two trillion Cosmic Coins to Zhang Menglong’s account.

"No need for thanks. Since everyone supports me as the City Lord, it’s naturally my responsibility. Of course, there are still quite a few costs involved, so I’ll gladly accept this money." Though two trillion Cosmic Coins wasn’t much, something was better than nothing.

"Brother Zhang, meeting you is truly a blessing for the treasure hunters of this city." Blake and others were completely captivated by Zhang Menglong’s charisma.

"Big Brother Zhang, from today onwards, I think everyone’s misunderstandings about the Ritian Sect will dissipate a lot, all thanks to you."

"Stop praising me, or I’ll get cocky!"

"Bah! Shameless scoundrel!" Gou Dan grumbled and spat, "These people are really all brawn and no brains, so easy to deceive!"

Others didn’t know, but Gou Dan was well aware that the Beast Tide wasn’t naturally formed at all!

From the moment Zhang Menglong attacked this city, he had planned everything. He secretly dispatched a Black Warrior to absorb a small branch of the Beast Tide, waiting for the city to run out of resources and be on the brink of despair.

"This is called strategic deception. See how much everyone respects me!" Zhang Menglong had a shameless expression.

"I’ve never seen anyone so shameless!"

Zhang Menglong summoned hundreds of Black Warriors and began issuing orders.

"You few, are responsible for the daily order of the city."

"You few, build a sign at the city gate. Write ’Ritian Chain Base Hotel Branch No. 2’."

"You few, clear out that abandoned area and set up a food street for me!"

Regarding the city entry fee and accommodation fee, Zhang Menglong had no plans to increase the prices, but as for the food on the snack street, that was up to him. After all, he believed that no one could resist the magical effects of these foods.

Everything went as he envisioned. Initially, at the sight of the exorbitant food prices, costing tens to hundreds of billions of Cosmic Coins, everyone cursed, calling Zhang Menglong a deceitful man who appeared kind. They claimed they would rather starve than eat a bite of his food.

However, Professor Wang Jingze’s "Truth Will Prevail" law never failed. It might arrive late, but it was inevitable!

After the first brave soul dared to try, the snack street business became exceptionally prosperous. Even for those who saw prices twice as high as Branch No. 1, it seemed absurdly cheap.

...

"Hey, Blake, you’ve returned?"

As friends of Zhang Menglong, Blake and his group not only enjoyed free VIP accommodations but also received a 90% discount on all snack street products. This allowed their power to grow rapidly in a short period, enabling them to venture further for hunting.

This time they were gone for over a week. Zhang Menglong even worried they might have encountered some powerful beasts or rival treasure hunters and were taken down.

"What’s the matter? Why do you all look so grim?" Zhang Menglong inquired, "Did you encounter any trouble? Need my help?"

"Brother Zhang, we’re fine, but during this hunt, we met a group of treasure hunters from other cities and heard some things about your Ritian Sect."

"Damn! It better not be some little punk ruining the image I worked so hard to build!" Zhang Menglong cursed internally. He had warned the Ritian Sect members that despite their despicable-sounding principles and goals, there was one basic rule: act shamelessly but maintain a facade of respectability.

"Blake, don’t listen to others’ nonsense. My Ritian Sect members are all law-abiding citizens. We help old grandmothers cross the street without worrying about being scammed. There are always people jealous of our talents, spreading rumors about us, you..."

"That’s not what we heard," Blake sighed. "I heard someone from your Ritian Sect has been caught."

Zhang Menglong was stunned. From what he knew about the Super God Academy students, even if they couldn’t beat those at the forefront of the Summit Ranking, they could still escape. How could someone be captured?

"The opponents seem to have a grudge against you. I heard they didn’t just kill your person and eliminate them from the Treasure Hunting Space. Instead, they cruelly tied him up in that city and continuously tortured him. I felt this was something you needed to know, so we hurried back."

"What did you say?"

"Here’s some image data I managed to get." Blake sent a file to Zhang Menglong. "Have a look yourself."

"Yang Lin?" Zhang Menglong immediately recognized the bloody figure. This was a youth from an Ancient Martial Arts family with the last name Yang. He had a decent Gift, and most importantly, he was especially flamboyant and adept at showing off, competing with two others of his kind, known as the Three Show-offs of the Super God Academy.

His body was penetrated by something, nailed directly to the city’s wall, and his limbs were a bloody mess. The blood flowing on the ground beneath him had already turned black.

In the blurry image, Zhang Menglong could see he was in immense pain, the muscles on his face twitching constantly.

Such severe injuries, just the excessive blood loss alone would be lethal, but due to the strong life force of a Level Four life form, the speed of blood regeneration matched the speed of blood loss, preventing him from dying!

However, whenever his injuries healed slightly, someone would immediately torture him again, keeping him in a constant state of agony. Seeing this scene, Zhang Menglong’s blood pressure shot up.

Though he had previously hung people in front of city gates, it was merely stripping them, not engaging in such inhuman acts of torture.

Even though dying in Treasure Hunting Space would result in a return to the outside world, it was crucial to understand this space was not virtual. All the pain was experienced at 100% intensity.

Zhang Menglong took a deep breath, "Do you know how long he’s been captured?"

"Probably forty to fifty Cosmic Days."

"Forty to fifty Cosmic Days?" It was hard for Zhang Menglong to imagine the kind of pain and torture Yang Lin endured during those Cosmic Days. Now, Zhang Menglong had only one thought in mind.

He wanted to kill!

"Do you know the location of that city?"

"I already obtained the coordinates. I’ll send them to you." Blake didn’t try to dissuade Zhang Menglong because he knew it was futile.

"Thank you, I owe you one," Zhang Menglong said.

"Gou Dan, is there a way to gather all the Super God Academy people?" Zhang Menglong asked.

"Yes," Gou Dan replied, "All Super God Academy students are bound to the Academy. You, as the Dean, can issue a summon. As long as they are in this space, they can sense your call."

"Excellent!" Zhang Menglong nodded, "Help me send out a summon. All Ritian Sect members gather. Those who dared to harm our Ritian Sect, I will make them pay ten times or even a hundred times over for the pain Yang Lin has suffered!"