"What?! Gone?" The smile on Oak's face froze.

Shield Warrior Leila opened her mouth and said, "Leaving right after coming back? In such a hurry?"

Ice Mage Eden frowned. "An urgent guild mission? I haven't heard anything about any major developments from the Silver Fox Group..."

"I also said I'd have a good drink with Brother Mark and tell him that our 'Blood Crystal Adventure Group' has officially been established!"

The six of them looked at each other, walked quickly through the hotel lobby, and pushed open the small door leading to the backyard.

Outside the door, the street leading to the north gate of the town was empty, with only the raised dust that had not yet completely settled.

The golden glow of the setting sun stretched the outline of the town gate at the end of the street.

From a distance, they could only see a few slender silhouettes stretched out in the setting sun.

It was disappearing at the end of the street at a speed that was almost like running away.

Oak looked at the figure disappearing at the end of the street, weighed the heavy wine barrel in his hand, and a bitter smile and deep helplessness appeared on his face:

"Alas...it seems we have to save the welcoming wine again. Brother Mark and the others...it feels like they are avoiding someone."

He turned around, patted Leila's shoulder, and said with a bit of loneliness:

"Let's go, brothers. Save the wine. It won't be too late to drink it when Brother Mark returns safely from the Monster Mountain Range."

————

Black Gold Gang, Underground Black Market

Inside the wooden house, the soothing smoke of the specially made incense had not yet dissipated.

The figure of Xingyue sitting cross-legged appeared increasingly hazy in the faint light formed by the power of the stars and the moon.

She opened her palm, and a star-moon black gold coin lay quietly in her fair palm.

Different from the Star and Moon Black Gold that she already owned, the edge of this black gold was stained with a faint trace of the aura unique to the Holy Light profession.

As a special item of the Star-Moon Church, it is impossible for anyone other than a legendary figure to leave their own mark on it.

Vicky's figure slid silently out of the shadows beside the door, and her silver nose ring flashed a faint light in the dim light.

She looked at the black gold coin in Xingyue's hand, her brows furrowed, and her voice was filled with suppressed worry:

"...Did you get this back from Ben Fuller? It must have cost him a lot to play that scene where he was severely injured by the black dragon, right?

"What if...what if his plan and those old foxes behind him really come true, and the Holy Light Church is driven like a nail into every town..."

She paused, her tone heavy, "This will have a huge impact on the foundation of our Star-Moon Church..."

Xingyue didn't answer immediately.

She picked up the black gold coin with a scent that did not belong to Ben Fuller with her fingertips and stroked it gently. The corners of her mouth curled up in a lazy and cold arc, but deep in that arc was a sharp insight that saw through everything.

Several rays of starlight shot out from the incense burner and hit the location containing the holy light, cleansing the star-moon black gold completely.

"Foundation?" Her voice flowed through the quiet room like a cold spring soaked in star sand, carrying a hint of mockery. "Vicky, do you think our Star-Moon Church's foundation has survived to this day by hiding in the shadows of the Thirty-Six Towns and begging for mercy from the masters of the Holy Light Church?"

Vicky's body stiffened slightly, and she immediately lowered her head, not daring to make any response.

"Remember." Xingyue's voice suddenly turned cold, with an indifference that looked down upon the dust. "The brilliance of Xingyue never flickers in the cracks of their charity. We are here because we need to be here, and they... can only acquiesce to our presence."

She tossed the black gold coin up and caught it steadily, making a crisp sound of metal collision, which drowned out the subtle crackling of the burning spices in the incense burner.

"As for Ben Fuller..." Xingyue's tone returned to nonchalant. "He and the old guys he represents are trying to use this self-torture tactic and stubbornness to show their loyalty to the Holy City, fight for power, suppress the younger generation, and test the bottom line of us old neighbors? Humph, it's an old trick."

The black gold coin on her fingertips stopped spinning and was held firmly.

"If this time it's Alfonso, or a younger generation like Ruby or Kyle who's taking the lead, wanting to truly extend the Holy Light's tentacles to solidify faith and eliminate heresy... then I absolutely won't play along. I'll show them who's in charge of the darkness of the Thirty-Six Towns."

Xingyue's deep eyes seemed to reflect the boundless starry sky, cold and distant.

"But precisely because this is being pushed by those old foxes from the conservative camp who only care about power and checks and balances...I will help Ben Fuller and get this black gold back at the same time.

"What they want is the superficial 'holy light shining', a political bargaining chip, and a tool to suppress the younger generation, rather than truly investing their strength to fight to the death with our Star-Moon Church on this land.

"This is their overt conspiracy, but also their weakness. Humph, perhaps the more Holy Light there is, the more heresy there is."

She paused, her gaze seeming to penetrate the wall of the wooden house and fall in the direction of the distant Dragon Slaying City.

"And I... also want to see. How will Ruby, that little powder keg that could explode at any moment, and Kyle, who looks silly but has a clear mind, react to this conspiracy and pressure from within the church, under the banner of 'Holy Light'?

"Will it be easily crushed, or...will it spark something that piques my interest?"

Xingyue's figure gradually blurred in the swirling smoke, and then slowly disappeared into the wooden house, leaving only that almost silent whisper echoing in the silence:

"The eighth one... The fun has just begun. If you don't fight, when will I be able to collect all the Star-Moon Black Gold?"

————

Outskirts of Warcraft Mountain Range

Leaving the north gate of Osborne Town, Mark's team plunged into the familiar yet seemingly reborn Warcraft Mountains.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of soil and grass after the rain, diluting the heaviness of the Enlightenment conspiracy that had once invaded Osborne Town.

Unlike the ordinary missions they had previously carried out in the outer areas of the Warcraft Mountains, this time their target was the royal tomb in the middle of the mountains that hid an ancient curse.

But the journey was unexpectedly lively in the early stages.

As Ailian said, Osborne Town's policy of vigorously recruiting new people seems to be beginning to bear fruit.

In the outskirts of the town, the previously cold and quiet atmosphere of veteran adventurers wary of each other and fighting on their own has been broken.

Instead, there are groups of new faces, who are equipped with simple equipment but are full of energy.

Mark and his team walked along the hunter trail, and from time to time they would encounter new teams working together.

Some were hunting a group of wild boars. Although their coordination was poor and they were shouting and yelling, they had the advantage of being in numbers and could cover each other.

Some were carefully collecting a bunch of luminous moss, while others were discussing directions with a simple map, their faces showing the excitement of exploration.

"Hey, look! It's Mr. Mark and the others!" A somewhat familiar voice sounded.