Nie Yan chuckled. It appeared Xie Yao had come up with quite a few clever tricks to progress with this quest.

“These tribal villages only have NPCs roaming around them. Their levels vary, but the ones in full armour are all really powerful. Last time I came here, I killed one of them, and my crime instantly rose by 300. We can’t fight them and they won’t let us waltz in either; they’ll ring the alarm if we do and surround us,” Xie Yao explained, thinking back to her many, painful attempts.

“You found a way to sneak into the center of the village?” Nie Yan asked. Since Xie Yao had made it to the final part of the quest, that meant she had gotten through all these obstacles before.

“Yeah.” Xie Yao nodded.

“You take the lead, I’ll follow behind you,” Nie Yan said. If a Mage could sneak in, it would be even easier for him as a Thief.

Xie Yao’s face froze awkwardly.

“Huh, what’s the matter?” Nie Yan asked.

“Uh, I got in by using Blink...” Xie Yao replied.

“Oh! I see.” Nie Yan chuckled. “In that case, you sneak in first. I’ll catch up with you.”

The street leading into the village was filled with guards. Even Nie Yan would have a hard time sneaking through there unnoticed, to say nothing of Xie Yao.

“Alright.” Xie Yao nodded. She was confident Nie Yan could sneak into the village with ease.

“Show me how you get in,” Nie Yan said. He wanted to see how Xie Yao blinked her way in.

Xie Yao looked at her surroundings, altering her position little by little until she was happy. She watched the movements of the NPCs, waiting for them to reach a specific position. Exactly five seconds later, she moved forward.

She was showing herself! Another second and the guards would surely spot her! Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat on Xie Yao’s behalf.

At this moment, the guards crossed paths, and Xie Yao just happened to be in their blindspot.

Xie Yao mentally kept track of the time. Three seconds later, she blinked twice and arrived beside a wall seven meters away. When the guards turned their gazes back to the village, they overlooked that specific corner of the wall.

Two guards blocked the path up ahead. For a moment, they turned their gazes away, and Xie Yao blinked behind them. Another two seconds, the patrolling guards in the distance looked over. Too late. She’d positioned herself perfectly behind the burly guards.

The two guards suddenly sensed something off and turned around to look behind them. Again, too late. Xie Yao was already long gone. Seeing nothing suspicious, they turned their heads back. They would’ve never expected someone was behind them only a moment ago.

290.280

220.208

...

Xie Yao’s coordinates changed every few seconds. Her mentally mapped out path gradually revealed itself.

Nie Yan observed Xie Yao from afar. It didn’t take her long at all to reach fairly deep into the village. Her speed was impressive. From his vantage point, he could see every step of the process. She found every blindspot there was, never once letting a guard see her.

This was a special trick Xie Yao had picked up. To the untrained eye, it might look easy. But the slightest mistake could lead to disaster. It required excellent spatial awareness and observation ability. What made it even more challenging was that the paths the guards took weren’t completely fixed. So, she needed to be ready to adapt on the fly.

After 10 minutes, Nie Yan lost sight of Xie Yao as she’d safely found her way deep into the village.

Nie Yan entered stealth and made his way toward the village. Advancing 10 meters, he slowly approached the highest level guard in the vicinity. When he was roughly four meters away, the guard sensed something and looked around. Nie Yan slowly pulled his foot back.

After failing to find anything, the guard returned to a passive state.

3.7 meters! Nie Yan noted. So long as he kept at least this much distance from the guards, he’d be absolutely safe.

Nie Yan picked up the pace. As he quickly made his way forward, he maintained a safe distance of 3.7 meters from the guards at all times. Taking twists and turns, he flitted by. He didn’t make the slightest error.

Three minutes later, Nie Yan spotted Xie Yao. She was standing outside the entrance of a cave beside a cliff edge.

This village was actually built on top of a cliff. Nie Yan wondered where this cave led.

Nie Yan arrived beside Xie Yao.

Here already...!? Xie Yao was surprised. She’d kept an eye on him. He didn’t start moving until she was already past the halfway point, yet he arrived only a few minutes after her. However, on second thought, nothing with him should come as a surprise anymore.

“Are we there yet?” Nie Yan asked.

“No. We’re still a long way off. We have to clear out all the mobs and get through this cave, which will lead us to a lake. There, we’ll have to take a small boat to the other side. The graveyard there is our final destination,” Xie Yao said.

“What’s waiting for us there?” Nie Yan asked.

“An enormous spider. It built its nest on top of the graveyard and feeds off the corpses. The people of the tribe view it as a god. So, they regularly deliver their dead there to feed it. It’s a Level 180 Demonified Lord,” Xie Yao said. The last piece of her Legendary set was located in the graveyard. If she wanted to acquire it, she would have no choice but to face that spider. However, she was no match for it.

“This sounds like a job for a Thief.” Nie Yan chuckled. Snatching away items without being noticed was his specialty.

Xie Yao’s face lit up. “Be careful. It’s going to be really difficult. I’ve already died three times and made zero progress.”

Nie Yan sank into silence. With Xie Yao’s equipment and skills, something that could even make her feel helpless definitely wasn’t simple. He decided to go in there and take a look first, lest he make a fool of himself by trying to show off.

As usual, Xie Yao led the way. She had a method to get through the cave. Nie Yan followed behind her.