Chapter Eighty-Seven: Reinforcements and an Unexpected Windfall

He gave a wry smile. This result was far beyond expectations, so let me ask everyone for a few recommendation votes.

Truth is hard to foretell.

Just as Xu Wen was preparing to wait in silence for the second necromancer to take the bait, several terrifying surges of magical power suddenly rose from the north of Moss City. Not only did Xu Wen feel them, but everyone atop the walls also went pale with shock. The elderly seven-star lightning mage could no longer hold himself back; he rose with one hand braced against the wall and stared in fear into the distance, muttering hoarsely:

“Eight stars!”

“It is the magic of an eight-star grand magus!”

At those words, Xu Wen’s heart turned cold all at once. He drew a sharp breath. “Elder Yun, are you certain?”

“There can be no mistake!”

The seven-star elder and Zhang Ke both wore grave expressions, nodding hard with certainty.

“At least three eight-star powerhouses.”

“Let us hope they are not necromancers. Otherwise...”

Zhang Ke could not continue. An eight-star necromancer could fly through the air and command undead in numbers far beyond what a seven-star necromancer could summon. Let alone three; even one would be impossible to withstand!

Just as everyone was tense to the extreme, a brilliant golden flare suddenly arced through the air from the direction of the magical disturbances in the north.

A signal for reinforcements?!

Everyone on the walls, Xu Wen included, recognized at once the familiar golden emblem in the sky. It was precisely the flare He Lianquan had released upon entering the city.

Within the span of a single day, Moss City had actually welcomed a second wave of reinforcements?

The defenders atop the walls looked at one another in astonishment and disbelief, hardly daring to trust what they saw.

But the very next moment, signal flares rose one after another from the direction of the north gate, slowly advancing inward toward the city as waves of magical power kept transmitting from afar.

“A signal flare from the Purple Thorn Family.”

“And one from the Silver Moon Family, and the West City Family... Wonderful! They are eight-star powerhouses from our own Azure Cloud Empire!”

This realization sent the soldiers on the walls into rapturous joy.

Xu Wen also breathed out a little easier. Such a brazen display of signal flares, combined with the necromancer’s earlier testimony, suggested that the owners of those magic surges were indeed reinforcements without doubt.

Now they were safe...

“Clear the battlefield!”

Xu Wen issued the order.

Although the unexpectedly arrived reinforcements were certainly good news, they had also disrupted his hunting plan.

The moment those astonishing magical fluctuations had appeared, the necromancer must have sensed them too. There was a good chance he would change plans and flee Moss City. With several eight-star powerhouses, and with the northern gate’s undead blockade being shattered in such a short time, their strength was by no means ordinary.

But once a necromancer in Moss City was allowed to escape, no matter which one it was, the harm would be immense!

“Uncle Zhang Ke!”

Xu Wen turned and said to him,

“The undead in the eastern district have been almost completely cleared by us. I want to take this chance to bring a group of men into the city...”

“What?”

Zhang Ke was startled by Xu Wen’s proposal and swallowed hard.

“That... that’s far too dangerous, isn’t it? We should keep holding the walls and wait for Commander He Lian to come meet up with them instead, shouldn’t we?” Although they had easily dealt with eight corpse guards earlier, the corpse guards’ terrifying defensive strength had left a deep impression on him. With his ability, he could at most contend with two corpse guards, and even then he was not certain he could withdraw unscathed. Xu Wen’s suggestion truly tested one’s nerves.

“What Brother Zhang says is right. The enemy is hidden while we are exposed; it is better to be cautious in all things.”

The seven-star lightning mage also echoed the sentiment, evidently disapproving of a rash advance.

Xu Wen was left with no choice. He very much wanted to continue using Commander He Lian’s remaining authority to direct the hunt for necromancers, but recalling that He Lian had instructed them to hold their ground and defend themselves, he swallowed the explanation that rose to his lips several times over and in the end said nothing...

So be it.

With his current cultivation, there was indeed no need for him to throw himself into danger. Moreover, Azure Cloud Empire was full of powerhouses; it truly was not his place, a mere fifteen-year-old fire mage, to worry about everything.

He immediately nodded in agreement with the two men’s suggestion and abandoned the idea of taking risks to enter the city.

Turning back, he ordered the soldiers and mages atop the walls to speed up the cleanup, burning and disposing of all corpses and walking dead in the surrounding area, then waiting for Commander He Lian’s people from the south to join forces with the reinforcements from the north.

Once the eight-star reinforcements arrived, if any surviving necromancers were clever, they would immediately skirt all trouble and flee Moss City as quickly as possible. At such a time, anyone still daring to come make trouble in the eastern district would simply be courting death.

Xu Wen simply handed command over to Zhang Ke and the others, then found a place alone, took out a ring, and studied it carefully...

Ever since he obtained the rings from those adventurers, he had not had the time or the mood to inspect them.

He had instead devoted himself to studying the two storage rings of the necromancers...

But while the necromancers’ treasures were certainly plentiful, they could not be openly used to enhance his own strength. The things on the two five-star adventurers ought to be more practical.

It was one thing not to look; once he did, Xu Wen drew a deep breath.

Inside...

The five-star strongman’s ring contained not only piles of high-grade equipment, weapons, and elixirs, but also rather advanced monster materials and magic cores, as well as a small stack of precious magic scrolls.

“...”

Xu Wen suppressed the urge to suck in his breath, exhaling his astonishment with an air of calm. After examining it for a while, he was filled with wild delight.

Many of the items inside still bore the mark of the El Family trading house. Could it be that the good stuff had already been searched out and taken by this adventurer captain, and only then had the adventurer team run into Su Kezha’s group, after which they began to confront one another?

If that was really the case...

The goods in the hands of Xiushu Xi from West City and Xueyan Nangong might all be ordinary items, while the best treasures had probably all been stuffed into this ring at the very first moment!

Thinking of this possibility, Xu Wen could not help but sigh.

Indeed, a person should not be too greedy.

If that adventuring party had immediately withdrawn after plundering this batch of items and left the remaining goods for Su Kezha’s group, Xu Wen would never have gotten the fisherman’s profit.

Besides, the things inside this ring alone were enough to make their adventuring team wealthy for life...

Tsk!

Xu Wen carefully used his spiritual force to sift through the items one by one, his eyes lighting up again and again.

A great haul!

Though the items could not compare with the treasures on the second floor of the Divine Armory Pavilion, there were still some top-tier wares from the first floor among them, and several of those were things Xu Wen could use right now.

Most pressing, naturally, were several precious fire-element magic scrolls: one Windfire Wheel, one Blazing Shield, one Firebird, and one Meteoric Fire Rain.

There was also a multiverse belt, with multiple small compartments for potions and pendants; it offered localized defense capable of withstanding fifth-tier magical attacks and third-tier physical attacks. In addition, it had another small use: guarding against thieves.

Yet among all the items he could use at present, the most valuable of all was the small bottle of azure liquid Xu Wen was now turning in his hand...

A seven-star mana-restoring potion.

One drop could rapidly restore a certain amount of spiritual power, and it could also be used in combat. For a mage, a bottle of mana-restoring potion was far from cheap and could greatly prolong fighting time. But for a necromancer, it meant the ability to summon more battle undead. And Xu Wen was both a fire mage and a necromancer...