Chapter 1502 - 562: The Battle for the Top Three
Ye Lingyue appeared calm and collected.
From childhood to adulthood, what threats hadn’t she faced? Who would have the last laugh was still up in the air.
What made Ye Lingyue beam with joy was the originally agreed five hundred merit points suddenly becoming fifteen hundred merit points.
Earlier, she and her teammates had been busy in Ah County for so long, putting in effort and manpower, and only managed to earn two thousand merit points, thanks to Elder Jing speaking generously on their behalf.
But this time, by merely utilizing the mating Azure Dragon Crocodile without even lifting a finger, she had earned fifteen hundred merit points. It was incredibly worthwhile.
Thus, the Huangquan Team now accumulated a total of thirty-five hundred merit points.
Having just completed an upgrade, the Huangquan Team advanced from an Eight-Tier Team to a Seventh-Tier Team once again.
Meanwhile, Luo Qianche’s team used the fifteen hundred merit points to upgrade from a Seventh-Tier Team to a Sixth-Tier Team.
Yet, when recalling the sacrifice of several brothers, the joy on the Shui City Team members’ faces wasn’t quite as obvious.
Although the upgrade from Eight to Seven seemed like just a change in numbers, only when Luo Qianche reminded them did Ye Lingyue realize they shouldn’t underestimate this upgrade.
In Qiyu City, only teams ranked above Seventh-Tier can accept tasks from the City Lord’s Mansion. Otherwise, they can only take on minor private tasks.
Minor tasks not only yield fewer merit points but also bring a higher risk of receiving repeat tasks.
After the Heavenly Scouring Grass incident, Luo Qianche was reluctant to take on any private tasks again.
After registering the merit points, the clerk handed Ye Lingyue a Jiu Provinces Card, a tool for recording merit points.
"You’ve offended people from Zhan Yue, and Yi Qianyu is a sinister fellow. Since you’re new to the city, it’s wise to be cautious. Also, to remind you, by entering Qiyu City, you’ve formally entered the Central Plains. Here, all buying and consumption must use merit points, not spirit stones."
As both teams emerged from the City Lord’s Mansion, Luo Qianche offered a reminder.
These words shocked Ye Lingyue and her team, who had been feeling quite proud of their thirty-five hundred merit points.
Use merit points instead of spirit stones for consumption?
"City Lord Luo, there wasn’t such a rule before."
Bo Qing frowned; during earlier Wild Hunts, they could use spirit stones for purchases, but they had to be intermediate spirit stones.
"This new rule was just introduced with the current Jiu Provinces Wild Hunt. Haven’t you noticed the demon beasts you’ve encountered along the way have been much fiercer? When you received the Jiu Provinces Card, didn’t you see written at the bottom, that all consumption in the Central Plains, including food, clothing, accommodation, and transportation, is done with the Jiu Provinces Card?"
Having ventured into the Central Plains earlier, Luo Qianche knew far more than Ye Lingyue and the others.
An ordinary transport task could never yield a high reward like three thousand merit points.
For a Nine-Tier team, that amount signifies an immediate upgrade.
This continuous increase in task merit points is due to frequent demon beast attack incidents in the Central Plains region compared to before, and the species and strength of appearing demon beasts are increasingly astonishing.
Like the Tiger-faced Leopard King encountered earlier outside; it even bore demon marks.
That creature was merely at the Great Demon Level; previously, demon marks could only manifest in Sky Demons, Demon Kings, and a few Great Demon Peak creatures within the demon clan.
The growing power of the demon clan, therefore, increases the threat to participants in the Jiu Provinces Hunting.
To encourage Demon Hunters to bravely combat these threats, the Jiu Provinces Alliance revised their long-standing rules, making merit points the free currency.
Of course, spirit stones can still be used, but they must be of a higher quality, advanced spirit stones.
Advanced spirit stones are a luxury that only some extremely grand societies and certain Outer Heaven families can afford.
New city lords like Ye Lingyue and her half-trained Demon Hunters have very few such stones on hand, insufficient for regular cultivation supplements, let alone for consumption.
This situation presented an urgent problem for Ye Lingyue.
Originally tight on merit points, splitting the use among a dozen people left them with even less cushion.
Eating was manageable, but accommodations were a must.
In Qiyu City, even a standard room reportedly costs ten merits per night.
The Huangquan Team, consisting of eleven members, plus the newly human form Little Zhiyo, needs at least six or seven rooms, resulting in close to a hundred merit points consumed by Huangquan Squad each day.
With thirty-five hundred merit points, they’d barely last a month before possibly risking downgrading shortly after upgrading...
Ye Lingyue glanced at the recently acquired, yet still cold-to-the-touch Jiu Provinces Card, noticing the phrase "Central Plains Universal" at the bottom of its metal plate-like surface.
Thus, to save unnecessary expenses, smaller teams typically don’t reside in Qiyu City.
But not staying in the city means a greater likelihood of beast attacks, which presents a dilemma.
Moreover, the merit points recorded in the Jiu Provinces Card serve another purpose.
Qiyu City is merely a peripheral region of the Central Plains, some distance from the core.
But to officially enter the Central Plains, two conditions must be met.
Firstly, teams must reach at least Fifth-Tier status. Secondly, a city must have a representative team ranked in the top three, fulfilling both criteria.
Assessments are held every three months; currently, the highest merit points in Qiyu City belong to teams such as Liu Guang, Tang City, and Zhan Yue.
However, Liu Guang Team resides permanently in Qiyu City, having maintained the top position for three years, though for certain reasons, Liu Guang’s leader doesn’t wish to leave.
Thus, officially gaining entry to the core area through accumulating merit points is realistically achievable by only two teams, making this competition for slots fierce.
In the past month, Tang City and Zhan Yue have remained in the lead. It’s almost certain that these teams will be among the first batch to enter the core area, explaining Zhan Yue’s arrogant behavior.
Ye Lingyue contemplated the situation, realizing that taking on tasks to earn merit points seemed the only viable route for advancement.
"However, before addressing the merit points issue, you might need to worry about another..."
As Luo Qianche spoke, her voice suddenly halted.
They had just reached outside the City Lord’s Mansion when they encountered Yi Qianyu and Zhan Yue’s team coming out from the gate.
Each person had a hostile expression, clearly upset about being outmaneuvered by Ye Lingyue earlier and here for revenge.