Li Ban was somewhat interested in the information Claude possessed, but he figured that a priest who knew so much—and who ran a bandit gang and human experimentation ring—definitely had a trump card hidden away.
Since the man still had a Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit, he definitely still had spiritual rhinoceros, meaning he could cast spells.
Although Claude claimed to be only a low-tier priest, who knew if he was telling the truth?
To guarantee victory, Li Ban did not hesitate; he launched a sneak attack at top speed and killed Claude.
The Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit in his hand had obviously been taken out of Claude's Cubic Space.
In that case, the bandits' most important supplies were definitely kept in Claude's Cubic Space.
It was a bit of a pity.
A priest's Cubic Space was not a storage bag from a Xianxia novel, nor was it a treasure chest that dropped as loot in a video game.
Unless the priest took the items out themselves, killing them would not yield the contents.
But a Great Wizard was unlikely to care about the items in a mere priest's possession anyway.
Li Ban inspected the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit. He found no unusual scents or tracking marks on it; the enemy's backup plan had not been planted on this bait.
He put the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit away.
By this time, Claude's final shout had already alerted some of the bandits.
It was just that none of them could enter this room their leader had locked. They could only bang on the door from the outside and ask what was going on.
Using the Rending Technique, Li Ban first sliced the heads of the several monsters in the room completely in half, then looked toward the hall he had come from.
"Since I've already made my move, I might as well wipe them all out."
Then, using Shrinking Ground to an Inch, he returned to the hall.
Because many people in the hall had been drawn to the narrow corridor by the noise, Li Ban's materialization at the entrance placed him directly behind them all.
"Goodbye."
Those short words, accompanied by a terrifying Terror Spell, washed over the bandits like a collapsing mountain and a roaring tsunami.
Fifteen minutes later.
Having essentially wiped out all the bandits, Li Ban walked through the empty cavern.
"I absorbed both waste elements and even used a bit of the spiritual rhinoceros from the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit," he muttered. "Tsk. Sure enough, casting spells in a place devoid of spiritual rhinoceros burns more energy than in the Wizard World."
Li Ban did not find anything catching his eye on their corpses, so he headed toward the wide corridor on the other side.
The moment he stepped into the wide corridor, the system sent a barrage of notifications.
[Waste element 'Weak Hand' detected. Absorb?]
[Waste element 'Lame Foot' detected. Absorb?]
[Waste element 'Delicate Smell' detected. Absorb?]
Li Ban froze.
Even in his shock, he did not forget to count the number of system chimes in his head.
He counted all the way to fourteen.
Jackpot!
A seven-fold profit!
Sure enough, robbery was the fastest way to get rich!
—
Without any hesitation, he collected all the waste elements prompted by the system into his Cubic Space.
As for why the bandits' storehouse held so many waste elements?
Li Ban guessed that Claude also knew waste elements could increase the yield of black wheat, and had thus stockpiled some.
Although Li Ban had not yet tested planting black wheat himself, seeing three sacks of black wheat seeds piled right next to these waste elements confirmed his suspicions.
Afterward, Li Ban began looting the bandits' storehouse in earnest. Deep inside, he found two more intact elements.
Ironically, at the Recycling Station, intact elements were not worth as much as waste elements.
He stored everything related to the elements into his Cubic Space, and packed away the fresh water and black wheat as well.
The storehouse also contained a large stockpile of metal weapons, crossbows, and toolboxes.
However, Li Ban did not find any other Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruits or items capable of replenishing spiritual rhinoceros.
Those things were likely all kept in Claude's Cubic Space.
Finally, inside an alloy security safe—which he forced open with the Rending Technique—Li Ban discovered some white seeds.
He confirmed that these seeds were the exact same items the gaunt Rayleigh from the limb market used to absorb spiritual rhinoceros.
Because there was simply too much loot, Li Ban's Cubic Space could not fit it all. In the end, he went to the smaller front storehouse to retrieve their cargo Tricycle, piling the items that caught his eye into its bed.
After scouring the entire fortress and cavern, Li Ban rode back on the Tricycle, its wheels sinking visibly into the dirt under the heavy load.
"I'm probably going to have to make another trip," he muttered.
As he left, he looked back at the fortress with its doors wide open.
"If this place could be used as a hidden base—"
But after thinking it over, he shook his head and gave up on the idea.
Before his death, Claude had mentioned a Solar Priest.
While he could not be sure if Claude had just been bluffing or truly had a backer, to avoid trouble, it was best not to establish a camp here.
Furthermore, there were already too many camps nearby. What Li Ban planned to do went against the operating philosophy of the other camps, and the existing three would not necessarily be happy to see a fourth rise up and take a slice of their pie.
There was also one more thing: this place was simply too far from the Northern Continent Rift and Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Even traveling to Wanghai Cliff near the Northern Continent would take three years of riding. If he built his camp here, a single round trip for any emergency would take an agonizingly long time.
And it would not be practical to use Cloud and Mist Flight for the commute.
That would just be a pure waste of spiritual rhinoceros.
After conveniently dispatching two bandits who were still man
Li Ban was actually somewhat interested in the information Claude possessed, but he figured that a Priest who knew so much—and who ran a bandit gang and human experimentation ring—definitely had a trump card hidden away.
Since the other party still had a Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit, he definitely still had spiritual rhinoceros, meaning he could cast spells.
Although Claude claimed to be only a low-tier Priest, who knew if he was telling the truth?
To guarantee victory, Li Ban didn't hesitate; he launched a sneak attack at top speed and killed Claude.
The Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit in his hand had obviously been taken out of Claude's Cubic Space.
In that case, the bandits' most important supplies were definitely kept in Claude's Cubic Space.
It was a bit of a pity.
A Priest's Cubic Space wasn't a storage bag from a Xianxia novel, nor was it a treasure chest that dropped as loot in a video game.
Unless the Priest took things out themselves, killing them wouldn't yield the items inside.
Perhaps a Great Wizard could pierce through a Priest's Cubic Space.
But a Great Wizard wasn't likely to care about the items in a mere Priest's possession anyway.
Li Ban inspected the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit. He found no unusual scents or tracking marks on it; the enemy's backup plan hadn't been planted on this bait.
He put the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit away.
By this time, Claude's final shout had already alerted some of the bandits.
It was just that none of them could enter this room their leader had locked. They could only bang on the door from the outside, asking what was going on.
Using the Rending Technique, Li Ban first sliced the heads of the several monsters in the room completely in half, then looked toward the hall he had come from.
"Since I've already made my move, I might as well wipe them all out."
Then, with Shrinking Ground to an Inch, he returned to the hall.
Because many of the people in the hall had been drawn to the narrow corridor by the noise, Li Ban materialized at the entrance directly behind them.
"Goodbye."
Those two short words, accompanied by a terrifying Terror Spell, washed over the bandits like a collapsing mountain and a roaring tsunami.
Fifteen minutes later.
Having essentially wiped out all the bandits, Li Ban walked through the empty cavern.
"I absorbed both waste elements, and even used a bit of the spiritual rhinoceros from the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit," he muttered. "Tsk. Sure enough, casting spells in a place devoid of spiritual rhinoceros burns more energy than in the Wizard World."
Li Ban didn't find anything catching his eye on their corpses, so he headed toward the wide corridor on the other side.
The moment he stepped into the wide corridor, the system sent a barrage of notifications.
[waste element 'Weak Hand' detected. Absorb?]
[waste element 'Lame Foot' detected. Absorb?]
[waste element 'Delicate Smell' detected. Absorb?]
Li Ban froze.
Even in his shock, he didn't forget to count the number of system chimes in his head.
He counted all the way to fourteen.
Jackpot!
A seven-fold profit!
Sure enough, robbery was the fastest way to get rich!
—
Without any hesitation, he collected all the waste elements prompted by the system into his Cubic Space.
As for why the bandits' storehouse held so many waste elements?
Li Ban guessed that Claude also knew waste elements could increase the yield of black wheat, and had thus stockpiled some.
Although Li Ban hadn't yet tested planting black wheat himself, seeing three sacks of black wheat seeds piled right next to these waste elements confirmed his suspicions.
Afterward, Li Ban began looting the bandits' storehouse in earnest. Deep inside, he found two more intact elements.
At the Recycling Station, intact elements weren't worth as much as waste elements.
He stored everything related to the elements into his Cubic Space, and packed away the fresh water and black wheat as well.
The storehouse also contained a large stockpile of metal weapons, crossbows, and toolboxes.
However, Li Ban didn't find any other Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruits or items capable of replenishing spiritual rhinoceros.
Those things were likely all kept in Claude's Cubic Space.
Finally, inside an alloy security safe—which he forced open with the Rending Technique—Li Ban discovered some white seeds.
He confirmed that these seeds were the exact same items the gaunt Rayleigh from the limb shop used to absorb spiritual rhinoceros.
Because there was simply too much loot, Li Ban's Cubic Space couldn't fit it all. In the end, he went to the smaller front storehouse to retrieve their cargo Tricycle, piling the items that caught his eye into its bed.
After scouring the entire fortress and cavern, Li Ban rode back on the Tricycle, its wheels sinking visibly into the dirt under the heavy load.
"I'm probably going to have to make another trip," he muttered.
As he left, he looked back at the fortress with its doors wide open.
"If this place could be used as a hidden base—"
But after thinking it over, he shook his head and gave up on the idea.
Before his death, Claude had mentioned a Solar Priest.
While he couldn't be sure if Claude had just been bluffing or truly had a backer, to avoid trouble, it was best not to establish a camp here.
Furthermore, there were already too many camps nearby. What Li Ban planned to do went against the operating philosophy of the other camps, and the existing three wouldn't necessarily be happy to see a fourth rise up and take a slice of their pie.
There was also one more thing: this place was simply too far from the Northern Continent Rift and the Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Even traveling to Wanghai Cliff near the Northern Continent would take three years of riding. If he built his camp here, a single round trip for any emergency would take an agonizingly long time.
And it wouldn't be practical to use Cloud and Mist Flight for the commute.
That would just be a pure waste of spiritual rhinoceros.
After conveniently dispatching two bandits who were still manning a hidden sentry post along the way, Li Ban rushed back to Zhu Yao's location on the Tricycle.
Seeing the Tricycle piled high with goods, Zhu Yao and Ed's jaws dropped a synchronized three centimeters.
Realizing her slip in composure, Zhu Yao relaxed her expression, though she still hurriedly asked, "Did you clear out all the good stuff from the bandits' storehouse? Didn't they notice?"
"I'm not even done," Li Ban said. He took the items out of his Cubic Heaven and Earth and stowed away the supplies Zhu Yao had been guarding instead. "There's also all this."
Looking at the two massive piles of loot, Zhu Yao was fairly certain Li Ban had brought back everything he could possibly carry.
Which meant Li Ban had likely wiped out the entire bandit lair.
Those bandits probably died without ever understanding how stealing an empty Tricycle had somehow earned them a collective death sentence.
"But going this big—do you still have enough spiritual rhinoceros?"
"Don't worry. Look what I found over there." Li Ban pulled out the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit he had taken from Claude.
"A Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit—this will certainly replenish what you spent." Zhu Yao immediately began inspecting his haul, calculating the gains and losses. "Yes, this works. This basically means you spent zero spiritual rhinoceros and got all these supplies for free."
She drew in a soft breath. "You struck it rich."
Li Ban chuckled. "I think you mean we struck it rich."
Zhu Yao and a dumbfounded Ed both looked at him.
Zhu Yao hurriedly waved her hands. "No, this is your haul. You paid the spiritual rhinoceros and took the risks for this. Ed and I can't take it."
Though longing flickered in Ed's eyes, he always listened to Zhu Yao. Seeing her wave her hands, he quickly waved his as well, swinging his axe so fast it whipped up a gust of wind.
"We're a team right now," Li Ban said. "Besides, you and Ed were on guard duty, and you were the one who taught me the key spell I needed to infiltrate their lair. It's only natural that you get a share."
Li Ban tossed the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit straight to Zhu Yao.
It had been so long since Zhu Yao had touched a Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit that, despite her agility, she actually fumbled in a moment of panic while catching it.
The fruit bobbled in her palms a couple of times, nearly dropping to the ground.
"No, no, I can't accept this." Finally steadying the fruit in both hands, Zhu Yao didn't hesitate for a second. She extended her arms and pushed the fruit right back to Li Ban. "You can give me a share of the supplies, but spiritual rhinoceros is the most precious and rare resource in the Recycling Station. I absolutely cannot take this."
Li Ban, however, pressed against her palms, slowly pushing it back.
"You misunderstand. This isn't your cut; it's my investment in you. Or rather, I want to hire you."
Feeling Li Ban's resolve, Zhu Yao finally pulled the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit back.
She looked at the Tricycle and the supplies on the ground, a sudden realization dawning on her.
"Are you planning to—establish your own camp?"
Li Ban had brought back a large amount of basic living supplies, along with various weapons and tool parts.
Coupled with his desire to invest in her, a former Dark Moon Priest...
...Zhu Yao quickly put the pieces together.
"I do have that in mind at the moment," Li Ban readily admitted.
Had he not suddenly acquired such a massive stockpile of basic supplies, he wouldn't have revealed this idea to Zhu Yao and Ed so soon.
Originally, he planned to build up his reserves of spiritual rhinoceros and waste elements first, gather his basic supplies, and only then consider recruiting partners and subordinates.
But today's unexpected windfall at the bandit lair had allowed him to accumulate a wealth of supplies in one fell swoop.
Though the sheer quantity definitely couldn't compare to the three established camps, for a small group of only three people, they were now extremely wealthy.
Hearing Li Ban admit he wanted to build a camp made Zhu Yao feel relieved.
If he was building a camp, surely he would give up on risking his life to leave the Recycling Station, right?
Yet, beneath that relief, an inexplicable sense of disappointment quietly crept in.
"The other camps probably won't support this," Zhu Yao warned him, pushing down her complicated emotions.
"I know. Even if I build a camp, it won't be here."
Li Ban looked at Zhu Yao and said earnestly, "This place is too far away from the rift."
Zhu Yao immediately understood. Li Ban was only building a camp to pave the way for his eventual journey to the rift or the Heaven Beyond Heaven.
But though she had tried to stop him before, this time she said nothing.
She looked down at the Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit in her hands.
Building a camp from scratch was no easy task.
Not to mention, Li Ban intended to build it closer to the Continental Center; the difficulty would be astronomical.
And without spiritual rhinoceros, she would be nothing but a burden to him. She would be relegated to situations exactly like today's—he would be out risking his life, while she could only stand outside and guard his luggage.
"Huu..."
She let out a soft breath.
"Alright. If you're going to build a camp in the Continental Center, I'll go with you."
A single Spiritual Rhinoceros Fruit might not last long, but at least it would ensure Li Ban didn't have to fight entirely alone.
She was already deleted data, but Li Ban wasn't.
His progress still held vitality and a future.