182: The trend has been set, and the initial signs of its grandeur are beginning to emerge.

Tang Ping's gaze was like a torch, and red lotus flames rose in his eyes. A sharp shriek suddenly came from the ground. The water, which seemed to have a life of its own, thrashed like stranded fish. The next second, the water currents converged, and a snake-bodied monster appeared.

The monster had a human face, but its face was covered with scales, and its ears had fin-like growths. Its entire body was translucent light blue.

At this moment, the Water Marsh Goblin, seventeen or eighteen meters long, coiled its body like a snake, staring at Tang Ping.

The people in the surrounding convoy were also startled by this monster.

"The thing that's been chasing us all this time, it couldn't be this, right!"

"What is this thing? A snake? Or a fish? How does it have a human face!"

"It's this thing that's been making us run all over the place. Damn it, it's finally out now, I'm going to kill it!"

"Don't just talk, get to it! Hurry up!"

"Or maybe we should just leave quickly."

"This, this isn't good. After all, he saved our entire convoy."

"No one asked him to save us. Besides, he's clearly here for this monster, what does it have to do with us."

"Let's go quickly. What if he can't beat it and gets killed by the monster? Then it will be too late for us to run."

The engines roared, and vehicles left one after another.

Tang Ping paid no attention to this. He only wanted to kill this Level Four Calamity Beast now.

Killing it would give his Flame Blaze Talent one-tenth of the experience points, which is ten thousand. This was much faster than using an experience stone.

As for the Red Lotus Demonic Flame Talent, ever since he obtained the Small Secret Ground, he had always used secret realm experience stones to meditate, cultivate, and improve. As for s-rank experience stones, he could forget about them, because they simply didn't exist.

To rapidly improve, one either had to go to a Treasure Dungeon and kill monsters to gain experience, but Treasure Dungeons were too rare. Even with his knowledge of future records, the entries for Treasure Dungeons were few and far between, because too few people entered these dungeons, and many went unrecorded.

Even if there were records, they were either too far away or the time was still early and they hadn't opened yet, so Tang Ping had no choice. Compared to spending more than ten days to get a dungeon that only yielded a few thousand experience points, it was better to stabilize his footing and develop.

After all, blindly pursuing strength now, while seemingly progressing quickly, would eventually lead to others catching up when it came to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of experience points later on. Tang Ping had no confidence that he could maintain a gap of tens of millions of experience points with others later on. This was just to reach level seven. If he were to reach level eight, he would need even a hundred million experience points. No matter how formidable he was, it would be a fantasy for him to reach level eight when others were still level seven, creating a gap of a hundred million experience points.

Therefore, spending every day traveling back and forth for a Treasure Dungeon with only a few thousand experience points, while neglecting other opportunities, was clearly a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.

By then, everyone would be level seven. Others would have influence if they wanted it, and experts if they wanted them. Even if you possessed great treasures, two fists are no match for four hands, and you would ultimately become fish in someone else's net.

Tang Ping had been to the future, and he was all too clear about the plight of those lone Heavenly Kings and Queens. Many regretted not having established their own foundation or joined a major power earlier. Even if they joined a certain power later, they were still outsiders, marginal figures, and would only be used as tools or cannon fodder, constantly being exploited. It was better not to join at all.

Therefore, in the later stages, he might not establish a faction himself, but he absolutely could not be without a faction backing him!

This was also why Tang Ping initially wanted to support Xingyao Base.

It was only later that Zhang Xile appeared. Although his Shelter's characteristic was only A-Rank, after reaching Level Seven Shelter, the twenty-four-fold increase in manor area was even more terrifying than many S-Rank characteristics. So, gradually, his concept transformed into supporting a faction that was exclusively his own.

As for Tao Yumian, that was purely out of a desire to befriend her.

In fact, what lone Heavenly Kings and Queens feared most was not being alone, but not even having a single friend of the same level by their side. Such people were easily targeted by others, and even if they had friends of the same level, ambushes and assassinations were not unheard of.

The most famous case was a seven-person squad called the Ming Shen Squad. Among the seven, three were Heavenly Kings or Queens, and the other five were also level seven Experts with A-Rank Talents.

However, they eventually offended a Safe Zone by killing the descendant of a Heavenly King. This Heavenly King then united with a dozen surrounding bases, hunting them down relentlessly until they had nowhere to go. In the end, only one person survived, fleeing into a forbidden zone, their fate unknown, which finally brought the pursuit to an end.

As for why that Heavenly King could mobilize Heavenly King and Queen-level experts from other Safe Zones, it was, of course, because a Safe Zone, as it developed, was no longer a solitary entity. This behemoth had mutual interests and dealings with numerous Safe Zones, and the teleportation arrays brought by Level Seven Shelters greatly enhanced this binding of interests.

What appeared to be a solitary Safe Zone standing in the Wasteland was, in reality, a vast network interwoven with surrounding Safe Zones, encompassing the entire surrounding region.

Once an expert intruded, they only needed to pay a certain price to invite experts from other Safe Zones to assist them.

As for lone experts, while seemingly free, they were actually rootless duckweeds. Once they entered that region, they would be closely watched, and a slight carelessness could lead to an ambush, with the danger of losing their lives.

So, most of the lone Heavenly Kings and Queens in the future wandered in the depths of the Wasteland, living like wildlings, far from the carefree lives of same-level experts in Safe Zones.

Tang Ping couldn't possibly be a hundred million experience points ahead of others. Even with his Titled Rank potential, he still needed to accumulate it little by little. It wasn't a one-step ascent, directly fast-forwarding to Titled Rank. From level seven to level eight would take at least several decades, and during these decades, countless people would catch up and become level seven Experts.

Therefore, Tang Ping certainly didn't want to fall into that trap. No matter how formidable he was, a gap of a hundred million experience points was enough to make him tuck his tail between his legs. If he really angered the Safe Zone alliances of certain regions, they might even cede Safe Zones to invite beings of his same level, and the same applied even at the Titled Rank.

Thus, from the very beginning, he focused on building his own network of influence.

First was Xingyao Base, which already had a close relationship with him, even more so before the apocalypse. He and Sister Wang even had a relationship of entrusting children to each other.

Under such circumstances, he naturally wanted Xingyao Base to become as powerful as possible.

Even without him, Xingyao Base would certainly become a Safe Zone in the future, because Sister Wang was inherently a very ambitious person who liked to build her own team.

Later, there were Spark Base, Peach Blossom Spring Wonderland, Hongan Base, the Gu Master family, and now his own Heavenly Mansion Base.

Now, not only was his strength at the pinnacle, but his influence... was also!

Tang Ping's gaze fell on the Calamity Beast, the Water Marsh Goblin, on the ground. He raised his hand! A little dessert!