I went back online after nighttime arrived.

Swhoosh!

My vision was covered in fog until I appeared at a graveyard that was close to the Violet Camp. As a brave warrior of the Night Creatures, it was my motto to never buy a tent if there was a graveyard nearby. Money was precious after all.

First, I looked at my experience bar and noted that it was almost empty. I could definitely stand to do better.

Next, I brought up the Floating Ice City’s Heavenly Ranking and noticed that the Top 10 spots had changed drastically. Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Warrior God were the only players from the Domination Clan who still clung onto their spots. The rest had dropped out of sight due to the incident in the morning.

NameLevelClassWind Fantasy54Light WandererDominating Heaven Blade52WarriorClear Perfume51ArcherGui Guzi51Undead KnightPurple Marquis50WarriorBeiming Xue50Dark ArcherDominating Warrior God49WarriorZi Chuanyu49Magic KnightBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand49Undead SwordsmanYun Biyue49Mage

……

Shit, the competition is so fierce! All the players ranging from the 7th to 24th are at Level 49! If I had taken my time and come in an hour or two later, I would’ve fallen out of the Heavenly Ranking myself! No no no, this can’t happen. I am the pillar of the Bloody Mercenaries, and it’s my duty to show my face on the Heavenly Ranking! I might not be able to enter the Top 3, but I mustn’t fall out of the Top 10 no matter what!

The grind continues. Level 50 comes before anything else!

I summoned the Dark Wasp and pounced toward a nearby Violet Undead Knight, killing it in less than 5 seconds. The Ghost Ice Soul was a Level 50 Gold-grade weapon, and its attack power was crazy-high. It almost felt like I was chopping vegetables, not a horde of deadly Level 55 mobs. That was true for the opposite case too actually, but the difference was that I was too fast for them to kill me before I killed them.

Pop!

The very first mob I killed dropped a Big Magic Stone. I threw it into my bag and went searching for my next target. All the while, the Dark Wasp buzzed excitedly at the activity.

A while later, I received a system notice: Your friend “Wind Fantasy” has come online!

Oh? It’s been an entire day. What took her so long to log in?

I was about to send her a greeting message, but to my surprise she messaged me first. “Lu Chen, Qingqing told me she saw you dating an extremely sexy woman at Silver Fir Cafe this morning. Is that true?”

An extremely sexy woman? She’s talking about Murong Mingyue! Damn, I wasn’t expecting anyone to see me, much less Sun Qingqing.

“Er…” I replied quickly, “It wasn’t a date, okay? It… it was just a normal meetup...”

Lin Yixin turned on voice call and laughed. “You can stop explaining now. I’m not the United States Pacific Fleet, and it’s not like your date has anything to do with me.”

“Then why are you asking in the first place?” I countered.

Caught off-guard, Lin Yixin stuttered for a couple of seconds before replying, “I was just curious why someone that pretty would want to date someone like you.”

“Fuck. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me!”

“Heehee…”

Lin Yixin was happy, and I had no way to deflate her good mood. What could I do, call her poor and ugly? God would probably smite me himself if I actually said that to her face.

I turned off the voice call and went back to grinding!

One by one, I and my sword cut down skeletal knights of Violet Forest. I didn’t forget to absorb their undead sparks. At the current stage of the game, evolving on the path of the Night Creatures didn’t give me any substantial benefits aside from revitalizing my appearance, but I knew that such an expansive system wouldn’t remain just a cosmetic feature forever. Once I reached a certain threshold, it was sure to boost my stats!

Crack crack!

I dealt over one thousand damage and killed my target with a Pardon-empowered Slayer Slash. Having spent so much time here, I had developed a surefire method to kill higher-leveled mobs. I would open with an Ice Ray and a basic attack, slowing my target. Without waiting for the 6-second cooldown to finish, I would kill the enemy with Pardon and Slayer Slash!

This PvE method was safe, comfortable and completely worry-free!

Rustle rustle...

Suddenly, a bush about ten meters away from me shook unnaturally for a second. I shot it a sideways glance but didn’t react visibly. Instead, I expanded my consciousness toward that direction. I felt someone watching me, a first-rate pro no less because I didn’t sense them at all prior to that rustling. Their level must be pretty close to mine, or they would’ve shown up on my map already! Who is it?

I was sure they weren’t friendly at the very least. After all, a friend would’ve shown themselves and joined me in my leveling effort already. So, an enemy. I have enemies in every corner of this world. Who could it be?

Maybe Dominating Heaven Blade?

I had repeatedly humiliated the Domination Clan at Silver Moon Valley, so logically Dominating Heaven Blade’s hatred toward me must run as deep as bones. While I expected him to set up an ambush for me in the near future, he wasn’t the type of person to challenge me to a solo fight. In fact, kings and leaders in general do not do solo battles. For example, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan almost never challenged an enemy general to a one-on-one fight. It was because the benefits of winning—raising the army’s morale—came with similarly substantial drawbacks.

Without pause, I moved to another corner of the forest and went back to grinding. The stalker seemed to have vanished and retreated as well.

Mn, I must be so good that they weren’t able to find an opening to attack me. Hahaha!

……

Suddenly, a cold beam of light tore through the darkness!

Thud!

An arrow imbued in darkness energy slammed into my chest before wobbling violently. There was so much force behind the attack that I nearly fainted from the pain!

415!

A huge damage number rose from my head. What incredible power!

I dragged my sword behind me and charged toward the opposite direction of where the arrow came from. Leaving the enemy’s line of sight was my first priority. They could see me, but I couldn’t see them. That was an incredible disadvantage that had to be dealt with as soon as possible!

Rustle rustle...

I ran across the forest fast enough to whip the still grass on the ground into a frenzy and overcame three obstacles in a row. Finally, I arrived at the spot I had predicted earlier!

As expected, an archer leaped out of their hiding and backed away rapidly. At the same time, they raised a bow and fired a Volley with lightning speed!

MISS!

217!

MISS!

228!

What formidable attack power!

I had lost more than half my HP before I even got close enough to touch a single hair on their body. Had this enemy shown up at Silver Moon Valley this morning, the situation could’ve been completely different.

Crack!

I crushed the branch beneath my feet and bounced toward the opposite direction again. A couple of rapid turns later, I appeared behind my opponent like a ghost. The entire maneuver had taken only the blink of an eye to complete, and my mind felt as still as an ancient pond, yet as active as the turbulent sea. It was a level of control Gui Guzi had been seeking for a long time.

“Ah?!”

My opponent clearly wasn’t prepared for my level of speed and prediction. They let out a cry of surprise and tried to retreat, but I had already gotten close enough to close our distance to around 3 meters. Archers couldn’t perform long-ranged shots at this distance, and an archer who allowed a melee class to get this close to them was basically a dead archer.

I was stunned when I saw my attacker.

She was a beautiful girl who was around 18 years old. She had a petite body wrapped in pure black leather armor, and she had a pair of long, pale legs that carried her nimbly through the forest. She was staring at me in shock and disbelief, and the line of text above her head said, “Beiming Xue LV-50 Dark Archer”!

……

Fuck! It’s the sixth player on Floating Ice City’s Heavenly Ranking, Beiming Xue!

Whoosh!

I grabbed Beiming Xue by the elbow and pulled her toward me. Then, I held the freezing Ghost Ice Soul right up against her pale neck, accidentally drawing a bit of blood despite my control. The sword was so sharp that it was beyond the ability of an archer like Beiming Xue to endure.

“Who are you?” I asked in a low tone. “I don’t think I know you. Why did you ambush me?”

Beiming Xue stared coldly at me before replying, “I was just testing you, that’s all!”

“A test?” I released her and stood tall and proud. “What exactly do you mean?”

Beiming Xue smiled. “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a frequent visitor of Floating Ice City’s Heavenly Ranking’s Top 3. Last night, he single-handedly annihilated the pros of the Gods of Destruction guild, and was nicknamed the Silver Moon Devil ever since. I would like to make his acquaintance, but I must know if his reputation is deserved before I make that decision!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her reply. “So? Have you come to a decision?”

Beiming Xue smiled at me before starting, “Control: first-class. Weapon: first-class. Defense equipment: second-class. Skill: undetermined. Personality: third-class. In conclusion, you score 7 marks in total.”

“Oh? Does that mean I pass?”

“No. It’s 7 out of 100.”

Beiming Xue burst into laughter when she saw my dumbfounded expression.

I asked, “You still haven’t told me your reason to come here.”

Beiming Xue bit her lips and said, “Have you heard of the Venomous Wasp Forest incident three days ago?”

“Three days ago, Venomous Wasp Forest…”

I slapped my head in realization. “I do remember. I heard that Dominating Warrior God teased a beautiful archer and got PKed twice as punishment. However, the shameless bastard then gathered seven or eight lackeys, ganged up on her and camped her corpse, right? Haha, the leader of the Domination Clan, Dominating Heaven Blade, is a tool, and it seems like his lackeys are no better!”

Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. “You may have already realized, but I am that archer.”

I wasn’t surprised. Considering how much trouble she put me in just now, there was no way a second-rate player like Dominating Warrior God could survive a fight against her.

I thought for a moment before asking, “But I still don’t understand what that incident has got to do with you ambushing me. Dominating Warrior God’s the one who teased you, not me!”

Beiming Xue fumed. “Are you pretending to be an idiot, or are you actually an idiot? We both made enemies out of the Domination Clan, and the guild supporting them, Gods of Destruction, is the second biggest guild in the China server. If we don’t work together, we won’t be able to live in Floating Ice City anymore.”

Finally realizing her intention, I walked up to her and extended my right hand. Then, I smiled gently at her and said, “Welcome to Bloody Mercenaries, Beiming Xue!”

Startled, Beiming Xue couldn’t say anything for a while.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I feel like we skipped several steps just now. My mind just hasn’t caught up to reality…” A tinge of redness finally peeked out of Beiming Xue’s mask.