Ecstatic at this discovery, I quickly raised my arm as power coursed through me. In the next instant, a giant cyan blade appeared in the air above the ice cave and ruthlessly fell down, shaving off 1102 of Ziyu’s HP. I was exactly 40 yards from the boss so Dragon Slaying Slash could still be used. Hell yeah!

This Level 140 boss finally went berserk. He angrily yelled at me but it was to no avail. I still continued to attack him with one Dragon Slaying Slash after another and slowly whittled down his HP. At the same time, I took inventory of how many consumables I had. Nice, I still had several dozen stacks of high-rank consumables, enough for me to continuously use Dragon Slaying Slash.

Swoosh!

The berserk Ziyu suddenly launched an attack. He swung his sword and a streak of purple swordlight rushed out from its tip. His first long-range attack!

Long prepared for this, I took a quick step back, adding a yard of distance between us for a total of 41!

Whoosh!

The purple swordlight nearly touched my nose before it disappeared. The 40 yard range rule also applied to the boss. I was currently drowning in ecstasy right now. At this point, killing the boss had become a done deal because I could just continue to use Dragon Slaying Slash on the boss while it couldn’t harm me in turn since it didn’t have my high-level mechanics, nor did it know about a high-level tactic called kiting.

……

As I happily tossed down another Dragon Slaying Slash, Lin Yixin finally spoke up in the party channel, albeit cautiously: “Lu Chen, you haven’t died yet?”

“Mn!”

I grinned. “I’m killing the boss right now, but this’ll probably take me a while…”

“Oh, then did you pick up the Frozen Earth set pieces I dropped?”

“I have them, don’t worry about it.” I checked the time, then said, “It’s late Yiyi, go eat something and sleep early. When you get online tomorrow morning, you might even see my boss kill message…”

“OMG, an all nighter? You don’t want to live, do you…”

“I’m fine!”

“Alright then, don’t force yourself too hard…”

“Mn.”

……

Not long after, Lin Yixin logged off somewhat dejectedly. She had just reached Level 99 and was immediately killed back to Level 98. That kind of feeling wasn’t good at all. She originally could’ve had the chance to become the second fourth-promotion player but it seemed rather difficult now. Wind City’s Candlelight Shadow was already Level 99. With his tenacity and dedication, I doubt he’d log out before he reached Level 100.

Three hours passed by in the blink of an eye. It was already three in the morning and the boss’s HP was still around 70%. Fuck! It seems like if I wanted to kill him, it’d take at least 10 hours to do so. This boss is nuts. Looks like trying to kill a Spirit Rank boss 40 levels above me really was pushing it. If I was also Level 140, even if I had the same stats, I bet I could kill him in two hours!

To some degree, levels were extremely important in a virtual game.

Beep!

I suddenly received a message from He Yi: “Lu Chen, are you online?”

My heart skipped a beat and I immediately requested a voice call.

“Eve, you’re finally online now?”

“Yeah!” He Yi said in a blaming tone, “You bastard, it’s three or four in the morning in China right now, why are you still online? You’re pulling an all nighter again…”

I laughed. “I’ve got no choice this time since I’m dealing with a boss at the moment. Even if I wanted to log off I would just die unless I killed it...

“Oh? What kind of boss?”

I shared my screen, allowing He Yi to also see General Ziyu who was overflowing with divine might inside the ice cave. She was instantly stunned. “OMG, a Level 140 boss? It’s Spirit Rank too. Lu Chen, how’d you find such a high-rank boss? And you can even solo it? Lucky…”

I smiled. “When I was grinding in the Dragonbone Mountain Range, I was besieged by people from Gods of Destruction and fell down a cliff. That’s how I discovered this new map. You can say that I was pretty lucky because I’ll make a profit if I’m able to whittle down this boss tonight. I absolutely wouldn’t make a loss since this boss is at such a high level. It’ll definitely drop some awesome gear!”

“Okay then, good luck!” He Yi answered. “I haven’t logged on these past few days and I’ve fallen behind in levels. I’m Level 92 but you’re already 100 now. Forget it, I’ll also go grind some levels. There’s no meeting today so I can properly gain some EXP. It’s just that Mingyue and Beiming aren’t here.”

“They logged off already. Beauty sleep is important.”

“Yeah, I’m going to go grind now!”

“Alright!”

“Uhh…” He Yi seemed like she wanted to say something.

“What’s up, Eve?” I asked with a smile.

Inside the voice call interface, He Yi’s portrait was still beautiful. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she asked, “I’ve been gone for so long. Did you think of me?”

I nodded. “It’s raining in Suzhou.”

“Oh, I see.”

He Yi smiled before she ended the call and headed off to grind.

……

I focused and resumed my efforts in taking out the Level 140 boss’s HP. This was some hard work, alright!

I soon heard another beep. Murong Mingyue had logged on and sent me a message: “Lu Chen, you haven’t logged out yet? Damn, so hardcore…”

“Nah, I got wrapped up with a boss so I’m logging off once I kill him.”

Murong Mingyue: “You’ve been online for an entire day now. Tell me when you’re logging out so I can make you some food. Sigh, you really don’t know how to take care of yourself…”

“Probably around 10. Thanks, sis…”

“Hmph!”

Murong Mingyue stopped chatting with me after that. She was probably grinding with He Yi now. This duo had He Yi for defense and both of them for a decent offense. He Yi’s Soul Stealing Spear had an amazing Attack while Murong Mingyue’s AoE Hellish Rockfall was even deadlier when it came to grinding mobs.

……

As I paid close attention to the boss’s HP and movements, I was bored out of my mind so I opened the official forums to see if there was anything new trending. In the end, there was a giant thread on the front page of the official forums. Two players in battle armor were drawn facing each other. One was me and the other was Candlelight Shadow. Between us was a huge blood red “VS”. The subject of the thread was a shocking one—Between Falling Dust and Candlelight Shadow, who is the true Martial God?

I looked below the heading and saw rows of little words. “Last night, two huge things happened in the China server’s World Famous Generals version release. Candlelight Shadow took the lead to become the first Famous General in China and obtained the Famous General Skill “Ghost God Prophecy”, shocking the entire server. However, not even an hour later, Sky City’s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand also ascended to become a Famous General and obtained the super powerful Famous General Skill “Martial God”, a skill akin to super Encourage that increases attack power by 40%. If we compare the two skills, the acclaimed “Martial God” Candlelight Shadow has been left rather embarrassed. The Candle Dragon guild Candlelight Shadow commands and the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is in are old enemies. Who will emerge as the victor in this battle for the title of Martial God? Between Candlelight Shadow and Falling Dust, who exactly will climb to the top of the China server to become the Heavenly King of a new generation?”

……

I couldn’t hold back my smile. Struggles between gaming celebrities usually were paid close attention to by the playerbase. This was especially so when it came to CGL Hall of Famers like me and Candlelight Shadow. Even more eye-catching than that was the main point of this topic, which was who would come out as the victor in the battle between the two legendary experts. Now that was enough to make any man’s blood boil.

I opened the thread and could surprisingly see an analysis of me and Candlelight Shadow’s level, skills, equipment, and pets. My Pardon, Dragon Slaying Slash, Thousand Mirage Slash, Ghost Deity Armor, Desperate Gambit, Immortality, Thunderous Charge, etc. were listed for all to see. Even the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf’s stats had been listed. Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow’s skills like Earth Shattering Slash, Rock Thrust, Blazing Purgatory Slash, Storm Domain, etc. were also all there without a single one missing. It was hard to imagine who in the world understood the two of us this much in detail. Fuck, was it an official staff member revealing our data? If not, this kind of intel gathering was just too damn good!

All kinds of views appeared as replies to this thread. It was pretty interesting to say the least—

1st comment (Player Unrivaled Divine Shield): Candlelight Shadow is upright and ruthless, worthy of the title Martial God. In the later period of the Spirit of Grief era, he was a commanding hero that led the eastern strike against the US server and defeated every vassal state he came across as he swept through a greater part of the continental map with a sword pressed upon the throat of New Sainthelm City. I support Candlelight Shadow no matter what! He is the Martial God!

2nd comment (Player Smoke and Clouds of the Past): To be honest, most of Candlelight Shadow’s achievements are from Frivolous Scholar. If not for Scholar, Seven-Star Lamp, Lonely Grave, and the others bringing an end to it all, Candlelight Shadow wouldn't even have killed through Cool Breeze City!

3rd comment (Player Little Piglet): Hegemon Palace is the real king...

4th comment (Player Legendary Brave): In terms of mechanics, Falling Dust in his peak period absolutely dominates Candlelight Shadow. In terms of moral character, Falling Dust surpasses Candlelight Shadow on far more than one account. In the final stages of Spirit of Grief, Falling Dust fearlessly fought to the death without retreating in the nation war and defended the entrance to Battlesong Canyon for as long as five hours against thirty thousand India players. This requires far more than just courage! In order to take revenge for guild leader From Water, Falling Dust fought against Gods of Destruction alone and dyed Silver Moon Valley in blood. Later on, he founded Bloody Mercenaries and used his life to defend the honor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Falling Dust has done everything a courageous, upright man is capable of accomplishing. In my opinion, the true battle has only just begun and it’s still too early for the war in Heavenblessed!

5th comment (Player Fairy Maiden Peak): What’s Hegemon Palace?

6th comment (Player Wind From An Empty Cave): Woah, even the Dragon Warrior and the Cold Wind Swordsman have appeared. Wife, come out to come see God...

……

War had technically not broken out yet in the real sense of the word but smoke had already filled the air of the forums. Little Piglet and Legendary Brave were not only fighting in the game but also on the forums as they exchanged verbal barbs here and there. Damn, this kind of dual multitasking was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. It’d even put me to shame.

And so, the Top 15 players on Sky City’s Heavenly Ranking were pretty much all affiliated with a guild now. Legendary Brave joined Ancient Sword while Little Piglet became Hegemon Palace’s hired goon. Pillar of the Nation did not have a great general among his subordinates but once Little Piglet joined, I’m certain that many experts would join Hegemon Palace.

All in all, among the Top 15 players, 6 were in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, 4 were in Snowy Cathaya, 4 in Warsky Alliance, and 1 was in Hegemon Palace. In the battle between top-level players, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Warsky Alliance were in the lead but like Li Chengfeng said, the battle had only just begun.

……

After going through the forums and looking up some data, I continued to focus on killing the boss again.

The slow grind lasted up until nine in the morning when the boss’s HP was finally down to the last 3%. Ten more minutes later, the boss only had 1% HP left with most of it completely empty, leaving me super excited. I chomped on a Magic Consumable and continued the grind!

Ziyu went berserk at the zone’s gap. He was incredibly angry but also incredibly helpless as he stood there unmovingly, stuck in place.

Boom!

Dragon Slaying Slash descended with a roar and finally took Ziyu’s life. His gigantic body suddenly collapsed, dropping countless stones, equipment, and items on the floor. The loot pile was positively glowing!