A new group of players appeared in the Fire Desert. They numbered around two thousand or so, and they were led by none other than the guild leader of Hegemon Palace, Pillar of the Nation. Moreover, he was accompanied by a high-level swordsman and god-tier mercenary Lin Yixin and I had fought recently, the Cold Wind Swordsman Little Piglet!

……

If Hegemon Palace hadn’t shown up, we would’ve defeated Warsky Alliance thanks to my General Skill, Martial God. Warsky Alliance’s defense line was completely made up of high-level players, and theoretically it should’ve been impossible to punch through without considerable effort. But thanks to the 75% Attack boost, my 20-man party was able to tear holes in their defense line again and again until they were forced to retreat.

But Hegemon Palace had appeared at the worst possible timing and forced us to split our army to deal with them. In a sense, Hegemon Palace had saved Warsky Alliance from imminent defeat.

He Yi and I decided to turn around and deal with Hegemon Palace while Legendary Brave and the others dealt with Warsky Alliance. We wanted to hear Hegemon Palace’s excuse for their intrusion with our own ears.

……

By the time we arrived, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang, and a group of elite players were engaged in a staring contest with the players of Hegemon Palace. Neither side had engaged each other in combat just yet.

He Yi walked out of the battle line and stared at Pillar of the Nation. “Wang Dongliang, you’ve provoked Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls again and again. Are you trying to say something or what?”

Wang Dongliang smiled. “What are you talking about, Eve? Me and my buddies are just gunning for that Level 140 Spirit Rank boss, that’s all. Didn’t you know? The entire Sky City is in uproar after hearing the news. Countless people are coming to Fire Desert right this moment!”

He Yi’s eyes turned chilly as she sneered aloud. “Tsk!”

Pillar of the Nation smiled again before suggesting, “Neither of us wants to lose too many people before the big fight, so how about we do this the civilized way: both of us will send out a representative, and they’ll engage each other in a 1-on-1 duel. Whoever loses will leave Fire Desert immediately. Of course, your Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a fourth-promotion player, so we’ll make it a 2v1 if you choose him!”

Caught off-guard, He Yi yelled angrily. “That’s shameless!”

I waved He Yi down and pointed my sword at Pillar of the Nation fearlessly. “It’s fine, it’s just a 1v2. Remember, if you lose, you will get your asses out of Fire Desert!”

“Very good, I like people who are straight to the point!”

Wang Dongliang looked to the side, and two players stepped out of Hegemon Palace’s battle lines at once. One of them was Little Piglet as expected, and the other player was a pretty assassin. She had a gorgeous body and an attractive face, and her black hair was tied and pushed into her cape. She held a fiery dagger with her right hand and an icy dagger with her left. She was staring at me sternly and curling her lips into a disdainful smile.

ID: Shangguan Wan’er LV-94 (Silver Assassin)

Guild: Hegemon Palace

Guild Position: Vice Leader

……

“Fuck…”

I had to hide my surprise. Since when did Hegemon Palace gain such a beautiful vice leader? I had never even heard about this Shangguan Wan’er until now. Judging from the extraordinary way she was carrying herself, there were only two possibilities: One, she was an absolute idiot who had no idea who she was dealing with. Two, she was a true expert. Considering that she was named vice leader by Wang Dongliang, I could only imagine that she was the latter.

I gripped my Heaven-stealing Sword horizontally before smiling at her. “Hegemon Palace sure thinks highly of me. I can’t think of another reason why you would send two vice leaders against me otherwise.”

Shangguan Wan’er slowly walked toward me while twisting her hips, smiling. “But of course. You are the famous Falling Dust and vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It would be incredibly disrespectful of us to send a nameless, average fighter to duel against you, don’t you agree? Speaking of which, you aren’t disappointed with Little Piglet and I as your opponents, are you?”

A bit of apprehension entered my heart. Her voice was melodious and warming, but it was impossible to ignore the hidden barbs behind her words. In just a couple of sentences, she had completely shut off any avenue I might’ve had to demand for a “fair” 2v2 battle. That being said, I was a fourth-promotion Level 105 player. I had no reason to be afraid of them.

Swhoosh!

I waved one arm and summoned my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. My Epic Rank boss pet was now Level 105, and its Defense and Attack stats were crazy to say the least. I hadn’t used my pet against Little Piglet last time, but there was no reason for me not to use it in a 1v2.

“Hehe, isn’t that legendary Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf?”

Shangguan Wan’er’s giggles made her breasts bounce a little. “It doesn’t look like Falling Dust is going to go easy on us, so it would be wrong not to respond with all we got. It would be a shame if From Water blames us for going easy on him when she collects his corpse, don’t you agree, Little Piglet?”

Little Piglet curled his lips but didn’t reply. He clearly didn’t want to deal with the woman either.

Surprisingly, He Yi was the one who retorted on my behalf, “Don’t worry, Wang Dongliang’s the one who’s going to collect your corpses, not me. The results won’t change even if you send ten players to fight my Lu Chen!”

I immediately turned around, covered our faces with our cape and held He Yi’s smooth chin with one finger. I gave her a smile before begging, “Sis, you don’t need to boast so hard that your jaw hits the floor, you know…”

He Yi burst into a giggle. “Be careful!”

“I know!”

……

When I turned around to face my opponents, I noticed that Little Piglet had summoned his pet as well. His pet was a two-man tall giant who was covered in frost. It didn’t take a genius to imagine that the frost giant had high Defense and strength. Beiming Xue also warned me in the party channel, “Big bro, I know this Ice Giant. It has incredible Attack and Defense, and it’s a tank that can use Desperate Gambit and Slayer Slash. Its weakness is its poor speed and hit rate.”

“Got it.”

Shangguan Wan’er also did the same. Her pet was a boss-tier Purple Butterfly King. It was a magical offensive pet. I already knew that the vice leaders of Hegemon Palace were no slouches, but it looked like their pets were incredible as well. In comparison, He Yi and I were the only ones in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who had pets that outclassed our opponents.

Swhoosh!

A small smile crossed Shangguan Wan’er’s lips before she retreated to the back and slowly vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, Little Piglet was standing at the distance and waiting for his ally to enter stealth completely. It looked like he was waiting for Shangguan Wan’er to ambush me successfully so that he could combine attacks with her and one-shot me in one go!

He Yi looked worried. She obviously noticed that my opponents were no ordinary players. Even I had to admit that this 1v2 was a more dangerous gamble than I initially thought.

……

I strode forward in a straight line with the growling Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf followed closely next to me. I acted like I didn’t care about Shangguan Wan’er’s disappearance at all.

In fact, I was 11 levels higher than Shangguan Wan’er, meaning that I could most likely see through her if she got within 10 yards of me. Therefore, her chances of sneaking up on me were actually pretty low. Little Piglet was the bigger concern here because he had incredible offensive power. If he managed to stun me even once, he could totally destroy me in 10 seconds’ time!

The enemy’s Purple Butterfly King took to the sky, its wings setting ablaze. In the next moment, it fired a giant Fireball at my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor!

Bang!

598!

That amount of damage was acceptable. I could regenerate most of the HP lost with Regeneration of the Undead alone.

Little Piglet’s eyes turned colder. If the enemy didn’t make a move, then I wouldn’t either. It was clear that Little Piglet was no match for me when it came to psychological warfare. I was waiting for Shangguan Wan’er to show up so I could kill her and increase my chances of beating Little Piglet to infinity, but Shangguan Wan’er clearly didn’t dare to take the risk. Therefore, Little Piglet had to attack me first to create an opening for Shangguan Wan’er to stun me from behind.

Little Piglet was well-versed in the art of PvP, and it wasn’t long before he came to a decision. He gripped his sword and charged toward me with his Ice Giant!

“Little wolf, go!”

I ordered my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to tackle Little Piglet’s Ice Giant while I charged the player himself. Today would be the day we end our unfinished duel!

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere as our swords clashed against each other. Neither of us used skills because we were just sounding out the opponent’s power with our first strikes, but Little Piglet was knocked back several steps in that one exchange. He stared at me in astonishment. After I obtained a few items and did my fourth promotion quest, my Strength had soared far above his!

Rustle rustle...

I dashed to Little Piglet’s right side like lightning and swung my sword at the back of his head. Cursing under his breath, he did a 45-degree counter-slash and ran in a circle instead of spinning around to face me. Thanks to that, he managed to execute a moving attack!

Clang!

It was a successful parry, but again his body shuddered a little due to my superior Strength. Worse, his sword was knocked into the air!

This is my chance!

I thrust the Heaven-stealing Sword forward like lightning and used Pardon and Desperate Gambit!

MISS!

Pardon hit Little Piglet, but not Desperate Gambit. It was because a shadow had appeared out of nowhere and attacked me from the back! It was none other than Shangguan Wan’er with her Swift Dash activated. If she managed to stun me here, I would be in a great disadvantage!

I immediately gave up on hitting Little Piglet and leaped powerfully toward the back. Spinning around like a top, I thrust my sword straight at Shangguan Wan’er’s chest!

“Ah?!”

The girl exclaimed in surprise before crossing both her daggers in front of her. She actually managed to parry my attack! What incredible reaction speed!

Little Piglet joined the fray and covered his sword in frost, activating Freezing Heat. Then, he thrust an empowered Ice Ray straight toward my back. At the same time, Shangguan Wan’er swung her daggers again and attempted to skewer the back of my head with Cruel Blade. Their coordination was pretty impressive, and they were rushing at me from a diagonal angle so I had no way to escape.

Both Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan’er’s eyes shone with killing intent at that moment. They were clearly planning to end my life right there and then.

Chuckling under my breath, I did an instantaneous zigzag and swung my sword to my left and right at the same time. My movement was perfect, and it was as if I had done this countless times in the past. Just like that, I parried both skills and foiled their attempt to kill me.

“Wha, how is this even possible…”

Shangguan Wan’er was stunned by my perfect parries, but I was already charging toward Little Piglet again. Pardon hadn’t worn off yet, so my next attack on Little Piglet was sure to deal far more damage to usual. Little Piglet was of course aware of this, so he calmly jumped to the back while unleashing Ice Ray Flurry. As it turned out, he was so intimidated by my charge that he actually used his signature skill just to slow down my advance.

I abruptly raised my left arm as draconic roars entered everyone’s ears. Little Piglet turned pale as if realizing what was about to happen!

Dragon Slaying Slash, go!

The Pardon-empowered Dragon Slaying Slash did far more damage than it normally would against Little Piglet. The cold wind swordsman was knocked back repeatedly as a huge damage number appeared above his head—4874!

The one skill deleted more than half of his HP in one go. I continued to run after him in an attempt to further my advantage!

……

Unable to stay calm, Shangguan Wan’er rushed toward me in an attempt to stop me. But Little Piglet shouted, “Watch out! His real aim is you!”