“Really?” I glared at Li Chengfeng

Li Chengfeng hung his head and faintly replied, “Sorry, bro…”

……

Candlelight Shadow continued to lean against the wall, smirking. “Interesting. If we ignore the fact that you’ve always been fooling others in the things you do, the legendary Falling Dust’s actually being used by someone else. Hahaha, how does it feel to be used?”

A fire burned inside me for no apparent reason. I pointed at Candlelight Shadow and growled, “Shut the fuck up! So what if I’ve been used? As long as Chengfeng isn’t harming me, I’m more than willing to be used! That’s what it means to be brothers!”

Li Chengfeng shook. His face was filled with trails of water but I wasn’t sure if they were tears or the tap water. He leaned against the wall and shuddered violently, teeth clenched and hands holding his head as he let out pained sobs.

I took a step forward and pressed a hand on his shoulder. “So what exactly is going on? Even if you have an ulterior motive, you should at least tell me the reason for it.”

Li Chengfeng nodded. He raised his head and his eyes reddened when he looked at Candlelight Shadow. He answered in a sharp voice, “Two years ago, a Beijing native girl named Qiongqiong was addicted to virtual competitions. She worshiped the Martial God Candlelight Shadow and traveled to Shanghai alone to meet her idol. That very same night, Candlelight Shadow had sex with her then completely ignored her after that. Qiongqiong stayed in Shanghai for almost half a month until she used up all her money and then died in an accident on her way back to Beijing…”

Li Chengfeng shuddered again and laughed. He looked at Candlelight Shadow with immeasurable hatred. “Did you know? Qiongqiong was my girlfriend and I never stopped her from going back then. It wasn’t until I touched her icy cold body that I swore to knock you down from your altar!”

Tottering in place, Li Chengfeng glared at Candlelight Shadow. “In fact, I could easily crush you with my pinky but I won’t do that. I want you to lose all the glory inside the game and make the famous Candlelight Shadow fall from grace!”

Li Chengfeng turned to me, this time deeply apologetic. “Sorry, Lu Chen. I really am using you. I could only topple Candle Dragon with you guys.”

I gritted my teeth. “No need for apologies. Toppling Candle Dragon is also one of my objectives so I don’t mind being used. At the very least, we were brothers together.”

“No, we’re still brothers.” Li Chengfeng gasped for breath and gave me a wretched smile. “I think I injured my leg, I can’t seem to stand properly. Can you give me a hand?”

“Our match is about to begin.”

“Mn.”

……

Candlelight Shadow also stood up, expressionless. He coldly glanced at us and smiled. “I remember that Qiongqiong. Nice skin, but it was mutual consent. If you want to challenge me and Candle Dragon, you can come at me anytime, as long as you have the ability to do so.”

While saying that, Candlelight Shadow hobbled away. He was in no better state than Li Chengfeng.

I supported Li Chengfeng and headed toward the competition venue. The bloody scrape on his arm was probably made by the water facet. Candlelight Shadow was ruthless but Li Chengfeng was obviously a bit stronger. If he went all-out, Candlelight Shadow would’ve been a corpse by now.

I ripped away a strip of cloth from Li Chengfeng’s white shirt and wrapped it around his wound.

Li Chengfeng glared at me. “People on TV usually rip their own clothes to do this. Why’d you rip mine?”

I grinned. “My clothes are expensive. Besides, I’m a respectable person. You’re the one who got into a fight. Why should I have to do a shameful thing like that…”

“Fuck, you’ve got no loyalty.”

“You’re the one who isn’t loyal. At least send me a text if you’re gonna get into a fight so I can give Candlelight Shadow an extra kick. By the time I got here, you guys were already done so it’d have been embarrassing for me to lay a hand on him.”

“...”

Li Chengfeng broke out into a smile. “In any case, I’m sorry for hiding this from you guys.”

“No worries. As long as you consider us as your brothers, everything else is minor.”

“Mn, let’s beat Candle Dragon in the semifinals!”

“Want me to get you a bandaid before we go up?”

“Nah, let’s go straight there!”

“Alright!”

……

The venue was bustling with noise. Group D’s victor had emerged. It was Warsky Alliance as expected. A party with three CGL Hall of Famers was no pushover and easily swept the other two parties in Group D. Next up were the highly anticipated semifinals. The matches were already displayed on the big screen—

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Candle Dragon

Snowy Cathaya VS Warsky Alliance

……

A championship team would be born from within these four parties so it was obviously exciting!

The spotlight, line of sights, and cameras converged upon a single point. Three people hobbled into the venue. At the front was Candlelight Shadow in his bruised glory, wearing a white military uniform with multiple bloodstains and and a huge open wound on his head. Behind him was me supporting Li Chengfeng, who also didn’t look much better as he walked with a limp and a simple bind on his arm.

Startled shouts immediately filled the venue. It was as if everyone knew that something had happened.

Fei’er walked up to us and asked, “Lu Chen, what happened? According to regulations, competitors are to be disqualified if they fight during the tournament!”

I smiled. “Fei’er, it’s already the semifinals. If you disqualify us, who’s going to fight in the final?”

Fei’er was stunned. “What in the world happened?”

“Oh, they’re not used to your toilets here and fell down by themselves.”

“...”

In the end, we got away with it thanks to my bogus reason. Everyone took their bags and entered their battle rooms and got themselves ready to fight in the semifinals!

Before we went in, the looks on the faces of Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and Transient Smoke and Clouds were very ugly. In fact, they were even swearing at me and Li Chengfeng. I only gave them a glare and said in a low voice. “Take it out on us in the competition if you can. If you want a fight, I’m more than willing to keep you company!”

In the end, Fei’er came over to mediate and settled us down.

However, this match was destined to be filled with the smell of blood. Before the match started, I told He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue about what had happened with Li Chengfeng’s girlfriend, with his consent of course. As a result, the girls all cursed Candlelight Shadow to be a bastard. They were angry enough to lose their reason but it also increased their battle fervor.

……

Swoosh!

We entered the game. We could finally directly fight against our old enemy now!

There was a long barrier between our party and the bunch from Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow was in full armor and holding a sharp blade. His eyes glinted with an ominous light as he fixedly glared at me and Li Chengfeng.

He Yi said softly, “Becareful of Candlelight Shadow. His weapon is the Silver Blade Sword, a 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon with extremely high Attack. Transient Smoke and Clouds’ bow is also a 1-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon and it has a 9% Defense Ignore effect. It does a ton of damage to melee-type classes so we have to take care.

“Mn.”

I nodded. “I’ll take care of Candlelight Shadow. Chengfeng, try to get rid of Transient Smoke and Clouds. Beiming, go pressure God’s Dance and Eve, you go block both Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow!”

He Yi gaped. She stared at me in shock. “Uh… you want me to block two warriors that are also CGL Hall of Famers? Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“No problem. Sis will heal you. You can do it. Just remember, they’re also human. Just focus on keeping them in place. Or is that Soul Stealing Spear in your hand just a toy?”

“Oh, oh. Got it.”

……

With our strategy settled, we were now prepared to battle!

The two sides were at swords drawn, wishing to immediately tear the other side into pieces as the system tactfully began its countdown—

3!

2!

1!

Semifinals, fight!

Once I used my General Skill, Martial God, Candlelight Shadow had also used his stratagem. Though it wasn’t Ghost God Prophecy but Encourage VII. Adding up his total Tactics points, it would boost around 40% of their attack power, which was not much inferior! God knows where in the world he found such a high-rank stratagem skill book. It was probably dropped by that Spirit Rank Boss he killed before.

I didn’t use Charge. Against top-tier experts like these, using Charge was a road to death. Li Chengfeng also didn’t use his Charge as we both ran in different directions to kill our respective opponents.

Whoosh!

On the other hand, Blue Sky Scar couldn’t help himself and activated Charge. I immediately bent my body and swept my Heaven-stealing Sword out as quick as lightning, almost faster than what the naked eye could see!

Bang!

Blue Sky Scar’s Charge was interrupted and he staggered forward. He Yi then quickly followed it up with a round of attacks!

In the air, arrows were flying over from above. Transient Smoke and Clouds’ Shock Arrow landed on He Yi’s chest, stunning our beautiful guild leader!

At this point, Candlelight Shadow had arrived with a confident smirk on his face. His Silver Blade Sword aimed for my chest like a silver lightning bolt, his entire set of movements flowed like water. The instant I warded off his attack, he had already slipped to my right side and launched another, as if he had already thought about what he would do next the moment he executed a move.

In fact, this really was the case.

Clang clang clang!

We fought each other for several strikes but neither one of us could kill the other. All we did was swap positions. Suddenly, I raised my arm. Dragon Slaying Slash!

Whoosh!

A cyan blade descended and chopped toward the nearby Blue Sky Scar in the blink of an eye!

4673!

Blue Sky Scar let out a miserable shriek and unexpectedly died just like that from the combined assault of me and He Yi.

At the same time, Transient Smoke and Clouds had also let out a miserable cry. He had been pierced through the belly by Li Chengfeng’s longsword. Even though Transient Smoke and Clouds didn’t have the protection of his warrior, he still tried to kite Li Chengfeng. It was just that he had forgotten that his opponent was Legendary Brave. The dragon warrior’s mechanics were top of the line. After chasing for a while, he began his offense and Transient Smoke and Clouds couldn’t do anything about it!

“Tch!”

Candlelight Shadow snorted inwardly and retreated. He was actually going for Beiming Xue.

“Beiming, watch out!”

Candlelight Shadow was already using Rock Thrust before I’d even finished my sentence. A huge chunk of stone rose from the ground, striking Beiming Xue dead center because she didn’t get a chance to guard in time!

6784!

What high attack power. This move was no less inferior to my Dragon Slaying Slash!

Beiming Xue was killed in an instant. He Yi charged up to protect Murong Mingyue but Candlelight Shadow revealed yet another cruel smile and made a perfect arc around He Yi, moving right behind her! Flames then began to surge on top of the Silver Blade Sword. It was Blazing Purgatory Slash, a three-hit move!

4895!

4627!

4194!

He Yi dazedly stood in place. She couldn’t guard against her opponent’s attack at all and instantly turned into a streak of white light, flying out from the tournament ring.

……

In the blink of an eye, Candlelight Shadow had downed two of our members.

Li Chengfeng and I flew into action. After we mounted a combined assault on Tempest Shadow, Chengfeng went to pursue God’s Dance while I faced off against Candlelight Shadow!