Whoosh!

Inconstant’s blade burst into flames as he brought it down on Number One Swordsman. At the same time, the swordsman struck Inconstant with his Barrier Break. Unfortunately, the stat difference between the duo was pretty huge. Number One Swordsman lost 200k+ HP, but Inconstant lost only 70k+. Inconstant was one of the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, so his Attack and Defense stats were much stronger than a core player of a second or third-rate guild.

Inconstant seized Number One Swordsman by the collar and stabbed him four or five times right through the chest, all the while cackling delightedly. "You think you can compete against Mad Dragon with your strength?"

Pu!

He stabbed Number One Swordsman one last time and let the latter collapse from his mount. Behind the guild leader, The Minstrels’ players tried to run down Inconstant, but all they got was a faceful of arrows. About a hundred Mad Dragon archers had arrived just in time to turn them into pincushions.

……

"Big brother…"

Xinran watched the battle happening above ground and asked in puzzlement, "Why are they fighting each other?"

I thought for a second before answering, "To fulfill their desires. When one’s desires aren’t fulfilled, they will take what others have to satisfy themselves. This is why wars happen."

"I see. You have to help the weak, big brother…" Xinran said smilingly.

Her voice was weak, but it affirmed my thoughts and spurred me to action. The Minstrels hadn’t offended Mad Dragon in any way, but Mad Dragon PK’d them just because they were in the way. It was morally reprehensible. Just this once, I supposed I could roleplay a hero of justice!

……

Swhoosh!

Wisps of bloody light appeared on the ground and transformed into me and Xinran. With Xinran in one hand and the Chill of the Nine Provinces in the other, I charged straight toward Mad Dragon or more specifically, Inconstant. The man was pulling his blade out of a pretty girl’s stomach when he noticed my presence and exclaimed in surprise, "Hmm? Who are you?"

"Your killer!"

The Chill of the Nine Provinces didn’t leak icy sword auras after its visual effects had been turned off, but it remained an ancient and murderous weapon. I stabbed it into Inconstant’s shoulder before he could react and fired Burning Blade Slash right through his back. He was much slower than me, and in a PvP fight the player who couldn’t keep up with their opponent was often the loser. Three big damage numbers rose from his head—

390882!

482177!

582723!

The Guardian Dragon Armor, Chill of the Nine Provinces, and Dark Magma Poleyn had increased my Attack far beyond the reach of the average player, and my explosive power was rivaled only by a handful of top-tier players. Meanwhile, Inconstant was at best a peak second-rate expert and much weaker than even Xu Yang and Du Thirteen. He was never going to survive me in a million years.

Thud!

I pulled out my sword and slashed his neck, deleting the last sliver of his HP. He dropped a floor of potions and a helmet, but I didn’t bother to pick up any of them. Instead, I stepped over Inconstant’s body and killed another dozens of Mad Dragon players with Myriad Swords Obliteration.

……

"Who… who’s that guy?"

Coldmoon Rose said angrily while running toward somewhere, "Who’s that guy, and why is he attacking us?!"

A corps commander replied to her, "Vice guild leader, that skill is obviously Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand’s exclusive skill, Myriad Swords Obliteration, and the skill he just used to kill Inconstant was Burning Blade Slash, which again belongs to Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand only. Dammit, why is that fiend here?"

Coldmoon Rose ordered through gritted teeth. "Withdraw! Our numbers are too few, and Lu Chen alone can defeat all of us. If Beiming Xue, From Water or anyone else shows up, things will be even worse for us!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

I spent a second admiring Coldmoon Rose’s seductive back and round butt. The red cape she wore wasn’t enough to hide the beautiful curves beneath it. Coldmoon Rose was no Lin Yixin or He Yi, but she was still a gorgeous woman. It was a shame that she had grown increasingly snobbish and pretentious the longer she stuck to Roaming Dragon.

Swhoosh!

I tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces in Coldmoon Rose’s direction. The sword pierced through a tree trunk and nearly sliced it in half. Coldmoon Rose froze in her tracks because the blade of the sword was just centimeters away from her neck. If I wanted to kill her, she would be dead already.

I slowly sauntered up to Coldmoon Rose while she turned around to look at me with a complicated expression. "What the hell do you want, Lu Chen? Seriously, what the HELL do you want? You’ve hounded me since as early as Floating Ice City. You just want to make me miserable, is that it?"

I pulled out the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shot her an indifferent glance. "You’re mistaken!"

Coldmoon Rose sneered. "Mistaken? Then how do you explain your current actions? As far as I’m aware, Ancient Sword has nada to do with The Minstrels. Why on earth would you help them if it wasn’t for me?"

I exhaled a little before looking at her. "Is it so strange for a person to help someone in need? Hmph. Mad Dragon is almost a Top 10 guild on the Guild Ranking, and yet here you are bullying some third-rate guild for greed. If you really wanted to demonstrate your power, you would fight against Warsky Alliance or Candle Dragon. Well, I suppose I should’ve expected such behavior from Lu Chao though. He is a pampered and spoiled brat who only knows how to bully the weak after all!"

Coldmoon Rose clenched her fists tightly and breathed heavily for a moment. Then, she grabbed my collar, pulled her face closer and uttered in a barely controlled voice, "Fuck you, Lu Chen! Yes, I chose to become Lu Chao’s woman! And yes, all I care about is the amount of money he pays me, not his character! So what? A long time ago, I asked you if you needed a woman like me, and you’re the one who turned me down! So go be your hero, but get the fuck out of my way! You don’t get to tell me what to do, understand!?"

I shrugged and pointed to my right. "I won’t attack you if you won’t attack The Minstrels. Now, feel free to start running in that direction."

"You!"

Coldmoon Rose’s shoulders trembled with anger. In the end though, she turned away and barked at the remaining Mad Dragon players, "Withdraw!"

There were a couple of axe-wielding middle-aged men who looked mighty unhappy, however. One of them urged Coldmoon Rose, "There’s no need to fear someone like him, vice leader! Worst-case scenario, we die and lose a level! Plus, he’s carrying a disabled girl right now! We can take him on!"

Coldmoon Rose only turned paler and shouted, "Enough! Withdraw!"

……

After Mad Dragon’s players finally disappeared from view, I turned around and absorbed the power of rebirth of the reviving players.

Swhoosh!

After Number One Swordsman revived, he said to me in an excited tone, "You’re Lu Chen, right? I heard your conversation while I was running back to my body just now!"

I nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, feel free to get back to your boss!"

"Thank you!"

"You’re welcome!"

I didn’t leave because there was still a ton of power of rebirth to absorb. The Minstrels had lost almost everyone when Mad Dragon attacked, so there were at least a thousand wisps of power of rebirth lurking in the area. That was exactly what I needed to heal Xinran.

……

An hour later, the Giant Wolf King Dilis finally died to the combined efforts of The Minstrels. Number One Swordsman rushed forward eagerly, flipped through the boss drops and abruptly raised a supernatural-looking sword into the air. He declared with a triumphant laugh, "Hahaha! We got it, everyone! We finally got a god-tier item! This Blade of Bloodthirsty is a Level 210 Immortal-grade weapon, and its upper Attack limit is over 6000! Hell yeah!"

I rolled my eyes, but The Minstrels was just a third-rate guild. It was natural for them to treat a 6000-Attack weapon as a god-tier item.

Number One Swordsman rolled for the equipment afterward, and he actually managed to roll the highest number out of everyone. Since he also had the highest guild contribution points within The Minstrels, the "god-tier weapon" naturally went to him.

Meanwhile, I had slipped back into the forest and went away. The only reason I hung around in the first place was to absorb the power of rebirth. Since the boss had been defeated, and no one else was going to die, there was no reason for me to hang around any longer.

……

A few minutes after I roamed the forest aimlessly, some disturbing news reached me from the guild channel—

Xu Yang: "Shit! I’m so angry!"

He Yi: "What’s wrong?"

Xu Yang said in an angry voice, "My party was grinding at Blood Swallow Cave of Dragonbone Mountain Range when Blood Alliance’s assassins ambushed us! There were 17 of us, and 9 of us including Yu Tong and Moon Dew were killed! Shit!"

Li Chengfeng asked urgently, "I’m not far away from Blood Swallow Cave. Who are the attackers? I’ll bring some men, seal the entrance and kill them all right now!"

However, Yu Tong said weakly, "It’s no use. The attackers are all high-level eighth-promotion assassins. Once they activate their Assassin’s Oath, they can negate even the archer’s Clear As Flame over 50% of the time. How can you kill them when you can’t even see them?"

Xu Yang said, "I’ve already withdrawn our players from Blood Swallow Cave, and we’re waiting for more archers to join us before we do anything else. These treacherous fuckers Ambushed 3 of our archers right from the get-go, killed them, and went into stealth before we could do anything. They would’ve repeated the same shit over and over if I hadn’t made the decision to withdraw. It’s absolutely despicable!"

I hummed in thought. "I guess someone paid Blood Alliance to target us…"

Li Chengfeng replied, "It’s not just us. Nearly every high-level guild in Sky City has run into situations like this. Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya have lost many high-level players to Blood Alliance as well. Even Little Gui was ambushed by five Blood Alliance assassins just this morning. Of course, Little Gui managed to turn the tables on them and kill them all thanks to his new Ghostblade Halberd and the ever-reliable Undying Shield!"

High Fighting Spirits roared, "Even Little Gui? Those motherfuckers! Let’s muster our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers and kick their teeth in already, guild leader! It’s the best way to deal with a shameless guild like Blood Alliance! Plus, we’re going to have three high-level dragon knights very soon. There’s no way they can defend themselves against us!"

However, I shook my head and said, "No, it won’t work."

High Fighting Spirits sounded surprised. "But why?"

Chaos Moon explained in my place, "Blood Alliance has a dozen or so subguilds, and their main guild has over ten thousand eighth-promotion assassins. The problem is that these people have no territory or fixed assembly points. They’re scattered throughout the map and spend most of their time grinding or in stealth. Forget crushing them, we can’t even find them in the first place."

"Shit! What do we do then?!" High Fighting Spirits was a hot-tempered man, and he was starting to lose control already.