I took a moment to digest the information while carrying Xinran. As I thought, Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao had become closer than ever before after their brotherhood ceremony. They even went so far as to merge Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon together with Wang Dongliang as the guild leader, Lu Chao and his woman, Coldmoon Rose, as the vice leaders, and Little Piglet, Iron Pardon and Inconstant as the corps commanders. Not only that, they had abandoned all pretenses and begun to recruit the elite players of all major guilds openly. Whatever it was they were planning, it must be supported by a blazing ambition!

……

I sat down at a random corner of the square and took out the hundreds of items I had picked up during the battles earlier. It was time to enjoy a leisurely in-game afternoon.

Rustle rustle…

A Level 209 assassin stopped in front of my stall and stared at a dark green-colored dagger with obvious fondness in his eyes. He asked me, "Hey brother, can you give me a discount for this dagger?"

I glanced at the dagger he was mentioning. It was a Level 210 Heaven-grade item that increased armor penetration by 20%. It was quite a great dagger considering its grade, which was why I had priced it at 400 RMB. Even so, it was still quite a bit lower than its actual market price, so I asked the assassin, "How much can you pay? It’s already quite cheap, you know?"

The assassin nodded. "I know, but I just can’t afford it. My gaming helmet was a prize I won from one of Eternal Moon’s lucky draw games. I’m still studying, and I only get a 200 RMB alimony per month. To save money, I only eat one youtiao and drink one glass of iced water for breakfast every morning. I grinded instances everyday and managed to collect a daily sum of 50 gold or so, but my equipment alone cost 40+ gold to repair. If I take my electrical bills into the equation, it means that my earnings are less than 10 gold per day. Your dagger is only 400 RMB to you, but it amounts to 40 days of grinding to me, and that’s assuming I’m a robot who doesn’t need to eat or drink…"

God damn, that was one helluva sob story. "How much gold do you have right now?"

"244…"

"Fine, you can have it for 200 gold. I’ll leave you that 44 gold for your equipment repairs…"

"Thank you so much, brother!!"

The assassin paid the money and whooped over his new dagger. "With this, I finally have 5000 Attack, the minimum Requirement necessary to start grinding the S1 instance! I can finally start earning some actual money! Thank you again, brother!!"

……

Xinran asked me softly after the assassin left, "Aren’t you losing money, big brother?"

I shrugged. "It’s fine. Let’s not forget that I had gotten all these items from the Blood Alliance players I killed, which is to say they cost nothing at all. Therefore, I’m still making money even if I sold them for 1 gold…"

Xinran: "..."

I completed dozens more transactions after that. Since my prices were about 10% to 20% lower than the market price, it wasn’t difficult to close a deal.

I was growing sleepy when the noise of heavy boots clapping against a brick caught my attention. A player covered in gold-colored armor was walking a short distance in front of me, and he was carrying a huge golden sword. I checked his status and discovered that he was a pretty good expert. He was a Level 223 magic knight wearing a full set of Immortal-grade equipment at least, and his guild emblem marked him as a Candle Dragon player. His ID was Wind Listener, and he was one of the seven corps commanders of Candle Dragon’s main guild. He definitely counted as a core player of Candle Dragon.

Wind Listener, huh?

I hummed for a second before checking the in-game database. I found what I was looking for.

Wind Listener was a Top 1000 player in the Heavenly Ranking of the China server. He was originally the guild leader of "Wind Listening Pavilion", but three weeks ago he and his elite players joined Candle Dragon and quickly ascended through the ranks. His equipment was focused on lifesteal and passive regeneration, thus his playstyle was that of answering aggression with further aggression.

Pa!

A warrior wearing a pair of black boots stopped in front of Wind Listener and uttered in a cold voice, "I’m going to kill you, you motherfucker!"

Wind Listener simply smirked. "You again? I must admit that you have bigger balls than most men, Tiger Leopard Knight. You were killed 17 times in a row and dropped to Level 204, and you still won’t give up?"

The warrior clad in black armor really was Tiger Leopard Knight. He unsheathed the sword behind his back and glared at Wind Listener coldly. "What is 17 levels compared to my sister? What about you? Did you seriously join Candle Dragon just to get at her?"

Wind Listener’s grin turned lustful and evil. "Haha! Moonlight Stone is a cute and hot woman. Who wouldn’t want to get their hands on her? That’s right. I fell in love with her two months ago, and Candlelight Shadow’s offer gave me the perfect opportunity to get closer to her. It’s not like your sister detests me, so why are you butting in in our relationship?"

"Bullshit!"

Tiger Leopard Knight fumed in anger. "Like I would surrender my sister to a human trash like you! You think I don’t know who you really are? When you were still the guild leader of Wind Listening Pavilion, you abused your authority and tricked as many as 47 young women in your guild to have sex with you! A bastard like you will never deserve my sister!"

Wind Listener laughed. "So what? I’m a man with great strength and charisma. Why shouldn’t I enjoy what I deserve? Plus, I am serious about wooing your sister. Your obstruction is nothing but an expression of jealousy."

"Serious?"

Tiger Leopard Knight sneered. "If you were serious, you wouldn’t have removed my authority and unseated me from my position the moment you entered Candle Dragon! If you were serious, you wouldn’t have attacked my brothers and driven them all away from me! If you were serious, you wouldn’t have gone so far as to disguise yourself as another person and robbed her kiss on a lift! If the janitor hadn’t happened to pass by… You neither know nor care how much she cried that night, don’t you? Even a thousand deaths isn’t too severe a punishment for a human trash like you!"

Wind Listener shrugged. "A thousand deaths? Are you even listening to yourself? I’ve killed you 17 times already, and you still think you can do anything against me? Hmph. I truly don’t understand what you’re thinking. You were the one who recruited Moonlight Stone to Candle Dragon in the first place, so why are you talking all this nonsense about protecting your sister now? Eh, whatever. Don’t you worry your ugly head. I’ve moved into Candle Dragon’s base, so I can fuck her anytime I want now. I promise you I won’t harass her once I’m done with her, heh!"

Tiger Leopard Knight clenched his fists. "You animal! I will remove you from Candle Dragon if it’s the last thing I do!"

That wiped the smile from Wind Listener’s face. "Bullshit! Who the fuck do you think you are? Ask yourself how many times have you complained to Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and God’s Dance about me? Did it work? Do you know why it didn’t? It’s because I’m strong, and I brought them 3000+ elites and 1000+ players among the Top 20000 of the China server! What about you? You offer Candlelight Shadow nothing, and you expect him to obey your whims? Are you stupid? Whatever. Moonlight Stone is mine, and just try to stop me if you can!"

Wind Listener unsheathed his own sword and said, "Come, I’ll give you the opportunity right now. Meet me outside the city if you dare!"

He strode toward the city gate after that. Tiger Leopard Knight followed him without hesitation. The reason they were moving outside was because PK was forbidden within the city; a safe zone.

……

Anger raged in my chest by the time their conversation ended. I had no idea Moonlight Stone was treated like this after she entered Candle Dragon. Even her older brother, Tiger Leopard Knight, was given the cold shoulder despite his loyalty. Candlelight Shadow was a pragmatist through and through, and it made perfect sense that he wouldn’t offend Wind Listener and the thousands of elites under his banner for Tiger Leopard Knight and Moonlight Stone only, not to mention he needed strength now more than ever to fight against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!

I put away my stall and changed to my disguise. Then, I grabbed the reins of my onager and led Xinran toward the city gate. There was no chance in hell I was ignoring this if only for the sake of my old friend, Moonlight Stone.

Outside the city, the autumn wind blew a bunch of wilted leaves into the air. Tiger Leopard Knight and Wind Listener stopped on the floating rock just outside the city gate.

"Let’s duel to the death, Tiger Leopard Knight! It’s no fun if it doesn’t end with death, does it!?" Wind Listener declared with a confident smile.

Tiger Leopard Knight gritted his teeth and summoned a Qiu Beast. He was an ex-core player of Candle Dragon, so he had been gifted one when Candle Dragon first discovered the mount.

Wind Listener swung his golden sword once and summoned a Qiu Beast just like Tiger Leopard Knight’s. Then, they climbed onto their mounts and charged each other head-on!

Swhoosh!

Tiger Leopard Knight wreathed his weapon in flames and used Barrier Break.

However, Wind Listener was able to tilt his body to one side at the last moment and lower the damage he received by over 40%. At the same time, he landed Triple Slash + Barrier Break combo at Tiger Leopard Knight’s chest that dealt an incredible amount of damage. Not done yet, he waved his hand and summoned a sharp rock from the ground.

197282!

Tiger Leopard Knight’s follow-up strike was sent flying. His HP also dropped below 20% after just a couple of hits. He was going to die in the next hit or two.

The gap between the duo was huge to say the least.

"Die!"

Wind Listener leaped into the air and brought his sword right down on Tiger Leopard Knight’s head!

……

"Ah!" Tiger Leopard Knight could do nothing but watch as the sword fell toward him. The strike was just too swift for him to dodge out of the way.

Chiang!

Right before the golden sword would cleave him in half though, a spinning blade slammed into it and knocked it out of the way. It was none other than my Coiling Dragon Revolution, of course. Carrying Xinran in one arm, I jumped into the air and punched Wind Listener with my bare fist!

Bang!

80987!

Caught completely off-guard, Wind Listener attempted to dash away only to be immobilized by my God Binding Art. When I caught my returning sword, I lowered my center of gravity, stabbed Wind Listener in the chest and executed a devastating Burning Blade Slash!

311723!

352771!

392020!

Wind Listener was an expert, however. He had used a skill that healed his HP for 15% and actually managed to survive my Burning Blade Slash. While activating his invincibility skill and backing away from me, he exclaimed in shock, "Who are you?"

Buzz!

I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces above my head and summoned a giant golden sword. I answered, "Your killer!"

Boom!

The SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill tore his invincibility shield and crushed his body into pieces. It so happened that Mountain Crush took effect at the same time, so part of the floating rock was shattered into smithereens as well. Wind Listener’s shattered body fell toward the ground with them.

……

"Gulp!"

Behind me, Tiger Leopard Knight looked at me and swallowed. "You’re… Lu Chen?"

I shot him a stern glare. "What did you promise me back then? This is how you ‘take care’ of Moonlight Stone for me?!"

Tiger Leopard Knight couldn’t say anything.

……

In the guild channel, I sent a message to everyone: "I want everyone who can fight to log out and wait for me at the entrance, NOW!"

Gui Guzi: "What happened, Boss Broken Halberd?"

Li Chengfeng: "Yeah, what happened? Who are we going to PK offline, Lu Chen?"

I gnashed my teeth together as I answered, "We’re bringing Moonlight Stone home, brothers and sisters…"