Li Chengfeng and my face twitched at the same time. "Ugh. I thought this might happen, but it really did happen, huh?"

"Yeah…"

I drained my glass of wine to the last drop before raising my eyebrows. "Eh, whatever. It’s Candle Dragon’s prerogative to attack whoever they want, just as it is our prerogative to respond with overwhelming firepower. We are no longer the weak guild we once were, so anyone who challenges us will see their ancestral tombs looted, and their toilets burned to the ground! Wahahaha!"

He Yi stared at me expressionlessly. "..."

Chaos Moon said, "In fact, Candle Dragon’s declaration of war on us could not be more timely. We absolutely need a victory—no, a massive victory—over Candle Dragon right now."

Gui Guzi asked, "What do you mean?"

Chaos Moon smiled. "That’s because I checked the Guild Ranking that is updated in real time in the CGL database. One month ago, Ancient Sword had already surpassed Warsky Alliance and officially became the number two guild of China. Today, we’re just less than 1000 points away from surpassing the champion, Candle Dragon. All we need to do is to come out victorious in this war, and we’ll definitely replace Candle Dragon as the new champion of the Chinese Guild Ranking!"

Lian Xin said, "Speaking of which, there was an official update about half an hour ago stating that a new expansion will be released at noon tomorrow. Please be ready for it, everyone."

"New expansion?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in surprise, "What’s it called?"

"The Cities of Heaven!"

I was surprised as well. "The Cities of Heaven? What is it about exactly?"

Lian Xin chuckled. "The servers will be split into four different blocks. Each block will spawn 4 cities that can be conquered by the players. The guild that conquers a city will be given control for an entire month before the contest begins once more. The cities are Gold City, Silver City, Bronze City and Dark Steel City."

I set down my glass and probed for more details. "What is so special about them? Are they the same as the natural Rank 9 territory we conquered for Natural Flow back then?"

"Oh no, not at all."

Chaos Moon started her laptop, brought up the web page regarding the new expansion and explained, "Each city has a unique skill. Gold City’s unique skill is ‘Famed Warhorse’. The city automatically spawns a Gold Warhorse every hour, a Level 190 Earth Rank Boss mount. Its stats are only 5% weaker than our Dragonscale Beast, so it’s incredibly precious to say the least.

“Silver City’s unique skill is ‘Heart of the Holy Mages’. It grants all magic-type classes the permanent skill ‘Heart of the Holy Mage’, increasing their magic damage scaling by 25%, and max HP and Magic Shield durability by 50%."

A pause later, Chaos Moon continued with a chuckle, "Gold City is the same type as our Dark Moon City since it also produces super cavalries. However, I would say that it’s inferior to Dark Moon City because it can only produce the Gold Warhorse, while we have the choice to duplicate a stronger mount egg in the future. Silver City though is literally the city for mages. Heart of the Holy Mages is just way too OP."

Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. "Both cities are OP, to be honest. The effects are permanent too…"

Chaos Moon nodded. "Gold City and Silver City will definitely be hotly contested. I am sure that tomorrow’s guild wars will be greater than most of the guild wars we have fought in up until now."

I interrupted, "Wait, you haven't told us what Bronze City and Dark Steel City does yet!"

Chaos Moon answered, "Bronze City’s unique skill is ‘Dragon Punisher Archer’. It grants the ‘Dragon Punisher Arrow Rain’ skill to all archers, allowing them to summon the ancient power of the Dragon Punisher to increase their attack range by 100 yards, and deal volley damage to all enemy targets within 200 yards. Dark Steel City’s unique skill is ‘Life of the Tamer’. It increases the level of all tamed beasts by 10 and all their stats by 30%. It also allows them to summon an additional pet in combat."

He Yi said, "Bronze City is the city for archers, but there is a catch: Dragon Punisher Arrow Rain is usable only if the guild is occupying the city. This means that the skill will disappear if the occupying guild loses the city for whatever reason. The same goes for Dark Steel City."

I tightened my grip over my glass and declared, "It’s either Gold City or Silver City for us then. What’s the point of occupying these Cities of Heaven if we cannot get a permanent buff out of it?"

He Yi nodded in agreement. "That is my understanding as well."

Gui Guzi suggested, "In that case, may I suggest that we set our sights on Silver City? We already have Dark Moon City, so there’s no need to make another cavalry troop. Moreover, Beauty Moonlight Stone has returned to us, so there is even more of a reason to boost our mages to never-before-seen power levels. Once Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone, Yu Tong and all our mages have learned Heart of the Holy Mages, I’m sure Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance will weep rivers of blood!"

High Fighting Spirits agreed excitedly, "Little Gui is right! If we must choose a city, then let it be Silver City!"

Moonlight Stone shot Gui Guzi a bright smile. "Thank you, Little Gui, everyone..."

I raised my hand. "Calm down, everyone. Yes, we’ll be setting our sights on Silver City, but please keep this a secret for now. We’ll make the announcement only after we find Silver City’s coordinates tomorrow noon. Moreover, let’s not forget that Candle Dragon has declared war on us. We should discuss the details with our allies, for I’m sure they will do everything in their power to hinder us in this war for the Cities of Heaven."

"Yeah!"

……

The drinking lasted until past 9 pm. After all was said and done, He Yi phoned the drivers of Raincube to fetch Li Chengfeng and the rest of the gang to the gaming base or the e-sports club. Murong Mingyue had also driven Lian Xin and He Yi back to the workshop. I was the only one who stayed behind because I wished to cool my head and think about the future of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I stood outside the restaurant and soaked in the chilly night wind.

Du du...

Suddenly, a phone call broke my reverie. It belonged to Lin Yixin.

"Hello, Yiyi?"

"Mn. I heard you went to Shanghai to fight Candlelight Shadow?"

I was surprised. "Huh? How do you know about it already?"

Lin Yixin huffed. "How could I not know about it? The video of your ‘offline PK’ against Candlelight Shadow and Tempest Shadow is burning a hole in the forums right now! There isn’t one person in the entire China server who doesn’t know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon had gotten into a physical brawl with each other, not to mention that Candlelight Shadow was so humiliated that he declared war on you! You must be feeling oh-so-pleased right now, aren’t you!?"

"..."

A few seconds later, Lin Yixin asked in a quiet voice, "How bad was it?"

"It’s not. It’s all superficial wounds. You don’t have to worry…" I said.

"How can I not!?" Lin Yixin’s voice abruptly rose a couple of octaves, and she sounded like she was about to cry. "You never tell me what you’re planning to do until you’ve already done it! You’re always doing all kinds of crazy stuff without consulting anyone! I know I should respect your decisions and give you your personal space, but how can I possibly accept you getting into a physical brawl with Candle Dragon? They were going to carve you to pieces with knives! Do you know how dangerous it was?!"

Lin Yixin’s voice was literally shaking right now. "What would I do if anything were to happen to you?"

I could only apologize with all my heart. "I’m sorry, Yiyi…"

"Where are you right now? Aren’t you home yet?"

"No. I’m cooling my head beside Ganjiang Road right now."

"You were drinking?"

"Mn."

"Where are you exactly? I’ll drive you."

"Xue Shi Jie…"

"I’ll come now."

"Mn."

Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but my entire body felt sore and hurt right now. I slowly sat down beneath a road sign, leaned my head against the pole, and let out a deep sigh. A sense of defeat welled inside my heart. My actions today hadn’t let down Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or the public, but it had definitely let down my girlfriend, Lin Yixin.

"Ugh…"

Suddenly, a piercing pain exploded from my arm. I rolled up my sleeves to find that purple-colored bumps that looked like fish scales had appeared on my skin. They were tiny, but they were absolutely horrifying to look at. Moreover, the entire limb burned like it was literally on fire or something.

"Ah…"

I couldn’t stop a gasp of pain from escaping my throat, I unconsciously punched the stone slab beside me, and the thing actually split in half! The pain didn’t subside in the slightest, however. It hurt so bad that I was almost curling on the ground. Something was very abnormal about my body. I was both unusually strong and fragile at the same time. What the hell was going on here?

I pulled out my phone and called Du Thirteen’s number. "Thirteen, my… my body seems to be going crazy again…"

"Where are you right now, Lu Chen?!" Du Thirteen asked urgently.

I answered, "I’m outside the restaurant. I gave you a blood sample half a week ago, right? Have you sent it to the research center at Nanjing yet?"

"I have. My dad said that your body is becoming more and more normal. You shouldn’t be experiencing any sudden changes."

"Then why am I…"

"Why, what? Don’t scare me, man!"

I looked at my arm again, but the scaley, purple-colored bumps chose this exact moment to fade away gradually. I blinked in disbelief for a moment before replying, "I… I’m fine now. Maybe it was just a hallucination. I did have a bit too much to drink…"

Du Thirteen let out an audible sigh of relief. "Seriously, don’t scare me, man. I’m really sensitive when it comes to this matter."

"Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t let me bother you any more and go catch some sleep."

"Okay!"

It was at this moment I heard Xue Lu’s sweet voice, "Faster, I can’t hold this pose all day…"

……

"That lucky bastard…"

I chuckled as I shoved my phone back into my pocket. For a time, I sat on the pavement feeling like I had been drained of all energy. Not only that, I noticed that the skin across my entire body had turned usually pale after that painful episode.

In the end, I couldn’t maintain my consciousness and fell asleep on the road. In my dreams, I heard a homeless singer singing about ten meters away from me: "On the verge of my dreams, I am willing to abandon anything, and I am awake because of my oaths to you. Night lies between awakening and madness…"

Ah, it was Richie Jen’s song. It was both familiar and distant.

As my body turned colder, I suddenly burst into tears. Why was I beset with such a weakness? Was it my oath that kept me going, or the stubborn refusal to succumb to my fate?

I worked so hard to achieve my dreams, and yet all that I had left with was this unbearable body. What the hell was happening to me?

……

"Hey kid! You shouldn’t sleep here!"

I was awakened by a youngster with an afro hair style. The guy was pointing at me while hugging a pretty and flirtatious woman. "Sigh, another drunkard, another dead dog on the streets. Ah, whatever. Let’s go to my house, shall we, dear? I promise you my bed is very huge…"

Her laughter felt sickeningly sweet to my ears.

……

The uncontrollable urge to laugh suddenly seized me as I stared at the starry sky. Right here and now, who would’ve thought that I was a Heavenly King of China and the unbeatable Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? And yet, wasn’t this exactly what I dreamed to have one day? Between a king and a normal person, I would rather be the latter.

Pa pa pa...

A new set of footsteps walked closer to me, and a fragrant scent entered my nose. When Lin Yixin saw me, she burst into tears and sobbed, "Little Cheat…"