With a crystal coffin on my shoulder and a boss's body beneath my armpit, the girls and I walked away from Bloodthirsty Castle feeling like the bosses of bosses. After we reached the gate, I took to the sky with Beiming Xue and Moon Dew just like before. Behind me, the rest of the girls were following on the Crimson Crystal Dragon and the Snow Crystal Dragon as well. One of the benefits of having a high-level mount was the super-high mobility. Even if the quest giver was at a completely different city, the player should still be able to reach them in an hour tops. In our case, it would’ve taken 2 or 3 hours of travel time if we had to travel on foot, or 5 to 7 hours if we had to avoid the lightning formation as well.

Half an hour later, my Ancient Divine Dragon glided down the sky and landed at the center of the Clansmen of the Dark village.

Pa!

After the landing, I put down the crystal coffin, stunning the onlookers in the process. At the same time, an armed Frederick ran out of the crowd and dropped to his knees beside the crystal coffin. Tears streamed down his face as he watched his dead daughter, "Serena, my daughter. What happened to you? Didn’t you promise me that you would return safe and sound?"

While I was setting down Zishui’s corpse beside the crystal coffin, Frederick abruptly looked over with an expression of utter hatred. "Damned Bloodthirsty Emissary! You killed my daughter? I’ll… I’ll kill you!"

He raised his axe and struck Zishui right in the chest, shattering bones and spilling blood everywhere. Who would’ve thought that Zishui would suffer such indignity even in death?

I hurriedly grabbed Frederick’s attention before he could cut off Zishui’s head. "Calm down, old man! Anyway, we brought Serena back to you as promised, so can we receive our reward now?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot. Thank you for reuniting my daughter and me, young warrior. She may have departed from this world, but at least I’ve fulfilled one of my responsibilities as a father…"

A system ding later, the great reward we were promised came in—

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the SSS Rank main quest [Frederick’s Request]. You have gained the reward: Level +2, Reputation +50000, 100000 gold, Luck +4, and the item reward: "Fire Qilin"!

……

Swhoosh swhoosh!

I gained 2 levels and 4 Luck in one go, but even that wasn’t my greatest concern right now. What is this Fire Qilin? Is it a pet or a mount?

I hurriedly opened my bag and found a crimson pet egg occupying a slot—

Fire Qilin (Mount Pet Egg): Ancient Immortal Rank Divine Beast. Legend says that it can inhale and exhale the heavenly flames. Mountable after it reaches adult stage.

Holy shit! Not only was it a mount, it was an Ancient Immortal Rank Divine Beast! This meant that it was at least as good as the Crimson Crystal Dragon or the Snow Crystal Dragon! I didn’t think that the quest would reward me this well!

I cautiously asked the girls, "So, what rewards did you all get?"

He Yi answered, "A pair of Ancient Immortal-grade boots."

Lin YIxin: "I got nothing…"

Lian Xin: "Nothing…"

Murong Mingyue: "Nothing…"

Beiming Xue: "40 Undead Berserker Cards…"

Me: "..."

It would be a death sentence to say anything about their rewards, so instead I tossed the Fire Qilin mount pet egg into Beiming Xue’s hands and said, "Lil Beiming, I know you don’t have a flying mount yet, but I hope that a king of the land will make up for it. I promise you it’ll be amazing after it enters the adult stage…"

"Ah?"

Beiming Xue blinked in disbelief for a moment. Then, she erupted in joy, "Big bro!"

I laughed. "Bind it now. It’s at least a couple hundred times better than the Dragonscale Beast…"

"Mn mn! I love you, big bro!"

"I know…"

……

While Beiming Xue was making a contract with her mount, Frederick was still sobbing beside his daughter’s coffin. Ten full minutes of grieving later, he said suddenly, "Someone, please run to the Blood Ghost Clan and inform them to make the necessary preparations. Three days later, we will be holding a ghost marriage between my Serena and their prince…"

I blurted, "Wait, what? A ghost marriage?"

"Yes!"

Frederick explained to me, "Seven years ago, the Dark Clan and the Blood Ghost Clan were going to hold a political marriage between the only son of the Blood Ghost Chief and my Serena. His son had been dead for 40 years, but we needed the Blood Ghost Clan’s blood powers to fight against the Purgatory legions, so we went through with the arrangements anyway. Naturally, Serena refused the marriage, and… Anyway, she’s no longer in this world. Perhaps this outcome is the best for everyone…"

I started shivering uncontrollably. "What the HELL are you talking about, old man? You were going to marry her to a dead person when she was still ALIVE? You… you heartless bastard, you…"

Frederick’s expression grew harsh. "Do you think I wanted this, boy? It was all for the greater good! For the sake of the Dark Clan, I must marry Serena to the Blood Ghost Clan’s dead son…"

Suddenly, I heard a clansman whispering, "But this was what drove the princess to commit suicide in the first place…"

"What?"

I was about to go berserk. "What the fuck have we done? We’re totally the villains right now…"

Lin Yixin gripped her fists tightly. "This Frederick is an absolute bastard!"

……

There wasn’t anything we could do to stop this, however. Frederick raised his axe and shattered the crystal coffin in one swing, causing Serena’s body to roll across the grass.

"Oh, my beloved daughter…" Frederick said sorrowfully despite what he had done and was still going to do to his own daughter.

Suddenly, Serena’s finger twitched. At the same time, bloody runes appeared all around her body.

A clansman exclaimed in astonishment, "That’s… that the Resurrection Spell! But how? The spell is only usable by an undead! Could it be… Did that devil, Zishui, sacrifice his own cultivation to resurrect our princess?!!!"

Serena exhaled and slowly opened her eyes. "Ah… I…"

Frederick hurriedly said, "Serena, my daughter, you came back to life! Thank goodness… thank goodness…"

However, Serena backed away from him like a frightened animal. "Don’t… don’t come closer! I… I won’t marry a dead person…"

Frederick clenched his fists. "We’ll talk about this later. You being alive is all that matters right now…"

……

Rustle rustle…

While this was going on, I slowly stepped toward Zishui’s corpse and took out the Revival Stone. I muttered to myself, "I hope I’m still on time…"

Frederick noticed my unusual movements and asked angrily, "What are you doing, boy?!"

Pu!

I stabbed the Revival Stone into Zishui’s chest and yelled, "Awake and take your beloved away from this place, Zishui! You are the only one who can give her happiness! You don’t have the right to die!"

"Ahhhhh…"

Zishui shuddered violently before jumping back to his feet. He looked at me and the Revival Stone in his chest and made the connection. "Thank you for reviving me, young warrior. I will not forget this."

He then summoned a dagger in one hand and held Serena in the other. He asked her, "Serena, the love of my life, do you still remember me?"

Serena watched him with a dazed but almost recognizing look on her face. "I… I haven’t seen you before, but I… I feel like you’ve lived in my dreams. I remember your voice, I remember your face…"

Zishui beamed at her before facing toward Frederick. "I won’t kill you, old man, but I will be taking Serena with me. Her life shouldn’t belong to a pile of dead bones!"

Finally, Zishui floated into the air and flew away with Serena.

……

While the Clansmen of the Dark were being distracted by Zishui, I hurriedly summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and shouted, "Girls, invincible and fly away before it’s too late!"

I activated my own invincibility skill just in time to prevent the Clansmen of the Dark from trapping me like last time. Together, we took to the sky and flew far, far away from the Dark Clan. The girls were laughing like bells. No one had expected this quest to turn out like this.

"This whole quest feels like a waste of time, big bro," said Beiming Xue.

I disagreed. "Of course not! I got the Song of Freedom and the Pity of the Purgatory Gods, Yiyi got the Purple Spirit Sword and the Cyan Rock Armor, you've got the Fire Qilin, Eve and everyone else got some high-level equipment, and everyone got 4 Luck for completing the quest! No, this wasn’t a waste of time at all!"

"That’s true. So, where are we going now?"

"Let’s use our guild scrolls and teleport straight to Dark Moon City. I want to use the Vassal Token!"

"Okay!"

……

Swhoosh swhoosh...

We appeared in Dark Moon City. It was midnight right now, so few people were loitering around the area. After we traveled to the territory hall, I sought out the Dark Knight Hero Udal and tossed the Vassal Token into his hands, saying, "Use it!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Udal dropped to one knee and raised his hands. The Vassal Token dissolved into dancing swirls of red light, and a system ring followed—

Ding~!

System Notice: "Vassal Token" has been used successfully. The resources required to use Dark Moon City’s unique skill "Duplicate Mount" and "Mounted Archery Training" have been reduced by 50%. The stats of the selected mount "Dragonscale Beast" have been greatly increased, and their new profile has been refreshed accordingly. Moreover, all existing Dragonscale Beasts will be updated to match its latest stats.

……

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed after the shock had passed. "The Dragonscale Beast was upgraded? Can someone show me its new stats?"

On the duplication platform, He Yi waved a hand across the interface and brought up a hologram of the Dragonscale Beast’s stats screen—

Dragonscale Beast (Quasi-Immortal Rank Boss Mount)

Strength: +1550

Stamina: +1600

Agility: +1450

Intelligence: +1400

Attack Increase: +105%

Defense Increase: +90%

Attack Speed: +90%

Movement Speed: +270%

Attack Range: +39 yards

Max HP: + 70000

Turn Rate: -25%

Mount Tenacity: +90%

Unique Skill: Dragon Soul Protection. Summons a dragon soul to protect the rider. Increases user’s Attack and Defense by 75%.

Introduction: One of the descendants of the Dragon Race. The Dragonscale Beasts are violent creatures who live among the animals of the wilderness. They look like warhorses, but they are really carnivorous.

Level Requirement: 220

Reputation Requirement: 350000

……

"Hmm…" I pondered. "Not only did the Dragonscale Beast evolve into a Quasi-Immortal Rank Boss mount, it looks like it circumvented the requirement where only mounts that are Earth Rank or below can be duplicated as well. It’s probably like how we can keep wearing our equipment even after we dropped below its requirements. Anyway, I had no idea that the Vassal Token would be this powerful. Looking at the results alone, it’s easily worth over 1 billion gold! The Dragonscale Beasts are now 75% as strong as the Crimson Crystal Dragon, and 50% stronger than the Gold Cavalry! It looks like Warsky’s dream of surpassing the Dragonlight Cavalry has been postponed indefinitely!"

Lin Yixin was slack-jawed when she said, "OMG, Ancient Sword really is going to be unbeatable after today…"

He Yi giggled happily. "Alright! There is nothing left to do, right? Then it’s finally time to go to bed. Before I forget, Lu Chen, Yiyi, we’re leaving for Shanghai tomorrow at 4 pm."

"What’s this about?" Lin Yixin asked.

"Zhou Ping—you know, the vice leader of Twelve Musicians, Chance Meeting?—invited us to her new bar in Shanghai as a token of gratitude for rescuing her Dragonbone Whip. She wouldn’t let me turn her down, so…"

I replied, "Sure! I see no reason to reject her invitation. Anyway, let’s all head to bed now!"

"Yeah."