The next morning.
After we got out of bed, we assembled our team. Early in the morning, He Yi went out again. She looked travel-worn as she had to fly to Beijing for a meeting. She had to leave in the morning and return in the afternoon. Luckily, a beautiful director of Suzhou's Raincube had come with her.
After breakfast, everyone prepared some fruits and drinks and went online. This way, they could log off and rehydrate at any time. Professional players like me, who were like camels, didn't need to worry about it. It was normal for me to go a day and a night without water or rice, but the girls couldn't. Women were made of water, and they couldn't be like me.
I called Lin Yixin and said, "Good morning, Yiyi!"
"I'm eating breakfast, Little Cheat!"
It was early in the morning, and I could hear the sound of the road on the other side of the phone. I didn't even need to think to know that Lin Yixin was talking to me with a roujiamo in her mouth.
"Hurry up, we're all ready. We're going to Land of Soul Suppression to activate the follow-up quest!"
"Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes. I'll be online then!"
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit, mua. Everyone else, read as normal:!"
"..."
… …
Swhoosh!
When I went online, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were already waiting for me.
"Where's Lian Xin?" I asked.
"Data transfer is in progress. The system just notified us that she has successfully migrated to Sky City and become a player of Sky City. However, we'll have to wait for five minutes before the data transfer is complete. Sister Lian Xin is waiting in Little Black's nest right now," Beiming Xue said.
"Mn, there's no rush. Lin Yixin will have to wait for a few minutes as well. It won't take long."
"Got it!"
A while later, a magic formation lit up, and a female mage with a green ID appeared inside it. It was none other than Lian Xin.
Lian Xin walked out of the magic formation and said with a smile, "Alright, it's finally done. Come, let me join the main guild!"
"Mn."
I sent the guild invitation, and the next moment, I heard a notification — beep!
Guild Notice: Player "Lian Xin LV-173 (Phantasm of Stars)" has successfully joined your guild!
… …
Instantly, the guild was boiling with excitement. Xu Yang: "Hahaha, Little Star is finally back. A Level 173 Mage, such a powerful level!"
Li Chengfeng: "Welcome home, Elder Xing! Welcome home, Sister Lian Xin! Hahaha! From now on, no one will dare to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls lacks powerful mages!"
Gui Guzi: "Should we form a party right now and challenge Candle Dragon's God's Dance? God dammit, Candle Dragon always says that God's Dance is the number one mage in China. Now that Lian Xin is back, let's challenge her and show Candle Dragon what it means to be the number one mage in China. Hmph hmph …"
Lian Xin giggled. "Gui Guzi, calm down ~ ~"
Chaos Moon laughed. "That's right. Don't listen to an idiot like Little Gui. Hmph, according to my estimation, God's Dance doesn't even have a 20% chance of beating our Lian Xin. Both Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Luo River God of the Capital are slightly stronger than God's Dance, am I right, Lu Chen?"
I nodded. "Yeah, Lian Xin has at least an 80% chance of beating God's Dance, 70% chance of beating Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and 55% chance of beating Luo River God of the Capital. She has the skill advantage, but she still needs to hone her mechanics. Last time, Lin Yixin managed to get close to her so easily. If it were Luo River God of the Capital, Yiyi wouldn't have been able to defeat her so easily."
Lian Xin nodded. "That's right. When I was at Seven Star City, I defeated almost every melee expert, but I didn't run into anyone as strong as Lin Yixin. Her movement is so fast and decisive that it's almost impossible to react to it. But if big brother Lu Chen fights me more in the future, I'm sure I'll become the number one mage in China!"
Li Chengfeng laughed. "Alright, don't forget to record the battle report. Lian Xin, save the recording of Lu Chen's defeat so that we can watch it to our hearts' content. Haha, I really want to see Lu Chen get killed by a mage!"
The corner of my mouth twitched. "Fuck …"
Lian Xin smiled. "It's fine. I heard that Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng is a Top 5 player in Sky City, and he's ranked pretty high in the arena. Don't worry, Little Xin will invite you to the arena for a 1v1 duel when you're not grinding. Yep, that's it!"
Li Chengfeng's expression changed. "Can … can I say no?"
Xu Yang said, "Only if you want to die …"
Gui Guzi laughed heartlessly. "That's great! We'll get to see Little Li get crushed by a mage! Remember, Battle Soul Possession isn't allowed. That's a shameless way of fighting, so everyone else should just watch as normal!"
Li Chengfeng wanted to cry. "Fuck, even if I have Battle Soul Possession, I might not be able to beat her …"
Gui Guzi: "You sure know your limits …"
Li Chengfeng countered, "Don't even think about it. Even if I'm going to be abused, at least I have the right to be abused, unlike some Undead Knights. Their maneuvers are too bad and they don't even have the right to be abused. Little Sister Xin doesn't like him at all, hehehe …"
In the end, Chaos Moon concluded with a smile, "Anyway, now that the four elders of Sun, Moon, Stardust have reunited, we must unite and rebuild Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to new glory. Xu Yang's leadership, Bright Moon's attractiveness, Lian Xin's strength, and Lu Chen's intelligence and courage. Hmph hmph, with these four at the helm of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, do we have to worry about losing to Candle Dragon?"
Today, the future of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls belongs to everyone, and it is up to everyone to work together. Every member of the guild is our capital and hope, so let's work hard and grind even better equipment. The battle of White Horse City has shaken the world, and there's a high chance that we're about to face a super war on par with the one at Dawn City, so let's get ready. This war won't be too far away. It'll take at most two months, and it'll take at least a month! "
Everyone laughed heartily, expressing their gratification.
Beside me, Lian Xin said with a smile, "Big brother Lu Chen, you've grown a lot. You're really good at comforting people, aren't you? You're getting more and more shrewd …"
I let out a cough before replying, "It's not about comforting people or being shrewd. It's about respect and sincerity!"
"Alright, when do we depart?"
"Just a little while longer …"
It was at this moment a ray of light appeared inside the magic formation, and Lin Yixin walked out of it. She was wearing black armor that covered half of her upper body and a pair of boots, and her snow-white skin was exposed through the opening of her breastplate. Her voluptuous breasts bounced slightly in the wind, and it was enough to take one's breath away.
"She's here …" Lian Xin stared at Lin Yixin warily.
Lin Yixin also noticed Lian Xin, and she unsheathed her sword with a clang. "Why is this girl in the party? Isn't she supposed to be with Sister He Yi?"
I pushed Lin Yixin's sword away and said, "Eve has something to do today, so she can't come with us. Lian Xin is a ranged DPS, and she has a lot of powerful crowd control skills. She's an indispensable companion, so I'm bringing her along. Don't be stubborn, Yiyi, and grind and do quests with us!"
Lin Yixin looked around before nodding. "Alright, I'll try my best not to get into a fight with him."
"Good. Let's go!"
"Oh right, Sister He Yi can't come with us. How are we going to compensate her for this great quest?"
"It's simple. We'll just give her an Immortal-grade item we got. That's Eve's idea as well. You don't have any objections, do you?"
Lin Yixin smiled. "Of course. At this stage of the game, an Immortal-grade item shouldn't be a problem at all."
"Mn. Let's go to Land of Soul Suppression!"
"Got it!"
… …
After repairing our equipment and stocking up on Magic Consumables and potions, we headed straight for Land of Soul Suppression.
Since Lin Yixin and I were fast enough, I had no choice but to clear a path for them while Lin Yixin rode the Moonchaser Tiger and protected the three ranged girls with Kris. It didn't matter if we were fighting monsters or humans, ranged players always needed the protection of melee players.
At this moment, Land of Soul Suppression was completely open to players. An endless stream of players from Wind City, Sky City, and Vanished God City had formed parties with each other. At least a thousand players had invited each other to join their parties at the entrance of Land of Soul Suppression. The strongest monster inside was already at Dread Rank. A single player wouldn't be able to defeat it. Fans of the book loved to read the story:
The five of us formed a party, and Lin Yixin was the party leader. She activated Bombshell and increased all our stats by 80%. It was a very useful skill for everyone.
After entering the Soul Suppressing Tower, we easily passed through the traps. Then, we did not linger on the way. In reality, most of the monsters on the first to seventh floors had already been killed by the players. This was because the monsters here could drop equipment sets. There were many players guarding this floor. As soon as a Bronze Beast spawned, it would be surrounded and killed by dozens of players.
We went all the way to the ninth floor. Lin Yixin and I acted as the tanks, and the two super powerful archers behind us. Even the Dark Prisoners couldn't withstand a few hits.
When we reached the teleportation formation where the ninth floor's boss had died, I took out the nine rotting Tiger Soul Essences and activated them — Ding ~!
System Notice: The five-man follow-up quest of the Soul Suppressing Tower has been activated. Your party has obtained the main quest [Betrayal of the Bloody Shield] (Current Quest Rank: A-rank Divine Quest) Description: Head to Vanished God City.
Content: Head to Vanished God City. To the west of the city is a territory occupied by the undead. This land is called the Bloody Shield Domain, and it is filled with the wails of the dead and the moans of the resentful souls. The Tiger Soul Essence has opened the barrier of the Bloody Shield Domain. Please head to the domain and pass through the undead's encirclement. There, you will find the ruins of an empire, and in the depths of the ruins is Ovia the Bloody Finger's lair. Enter the lair, kill the Sovereign of Hell, and bring his head to Princess Karinshan of Sky City. You will be rewarded handsomely for this!
… …
I shuddered and stared at Lin Yixin with wide eyes. "Motherfucker, what kind of shitty quest is this? It's asking us to kill one of the Nine Sovereigns, Ovia the Bloody Finger?!"
Lin Yixin pursed her lips in excitement. "Ohh, killing the Nine Sovereigns? That sounds so exciting!"