Whoosh!

Charge arrived in the blink of an eye and I quickly stood in front of He Yi. Activating Ice Ray, I aimed Ghost Ice Soul at the Ghost Lantern Guard’s head.

But the withered undead suddenly waved its stone lantern before it and its entire body curled backward. It was actually the animation for a defensive skill!

Ding!

Following a light sound, the Ghost Ice Soul struck the defense shield. An unremarkable damage number flew up—214!

Fuck, it really was the legendary defensive skill that made damage taken only do around 10-50% of what it originally dealt. Even me, with my attack power, only did this little damage!

Murong Mingyue pouted. “Whew, is this an ironclad monster? Just one defensive skill can make it this overpowered....”

I chuckled. “Die!”

With a twist of my wrist, the Ghost Ice Soul was sent out again. The edges of my sword glowed with a golden sheen. This was precisely my new skill—Crushing Blow!

“Crush!”

In an instant, my longsword lightly jumped up from beneath the monster’s weapon. Crushing Blow had successfully broken open the enemy’s defense with a sweep. The Ghost Ice Soul hummed, then turned into several streaks of sword light that penetrated the monster’s abdomen, inflicting a damage number much higher than any basic attack!

2104!

Tsk tsk, so strong!

He Yi blinked in surprise. “So that’s Crushing Blow?”

“Yeah!”

I nodded. “With this skill in my arsenal, whoever dares to use a defensive skill is just asking for it!”

Crushing Blow’s 1-second cooldown was short so I could crush whoever tried to defend. It was the so-called natural bane of defensive skills. This skill was like a shield-breaking sledgehammer and was pretty much the king of attacks to a certain extent!

The monster’s IQ was limited. Not even 5 seconds after I crushed its defense, it adopted another defensive stance after smashing 500 of my HP away with a swing of its lantern. To be honest, if I didn’t learn Crushing Blow, I would definitely be hopping mad about now. It was bound to be frustrating if someone beat you across the head and turtled up once you tried to retaliate. That kind of playstyle was super shameless.

Since I had Crushing Blow, I didn’t need to use my Ice Ray + Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo, thus saving their cooldowns. I could just continuously use Crushing Blow!

Bang...

After breaking open the monster’s defense, my sword hit the air with a flourishing golden light. Seeing a damage number greater than 2000 was extremely pleasurable. And this was a monster too, not a player who would switch modes after using a defensive skill. Once it went on the defensive, it would stay that way. If it were a player, they would definitely switch out of defensive stance within half a second of seeing me use Crushing Blow. If they canceled their defensive skill, Crushing Blow had no other choice but to miss!

Not even 10 seconds later, after two Crushing Blows and a few basic attacks from me, coupled with an Ice Dragon Howl from Moonlight Stone, the Ghost Lantern Guard died. Defensive skills were ineffective against magic so Ice Dragon Howl would still hurt like hell.

Swhoosh!

The Ghost Lantern Guard fell in a flash and my experience bar rose a little. Level 75 elite mobs seriously gave a ton of experience!

Pop!

The first monster dropped an item!

A pair of pitch-black wristguards glowing with firelight silently lay on the stone floor.

I picked it up and couldn’t withhold my shock. “Yo, it’s Dark Steel–grade. This elite monster’s terrific…”

“Oh, what are its stats?” He Yi asked with a smile.

I reached my hand out and swiped, projecting its stats into the air—

Ghost Lantern Wristguards (Dark Steel-grade)

Defense: 115

Strength: +20

Stamina: +9

Passive: Increases user’s max HP by 100

Level Requirement: 70

……

It was a really good pair of Level 70 wristguards for melee classes. 20 Strength was equal to four levels of stats and it could even increase max HP by 100. These stats were universally needed by all three melee classes.

I asked, “How do we deal with it?”

He Yi’s beautiful eyes swept over it. She answered with a smile, “Its level requirement is too high. How many months would it take for us to reach Level 70? Let’s just sell it in the auction house and divide the gold among us.”

“Okay！”

“Okay!”

I nodded in approval. “I love making money from the auction house…”

The girls also shyly voiced out, “Us too!”

I was speechless.

……

I tossed the Ghost Lantern Wristguards into my bag and continued on, seeking the next Ghost Lantern Guard!

Ghost King Palace had a ton of monsters. Once we neared the end, large numbers of Ghost Lantern Guards appeared. Due to our respect and fear toward their defensive skill, we didn’t lure over entire groups. I could only break one defensive stance a time, so Beiming Xue’s Evil Spirit Volley would deal far less damage to the others. Our chances of finishing them all would also decrease.

As such, we lured them over one by one. My Crushing Blow defeated countless Ghost Lantern Guards and since they were Level 75 elite monsters, our leveling efficiency wasn’t slow at all!

Ghost King Palace was a ring-shaped map. We followed a rugged path as we killed our way forward. Based on what the map revealed, as long as we continued advancing, we’d reach Ghost King Palace’s core. That place was an eye-catching bloody red. It was obvious that the final boss was there. Our game plan was to kill our way there, eliminate the boss, loot some equipment, and get the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus so we can turn in our quest.

Before I knew it, we had been grinding until 8 in the morning. Thanks to the generous amount of experience gained, the girls were still excited while they dispatched the monsters. This was especially true for He Yi. By the time we cleared half the map, she had already reached Level 62 and immediately changed into her Abyssal Chestplate and equipped the Abyssal Sword.

Swhoosh swhoosh...

Two streaks of light flew past and my beautiful boss’s chest armor transformed into an exquisite dark-colored metal armor with a faint golden luster. It looked graceful and luxurious but it didn’t lack a heroic air. The streamline design on the chest area looked like two green leaves that held up a pair of suffocating peaks. The beautiful ravine between them would make another want to fall and sink in.

The lousy sword He Yi had been using as a weapon had also been swapped out. The Abyssal Sword was a Level 62 Gold-grade weapon with a much higher attack power than my Ghost Ice Soul. It had a faint, dark luster and a plain blade, except the fuller was shining with magic runes swirling around it. Anyone could tell at a glance that this sword was by no means ordinary.

In that moment, boss’s beautiful face was filled with happiness. She loved the Abyssal Sword to bits and then glanced at her chest armor. “Wah, so cool…”

I asked, “How are your stats now?”

“524 Defense, 645 Attack, 3240 HP. What do you think? Am I strong or what?” He Yi answered with a smile.

I was stunned. Fuck, how was this only strong? Her Defense was not lower than mine, her Attack was only a little inferior, and her HP advantage was even more apparent now!

Then again, with skills like Ghost Deity Armor, Enhanced Bones, Regeneration of the Undead, and some others, my survivability rate was still higher than He Yi’s. This won’t change unless she obtains a high-level Gold-grade shield that increased her chances of blocking. Only then would she be harder to kill than me.

I nodded. “If you’re lucky enough to get a good shield, you’ll be really strong, Eve!”

He Yi lightly smiled with dimples while holding the Abyssal Sword. “Alright, I’ll make those guys see me in a new light! Let’s enter the inner palace and kill the boss…”

“No need to rush, we’re still in the outer ring…”

“...”

Slowly but surely, we continued onward. It’d be a waste if we skipped these Level 75 Ghost Lantern Guards that yielded a ton of experience.

……

At 9 am, a sound rang past my ear.

Beep!

System Notice: Your friend “Wind Fantasy” has come online!

My heart stirred. Lin Yixin had finally logged on after a whole night?

I immediately sent her a message: “Yiyi?”

“What’s up?” Lin Yixin replied.

I threw my shyness out the window. “I miss you…”

“Well I want to beat you!”

I laughed and sent another message: “Yiyi, I’ve been questing all night long so I’ll probably wake up in the afternoon. Let’s go out for dinner tonight.”

Lin Yixin asked: “Let’s get this straight first, whose treat?”

“Me, duh!”

“Okay, then I’ll reluctantly agree!”

“Alright.”

After a while, Lin Yixin suddenly sent me another message: “Wow, what map are you in? How did you reach first place on the Heavenly Ranking?”

I was secretly delighted. “Heaven’s mysteries must not be revealed!”

“Hmph, hmph. Just you wait. I’ll be sure to snatch first place when you’re sleeping!” Lin Yixin sent an incredibly provoking line and then added a cute smiling emoji right after.

Very good. She was willing to say that out loud, which meant that she was sure she could do it!

I assume that Lin Yixin also had a grinding quest like my Myriad Poison Cave or else she wouldn’t have had the courage to say she’d pass me. After knowing her for so many days, I knew that although Lin Yixin was arrogant, she wasn’t one to speak empty words.

……

We agreed to meet on the first floor of Happy House at 7 pm. Lin Yixin would reserve the seats and I’d be paying the bill. I basically didn’t care about it since I had made so much gold and exchanged it for quite a lot of RMB that treating a girl out wasn’t an issue.

I continued grinding and slowly walked inward from the perimeter.

Crack!

My sword rose, unleashing Crushing Blow. The Ghost Ice Soul turned into several streaks of sword light and pierced through a Ghost Lantern Guard’s body. The bright golden light was very dazzling to the eye.

Pop!

A Big Magic Stone rolled far away. Murong Mingyue had to chase it into the distance. Once she caught it, she placed it between her breasts and walked back. That Big Magic Stone’s must be thrilled to be between a beauty’s snowy mounds. It’s probably having a nosebleed.

I pointed ahead with my sword. “Here’s the Ghost King Palace’s core area. Let’s go in and see if this Ghost King really has three heads and six arms to have so many minions guarding its door!

“Mn mn!”

I took the lead position with my Dark Wasp. Ghost King Palace’s core area was an attic filled with toxic gas. Multiple seals were pasted on its door and there were a ton of crisscrossing iron chains too. This was obviously a forbidden area!

I rushed up and slashed horizontally!

Clang!

My strike easily crumpled the iron chains. The sharpness of a Gold-grade weapon truly was extraordinary.

……