The third match was Loulan in Midnight VS Seize The Throne, and the fourth match, Dragon God Temple VS Heavenly Plan Palace. However, just because we hadn’t heard of them before didn’t mean that they weren’t powerful opponents. A couple of fierce—even desperate, because there were several rounds where one party was literally down to the last man—battles later, Seize The Throne and Dragon God Temple successfully advanced to the next round.

Out of the two, Dragon God Temple seemed like the guild to watch out for. They were a guild from Wind City, and they had high levels and extraordinarily good equipment. Moreover, one of their players had a hidden class called Phantom Wolf Assassin. If we managed to make it to the quarterfinals, they would most likely be our greatest opponent up till that point!

There were a lot of players from Wind City who were cheering on their brothers and sisters from the spectators’ stand. It looked like these parties had a lot of fans.

……

When the fourth match was over, and the fifth match began, it was finally Candle Dragon’s turn to step on the stage. Their opponent was a party called “Heaven Melody”!

An applause that sounded like a thunderstorm erupted from the spectator’s stand. Countless people were screaming on top of their lungs until they eventually settled on one chant—“Martial God”, “Martial God”, “Martial God”!

Lin Yixin, He Yi, and I exchanged a silent glance with each other. Candlelight Shadow had dominated the China region for two years, and he was seen as the representative of Chinese gaming. It was impossible for us to beat him in terms of fame right now. Therefore, defeating Candle Dragon in this Who Will Rise tournament was a must if we were to reverse his glorious image and improve our own.

Candlelight Shadow stepped onto the stage with a smile, holding his gaming helmet in one hand and waving to the crazed audience with the other. Then, he and his four CGL rankers entered the battle rooms. Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, God’s Dance and last but not least, Candlelight Shadow himself—every last ID in this party was an ID that struck fear in the hearts of many. In fact, a full party of CGL rankers like this was unprecedented in the history of VR gaming!

In contrast, the players of Heaven Melody were practically unknown to anyone but a handful. They might be powerful, but I doubted that they were a match for Candle Dragon!

……

It was a slaughter. The second the match began, Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow and Blue Sky Scar plunged their blade straight through the hearts of their opponents. While the battle was going on, the archer Transient Smoke and Clouds was able to land every arrow at the opponents’ weakest spots like a sniper. God’s Dance was even stronger than he was, tossing blaze after blaze onto the battlefield and turning the entire platform into a sea of flames in no time.

Heaven Melody was obliterated in less than two minutes. They lost not because they were weak, but because their opponents were simply too powerful. The two warriors of Heaven Melody were first-rate materials, and their assassin even showed flashes of super-tier skills. He was the only one who managed to score a 3-second stun on Blue Sky Scar. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do everything by himself, and the only thing he could do was die when all five players from Candle Dragon ganged up on him and shredded his brittle defenses to pieces!

The second match was almost a carbon copy of the first. Again, the fight ended in two minutes!

Candlelight Shadow and his four subordinates exited the battle room so quickly it was almost as if they were just taking a bathroom break. Their victory—their absolute domination over a party that could’ve been a potential dark horse—was of course greeted by thunderous applause!

……

Staring at Candlelight Shadow, Lin Yixin curled her lips before asking, “Candle Dragon isn’t too bad, am I right Lu Chen?”

I curled my lips back at her. “Duh. If they were weak they wouldn’t have beaten the shit out of me back then…”

“Hehe, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon will meet each other in the semifinals if neither party is out before then, so this is your chance to take revenge against them. Are you nervous?”

I clenched my fists together and chuckled. “Nervous? About what? I’m excited. I can’t wait to hear Candlelight Shadow’s excuse when we beat them and stop them from reaching the final!”

He Yi echoed in agreement. “Yeah, we must do our best to advance to the semifinals and beat Candle Dragon!”

I glanced at Li Chengfeng, and we exchanged a knowing nod and a smile with each other. We were well aware that we had to carry the load of two players if we were to defeat Candle Dragon. He Yi and Murong Mingyue couldn’t be counted to perform well because they were clearly no match for the CGL Hall of Famers, and Beiming Xue was at best Transient Smoke and Clouds’ equal. This meant that he and I would need to deal with the remaining members of Candle Dragon ourselves.

In fact, the battle would most likely turn into a solo duel between me and Candlelight Shadow, and a 1v3 against Li Chengfeng, meaning that the burden on his shoulders would be even heavier than mine...

……

The next match was between Riverside Pavilion and Seventh Heaven. The gap between the two parties was rather huge, so it became a one-sided slaughter for Riverside Pavilion. Riverside Pavilion was one of the ten strongest guilds of Vanished God City, and they were as good as their fame suggested. Their strategy was obvious but effective: the moment the match began, their two warriors immediately acted to destroy their enemy’s formation and strategy. Then, the ranged classes focused down their targets one by one.

Finally, we were at the end of the first half of the grouping as Purple Lily and Dream of Tang showed up. Luo River God of the Capital turned out to be your classic older sister-type wearing a black uniform and skirt. She beckoned at her teammates, and they all walked up the stage with her.

Not far away, Xu Yang clicked his tongue and praised, “Luo River God of the Capital looks like an impressive woman. No wonder she’s able to challenge Candle Dragon at Wind City…”

High Fighting Spirits: “Yeah, her legs are so white!”

Xu Yang: “...”

Gui Guzi: “...”

Chaos Moon: “Fuck!”

……

On Purple Lily’s side, four out of the five players participating in the match were beautiful girls. The only guy in their party was a Level 105 warrior called “Moonlight Beneath A Rock”. Luo River God of the Capital was a super mage, Moonkiss was a Spirit Killer—another hidden assassin class—and the CGL ranker, Familiar Scent, was a magic knight I knew nothing about. They also had a priest called Pretty Little Fish. She probably had pretty powerful healing, or else Luo River God wouldn’t have brought a priest to a tournament like this.

Their opponent, Dream of Tang, didn’t look weak either. They had an average Level of 105, and it looked like all of them were equipped with Dark Gold–grade equipment. Of course, Dark Gold–grade equipment was normal these days. In fact, it didn’t matter if you had a full set of Purple Gold–grade or even Spirit-grade equipment if they weren’t Outstanding. Stat-wise Outstanding equipment was generally a lot stronger than their non-Outstanding counterparts, and that was before factoring their Outstanding Properties.

"It’s been a while since we last saw her. Level 107, huh. Luo River God of the Capital sure levels quickly despite having to waste time fighting Candle Dragon on the side…" I commented while drinking my tea.

Lin Yixin took out a tablet from her handbag and typed something. I didn’t know what she was searching for, and a couple of seconds later she enlightened me and said, "Wow, Luo River God of the Capital is so powerful! Her scepter is a Level 100 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon called the Thunder Scepter! That Moonkiss is pretty incredible as well. The dagger she’s holding is a 3-star Purple Gold–grade weapon called the Blade of Frozen Heart!"

I couldn’t help but click my tongue. From the sounds of it, Purple Lily definitely wasn’t an opponent anyone could afford to underestimate. With that kind of skill and equipment, this five-man party was top-tier even in the entire country. Their opponents would probably cry by the time this match was over!

It went as we predicted it would be. The moment the battle began, Moonkiss, the assassin, actually charged her opponent and drew all their attention to her. While the enemies were distracted, Luo River God of the Capital waved her Thunder Scepter and summoned a rain of fire from the sky, burning everything within a 20x20 yard area. Three of the enemy players were caught in the attack!

4984!

4472!

5102!

It was terrible. That one AoE spell deleted over half of the three melee fighters’ HP. If she could pull this off again, she could one-shot all of them in one go!

The good news was that the AoE skill—"Fire God Purgatory" was its name—looked like it had a long cooldown. The bad news was that Luo River God of the Capital didn’t only have that one spell, and she easily knocked a warrior who was charging her into the air and one-shot him with Ice Thrust!

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, a bloody dagger appeared out of nowhere and attempted to plunge into the mage’s body. Clearly, everyone knew that Luo River God of the Capital was the absolute core of Purple Lily, and that they had to defeat her as quickly as possible or risk losing more and more of their teammates!

"Hmph…"

Luo River God of the Capital snorted quietly as she retreated to the back and searched for opportunities to smash the assassin’s face with a couple of Fireballs. It was at this moment the remaining enemy fighters charged her!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

The super mage simply smiled and stood there. An unusual-looking magical shield—the "Origin Energy Shield"—was surrounding her, and it had incredible durability compared to the usual Magic Shield. The fighters dished out their combos, but they actually failed to penetrate the magical barrier. They exchanged a shocked glance with each other. "What… what is this?"

"Hehe, you lost…"

Moonkiss stood at the side and waited. The next moment, Fire God Purgatory dropped from the sky again and engulfed all the players around Luo River God of the Capital in flames! The skill had almost no channel time at all, so the enemy didn’t even have the time to disrupt the cast. Right now, she looked like a living goddess on that battlefield!

The match ended 1-0 in favor of Purple Lily.

Both Lin Yixin and I were frowning in silence. We were both thinking of a way to beat Luo River God of the Capital—or another mage as powerful as her.

Consciously or not, the super mage was declaring to all Chinese mages the true power of their class. She was telling them that they could be strong enough to 1v5 a full party of well-equipped, high-level players without even losing their Magic Shield!

Mage was a class that struck fear in any player’s hearts, and that fear would only deepen the further we got into the game. What Luo River God of the Capital displayed now was but the tip of the iceberg!

……

It was a clean and swift 2-0 victory. Even if Luo River God of the Capital wasn’t as strong as she was, Purple Lily still would’ve been the victors. Moonkiss, Familiar Scent, Pretty Little Fish, and Moonlight Beneath A Rock were all veterans who could present a challenge to a guild as strong as Candle Dragon, so this was just the natural result.

After the super mage got off the stage, she sat at the table right next to ours and asked smilingly, "Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, what do you think of our performance?"

I nodded approvingly. "You’re good…"

Lin Yixin agreed, "We leave Candle Dragon to you…"

But Luo River God of the Capital pursed her lips and said, "Don’t count on us, seriously… in a 5v5, our chances of winning are less than 30%."

"How is that possible?" He Yi looked astonished. "How are your chances of winning so low when you’re this powerful?"

The super mage simply smiled. "Guild leader He Yi, you have no idea how strong Candle Dragon and Candlelight Shadow are right now…"

I was astonished by her declaration myself. I pondered for a moment before saying, "Don’t worry, we promise to beat them if Purple Lily does fail to beat Candle Dragon in the quarterfinals."

Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "Thanks. I’ll do my best to take them out, but honestly, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya are the only two guilds who have a shot at beating Candle Dragon. The reason is simple: you two have Famous General Skills, but we don’t. It’s a huge disadvantage to say the least…"

"Hehe…"

"Hmph hmph!!"