The girls had logged off, but I didn’t feel like sleeping just yet. Hmm, I think I’ll waste some time playing 1v1s in the champion arena!

Beep!

An instant match! My opponent and I appeared on the opposite sides of the battle arena. I was a Top 10 ranker in the champion arena, so naturally my opponent couldn’t be a weakling. He was the number one magic knight of Warsky Alliance, Laughing At The Heavens!

Swhoosh swhoosh!

Laughing At The Heavens looked surprised to see me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Aren’t you grinding Bloody Shield Domain?"

I smiled. "I was, and I just finished. Anyway, let’s get this over with. I’m going to rest after this battle is over!"

"Heh!"

Laughing At The Heavens tightened his thighs, raised his spear and charged toward me. However, he was moving at an even pace, and he wasn’t using his fighter skill, Charge. It looked like he had improved after all the battles he went through. Back in Spirit of Grief, Laughing At The Heavens was the guild leader of a big guild. Once, he and a hundred thousand of his brothers acted as cannon fodders tasked to delay an army ten times bigger than his own. In the end, it was only after 10 hours of valiant fight that he perished. This feat was ultimately what made him join the CGL Hall of Fame. Still, that was in the past, and today, Laughing At The Heavens was a trusted general of Warsky.

Swhoosh!

The magic knight thrust his spear at me from a difficult angle, and I could see a fiery cone around the speartip. It was of course the skill Barrier Break. It was a good attack angle, one that prevented me from using my weapon to defend against it.

So, I swung my left arm and manifested the Dragon God Shield through the Mark of Divine Arm at the same time, successfully parrying the attack. My parry success rate was over 70% even without a shield. Now that the Dragon God Shield added flat 54% to that number, there was no chance Laughing At The Heaven could’ve landed a hit on me.

After I knocked his attack aside, I used the momentum to spin on my feet and swing the Purple Ying Sword. The blade of the weapon gleamed like the sun in that moment!

"Ah?!"

Laughing At The Heavens exclaimed in shock and raised his shield instinctively. The Purple Ying Sword’s glamor had clearly caught him by surprise!

Bang!

His shield rocked heavily, and Laughing At The Heavens staggered backward with a groan. Although he successfully Guarded against the attack, the combined might of the Purple Ying Sword and my Strength was still too much for him to handle!

Before he could pull away, I caught up to him and executed Burning Blade Slash!

Chiang chiang chiang!

The weapon rocked his shield repeatedly until suddenly, the image of a crumbling mountain appeared around the Purple Ying Sword. It was Mountain Crush!

Crack!

Laughing At The Heavens’ shield lost all its durability and shattered just like that. While he was panicking, I executed Universe Break and stabbed him right through his black armor!

Puchi!

428375!

An unthinkable damage number rose from the magic knight’s head, and his face turned as white as paper. He slid down his mount, hit the ground and died just like that.

My blood boiled with excitement as I stared at the Purple Ying Sword. This 500% damage proc is seriously no joke!

Now that my curiosity was fully satisfied, I withdrew from the battle arena and prepared to log out of the game. I could always fight another match after I got enough rest!

……

There was one more thing to do before I took my rest though. I opened my friend list and sent Stranger of Three Lifetimes a call request. A few seconds later, she accepted the call and said—

"Lu Chen? What’s wrong? It’s super late, and I’m busy fighting a boss here!"

"There’s something I need to ask you, Momo."

"Sure. Ask away!"

"Where do you live right now?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

I smiled. "I just want you to treat you to a meal. Can we meet some time outside the game?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied with a blush, "But I’m not ready…"

Me: "... You’re overthinking it. It’s Eve and me inviting you to a meal."

Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "Aiyo, how can you do this? That’s so disappointing! Well, jokes aside, you know that some of the core players of my guild have signed with Lenovo, right? We’ve been competing in a regular competition at Xixi Valley, Changzhou. Some of your guild members are participating as substitutes as well. Long story short, I’m at Changzhou right now!"

That was great news. "Alright! Changzhou is only an hour away from Suzhou. I’ll treat you to lunch tomorrow afternoon, okay? Now, send me your phone number already!"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes: "Okay. It’s 134-1967-****. See you tomorrow then. Just call me when you’ve reached Xixi Valley."

"Okay. If the time is right, we might stay a bit to watch your match!"

"Hehe, it’s a promise. Anyway, I got to focus on a boss!"

"Mn. Good night!"

"Night!"

……

Finally, I logged out of the game and took off my helmet. The first thing I felt was great hunger, so I rushed out of my room and went straight for the living room. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were eating cakes by the time I arrived.

I sat beside He Yi, and Beiming Xue poured me a glass of water. I looked outside. It was still dark because it was 2 am, the dead of night.

While eating, I asked He Yi who was sitting next to me, "You busy tomorrow, Eve?"

He Yi smiled. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yep!" I smiled back. "I… invited Stranger of Three Lifetimes to lunch at Changzhou tomorrow. If you’re free, then I want you to come with me. There’s something important I want to discuss with you two."

Beiming Xue’s eyes widened. "Are you dating Stranger of Three Lifetimes, big bro?"

"Of course not!" I stared at her while explaining, "It’s something very important for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. So, are you free or not, Eve?"

He Yi nodded. "I am. All that’s left to do right now is capturing the Ghost Chariots at Bloody Shield Domain, and the last time I checked, we’ve swept through almost 25% of the map and captured over 10000 baby Mingshes already. That being said, I feel that the baby Ghost Chariots are slightly stronger than the baby Mingshes. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon all captured one for themselves, and they’re still working on it. By the time we’re finished with the map, I believe we’ll be able to catch around 20k Mingshes and 5k Ghost Chariots as pets!"

I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "That many? That’s great! Hehe, our enemies will be in for a shock the next time we meet each other in war!"

"Mn." He Yi replied while stretching, Her firm breasts looked like they were about to jump out of their clothes. She then smiled at me and asked, "I’ll come with you to Changzhou tomorrow. By the way, what is this issue we want to talk about?"

I shot her an enigmatic smile and said, "It’s a military secret. You’ll know once we meet Stranger of Three Lifetimes tomorrow."

"Alright…"

……

It was a peaceful night. The next morning, I woke up at 9 am sharp and washed myself quickly.

He Yi was already fully dressed by the time I walked out of the bathroom. She was wearing a warm orange-colored shirt, an elegant and stylish coat, a mini skirt and a pair of lady’s boots that accentuated her beauty even further. When she saw the look on my face, she immediately explained herself as if she realized what I was thinking, "There are a lot of pretty girls in Blazing Hot Lips, right? I er… I can’t possibly let Stranger of Three Lifetimes outdo me in the appearance department, can I?"

I laughed. "Bullshit. You’re clearly aiming to one-shot her…"

"Heehee. Let’s go already. We can eat breakfast on the way…"

"Okay!"

We went downstairs. For appearance’s sake I chose to drive He Yi’s Lamborghini today, and to be honest, I quite liked this type of racing car anyway. It was a lot more powerful than my X12, and the feeling when you stepped down on the gas and heard the engine roar was something the X12 couldn’t quite replicate. The car itself also had a super cool appearance, which by extension meant that we, the driver and the passenger, looked cool as well.

We ate a quick breakfast outside before returning to the car. It wasn’t long before we hit the highway in style.

I was driving at the high speed of 150 kilometres per hour, but the inside of the car felt perfectly steady. It was one of the benefits of buying a high-quality car. He Yi was humming a tune from the front passenger’s seat and sneaking glances at me from time to time. A while later, she said with a giggle, "Slow down! How fast are you driving to cut past that Camaro anyway? At this rate it’s only a matter of time before you’re hit with a speeding ticket!"

"It’s fine, you’re rich anyway…" I replied.

He Yi pouted. "Fine, as long as you’re happy…"

……

It was only 10:30 am when we reached Changzhou. We drove straight to Xixi Valley. Even from a distance, we could see that the e-sports stadium was completely filled with people. A ridiculously luxurious advertisement board was hung above the building stating: "CCPL Regular Season is Live! Blazing Hot Lips VS Candle Dragon VS Snowy Cathaya VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Who will walk away the champion?"

He Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? I thought our guild wasn’t participating in the CCPL this time."

I nodded. "That’s true. Rose mentioned that the total grand prize pool of this CCPL competition is below a million RMB, which is why she sent Remains and some of the substitutes to participate instead of us. The competition lasts for half a month, and there’s no way we can afford to waste that kind of time."

He Yi giggled. "We should’ve brought out gaming helmets with us. I’m sure Remains and the others will let us replace them in the finals and beat the crap out of Momo!"

I grinned. "Fuck, what’s with the sudden bloodlust? Anyway, Momo would never accept our plan if we did that, okay? We’re here to do business, not to fight!"

"Hmph hmph. Drive slower. There are students in front of you!"

"Oh…"

I parked the Lamborghini at the parking lot next to the venue. Then, I led He Yi to the counter and paid 50 RMB per person for the ticket. These greedy bastards!

……

It was just as crowded inside the venue as it was outside. A ridiculous number of Heavenblessed players had come to watch the competition as well.

Holding He Yi’s hand, I took the lead and tried to push my way to the front, but there were so many people that He Yi whined in discomfort from time to time. These students couldn’t care less if the president himself had arrived. After all, they were here to see Blazing Hot Lips’ guild leader, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and Snowy Cathaya’s Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel in the flesh.

For He Yi’s protection, I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and continued pushing our way forward. Although my Strength stat was OP inside the game, it was so-so in real life. It took us almost ten minutes to finally squeeze our way to the front row. The beautiful host spotted He Yi and me almost immediately, and she kept glancing back at us again and again as if she was uncertain about something. We didn’t respond to her action, of course. Today’s show belonged to Blazing Hot Lips and Snowy Cathaya, and it would be bad sport to snatch their limelight from them.

The words "grand final" were displayed on the big screen. The guilds were Snowy Cathaya versus Blazing Hot Lips, and the format was BO5. In the end, Blazing Hot Lips barely defeated Snowy Cathaya’s Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel and Zi Chuanyu with a 3-2 score and won the competition.

He Yi chuckled into my ears. "The winner of this competition would be different if it was Beauty Lin who was participating."

I nodded in agreement. Lin Yixin had the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and the Moonchaser Tiger. There was no way Stranger of Three Lifetimes could beat her if she had entered the arena instead of Zi Chuanyu.

……

When Stranger of Three Lifetimes lifted the champions’ trophy during the final award ceremony, she finally noticed me and He Yi and shot us a smile. "You’re here!"

I was about to reply when that fat, so-called bureau chief, gave her a hug and stifled her reply. Motherfucker, these award givers are so shameless these days.