Wing Breaker wielded a long axe surrounded by a bloody luster. He stared at He Yi and gave his dry, chapped lips a lick before saying, "This is the first time I got to meet you up close, and I must say, you truly are an exceptional beauty. Even the Fruit Knife Goddess is just your equal, not your better!"

He Yi replied calmly, "Unfortunately for you, I already have someone I like, so your praise is useless to me."

Wing Breaker grinned. "I wasn’t going to hold back anyway. This is your match point, a crucial round for Hall of Immortality after all. Don’t come complaining to me if you get wrecked, From Water."

He Yi smiled. "Did you learn nothing from the guild leader of your ally guild, Rose Thorn? The prettier a rose is, the sharper their thorns are. You know what? I don’t think you can beat me at all."

"Hmph!"

The countdown began. Both combatants charged the moment the number reached zero!

Wing Breaker charged toward He Yi in a straight line. He swung his axe and executed Barrier Break + Triple Slash before he even got close to her, intending to hit her from maximum range.

Rustle rustle rustle...

He Yi reined in her mount and raised her shield, eating the Barrier Break but Guarding the Triple Slash perfectly. She lost about 100k HP or so, but it was of no consequence because she had activated Royal Road.

I was astonished though. He Yi should’ve been able to dodge at least one of those attacks. The next moment, she cleared up my confusion by catching a surprised Wing Breaker in Trapping Net. She decided to facetank the attacks to ensure her Trapping Net landing, sacrificing but a chunk of her HP!

The battle ended almost immediately after that. A five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma later, He Yi backed a few steps and used Charge + Barrier Break + basic attack to send Wing Breaker out of the battlefield.

The second match started quickly, but the results were the same. Wing Breaker might be OP in a siege battle, but his PvP abilities weren’t nearly as sharp, especially against a tough opponent with good Attack, Defense and HP like He Yi. This was without mentioning that He Yi was starting to implement proper tactics in her PvP battles, making her even harder to defeat than before.

……

With this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls secured match point with a 3:0 score and officially entered the Top 64. The ticket to the eighth-finals of the WEL playoffs of China was in the bag.

The power gap between our two teams was even more obvious during the fourth match, Beiming Xue versus Dark Guardian Angel. Although Dark Guardian Angel had very good Defense and HP, his Attack could stand to be a bit better. Usually, a heavy-armor knight like him would’ve been able to run down an archer eventually without losing too much HP, even if the archer had enough Attack to break through the magic knight’s Defense. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was the Dark Archer Beiming Xue herself!

Thud thud!

Beiming Xue calmly shot Dark Guardian Angel in the chest twice as she kited him. At the beginning, she had hit him with Bone Eroding Arrow to lower his Defense by 50%. Then, she kited him around nearly the entire arena and chipped away at his HP using Icy Arrow, Spiraling Arrow Blade, Evil Spirit Volley, Skypiercer and more skills. Eventually, Dark Guardian Angel collapsed to his knees and submitted wholeheartedly to the victor.

Finally it was the 2v2 match, and the duo that was Beiming Xue and Lian Xin gave the enemy exactly zero chance to turn things around. Beiming Xue’s storm of arrows controlled so much of the battlefield that Galaxy Breaker Mage didn’t even dare to show his face. Lian Xin used Origin Force Field to disrupt Dark Guardian Angel’s movements, and Ice Spiral Matrix to annihilate his HP. Less than three minutes later, the duo took both matches by storm.

In the end, our battle against Hall of Immortality ended with a 5:0 overall score and a 10:0 individual score. It was a perfect ending to the preliminaries!

……

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, your team has advanced to the Top 64 of the WEL competition (China). The playoffs to decide the Top 4 teams to represent China in the WEL competition and the champion will begin tomorrow evening at 1 pm at the central arena, or 10 hours from now. Please be informed that failure to appear on time will result in disqualification. Good luck!

……

I waited for a bit, and the full team list appeared on the system UI. In fact, there were flames burning at the bottom of the UI when I summoned the system fairy. The visual effect was meant to show that the flames of war had spread to every corner of China while the WEL matches were ongoing. Countless players had participated in the preliminaries, but a huge majority of them were only participating for the sake of it. Now, after an entire day had passed, only 64 teams remained and advanced to the playoffs. I saw many familiar teams such as Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow’s and more. It was hardly a surprise though. Assuming they didn’t run into one another, there were very few people who could stop them from advancing.

At the same time, the WEL officials announced the final reward for the China region WEL playoffs on their official website—

33rd to 64th: Level +1, Luck +1, and 5000 RMB per player!

17th to 32nd: Level +2, Luck +1, and 20000 RMB per player!

9th to 16th: Level +3, Luck +2, 100000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best an Earth-grade item per player!

5th to 8th: Level +3, Luck +3, 250000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item per player!

3rd to 4th: Level +4, Luck +3, 500000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item per player!

Runner-up: Level +4, Luck +4, 500000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item per player!

Champion: Level +5, Luck +5, 2000000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Cambrian Divine Armament per player!

……

I nearly forgot to breathe as I stared at the stunning reward.

Beiming Xue was blinking with her mouth wide open as well. "OMG, 2 million RMB per player for the champion? That’s so much money! This Level +5, Luck +5, and a chance to draw at best a Cambrian Divine Armament is just as crazy! Eternal Moon Corporation is splashing a ton of money this time!"

I nodded in agreement. "This is how you build your reputation. For the past ten years, Eternal Moon Corporation had been focusing on forging a classic that belonged to them only. The WEL is the successor of the WSL, also the most attractive brand in the entire globe, so it’s obvious what Eternal Moon Corporation is trying to do. They’re luring more famous players into taking part in the competition and solidifying the WEL brand even further. Once this is over, it’ll become a true classic in gaming history."

Murong Mingyue said with a smile, "At any rate, 5 Luck is too good to pass on, so Lu Chen, Eve, Beiming and Lian Xin, please give it your all and win the competition for us, okay? Do it for us loafers, hehe!"

Suddenly, He Yi let out an exclamation of surprise and pointed at a certain line. "Look, there’s a rule here stating that only the players who participated in the final match will get to draw a prize. Everyone else in the team will only receive the level and Luck reward…"

Remains replied, "That makes sense. This rule should stop most players from trying to game the system instead of giving it their all, and 5 levels and 5 Luck are incredible rewards anyway. I’m sure Butterfly Dance and Hidden Fragrance will be very happy to treat you to dinner if we do become the champion of the WEL."

Butterfly Dance laughed. "But of course! 5 Luck is no joke, you know! Dinner is the minimum courtesy we can afford!"

I replied, "Yes, definitely. Anyway, thank you all for your hard work, you all deserve a good rest today. The playoffs will begin at 1 pm tomorrow, and I think the Frost Cloud workshop should be the ones to attend. What do you all think?"

"Mn!"

……

I logged out of the game and heard an immediate growl from my stomach. I definitely need to eat something soon.

I walked out of my room and saw the girls making preparations to head out already.

"Who was the one who said he’d treat us to supper just now?" He Yi asked jokingly.

I immediately slapped my chest and replied, "It is I! I know Aunt Wang’s food stall at a street corner where a full meal costs less than 50 RMB! Let’s go!"

He Yi: "..."

It was at this moment I noticed that Mingyue was missing. "Where’s sis? What’s she doing?"

"Gimme a minute! I’m almost done!"

"Mn."

After Murong Mingyue finished whatever she was doing and walked out of her room, I put on a black coat and led the girls outside. We then entered the lift and waited.

I sneaked He Yi a glance. The dim lighting of the lift made her gorgeous features even more attractive, and her body was wrapped tightly inside a thick coffee-colored fur coat.

"You sure wore a lot of clothes tonight, Eve…" I said.

He Yi giggled. "It’s not a lot at all, actually. Not at all…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Turn around, will you?"

He Yi pulled me to her and moved out of the camera’s line of sight. Then, she unwrapped her scarf and tugged open her collar in front of me. I immediately felt blood rushing into my head and threatening to pour out of my nose. Underneath the coat was a pair of white, wholesome breasts and a deep, seemingly bottomless cleavage that seemed capable of swallowing a person’s head. What the fuck? She’s only wearing her underwear under her coat?!

I stared at her, and He Yi giggled at my reaction. "It was pretty warm inside the apartment, and I was too lazy to pick my clothes right before we were about to head out. That’s why I’m wearing a coat only."

"It’s pretty cold outside though," I said.

"It’ll be fine…" she said with a gentle smile.

I reached out to He Yi’s collar and carefully tied her coat to how it was before. She simply watched me as a mysterious and beautiful light danced in her eyes.

"Sigh…"

Unfortunately, the romantic moment was quickly shattered by the sigh of a certain Murong Mingyue. "You two are lucky that I’m the only leftover woman here, but I would prefer if you did not act lovey dovey in front of me."

I turned around to roll my eyes at her. "What do you mean, ‘leftover woman’? You’re still only 25 after New Year’s Day…"

"I just am…"

"Fine, I’ll make a marriage post for you when I return to Dark Moon City later. Murong Mingyue, age 25, female, only daughter of her family, and a young and beautiful woman with 34E-sized breasts and perfect three sizes. She is a wealthy woman with three real estates in Suzhou and 30 million RMB she can use at any time. Both her parents are alive and well, and they were managers before they retired…"

Murong Mingyue blinked once before walking up to me and grabbing me by the collar. Then, she said threateningly, "How do you know me so well, boy? Speak, or… or I ain’t marrying anyone else but you…"

My eyes widened like saucers. "Sis, please, your chastity!"

"My what?!"

"I mean your 34Es are poking my chest…"

Murong Mingyue: "..."

The rest of the girls could barely control their laughter. A warm atmosphere permeated the lift for a time. (Author’s Note: Don’t ask me why the lift took so long to reach the ground floor. Take it as plot necessity, okay?)