"What are your plans for the deciding match?"

He Yi looked unperturbed when she asked me this question smilingly, but I knew that she was really as nervous as I was. If we lost this, our WEL journey would be ended by our sworn enemy, Candle Dragon.

Right now, the biggest variable of this match was without a doubt Ye Yuse the Charm Master. Had she been anyone else, our chances of winning would’ve been close to 100%. Her Divine General Skill, Nether Curse, was just too OP and put tremendous pressure on us both. With a hit rate between 25% to 50%, all she needed was one lucky moment to make us type GG. In fact, she had already had multiple lucky moments throughout this match.

I faced my beautiful guild leader’s hopeful gaze and thought seriously for a moment. "Our greatest problem is Ye Yuse’s Nether Curse. We need to find a way to dodge it."

Gui Guzi responded, "Kill Ye Yuse first!"

But Chaos Moon shrugged and shot down his idea. "The second round was literally the failing example of that. Killing Ye Yuse wasn’t the problem, guarding against her do-or-die Nether Curse is."

An idea crossed my mind at that moment. I smiled.

Beiming Xue asked me, "Did you think of something, big bro?"

"It could work."

"Mn. Tell me already!"

Beiming Xue stood on her tiptoes and moved her ear closer to my mouth. After I whispered something to her, the girl couldn’t stop grinning. "Alright, we’ll do just that!"

……

Swhoosh swhoosh!

We entered the arena once more. This round was a matter of honor for both Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.

I saw a flash behind Candlelight Shadow’s eyes as he assumed a combat stance. Clearly, he was just as nervous as we were. In fact, Ye Yuse was the most nervous of us all—because it was the first time she participated in a top-tier competition like this—and Beiming Xue the least. She was born with an optimistic and carefree temperament, so she didn’t feel any stage fright at all.

Candlelight Shadow charged me the moment the battle began. His tactic was obvious. He would pin me down so that Ye Yuse could find an opportunity to use her Nether Curse.

This time, Ye Yuse fought a lot more cautiously and harassed me non-stop with her charms. I injected the Purple Ying Sword with energy while I dodged the attacks with zigzags. A while later, I found an opening to throw the Purple Ying Sword and use Coiling Dragon Revolution!

Beiming Xue activated Leap the second I used Coiling Dragon Revolution. I myself ran forward to escape Candlelight Shadow’s attack temporarily.

Swhoosh!

Ye Yuse tried to execute the same move she used before—teleporting in between me and Beiming Xue and using Nether Curse—but she quickly realized that neither of us were within range. It was exactly how we planned for it to happen. Even worse—for her—after noticing that Ye Yuse hadn’t used Nether Curse, I immediately turned around, locked onto her and activated Thunderous Charge.

Now she didn’t even have a chance to use Nether Curse anymore.

Swhoosh!

Candlelight Shadow appeared behind her while swearing, "Shit!"

The light of Barrier Break appeared on his blade, followed by Shattering Sword and Shield. He was going all out to protect his partner’s life.

I went all out myself, parrying Barrier Break but allowing Shattering Sword and Shield to delete 110k HP from my health pool. I was now right next to Ye Yuse, and she had no Blink to escape. She tried to move away from me, but her movement speed was lower than mine. A quick dash and turn later, I blocked her path of retreat and punched her using Magic Piercing Punch!

Bang!

Ye Yuse shuddered a bit. She hadn’t taken any damage because she was protected by her Magic Shield, but I had disrupted her Hold spell right before she could cast it on me.

Swhoosh!

The Purple Ying Sword glowed again, and I slashed toward Ye Yuse.

As it turned out, the crisis awakened Ye Yuse’s potential, and she swung her scepter in an attempt to parry my attack. I smiled though. There was no way she could stop me with her level of skill.

I tilted my sword slightly while bringing up my left arm, punching her scepter aside. Then, the Purple Ying Sword glowed purple as I slashed Ye Yuse on the shoulder—Frightening Slash!

40993!

The damage number was blue instead of red, signalling the amount of MP damage she took. I knew that the skill had deleted most, if not all, of her MP because a mage who didn’t invest at least some points into Stamina would be too fragile to participate in any form of PvP.

Candlelight Shadow caught up to me from behind and tried to stop me, but I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash!

Boom boom boom!

Candlelight Shadow had tasted the power of Burning Blade Slash many times by now, so he dared not endure the skill head-on. The moment he crossed his sword in front of himself and used Guard, I immediately rushed forward and executed Crushing Blow!

Candlelight Shadow hurriedly canceled his Guard, but he couldn’t dodge the Pardon I slapped across his chest!

MISS!

This meant that my next strike would almost be dealing true damage, not to mention that a crit here would be enough to one-shot him. He had no choice but to back away from me.

Behind me, I heard Ye Yuse letting out a groan and hitting the ground with a thud. She didn’t have her MP, and her Blink was still on cooldown. There was no chance she could’ve survived Beiming Xue’s attack. She was dead in just a couple of Spiraling Arrow Blades.

……

Candlelight Shadow’s face turned green in an instant. His heart turned as cold as ice when he saw me using Tenacity of the Dead and healing myself for over 60k HP.

Taking advantage of his momentary daze, Beiming Xue cast Well of the Abyss. This time, Candlelight Shadow was caught before he could activate War God Rampage.

"We won!"

I was overjoyed.

"Mn!" Beiming Xue nodded back with a smile just as wide as mine.

The moment Candlelight Shadow was freed from Well of the Abyss, he immediately took Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, Spiraling Arrow Blade and Skypiercer to the face. Invincibility skills were forbidden in the WEL, so he had zero chance of surviving our combined assault. A groan later, he dropped to his knees and died as well.

The score was 3:2. It was hard, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to defeat Candle Dragon and qualify for the final of the WEL China nationals!

……

Swhoosh swhoosh!

When Beiming Xue and I reappeared in the waiting area, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and He Yi immediately came forward to hug us and celebrate this difficult victory.

As I thought, I had to employ unusual tactics to defeat the super strong duo that was Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse. Skills like Frightening Slash and Magic Piercing Punch were fairly situational in small-scale PvP duels like these, but it was thanks to these skills that I was able to delete Ye Yuse’s MP and give Beiming Xue a much easier time at killing her.

Not far away, Candle Dragon’s players looked dumbfounded and drained. Candlelight Shadow’s sword was lowered, and his eyes were grim. Who would’ve thought that the so-called number one guild of China would be defeated in the semi-finals? And this was despite the addition of their ridiculously powerful Divine General, Ye Yuse. It was an outcome neither Candlelight Shadow nor his people could accept.

……

"We won!"

The Purple Ying Sword accidentally shattered a brick when it hit the floor, but I ignored it and shot everyone a smile. "Only Soul Battle Robes left now. Let’s take this final by storm, everyone!"

"Mn."

He Yi shot the players of Soul Battle Robes a glance. Right now, God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire and Ringwraith were standing around Song of Cloud and Water and talking about something. A trace of excitement flashed across the guild leader’s eyes as she said, "We shouldn’t underestimate Soul Battle Robes. They have defeated Rose of the Holy Domain, Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance, and even Snowy Cathaya to make it all the way to the final. The fact that Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance are all among the Top 10 guilds of China means that their success was no fluke."

Li Chengfeng added, "The good news is that they’ve revealed almost all their trump cards already, so we hold the advantage here. It would’ve been a real pain fighting these hidden classes without any information whatsoever…"

Gui Guzi declared confidently, "I’m sure Boss Broken Halberd would be able to destroy Soul Battle Robes without any pressure…"

Chaos Moon shot He Yi a glance before shrugging. "We all know that Lu Chen can’t lose, but what about everyone else? You girls sure that you can secure your point?"

Chiang!

He Yi slammed the butt of the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear on the floor before shooting Chaos Moon a smile. "You know the consequences of tempting fate right before a match, right Chaos Moon?"

Chaos Moon immediately replied, "The guild leader is great. This little one will serve you forever…"

We all stared at her dumbfoundedly for a moment.

It was at this moment Soul Battle Robes walked toward us under Song of Cloud and Water’s lead. We walked up to meet them as well. A champion would be decided between the two of us, so it seemed apt to make one last contact before the match officially began.

Song of Cloud and Water shot us a polite smile and said, "Lu Chen, He Yi, I’d like to say something to you both."

He Yi nodded in agreement and replied, "Speak."

Song of Cloud and Water said, "I’m sure you all know by now that my big brother is Seven-Star Lamp. I’ve been managing the guild for the past two years or so because he’s been busy with work, but he mentioned that it’s too much for one girl to handle the entire guild. This is the last time, but I would like to invite you to join Soul Battle Robes, Lu Chen."

He Yi pressed her lips together, looking like she was lost for words. It was clear that Lin Yixin was nervous as well as she was staring at Song of Cloud and Water like a hawk.

I replied immediately and directly, "I refuse to join Soul Battle Robes no matter what you offer me. I am, and will always be, a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

Song of Cloud and Water shivered visibly. She shot me a slightly aggrieved look before saying, "Is that so? Will you reject me even if I offer to become your little sister, and give you the guild leader position of Soul Battle Robes?"

To say that we were stunned would be an understatement.

Countless heads turned toward me in unison. It felt like everyone—even the members of Soul Battle Robes—were staring at me and waiting for my answer. Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith in particular looked like they would fight me to the death if I turned her down here.

I gritted my teeth and tried changing Song of Cloud and Water’s mind, "You don’t really need me to join Soul Battle Robes, do you? I’m perfectly fine with our guilds becoming allies with one another. What do you think?"

Disappointment filled her eyes, however. "Do you still reject me, Lu Chen? Do I really disgust you this much? Never mind, I won’t force you to join Soul Battle Robes. Let us meet on the battlefield once more!"

Song of Ice and Fire shot me a glare before uttering, "Ungrateful bastard!"

I replied with steely eyes, "Watch your mouth!"

God Bone grabbed Song of Ice and Fire’s arm and said, "Enough, Ice and Fire. They’re free to bark all they want until we destroy them in the final. We’ll show them who the world belongs to through action, not words!"

……

After Soul Battle Robes walked away, Chaos Moon let out a chuckle before saying, "I can’t believe Lu Chen turned away such an obedient little sister. Had you accepted her, you would’ve had the entire Soul Battle Robes in your palm. The Frozen Berserker, the Undead Mage, the Iron Knight; each and every one of these players is a powerhouse in their own right, you know…"

I looked at Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and everyone else before breaking into a sudden grin. "I already have two little sisters, and I have you all as my brothers. Why would I need anyone else?"

Everyone exchanged heartfelt looks with each other after that.

That’s right. Who else do I need but these brothers and sisters to conquer the world with? No one!