Flowing Cloud was a woman who had trusted me deeply. Our meeting at Final Duel Valley also left me with a good impression. She, a foreigner, was the one person who noticed the truth behind my persistence when everyone else had misunderstood me. Of course, she was also a person who saw me at one of the absolute worst moments of my life. It wasn’t a good experience being hunted like a rat in Final Duel Valley.

However, human nature was a complex thing.

It was true that Flowing Cloud extended me an olive branch because she admired my character. However, it was even more true that she desperately needed a talent like me to strengthen Elephant City. To that end, she could even make me the guild leader of Natural Flow. As for me, the reason I joined the India server was to kill that traitor Now and Forever, and seize the City Map of Daybreak City from him. My intention was so obvious that I refused to believe Flowing Cloud hadn’t noticed it.

It was a gamble between me and Flowing Cloud. Flowing Cloud gambled on the possibility that I would join the India server for real. I gambled on my ability to fight through their millions and millions of troops and bring the city map back to China. In the end, I won, and Flowing Cloud lost.

Flowing Cloud had always been aware of God of War and Breeze and Rain’s hostility toward me. She knew that they had troops lying in ambush in the forests of Elephant Canyon to prevent me from escaping. She herself had hidden her White Horse Cavalry in the forest just in case I turned against them.

It was a battle of wits, a smokeless war.

Trust was a quality that could never be truly destroyed, but sometimes it could be torn apart as easily as paper. From the beginning, Flowing Cloud and my standpoint meant that absolute trust could never exist between me and her. We both had too many things we couldn’t give up on, and we both had reasons to want to kill each other. It would be a very, very long time before the nature of our relationship would see any change at all.

Finally, even if Flowing Cloud did trust me from the bottom of her heart, what reason did I have to give up a city as valuable as Daybreak City? Just because she trusted me?

I didn’t mind bearing certain grievances alone.

It was simply the price I must pay to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the king of its era.

……

After I finished checking the forums, I investigated Iron Skull Wilderness next and discovered that it actually did have its own indigenous people. They were abandoned, city-less players who spawned at random NPC camps because they had no nationality to speak of, not one that was acknowledged by the officials at least. As a result, they formed tribes to survive in this harsh environment. People like them could only be united if they were brought together in one place.

There were over 220 countries in the world, but only 195 of them had applied for sovereignty. These players all came from non-sovereign countries. This was why they didn’t have a main city, and why they were forced to roam the borderlands. Some of them became wanderers, and some robbers.

The reason I hadn’t encountered any of these people was because most of them played in the northern region of Iron Skull Wilderness. The mobs in the southern region were too strong for the average player right now.

This was good news to me. Barring any accidents, I shouldn’t encounter any player resistance as long as I stuck to the southern region of Iron Skull Wilderness. When I was Level 210, I would fly straight to my mentor, Rinser, and undergo my class promotion. Since Rinser was located at Dragonbone Mountain Range, I could meet up with him without trespassing into another main city’s territory.

……

Half an hour passed by in the blink of an eye. When I stepped out of the door, Chaos Moon was already waiting for me. She had changed into a lively yellow beige dress that looked so good on her that I couldn’t stop myself from shooting her an additional glance. I was blessed to have the company of a 9/10 beauty like Chaos Moon while I was far away from my home.

"Let’s go! What are we eating tonight?" Chaos Moon asked while hugging my arm like she was my girlfriend.

I didn’t shake her off because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. "Something good, I hope."

She thought for a moment before answering, "Let’s go look for a Hunan restaurant. We’ve been eating Xinjiang food non-stop since we traveled. I bet you’re about to go crazy from the monotony, right?"

I nodded. "Sure. Let’s go!"

……

Unfortunately, we didn’t find a Hunan restaurant in Bagua City. There was a Sichuan restaurant though, a pretty good alternative all things considered. The moment we stepped into the restaurant, we heard a pair of lovers arguing with each other—

Guy: "You’re really not coming with me?"

Girl: "No way! What if you get me pregnant?"

Guy: "I won’t."

Girl: "Yes you will, you goddamned pervert!"

……

For a time, Chaos Moon and I could only stare at each other. That wasn’t the kind of conversation you expected to hear anywhere.

We found a table and quickly ordered some dishes.

"Where are you right now, Lu Chen? Eve is very worried about you. She doesn’t know where you can be besides Final Duel Valley," Chaos Moon asked with a blink.

I shrugged. "The world is a big place. If I want to, I can make any place my home. Tell her that there’s nothing to worry about. With the Ancient Divine Dragon and Purple Ying Sword by my side, there’s no one in the world who can threaten me. And even if such a person exists, I can always fly into the sky and escape, haha!"

Chaos Moon rolled her eyes at me before saying, "A few hours ago, I heard rumors that the guild leader of Natural Flow—you know, that beautiful girl called Flowing Cloud that we fought during the Nation War—and her elites are capturing Owls at the mountains. If we’re not mistaken, they’re planning to use them as mounts and form an air cavalry to hunt you down. What on earth did you do to her? Why does she hate you so much?"

I suppressed a twinge of guilt as I pursed my lips. "Well, I used her to plant myself in the inner circle of the India server. She has every reason to hate me for it."

Chaos Moon asked, "I don’t understand why you had to accept the coronation. Was it really the only way to retake the city map?"

I nodded. "You’re aware just how huge Elephant Canyon is, and it’s not like I have a skill that can pinpoint Now and Forever’s exact location. Also, my goal was to kill the bastard, and becoming the West King was the only surefire way to draw him to me."

Chaos Moon leaned against her chair before nodding. "I guess that makes sense. But why didn’t you just activate an invincibility skill and fly away after you succeeded? Surely they couldn’t stop you from escaping?"

I thought for a moment before answering, "I don’t know… it’s like there’s a voice inside of me telling me not to do that. I’m not sure how to describe it…"

Chaos Moon snorted. "I know what that voice is. It’s called the pride of an expert. You would rather fight your way out than to do things the ‘cowardly’ manner. You don’t want to be looked down on by anyone, do you?"

As it turned out, Chaos Moon knew me better than I knew myself. "You know me too well, Chaos Moon."

"Speaking of which, you still haven’t told me where you are!"

"Right. I’m in the southern region of the continent, a map called Iron Skull Wilderness to be exact." I enjoyed a sip of tea before continuing, "I found an NPC camp there, so I decided to settle in that area for the moment. Last night, I grinded at Scorpion King’s Cave and got some good loot. That’s why I want you to come to our meeting location again and take it back to Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and Cute Little Naughty. It’s useless to me right now because there isn’t anyone I can realistically sell it to besides the NPC. That would be too wasteful."

"Okay. And what about my gift? What is it?" Chaos Moon asked smilingly.

I shook my head and declined to answer though. "Don’t you want a pleasant surprise? You’ll know when we meet up later."

"Fine, fine. Anyway, we should eat!"

"Mn."

"How long does it take you to fly to Final Duel Valley, by the way?"

"45 minutes at max speed, give or take."

"I see. Man, I hope I get a flying dragon mount one day. I’m so envious…"

"You’ll get one someday. Just keep doing your best."

"Heehee!"

……

After we finished dinner, we returned to the hotel and paid for our rooms. Right now, only heaven knew how much longer we would be staying here. I at least didn’t feel like returning to Suzhou until the day I returned to the China server.

I logged into the game after returning to my room.

Swhoosh!

I appeared at Black Wind Scout Battalion camp. I saw the archer Mona sleeping on the broken stomp she had been sitting on and her breasts moving up and down in accordance with her breathing. It was the kind of greeting I wouldn’t mind having every time.

I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, climbed onto its back and held onto its vines for support. A quick order later, my mount let out a mighty roar and took to the sky, slipping into the clouds in just the blink of an eye. My movement speed had skyrocketed by another 75% after I acquired the Sunchaser Cloak, so I was moving even faster than I was before. The entire map looked like it was receding beneath me.

Suddenly, a flock of flying birds appeared in front of us.

Whoosh!

My mount inhaled once and bowed its head warily, growling. It was telling me to hold tight.

The incoming birds were around 3 meters long when their wings were fully expanded, and they were none other than the Owls Flowing Cloud had been trying to capture to create her air cavalry. I couldn’t deny that the Owl Cavalry would be a great threat to me if Flowing Cloud succeeded at her scheme. After all, two fists cannot beat four hands.

Bang bang bang...

The Ancient Divine Dragon created a domain shield of sorts in front of itself and rammed every Owl that happened on its way into bloody paste. Once again, I realized just how amazing a Divine Rank mount was. At the very least, it wasn’t something a mere Owl could fight against.

A few seconds later, we passed through the bird formation untouched and unharmed. Surprisingly, the Owls didn’t retaliate despite the humiliating spanking they just received from the Ancient Divine Dragon. They seemed so frightened by the Ancient Divine Dragon that it was a miracle that they were still flying.

……

Less than 40 minutes later, the magnificent Dragonbone Mountain Range appeared from the horizon, and I slowly guided my mount downward. It wasn’t long before I spotted Chaos Moon and her Dragonscale Beast waiting at our usual coordinates. She broke into a smile when she saw me.

Pa!

After I landed on solid ground, I walked up to her with a smile and said, "Long time no see, girl…"

Chaos Moon blushed. "You too, uncle!"

"Fuck!"

After the greeting was over, I immediately gave her Cute Little Naughty’s dagger, High Fighting Spirit’s Soul Pardon War Axe, Li Chengfeng’s ring and more. I also told her what I wanted in exchange for the equipment—a sum of gold so small it might as well be free.

"Okay, but where’s my gift?" Chaos Moon extended a hand while smiling.

I took out the Crimson Scythe Scorpion’s pet egg and placed it in her hand directly. "Here. Satisfied?"