"Ancient Divine Skill? What the heck is that?" I was a bit bummed out, to be honest. "I thought it would be an immediate ascension like when you become a Divine General, but now we must learn an Ancient Divine Skill before we can ascend to the Heavenly River Realm? How troublesome. This is a scam, dammit…"

He Yi giggled and bumped me with her sweet-smelling shoulder. "Aren’t you a lazy bum? This Ancient Divine Skill is no situational skill, you know. I guarantee that you’ll love it to death!"

"Oh? Show me!"

He Yi clicked a button on the web page, and immediately, the characteristics of Ancient Divine Skills were displayed before my eyes—

Ancient Divine Skill: There are a total of 99 Ancient Divine Skills in the Sky Vortex. Each player can only learn one exclusive Ancient Divine Skill. The Ancient Divine Skills are split into two major categories, Offensive and Support. Ancient Divine Skills cannot be guarded, parried or evaded. They ignore invincibility skills and greatly increase one’s Attack when one’s life is in danger. The player must be at Level 210 and must have undergone their eighth promotion before they can learn an Ancient Divine Skill!

……

"Gulp!"

I gulped audibly as my eyes widened into saucers. "Is it just me, or does this mean that there can only be 99 Heavenly River Realm players at max in all the servers?"

He Yi nodded smilingly. "Yeah. Moreover, Sky Vortex is a special map where one player; one account can only enter it once in a lifetime. This means that you either find your exclusive Ancient Divine Skill the first time you enter the Sky Vortex, or you’ll never be able to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm. Moreover, players are teleported to random locations inside the Ruins of the Gods, kept from communicating with anyone outside the map, and forbad from forming parties. Long story short, everyone who passes through the Sky Vortex must seek out their Ancient Divine Skill through their own abilities. Those who lack it will simply die and miss out on the opportunity forever…"

The beautiful cook named Murong Mingyue poked her head out of the kitchen and complained, "I know. Whoever came up with this rule must be a total asshole. How can a priest do anything if they can’t form parties or communicate with each other? If I pass through the Sky Vortex, my only fate is to be one-shot by mobs or players. This is bullshit…"

I exhaled a bit before replying, "Calm down, sis. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a Chinese expert who’s willing to help you. With protection, it shouldn’t be impossible to acquire an Ancient Divine Skill. Also, the patch will come in three days, so we still have time to plan out strategies and tactics…"

He Yi cautioned, "We certainly need to be careful about this. This stupid vortex is set on a foreign map between Wind City, Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City, so we’ll have to go through the Northern Alliance, India and Japan before we can even get to the vortex. We must prepare."

I clenched my fists and smiled confidently. "Very well. Three days later when the patch comes online, we’ll wake up earlier, eat breakfast, take care of our physiological needs, and be ready to stay online for three days and nights. Once I’ve entered the Ruins of the Gods, I won’t log out immediately even after I find my Ancient Divine Skill. Instead, I’m going to stay there and kill as many Northern Alliance players as possible. Ideally, we don’t want anyone who isn’t Chinese to have the chance to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm, hehe…"

Lian Xin chuckled. "Big bro, you realize that you’re hardly the only one who’s plotting the same thing, right? Take Breeze and Rain, God of War and Vienna’s Sorrow for example. Every single one of them has ambitions higher than the sky itself. Mn, I have a feeling that the battle of Sky Vortex will be a tournament between the strongest eighth-promotion players out there. Since there are no parties, this is going to become a full on battle royale!"

I grinned. "Perfect. That’s the type of PvP I enjoy the most…"

"Hmm, whatever you say…"

……

After we finished our pumpkin porridge breakfast, we went back online and did more quests. Before that though, I contacted Raincube’s Lin Yujia—she was Murong Mingyue’s right-hand woman—and asked her help to purchase a white-colored luxury two-seater BMW 930 with a 6.0 L engine. In my opinion, it was perfect for a delicate girl like Beiming Xue.[1] I could buy her a sports car, but she was a student, and I didn’t want to add more to her attention troubles already. Of course, a BMW 930 that was worth a whopping 2.4 million was very conspicuous too, but… oh well. As long as it was to Beiming Xue’s liking, it should be fine.

I spent the rest of the day doing faction quests. The next day, Lin Yixin and I agreed to meet up in the morning and head to Wuxi together.

At around 8 am or so, I drove the new BMW to the streets and parked it outside Suzhou University of Science and Technology. As I put down the window, took in the spring breeze and stared at the school girls in mini skirts, I could help but think that life was perfect as it was...

A while later, a gorgeous Porsche Panamera growled out of the gates. It was Lin Yixin’s new car. She smiled at me after she put down the window. "Let’s go. I’ve set the GPS, so I should lead the way."

I chuckled. "Sure. But don’t go too fast, okay? We’re not speeders. You’re not allowed to go over 150 km/h even on the highway!"

Lin Yixin pouted but replied obediently, "Okay…"

Not far away, two male students who were eating cake stared at the two of us in awe—

"Holy shit, Lu Chen has Beauty Lin completely whipped!"

"Nah, it’s just for appearance’s sake. I promise you it’s the complete opposite when they’re in bed…"

"That’s true. Kakaka!"

……

Lin Yixin blushed and wisely chose to stop listening to the duo. She hit the gas and took off like a lightning bolt. Although the 930’s acceleration was lower than the Porsche’s, its top speed was a different story. I quickly caught up, and together we entered the highway and drove toward Wuxi. Beiming Xue already gave us a call stating that she would wait for us since she had no morning class.

We arrived at our destination less than an hour later. This corner of the city was full of universities and even more university students. Personally, I never thought that university study was a necessity in life. The vast majority of people preferred to live in the present and think nada of the future at all.

As per agreed on the phone earlier, Lin Yixin and I parked our cars beneath the women’s hostel.

I got out of the car and called Beiming, but the second the phone connected, a window on the fifth floor opened to reveal the girl. She waved at me and said smilingly, "I see you already, big brother. I’m coming down right away…"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Maybe it was because our cars were too conspicuous, but more and more girls started opening their windows, leaning on the window sill and stared at me and Lin Yixin. I could even hear some of their conversations from where I was—

"Wow, that guy driving the new brand BMW looks really handsome and… familiar for some reason. If only he was my boyfriend…"

"Yeah, he’s so handsome I wish I could give birth to his children…"

"Heavens, girl! Have some shame!"

"The car next to the BMW is a Porsche, right? The driver’s super beautiful and familiar too. Where on earth have I seen them before?"

"Idiots. The guy’s the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, and the girl’s the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin. Moreover, they’re obviously here to meet Beiming Xue, who’s living on the fifth floor!"

"OMG, you’re right! It really is Lu Chen and Lin Yixin! I’m going to head downstairs and get their signatures right now!"

……

Pa!

The door of the hostel was kicked open, and Beiming Xue emerged wearing a pink-colored casual outfit. She then jumped into the air to give me a hug. She would slam into the BMW behind me if I didn’t catch her, so I had no choice but to do it before everyone. Lin Yixin snorted, but didn’t give me trouble.

"I miss you so much, big brother!" Beiming Xue confessed with a blush.

I let out an embarrassed cough. "How about we take this to somewhere more private?"

"Heehee. Okay, big brother!"

As Beiming Xue gave me another tight hug, a bunch of girls flushed out of the entrance and swamped us with fansign requests. I pushed it all to Lin Yixin because I was busy dealing with Beiming Xue. Lin Yixin started signing "Lin Yixin & Lu Chen" on various notebooks, T-shirts, postcards and more...

I held Beiming Xue’s hand and put a hand on the BMW. Then, I smiled at her and asked, "It’s the latest model. Do you like it?"

"Of course! It must have cost a lot, right big brother?" Beiming Xue blinked.

I smiled. "It’s fine, It’s not like I’m not filthy rich…"

"..."

……

I parked the car at the hostel’s parking lot and gave Beiming Xue the keys. Then, the three of us ate lunch at the restaurant outside.

"The pickled hot and sour fish and boiled fish of this restaurant are pretty good. Don’t hold back!" Beiming Xue said cheerfully.

However, Lin Yixin stared at the dishes with a dubious look on her face. "Why is it always two fishes?"

I clenched my teeth, but forced the words out of my mouth. "I know, but the glorious tradition that has been passed down for three Eternal Moon games must be kept..."

Lin Yixin: "..."

It was at this moment a young guy wearing a pair of black-framed spectacles showed up with a bouquet of roses. He carefully walked up to our table, gave me a bow and said in a sincere tone, "Brother, I know you’re Beiming Xue’s big brother. I love Beiming Xue a lot, so I wish to have your blessing to date her…"

Beiming Xue immediately grew angry and anxious. "What is the meaning of this, Liu Bin? I already told you ‘no’ many times already! Can you please have some dignity?"

I smiled at the young man and motioned for him to take a seat. "Why don’t you take a seat before we talk?"

"Okay." He sat down. His eyes were filled with determination.

I looked him in the eye before starting slowly, "You say you love Beiming Xue a lot. I’m no seer, so I can’t tell how much you truly love her, but can you promise me that your love will remain eternal after you manage to force yourself into her bed? A flower is pretty, but it cannot remain forever fresh. Moreover, you should pay more attention to the heart than the method when you’re pursuing a girl. Can you promise me that you will give her eternal happiness?”

The youth opened his mouth.

“Stop. The fact that you think you can give me an immediate answer shows me just how weak that promise is. If Beiming is in love with you, then I can only honor her decision. It is not my place to decide who she can love after all. But if that isn’t the case, then I must ask you to remove yourself from my sight right now. I can at least promise Beiming Xue safety when she’s with me. But you? You cannot promise her anything."

……

The young man looked completely flabbergasted after everything I said. In the end, he simply nodded and said, "O-okay… I’m leaving then…"

"Yeah. Study hard…"

"Oh, okay…"

After the young man left, Beiming Xue pouted at me and whined. "Big brother!"

Lin Yixin was also chuckling. "Sigh. You could’ve tried to mince your words a bit, you bastard…"

I shrugged. "Eh, the less anyone has to do with men who would do anything to chase a skirt and toss them away after, the better. Now, let’s get back to our meal, shall we?"

Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. We need to head back and grind more quests before the Sky Vortex opens…"

"Yeah."

1. Yes, 6 freaking litres is perfect for a delicate girl. First impulse to visit Lu Chen and she ends up in a ditch