"Candlelight Shadow’s got a dragon now…" He Yi said while watching the distant scene.

Lin Yixin placed a hand on the hilt of her Dragonfrost and asked, "What do we do? Do we attack? It doesn’t look like there are a lot of them…"

I shook my head. "No, I count at least several hundred people on my map. They’ll be showing up very soon. Let’s turn in our quest as soon as possible while they still haven’t discovered us. There’s no need to waste any time on them."

"Okay!"

……

We crossed the forest toward the Dragon God Cave while carefully avoiding Candle Dragon’s field of view. Meeting Prince Lin Qian and turning in the quest was more important than anything right now.

On the way, I thought about how our journey to Dragon Domain had slowly but surely transformed into a competition between the top guilds of the China server. It looked like everyone had caught on to the fact that there were countless dangers and wealth to be explored.

The reason Candlelight Shadow brought Ye Yuse the Charm Master over was obvious. Thanks to her class, no one could crowd control the boss quite as well as her. Given enough luck, she could inflict petrification, sleep, confusion and more status conditions to a boss in one cast, opening up huge windows for the party to heal their HP and MP. I didn’t know what terrifying boss they killed, but it had rewarded Candlelight Shadow with a Fire Dragon mount. Once the Fire Dragon grew to the adult stage, the former Martial God of China would become even stronger than he already was.

……

A few minutes later, we returned to the spot where Prince Lin Qian was.

Everything looked the same as ever. The Dragonslaying Sword was still floating in the air, and beneath it was a hill of corpses and a blade-riddled Lin Qian kneeling on top of it. He had been kneeling for thousands of years.

Crack. Crack. Crack...

A couple of skulls broke under my weight as I strode up the hill of corpses and showed him the three soul essences. "Prince Lin Qian, We have killed Nordin, Leila and Lin Xu as you’ve requested us to, and these are their soul essences. You may now rescue them and finally free yourself from the mire of regret and guilt now."

"Ah…"

Lin Qian sucked in a deep breath before looking at me. Sorrow flooded his eyes as he accepted the soul essences, rose to his feet and declared solemnly, "I… can sense their soul energy. We meet again, my dear mentors!"

Lin Qian then looked at me and said, "It is a difficult task you accomplished, young warrior. Please receive the reward you deserve. As I am now, it is the only thing I can give all of you!"

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the SS Rank main quest [Collect The Three Soul Essences].You have gained 270 million EXP, 30000 gold, Luck +3, Reputation +50000, and an item reward: "Bloodbreaking Pledge"!

……

Swhoosh!

My level jumped to 224, and my total Luck jumped up by 3. The latter was far more important than the former as a matter of course. I wonder what this Bloodbreaking Pledge is though?

I opened the bag and saw that it was a skill book. After I read its description, I raised my eyebrows as unexpected joy overtook me—

Bloodbreaking Pledge: Buff a target so that all their attacks are 33% more effective than normal. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Class Requirement: Priest. Level Requirement: 220.

……

I tossed the skill book into Murong Mingyue’s hands and said, "This is yours, sis. Starting now, don’t forget to buff someone with this skill when you’re fighting bosses or PvPing. It increases attack effectiveness by 33%. It’s different from attack power, it’s taken after all calculations. For example, a basic attack or a skill that would damage an opponent for 100 HP will now deal 133 damage. It’s an excellent buff skill…"

Murong Mingyue nodded smilingly. "Mn mn!"

Suddenly, a chorus of thunderous hooves erupted from behind. When we looked back, we saw a group of 40+ Sky City players making their way toward us. The leader was a Level 218 warrior riding a Qiu Beast, the exclusive mount of Candle Dragon. He was one other than the guild leader of Pop Culture, Lone Moonshade!

"OMG. Pop Culture is here too?!"

Lin Yixin blinked once before unsheathing the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. "Looks like a fight is unavoidable. Dragon Domain really is turning into a hot pot of conflict…"

However, I grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Not yet, Yiyi. We don’t necessarily need to fight them…"

"Oh?"

A few seconds later, Lone Moonshade and his growing number of players arrived at the foot of the hill of corpses and looked up at us. He said with a smile, "Tsk tsk, what a surprise to meet Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya here. Thank you for showing us the exact coordinates of Dragon God Cave!"

While saying this, Lone Moonshade looked at a magic knight behind him and growled, "Inform Candlelight Shadow that we’ve found the location of the Dragon God Cave. Also, tell him that we’ve found the Dragonslaying Sword too. His quest cannot be completed without the Dragonslaying Sword, right? In that case, tell him to come over as soon as possible, or his quest is going to fail real soon! It’s because Lu Chen and Lin Yixin are here!"

"Yes, guild leader!"

While the vice leader of Pop Culture was sending the message, Lone Moonshade raised his sword above his head and yelled, "Surround this place! This Dragonslaying Sword is ours to take!"

……

Chiang!

I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and sneered at Lone Moonshade. "Did you just say that the Dragonslaying Sword is yours? What a joke! I can tell you right now you don’t nearly have enough small fries to even tickle our hides! You’d better wait until your master shows up before you try anything, dog!"

"Pooh! Just you wait!" Lone Moonshade didn’t fall for the taunt. He was planning to wait for Candlelight Shadow anyway.

It was at this moment the same vice leader whispered to him, "Guild leader, the Dragonslaying Sword is the sword of the strongest goddess in Spirit of Grief, Binglan, right? It may not be as good as the Twelve Divine Armaments, but I’m willing to bet that it’s only a tad weaker at worst, and it may even be equippable for players. So why don’t we seize the sword for ourselves right here and now? If we succeed, we won’t need to rely on Candle Dragon anymore. But if we wait for Candlelight Shadow, he’ll never give us the sword, and we’ll lose our chance to become an independent guild."

A muscle in his face twitched and Lone Moonshadow’s eyes turned distant. It was clear that he was wavering between loyalty and desire for power. Just like the vice leader said, he hadn’t played this game to be anyone’s inferior. He played this game because he wanted to make a name for himself and even call himself the king of the world one day. This was the same reason why our close allies such as Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng and more never once considered merging with us even though we were practically as close as families. Nothing was more important than one’s independence and dreams.

Pa!

A short time later, Lone Moonshadow made his decision and punched his mount’s back. "How many people do we have right now?"

"374 of us are present on the scene already. Do we attack now, or?"

Lone Moonshadow smiled. "Let’s do it. Brothers and sisters, this is our chance to steal the Dragonslaying Sword and create our first stepping stone toward Pop Culture’s dominance! Give it your all and seize the weapon no matter the cost! A boss is guarding the Dragonslaying Sword, but it’s just a dying trash, so there’s nothing to worry about. Now go!"

The Pop Culture players unsheathed their weapons.

I hurriedly moved in front of Lin Qian and said to everyone, "Those fuckers. Protect Prince Lin Qian, everyone! He’s the guardian of the Dragonslaying Sword! We cannot let any harm befall upon him!"

Suddenly, Lin Qian let out a strange chuckle behind me. "I thank you for the sentiment, young warrior. But sometimes, you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, hahaha!"

Crack!

To the shock of all of us, he abruptly crushed the three soul essences we gave him and absorbed their energies with a shout. Then, eyes turning as red as blood, he grabbed the Dragonslaying Sword and slashed my back! I hadn’t expected this in the slightest, so there was nothing I could do except receive the blow!

Bang!

1321987!

The boss had hit my weak point, so the amount of damage he dealt was terrifying to say the least. I was literally sent flying across the air before I hit the grassy ground and rolled almost a hundred meters away from the corpse hill. The girls hurriedly rushed to my side to protect me and because they knew that it was a bad time to engage the boss.

"Little Cheat!"

Lin Yixin supported me while clenching her teeth. "We’ve been tricked! Lin Qian was just using us to gather the soul essences for him to devour! Leila loved him so much, and the animal ate her soul essence! The animal!"

I looked up and pushed myself up using the Chill of the Nine Provinces. While Murong Mingyue was healing me, I looked at Lin Qian and uttered, "You bastard!"

……

Lin Qian looked like a completely different person when he was wielding the Dragonslaying Sword. It almost looked like he was possessed by something. He cackled maliciously, "Haha! Hahaha! I finally got it! I finally got the Dragonslaying Sword! Its infinite power is now mine to use, and I will soon remake the world’s laws with it! Yes, I’ve lied to you three, and yes, I’ve let down my three mentors. But for this level of power? I can pay any price!"

……

Beneath the corpse hill, Lone Moonshadow pointed his sword at the boss and ordered, "Kill him and grab the Dragonslaying Sword!"

The players of Pop Culture shouted a battle cry as they charged toward Lin Qian. I saw assassins, knights and even bards among the chargers. They desperately wanted the Dragonslaying Sword because it was both an artifact of power and authority. For example, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had the Chill of the Nine Provinces and Xuanming Bow, Warsky Alliance had the Immortal Blade, and Candle Dragon had a fire dragon. However, Pop Culture had nothing at all.

Lin Qian cackled again with a savage expression. "Jie jie, welcome, you ignorant weaklings. The Dragonslaying Sword is very thirsty right now, and your blood is the drink it currently desires! Come, come!"

He dashed down the hill and pierced a Level 217 magic knight through the torso, dealing over 1.94 million damage and one-shotting him instantly. I could see the disbelief on the magic knight’s face. Lin Qian wasn’t weak to begin with, and the Dragonslaying Sword had increased his strength even more. I could see him one-shotting these normal players easily.

"Angry Slash!"

A sword aura splashed against the floor, and a dozen or so Pop Culture players ate over a million damage and died. His damage was just too high!

……

"What the hell is this boss? This is way too overpowered!"

Lone Moonshade swore while looking behind him. "And where the fuck is Candlelight Shadow? What is taking them so long?"

The vice leader said, "An assassin just reported that Candlelight Shadow is standing by at the forest about 700 meters from here. They seem to be observing the situation… and…"

"And, what?"

"I think they’re waiting for us to get wiped…"

"Motherfucker!" Lone Moonshade shuddered as his expression turned ugly.