On the way back, Murong Mingyue put a hand on my shoulder and said,

"Maybe it’s just me, but you seem rather uninterested in that Zhou Ping girl."

Lian Xin agreed with her assessment, "Yeah. All you did throughout the lunch was eat and eat some more. I bet you spoke less than ten lines with Zhou Ping. It’s so strange. Don’t you like rich and beautiful girls like her, big brother Lu Chen?"

I answered while steering the car, "Isn’t that obvious? It’s because I don’t know her. What do you expect me to say to someone who isn’t an acquaintance? Plus, who cares if she’s rich and beautiful? Is she richer than Eve? Is she prettier than Yiyi?"

Two women began making giggles of happiness.

"You are a despicable man, you know that?" Murong Mingyue shot me a merciless criticism before continuing, "At the latest, we’ll reach the workshop past 2 pm. What is everyone’s plan? Instances or more instances?"

He Yi said, "Yeah, the Snow Crystal Dragon Lu Chen gave me requires way too much experience. I grinded the whole morning and only managed to get it to Level 29. We definitely need to grind some instances to get that free experience. We’re strong enough to grind the A4 instance now, so let’s clear everything from A1 to A4. If it turns out that we’re not strong enough, we can bring Gui Guzi with us. His Attack is now super strong thanks to the Ghostblade Halberd. He’s almost in the same league as Lu Chen now."

[1]

Lin Yixin said, "Since this is an Ancient Sword event, I won’t be joining you all. I’ll just grind with Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi."

I also said, "Count me out too. I have something else I need to do today. Eve, have you changed your class to Stormwind Holy Knight?"

She shook her head. "The class promotion requires me to kill a pretty powerful boss, and I was busy grinding experience for my dragon this morning. I’ll complete it in the afternoon, I guess."

"Can you keep her company when she undergoes her class promotion, Yiyi?" I asked Lin Yixin.

The girl nodded smilingly. "As you command!"

Lian Xin blinked once before asking, "You say you have something to do, but what is it that’s keeping you busy, big brother Lu Chen?"

I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Xinran lost both her legs during our fight against Strella. She’s currently receiving treatment at Violet City right now, but there’s no telling if she’ll recover. Considering that she nearly got herself killed for my sake, it’s only right that I return the favor…"

Lin Yixin was shocked to hear this. "Even Xinran couldn’t beat Strella?"

"Yeah. The Dark Dragon God was just too powerful, and he cheated by borrowing the dark powers of Lin Na. During the latter half of the boss fight, his power had completely surpassed the likes of Xinran and Sophie. All things considered, I can’t even imagine how powerful Lin Na himself is. Unless we have no other choice, we should push the day we challenge Lin Na as far back as possible. Even if he drops a super Divine Armament or something, what does it matter if we can’t kill him?"

"I know. Unlike a certain person, I don’t have a death wish…"

"..."

"By the way, you mentioned that Strella also dropped the Lower Divine Armaments, Dark Magma Poleyn and Dragonbone Whip, right? What are you planning to do with the Dragonbone Whip? If I remember correctly, there are no super-tier tamers in Ancient Sword, right?"

I thought for a moment before replying, "I’m going to drop it in the auction house and see if it’ll earn me some cash. Dark Moon City’s income is great, but too slow."

Lin Yixin leaned against her seat and let the sunlight shine on her for a bit. She asked lazily, "I see. Why do you need so much money though?"

I replied without hesitation. "To feed you, duh. I would say Eve too, but she’s way richer than me, so…"

Lin Yixin immediately blushed as red as an apple. She didn’t say anything, but He Yi teased her, "Yiyi is embarrassed…"

"I am not!" Lin Yixin retorted.

"Yes, you are…" He Yi continued.

Lin Yixin gripped her fists and pouted. "How can you do this to me, Sister He Yi? I thought we’re in this together…"

"Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll treat you to a big meal later, okay?"

"..."

……

Lin Yixin drove back to her university after we returned to the workshop. I went into my room, connected to the internet, and logged back into the game right away.

Swhoosh!

After I appeared in Dark Moon City, I stepped out of the territory hall and saw Lu Buyi standing together with a bunch of top-tier assassins, archers, wanderers and more. He was holding a dark green-colored fan and wearing a traditional Han Chinese outfit that made him look both elegant and noble. It looked like they were planning to challenge a high-level map or something. He shot me a smile and greeted me, "Did you rest well, Lu Chen?"

"Mn." I nodded. "Where are you going, Buyi? Nearly everyone in the Top 100 of our guild is in your party."

Lu Buyi laughed. "It’s Heaven’s Rain, not me. She’s going to do an SS Rank quest, and we’re tagging along as volunteers, so to speak…"

"Oh, I see. Well, good luck to you all!"

"Mn!"

……

I walked into a teleportation formation and appeared within the solemn but magnificent undead kingdom that was the Violet Empire. Before I took off, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and activated Fusion Armor. Its body disappeared, and its scales transformed into sharp, indestructible blades on my Guardian Dragon Armor, making me look even more impressive than before.

After that, I stepped right through the palace entrance. The NPC soldiers seemed to recognize me, so they didn’t try to block my entry. Moreover, I was a Rank 7 military personnel—a Bloody General—in the undead faction. Even if I was a total stranger, I was certain that they would’ve respected my military rank.

Whoosh!

I pushed away the curtains hanging on top of the entrance and walked into the room where Xinran was resting in. I saw a couple of witch doctors boiling a huge pot of herbs. They spoke forcefully when they saw me, "Who are you?"

I replied indifferently, "Calm down. It’s me."

Xue Wei was sitting on the bed. She rose to her feet and greeted me, "You’ve finally returned!"

I was hoping for some good news as I approached the bedside, but all I saw was a frowning Xinran with her lower body bandaged in red silk cloth. I understood everything when I saw that her legs hadn’t healed yet. The sight alone sent a stab through my heart.

Xue Wei continued with a deep frown on her face, "Lady Wind Singer’s injury is incredibly severe. Strella’s dark dragon energy had seeped into her wounds, so normal herbs were incapable of healing her at all. In fact, Lady Wind Singer herself is incapable of restoring her own body despite being a wielder of god-tier powers. Our witch doctors have tried everything, but…"

Me: "..."

I sat down beside Xinran and held her hand for a bit. It was cold, weak, and all too fragile. As the pain in my heart grew, I uttered grimly, "I will restore Xinran’s body no matter the cost. Is there really no other way, Xue Wei?"

Xue Wei sucked in a deep breath before replying, "The witch doctor king came yesterday, and she said that there is only one method to restore Lady Wind Singer’s body. However… it is a most cruel method…"

"What is it?" I urged her to tell me.

She scrunched up her brow as she answered, "Strella’s dark dragon energy is preventing her wounds from healing. Therefore, one must look to a higher power to restore her. In this case, the power of rebirth will do the work nicely. However, the method to obtain the power of rebirth is exceptionally cruel. First, you must kill a living person. Then, you revive them as an undead using a voodoo art. When the dead revives, a strand of the power of rebirth is created. That is what Lady Wind Singer needs to restore her body. However, it will take far, far more than a strand to heal Lady Wind Singer, and…"

Me: "..."

Xue Wei looked at me and said, "You understand why I say this is cruel. In fact, Queen Sophie herself has made such practices forbidden a long time ago. That is why we don’t know what is the right thing to do. Do you understand what I’m saying?"

"I do!"

I nodded heavily before carrying Xinran to my arms. I gave her a tight hug before binding her to my chest using my Sunchaser Cloak. I then said, "All she needs is the power of rebirth, right? I will do everything in my power to obtain it, and I won’t give up until Xinran is restored. For Xinran’s sake, I will even become a devil if necessary!"

Xue Wei couldn’t say anything for a time. "You…"

I turned around and strode toward the entrance. Before I left, I bade Xue Wei goodbye. "Take care, Xue Wei. We will return when Xinran returns to full health…"

"Mn. Good luck!"

"Thank you!"

……

A breeze blew as I stepped out of the room. Xinran shivered a little before waking up from her long slumber. When she set her light red eyes on me, the corners of her lips curled into a beautiful smile. "You’ve finally come to visit Xinran, big brother. I… I felt like I just woke up from a very, very long dream. I dreamed that you were with me…"

I smiled back. "Don’t worry, Xinran. I will always be with you."

“Mn."

Xinran wrapped her right arm around my neck and watched my face for a moment. She then said with a small blush, "You’ve never exclusively kept me company before, so I’m not letting you go this time…"

Me: "..."

……

After we left Violet City, I summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. I left most of the fighting to them because my arms were occupied by Xinran. In fact, there was nothing these two couldn’t beat within the borders of Sky City, monster or player. Small guilds weren’t strong enough to threaten me, and big guilds left me alone because I am who I am. If they were stupid enough to attack me, the Dragonlight Cavalry would make them rue everything. I was the boss of this city, not them.

"Big brother!" Xinran called out suddenly.

I nodded. "Yeah?"

"How are you going to heal me, big brother?"

"I’m not sure about the specific method yet, but Xue Wei mentioned that the power of rebirth can heal your wounds. I’m going to try and gather them first."

"Mn."

……

I wasn’t walking with a specific destination in mind, but we came by a small graveyard along the way. There were countless graveyards in Sky Forest, and they were where a player’s soul was remade after they perished in battle.

Instinctively, I activated Dark Pupils and my Domain when I stepped into the graveyard. To my surprise, several grayish figures actually appeared in view. They were none other than the players’ souls. I stared at a soul who didn’t seem to notice that I could see and even hear his vulgar words, "Heh, who is this guy princess-carrying a pretty girl? Is he trying to find a hidden spot to have public sex with her?"

Swhoosh!

I swung my Chill of the Nine Provinces across his neck, but it did nothing to the player as I expected. I attempted to absorb his energy into my palm, but all I could feel was the power of death either. There wasn’t a trace of power of rebirth to be found anywhere.

Suddenly, a thought entered my mind. I’m so stupid! Of course I wouldn’t be able to find the power of rebirth in a graveyard; a place of death! What I really should find is his corpse! When he comes back to life, that is when the power of rebirth will manifest!

So, I slipped underground and trailed the player’s soul all the way to a small forest. There, I found around seven to eight players fighting a bear mob. The player—an assassin—had probably been killed by this very mob.

Swhoosh!

The moment the assassin came back to life, I immediately emerged from the ground and aimed my palm at a wisp of near invisible energy that looked like white smoke. I was able to absorb it into my palm, and...

"Ah…"

Xinran let out a small moan and closed her eyes. At the same time, her body glowed with holy power.

1. T/N: I think it should be S1 to S4, but I’m not sure.

E/N: A1-A4 is way safer, they would 100% need Lu Chen for S1-S4.