âWa, so prettyâ¦â
I could tell from Meng Yaoâs face that she really liked this equipment set. She held the horseâs reins and smiled to me asking, âBrother, am I pretty?â
I smiled, âYup, my Meng Yao is becoming more and more beautiful. Wonder when sheâll get hitched with a husband~â
Meng Yao blushed, âBrother, youâre teasing me again. Iâm only nineteen, gosh. Iâm not even at the age for marrying. Besides, what kind of brother are you, always trying to get his sister married. Brother, tell me the truth, do you think Iâm dead weight thatâs holding you back and thatâs why youâre always trying to marry me off, orâ¦â
She mischievously smiled and then whispered into my ear, âOr is Brother and Sister Wan Er in some kind of special relationship, and youâre afraid that Iâll be a third wheel in your love world?â
I stiffened and then smiled, âWhat are you talking about?â
Meng Yao had seen right through me and she stuck out her chest, âHe he, I completely understand! Brother, donât worry, this winter break I wonât come to bother you. Even if weâre watching a movie, you just have to give me a bucket of popcorn and Iâll quietly watch. I promise I wonât look at whatever you guys are doingâ¦â
Flabbergasted, I messed with her hair and said, âAlright already, whereâd you learn to tease me like this? Also, Iâve got another gift for you, youâll definitely like it.â
âOh, what is it?â
The moment I put the Verdant Pearâs crystal in her hand, Meng Yao froze. After a few seconds, her eyes slowly lit up with excitement, âAh? What⦠what a pretty mount. Itâs a Divine Tier BOSS mount. Wu⦠itâs even a white horse. Brother, whereâd you get it?â
I smiled to her and said with a hint of pride, âItâs a reward from an SSS tier main quest. I think I was the only one that got a Divine Tier reward. Well, do you like it?â
Meng Yao nodded, âYup, I love it!â
As she said that, she was already beginning the mount contract. The crystal melted away and a mount appeared before her. It was the Verdant Pear. Meng Yao leapt onto the horse. With one hand holding a shield and the other a spear, she smiled to me, âBrother, how is it?â
I replied, âWhat about the Iron Umbrella of the Moon Elves?â
âItâs been melded with the shield. In reality, my magic defense is already up a lot.â
âSo it was like thatâ¦â
I smiled and said, â[Zhan Long] will be creating a Moon Elf Knight Corp, Yue Yao Yan will command it and Meng Yao, youâll be the Deputy. Remember to support her well and study a lot under her tutelage. She is quite remarkable at commanding.â
Meng Yao nodded, âUnderstood. Donât worry brother, I wonât let you down.â
âHow much health and defense do you have right now?â
â49,000 health, 10400+ base defense, how is it?â
I took a deep breath, âWow. Just that one Valkyrie Tier armor setâs defense actually brings you higher than my defenseâ¦â
Meng Yao grinned, âBrother! Iâm a knight, I have the shield to add on to my defense, whereas youâre a swordsman. All you have are your two swords. If you had a shield too, Iâm afraid that your defense power would surpass mine by at least a thousand points!â
âOh, thatâs true tooâ¦â
At that moment, two of Meng Yaoâs subordinates rode over. They were both part of the Steel Blade Horsemen. As they rode up to us, they addressed me together, âGuildmaster!â
I nodded, âHey. Are you all Meng Yaoâs friends?â
âYes sir. Guildmaster, weâre actually both Meng Yaoâs classmates, students of Xia Men University. Weâre about to go on winter break, so weâre going to spend these days training with Meng Yao.â
I warmly smiled to them, âOk. Thanks for looking after my sister!â
Meng Yao pouted her lip, âBrother, I donât need them to look after me. Now that I have Verdant Pear and this Black Flame Set, I can already solo grindâ¦â
I couldnât help but lightly scold her, âWhatâs this, are you going to eat and not pay up? Donât forget, just who was it that grinded your levels up to 115â¦â
The two Steel Blade Horsemen gave a knowing smile and didnât say anything.
Meng Yao pouted again, âHmph, Brother only knows how to bully me. You just wait, in a few days Iâll be coming back from finishing all of my tests. Thatâs right, Brother youâre living with Wan Er now right?â
âYesâ¦â
âThen Iâll come over and visit you guys.â
âAlright then, come on over!â
â¦â¦
Right as I was talking with Meng Yao, I suddenly spotted a cloud of dust rise up in the distance. The person coming clearly had a lot of strength and power. He was riding a Steel Blade Horse and had a sword in hand. On his shoulder was the Zhan Long elder insignia. It was General Li Mu. At that moment, the two Steel Blade Horsemen behind me both shouted, âBrother Li Mu!â
Li Mu was number one in the Valiant Bravery Camp, and in their hearts, there wasnât much of a difference between his position as leader and my own. Li Mu was second only to me in terms of prestige. It was just as Qing Qian had once secretly said to me that if I werenât at [Zhan Long], and if Li Mu was more hot-blooded and had the ambition, then the leader of [Zhan Long] wouldâve been Li Mu.
âWhat is it?â I walked up and asked.
Li Mu furrowed his brow and said, âJust south of the Broken Blade Canyon in the Fierce Wind Forests, Ye Lai brought around 500 of [Judgement]âs players and seems to be confronting the thousand men that Rumor had brought from his Run Like Flames guild. It seems that theyâre fighting over some kind of a mount. D*mm*t, Ye Lai that b*st*rd. Heâs got so much fire in his belly. He definitely wonât step aside for Rumor, that pampered crown prince. What do we do? If they actually end up fighting, then the balance of power in the Chinese Server will become all muddled again!â
I furrowed my brows and gripped my hands, âD*mm*t. The whole business with the Greedy Wolf Raiders hasnât calmed down yet and now this Rumor is setting off another thing. The Chinese Servers really canât get any peace and quiet. Itâs one thing after another!â
Meng Yao smiled, âThe Chinese Server has a lot of people and a lot of land, which naturally comes with many conflicts. Brother, how about you take some people over and check out the situation!â
I nodded and said, âLi Mu, gather all of the Steel Blade Horsemen in the area. We donât need too many, just around five hundred. Afterwards, follow me and letâs go check it out. [Judgement] is our ally. Iâm not going to let anyone else abuse their power and ride on Ye Laâs head. Not even the f*cking, Virtual World Department Headâs nephew!â
âYes sir. Everyoneâs ready. Thereâs a total of 800 Steel Blade Horsemen. Three hundred of them are the Moon Elves that you like. Yao Yan is among them too. Should we set off now?â
âOk letâs go!â
â¦â¦
When Li Mu, Meng Yao, and I arrived at the Bridge of Fate, we saw that all 800 of the Steel Blade Horsemen were ready for their commands. Yao Yan stood at the head with her long sword in hand, and had donned the Black Flame Set. I could see the designs of the Iron Umbrella etched into her shield. Looks like it already has the Iron Umbrellaâs attributes now that it had melded together with her shield. She smiled to me, âGuildmaster, are we fighting?â
I nodded, âLetâs go!â
I patted my horse and sped forward. I rode at the very front while the eight hundred Steel Blade Horsemen thundered behind me. All eight hundred of them were wearing the Black Flame Set. Qing Qian was very effective in completing her asks. She had probably distributed the equipments as soon as she received them. These eight hundred were all [Zhan Long]âs elite forces and so, they were Tian Ling Cityâs most elite battle power.
The Steel Blade Horsemen moved extremely fast. We sped past the Broken Blade Canyon and through the Broken Bone Shrubbery. Just a little further south and we would reach the Fierce Wind Forest. However, the Fierce Wind Forest was a vast map, there were even several medium sized maps within it. Plus, there were several places to grind levels. Based off of the coordinates that Li Mu had given me, Ye Lia was in the Needle Leaf Forest. I could see several Frost Beasts in the forest. As I got closer, they looked less like beasts, and more like, sheep! Sheep that were as tall as humans!
âSheep!?â Li Mu couldnât help but laugh, âYouâre kidding me. Ye Lai that b*st*rd, is fighting with Rumor because of mountain sheep?â
Matcha pulled on her reins and said, âYup. However, these arenât cute and happy little sheep. These monsters are called Frost Battle Rams. Theyâre a species that are naturally talented in battle. The map north of the Fierce Wind Forests spawn these mounts. Thereâs around a 2% chance of a Level 1 Mount appearing. Theyâre Level 110 Saint Tier mounts. I believe the stats also give a 10% [Drain] effect. Otherwise they would never be that worth it. Did you think that Ye Lai was some kind of an idiot that would offend Rumor over some sheep?â
I smiled, âTo be honest, with the fiery personality that Ye Lai has, even if it were jut over some sheep, he would still get into a fight with [Run Like Flames]⦠Last time, you guys didnât see what happened at the General Appointment Stage. Rumor had such an aloof attitude, all because he has an uncle who is the Department Head of the Virtual World. Itâs like he actually thought he was the crown prince of Tian Ling City!â
Li Mu frowned, âWhat the f*ck, I despise trash like that.â
I nodded, âSame, and so does Ye Lai. But, Ye Laiâs personality is truly fiery, Iâm worried⦠we should hurry!â
âYes!â
â¦â¦
The Steel Blade Horsemen charged through the forest and very soon we saw hundreds of blue and orange dots in the forest in front of us. The orange dots were all players from [Judgement], to show that they were our allies.
âHua la!â
I was the first to burst out of the shrubbery into a large clearing. It was surrounded with short brushes and small trees. The leaves of the weeds were extremely wide and were the Frost Mountain Ramsâ favorite food. This was also the center of where all of the Frost Mountain Rams spawned, so it was naturally where the conflict was also centered.
In the clearing, it was clear that the battle had already begun. Ye Lai raised his battle axe and rode on a battle horse. He coldly looked in front of him at his opponents. He didnât say anything but I could see the blood on his axe and the bodies of several players on the ground. That was probably the masterpiece of Ye Lai. All of the people that had died were from [Run Like Flames]. In terms of battle power in the game, Rumorâs players were far weaker.
â¦â¦
Rumor had a very ugly expression. He raised his flaming blade and shouted, âYe Lai, what is the meaning of this? Is the Chinese Server Alliance just some pretense for you? Donât you know that you are basically starting an internal war right now? Besides, now that your guild is acting against [Run Like Flames], does this mean you are breaking the treaty?â
Ye Lai coldly smiled, â[Judgement] has held this forest since three days ago. What are you doing here. You just happened to discover that the Frost Mountain Rams spawn here, so you want to take a little sip from the cup as well?â
Rumor fell silent for a few seconds and then said, âI was never trying to fight with you over these Frost Mountain Rams. All that happened was that a few of the squad leaders in my guild were passing by and happened to tame a few of the Frost Battle Rams, thatâs all. I think youâve misunderstood.â
Ye Lai roared, âMisunderstood? Your, âfew squad leadersâ brought four hundred people and tamed several of the Frost Battle Rams, and then happened to kill a hundred of [Judgement]âs players? [Judgement] has always quietly grinded levels in Tian Ling City without voicing a complaint. Weâve never provoked anyone. And now [Run Like Flames] wants to battle with us. How is [Judgement] not going to respond in kind? Come. If youâre men, then bring all of the [Run Like Flames] players and battle it out with [Judgment]. Whoever loses gets out of this forest without another word!â
âYou!â
Rumorâs face flushed red, âNow youâre just bullying people with your strength!â