Chapter 247: Chapter 248

News of Pure Crane falling out with Neverending Journey and leaving Sovereign’s Descent with a number of players had spread like wildfire in the forums.

Some players who weren’t aware of the full story thought that this was a futile attempt by Pure Crane to climb the social ladder and enter Jade Sea Pavilion, angering Neverending Journey and leading to them falling out. There were others who thought that Neverending Journey had been pushing Pure Crane around for a long time and that he finally couldn’t take it, so he accepted Jade Sea Pavilion’s olive branch before having it out with Neverending Journey.

After the battle at Eight Trigrams Field, the identity of the Lead Disciples was revealed. Other than the Lead Disciple of the Nymphs, who’d been removed from her position, the remaining four Lead Disciples came from Jade Sea Pavilion. As the Lead Disciple of the Swordmaster Pavilion, joining Jade Sea Pavilion was the best choice for him. And, no matter how you looked at it, Jade Sea Pavilion was vastly superior to Sovereign’s Descent in every aspect. Due to this, many players understood his reasoning and were supportive of his actions.

However, Neverending Journey wouldn’t let public opinion turn against him just like that. Using a large sum of money, he hired a legion of commenters and used them to viciously slander Pure Crane on the forums, labelling him as a spy that Jade Sea Pavilion had planted in Sovereign’s Descent and calling him a traitor.

This catfight gave rise to an unprecedented level of activity on the forums and turned Pure Crane into the second most famous person in-game after Shen Jingbin. Currently, with these two famous figures gathered together, all eyes would obviously be on them.

In the end, Shen Jingbin brought Pure Crane into White Cloud Temple’s Stargazing Forest, which was located at the rear of White Cloud Temple. Other than the NPC youths who came to raise their spirit birds, there were only a few low-leveled players that were here to do some odd jobs. Most people normally wouldn’t come here, making it a suitable place for holding a discussion.

When the two of them walked into Stargazing Forest, Shen Jingbin swished her robes, and a spirit beast capable of understanding the intentions of players known as ‘Fei Fei’ rushed out and encircled the two of them, forming a barrier that separated them from the outside world.

“You can speak now,” Shen Jingbin said after completing her preparations.

“I want to invite you into my guild.”

“Your guild?”

“That’s right. I need to join a guild after leaving Sovereign’s Descent, don’t I? Even though being guildless isn’t so bad, I’m clearly not suited for it. Unfortunately, Neverending Journey’s side has already said that they’ll go against any guild that takes me in. The smaller guilds can’t afford to stand against them, so they won’t take me in. While Imperial City and Memelord are both clearly reluctant to involve themselves in something as messy as this. So, I created my own guild.”

Shen Jingbin said, “You can always join Jade Sea Pavilion.”

Pure Crane shook his head. “Haven’t you seen the comments on the forum?”

“I don’t look at anything other than guides on the forum,” Shen Jingbin replied.

“That’s strange... Neverending Journey hired an army of commenters to slander me and Jade Sea Pavilion. Even though their views make up the minority at present, me joining Jade Sea Pavilion would definitely help to advance their argument, and that’s not something I want to see happening.”

“Jade Sea Pavilion won’t mind the false repute.”

“But I mind.” Pure Crane looked at her and continued, “I don’t want to be labelled a traitor.”

“Alright then,” Shen Jingbin saw the light of determination in his eyes, and chose not to speak any further as she knew she wouldn’t be able to dissuade him. “But why look for me then? What you need now are strong comrades instead.”

“Three reasons. Firstly, your combat strength isn’t bad. At present, you have the Divine Beast, White Tiger by your side, but if all goes well, the other three Divine Beasts should be yours before long too, so I have faith in your combat strength. Secondly, The Winds Of Ximen is also in my guild. If you join us, we’ll have three of the six Lead Disciples in our guild. With this, we’ll be in a better position to complete epic quests and gain resources from NPCs... Of course, with Quiet And Steadfast as Jade Sea Pavilion’s Guild Leader, I won’t be able to pull you over just because I want to. Thirdly, Black Hawk and Delicate Flower have left the guild and followed me. It was their hope that I try to persuade you to join too.”

Shen Jingbin fell into contemplation after Pure Crane finished speaking.

In the past, she would have rejected him without a moment’s hesitation. However, things were different now, and she was presented the solution to distancing herself as far as possible from Quiet And Steadfast on a silver platter!

However, now that she’d thought of it, if she did agree, would her intentions be too obvious?

Pure Crane noticed her dejection and spoke up once again, “You needn’t worry, my guild and Jade Sea Pavilion are allies; we just haven’t announced our alliance yet. We’re waiting for Neverending Journey to do something more extreme before we make the announcement.”

“Alright then, I agree,” His words instantly swept away the last of her hesitation.

If Pure Crane’s guild and Jade Sea Pavilion were allies, she could justify her actions by saying she was ‘fostering relations’ between the two guilds. It wouldn’t be too late for her to think about her next step after she sorted things out with Quiet And Steadfast and clearly divorced him.

Shen Jingbin had always been a woman of action. Since she’d agreed to join Pure Crane’s guild, she immediately opened the guild page and sent out a message she’d typed beforehand and promptly left the guild.

[Guild] Nutjob: Everyone, due to quest requirements and personal reasons, I will be leaving the guild for a period of time. My apologies.

[Guild] Player Nutjob has left the guild.

The two notifications stirred up a huge commotion in Jade Sea Pavilion’s guild channel, but Shen Jingbin didn’t know that. After leaving the guild, she said, “I’ve left Jade Sea Pavilion.”

“Okay, I’ll send an invite.”

“The world is a dangerous place and should be braved alongside your companions. Player Pure Crane has invited you to join the guild ‘Bronze Tree’. Will you accept to join? Yes/No.”

“You have joined ‘Bronze Tree’. May you grow together and support one another from now till the end of time.”

[Guild] The Winds Of Ximen: WTF, what did I just see?! ((ﾟ□ﾟ;))