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Chapter 900 - Challenge

Inside the Battle Fortress’s main hall, a group of newcomers in linen
clothing suddenly emerged from the training field’s portal.

"The combat system here is really impressive. Those simulated experts
felt like the real deal. They are all so powerful. Even in a one-on-one,
they still suppressed me." When Blackie spoke about the combat training
he had just experienced, he wore an amazed expression.

When he fought the starter pack’s first eight experts, he has some hope
of triumphing against them. However, the last two experts were absurdly
powerful. They had defeated him easily, leaving him without any power to
resist.

"It’s a pity that there are so few experts in the starter pack. I wish
we had more variations," Flying Shadow sighed. "The Secret Pavilion is
fraudulent. Just fighting those ordinary experts costs 100 points per
day. If we can’t rank among the top 200, we won’t be able to afford them
every day."

Although he had only fought for a few hours against the starter pack’s
ten experts, he had learned a lot. If he could face all kinds of experts
over time, he would gain combat experience with flying speed. He might
even reach the Refinement Realm after a short period.

"That should be enough training for us today. We still have to challenge
the Battle Tower and raise our ranks," Fire Dance stated. Although she
didn’t want to waste their starter packs’ duration, it was more
important to raise their ranks first. If they didn’t, they would be
stuck with 20 Battle Points per day.

After they had entered the training system, they had learned a lot about
the Battle Tower and the Pavilion’s veterans from the other newcomers.

To put it simply, it would not be easy to enter the top 200 ranks with
their current strength.

Furthermore, Fire Dance aimed for the top 150 ranks. Only by entering
the top 150 would she receive 200 points each day, which would allow her
to face one Refinement Realm expert per day. If she were stuck among the
top 200, she would have to wait two days to challenge a Refinement Realm
expert.

As for the starter pack’s experts, the first eight weren’t even a
warm-up for her. Only the last two experts had made her work for her
victory. Even after dozens of matches with those two experts, her
win-rate was only 50%.

On the other hand, the Secret Pavilion’s top 150 experts had at least an
80% win-rate against the starter pack’s Refinement Realm experts.

With her current standards, it would be a relatively difficult task to
enter the top 150.

At the same time, she was very excited. There were only a handful of
experts in Star-Moon Kingdom that could pose a challenge. In the
simulation training system, however, there were crowds of such experts
waiting for her.

"Big Sis Fire, look; for some reason, a lot of people have gathered over
there." Violet Cloud pointed out as she looked towards the Battle
Tower’s portal. Curiously, she asked, "What are they doing?"

When they had arrived at the Battle Fortress, not many people had been
present. Now, however, over a hundred people had crowded the main hall.

"Ah, someone seems to be leaving the tower," Cola said as he saw the
portal flash with white light. The figure of a man then stepped out of
the portal.

After a moment, they recognized the familiar figure.

A large crowd had huddled around the portal. As soon as Shi Feng
emerged, everyone turned towards him.

They looked at Shi Feng as if he were a monster, curiosity and horror
flashing in their eyes.

Shi Feng was simply some newbie that had joined the training system
today, yet, he had set foot onto the fifth floor. The Secret Pavilion’s
members had already been in the simulated training system for over a
month. For some, this wasn’t even their first year. Yet, they were all
still stuck on the Battle Tower’s fourth floor. Hence, Shi Feng’s
achievement was difficult for them to swallow.

"Doesn’t he look just over twenty? He actually reached the fifth floor
at such a young age. Even among all the geniuses throughout our Secret
Pavilion’s history, he should rank near the top, right?"

"Yeah, he should rank within the top 20."

"Between Shi Feng and Wen Hua, who do you think has more talent?"

"Do you even need to ask? It is certainly Wen Hua. Even our Guild Leader
can’t stop praising her talent, claiming that she ranks among the top 10
throughout the Secret Pavilion’s history."

When Fire Dance and the others overheard the conversation, they were
momentarily at a loss for words.

They did not know whether they should celebrate or smile wryly.

While their heads still ached about obtaining a better rank, Shi Feng
had already become number one in the ranking competition...

Meanwhile, before Shi Feng even had the chance to relive the battle on
the fifth floor, he heard the sound of an emergency notification. Shi
Feng was then forcefully ejected out of the training system and forced
into Sleep Mode.

No one was surprised about Shi Feng’s sudden disappearance. They all
thought that he had logged out to avoid their pestering. Moreover,
training in the Battle Tower was very taxing. Almost everyone had to log
out and rest after challenging the tower.

---

Inside the luxurious bedroom, Shi Feng climbed out from his virtual
gaming cabin, the machine continuously beeping.

A single tempering session in the Battle Tower consumes so much? Shi
Feng could not help his surprise when he saw the virtual gaming cabin’s
depleted Nutrient Solution tank.

Before he had entered the training system, he had made sure to refill
the cabin’s Nutrient Solution storage and had drunk a bottle of A-rank
Nutrient Fluid.

The depleted Nutrient Solution was one thing; however, he was extremely
hungry. Moreover, his entire body felt drained.

This emptiness felt similar to when he had broken through the limits of
his mental strength for the first time.

It’s no wonder why Yuan Tiexin had warned me to prepare S-rank Nutrient
Fluids. Ordinary people can’t afford to play around with this training
system. Shi Feng, more or less, understood why Yuan Tiexin had suggested
caution. It seems I’ll have to prepare some more S-rank Nutrient Fluids
from now on.

While inside the Battle Tower, he had pushed his five senses to their
brinks for a long time. In God’s Domain, however, he usually didn’t need
to. It was especially true after one reached his standard.

While fighting at one’s peak, the brain would be extremely active. This
would increase the body’s energy consumption. If one did not replenish
the lost energy afterward, the consequences would be unimaginable. It
was even possible to destroy one’s own body.

Now that Fire Dance and the others had begun their training in the
simulation training system, they needed enough nutrient supplements
after they emerged. Otherwise, their bodies would suffer.

However, it was extremely difficult to obtain the best-performing S-rank
Nutrient Fluid. Only transcendental powers like the Secret Pavilion,
which were influential in both the real world and the virtual world,
could obtain large quantities. As for a foundationless Guild like Zero
Wing, it could, at most, obtain a few bottles. Furthermore, each bottle
was very expensive.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng needed the Coins he had on had to keep the Guild
functioning, and he had not liquidated any funds recently. As for the
Credits he had on hand, Liang Jing had already used them to purchase
training facilities. Currently, he was almost broke.

It seems I’ll have to turn some of the Coins or items into money for
now. Shi Feng sighed helplessly. Truthfully, he did not wish to exchange
any of the game’s resources for Credits. After all, doing so would
impact the Guild’s development. However, nurturing a group of top-tier
experts was far more important right now.

Just as Shi Feng pondered selling the resources of God’s Domain, Liang
Jing barged into his room, looking worried.

"Master Shi Feng... something has happened!" Liang Jing said, panting.
With her hand over her chest, she continued, "A group of people has
suddenly arrived to challenge our training center. Several instructors
have been injured. From what I have heard, this group defeated Master
Chen Wu before arriving. They are demanding a match against you. They
claim that there will be consequences if their demands aren’t met."

"Challenge? Who are they? What do they look like?" Shi Feng recalled a
faint memory after hearing these words.

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 901 - Silent Blade

Inside the bustling dojo, hundreds of people had gathered around the
arena.

"This dojo is pathetic. These instructors are just garbage. They’re
completely misguiding the students here. With such skills, they even
dare start up a dojo?

"Hey, you guys, you’re better off training somewhere else. With these
trash instructors teaching you, you won’t get anywhere in a fighting
competition, no matter how long you train. It’s no wonder why, after so
many years, this city has not produced a single, decent professional
fighter. Of course, you’re not to blame. Rather, it’s these garbage
instructors’ fault.

"If it were up to me, I would pack up and leave after finding out how
crappy these instructors are. I wouldn’t waste my youth here."

Over a dozen youths in their twenties wearing dark gray martial artist
robes glanced at the middle-aged instructor who had just been defeated,
disgust filling their gazes. These gray-robed youths then sent
sympathetic gazes towards the hundreds of teenagers training inside the
hall.

Although the Big Dipper Dojo’s trainees were furious, none of them dared
to speak up, remaining silent as they watched this scene play out.

These dozen or so people who had suddenly shown up were just too strong.

Among these people, one indifferent youth, who looked to be roughly the
same age as they were, had single-handedly defeated six of their
highly-skilled instructors. Moreover, none of their instructors had
landed a finger on this indifferent youth. Even someone who knew nothing
of martial arts could see the disparity in their strengths. If they had
to challenge that youth, they probably wouldn’t last one move.

It was extremely difficult to defeat an opponent in a single move. It
was even more so in an actual battle. Generally, such situations only
occurred when martial artists fought an ordinary person. To put it
simply, it was only possible if there was a massive difference between
the fighters’ strengths.

The hundreds of teenage trainees felt an immense pressure weigh on them
when they looked at the thin, indifferent youth.

Seeing the quiet trainees, the fierce, bald man standing at the
forefront of the grey-robed youths smirked with satisfaction.

"How about it?

"You’ve seen the difference in our abilities for yourselves. We have
come from the White Tiger Dojo. Recently, our dojo has considered
establishing a branch in this city. This is a chance for all of you. If
you perform well in the branch dojo, you might even get the chance to
train in the main dojo. At that time, you will be the star of tomorrow’s
fighting competition. You won’t have to waste your lives in this tiny
place."

Hearing the bald man’s offer, everyone was momentarily stunned. They
immediately understood why even Master Chen Wu was no match for these
youths.

They had heard about the White Tiger Dojo. Anyone who wanted to join the
world of fighting knew about it. Many famous contestants, who had taken
part in past national fighting competitions, originated from the White
Tiger Dojo. The dojo had even nurtured well-known, international
fighters in the past. Countless youths that wanted their own fame in the
fighting world dreamed of joining the White Tiger Dojo.

However, they had never imagined that the White Tiger Dojo would open a
branch in their city...

Before the bald man could say more, the dojo’s doors swung open.

Having captured everyone’s attention, Shi Feng and Liang Jing approached
the bald man. Immediately, the trainees grew excited.

Shi Feng was the Big Dipper Dojo’s Head Instructor. Despite being so
young, he had attained this position by relying on his own strength. He
was their revered idol.

In fact, many among them had specifically joined the dojo because they
had heard Shi Feng was an instructor here. However, Shi Feng normally
lived in the Greenwater Villa, only occasionally venturing to the dojo.
Hence, they did not see him often.

"You are the Head Instructor?" The bald man’s lips twisted into a sneer,
glaring at Shi Feng with disdain.

He had heard that the newly-established Big Dipper Dojo had a
twenty-something-year-old martial artist who guided the students.

He had thought it had been a joke. Now, however, it seemed that the
rumor was true.

The man before him wore cheap, dark-blue sportswear, and he didn’t
appear strong. Not only did the man seem a little pale, but he also
lacked the aura of a martial artist. It was hard to imagine how such a
weakling had wormed his way into the position of Head Instructor. In his
opinion, Shi Feng was weaker than the instructors that had already been
defeated. At the very least, their auras had been passable.

"Mhm, that’s right. Why have you come looking for me in such a hurry?"
Shi Feng swept a glance over the dozen or so members from the White
Tiger Dojo, becoming more confident in his conjecture.

In the past, after God’s Domain launched the Mind Space System, the
well-known dojos throughout the nation had begun to expand. These dojos
had set up branches in various cities in an attempt to poach members and
expand their influence, hoping to attract major corporations’
investments. Although some dojos had received these investments, the
majority had not.

These corporations’ intentions had been obvious. They had all wanted to
nurture a powerful Guild of their own in God’s Domain. However, compared
to recruiting ordinary players, it was far more efficient to recruit
fighters from dojos, who were already familiar with actual combat.
Moreover, God’s Domain wouldn’t impact these fighters’ daily routines.
These people only needed to play God’s Domain while they slept.

With this, not only would the fighting world and virtual gaming world
remain separate, but they would also form a mutually beneficial
relationship, helping each other improve. Both sides would make more
money. Knowing this, the major corporations that had been interested in
the Mind Space System had refused to ignore such a valuable opportunity.

Among the country’s dojos, the White Tiger Dojo had chosen to set up
branches in over a dozen third-tier cities. Jin Hai City had been one of
those cities. Back then, the city’s various dojos had despaired upon
hearing the news. These dojos had originally chosen to develop in a
third-tier city precisely because they could not compete with the dojos
in first- and second-tier cities. When the major dojo’s had targeted
their cities, they had been forced out of business.

In the end, many of Jin Hai City’s dojos had been forced to cooperate
with the White Tiger Dojo.

Once Shi Feng saw the White Tiger Dojo’s members, his gaze stopped on
the indifferent youth behind the bald man.

Shi Feng knew this youth. He had been extremely famous in Jin Hai City.
Moreover, after joining God’s Domain, he had become unstoppable. In the
past, he had been known as "Silent Blade" in God’s Domain. At his peak,
he had been a Tier 5 Berserker who ranked 58th on the God’s Domain
Experts List. Unfortunately, his entry into God’s Domain was somewhat
late. Otherwise, his achievements in the game would’ve been even
greater.

"Our White Tiger Dojo is thinking of opening a branch in Jin Hai City,
so we’ve come to say hello. We were also hoping to spar with you. I
wonder if Instructor Shi is interested?" the bald man laughed.

"Spar?" Shi Feng’s lips hooked up slightly. Shaking his head, he said,
"Why doesn’t it look like that to me? The White Tiger Dojo is so famous
that even a layman such as myself knows of it. Is it necessary to
venture all the way here to poach our members?"

"Don’t say it like that. We are just trying to conduct honest business.
Naturally, we have to provide better options to those who wish to join
the fighting world." The bald man laughed. He didn’t take Shi Feng
seriously in the least. In his opinion, Shi Feng was merely a puppet
that Big Dipper had employed to run this dojo. The man didn’t qualify to
speak to him at all. "I’ve heard that you are quite powerful. I have
always admired those with strength. I wonder; would you be willing to
spar with me? We can show everyone whether or not your strength is
superficial!"

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 902 - Class versus Class

The bald man’s sarcasm earned the displeasure of many within the dojo.
Just as Liang Jing was about to step forward and say something, Shi Feng
held her back with a hand.

He was also familiar with this bald man. The man’s name was Gan
Xingteng, and he was one of the White Tiger Dojo’s advanced disciples.
The man was quite strong, even stronger than Chen Wu. He was very active
in all sorts of fighting competitions and had earned himself some fame.
Hence, he had the confidence to wipe the floor with every martial arts
instructor in Jin Hai City.

"What’s wrong? Afraid?" Gan Xingteng sneered.

In Gan Xingteng’s opinion, Shi Feng’s pale complexion was definitely due
to fear. With this thought, he became even more certain that Shi Feng
was afraid of sparring with him.

"I’m not particularly opposed to a sparring match. However, if I catered
to every random person who burst into our dojo to challenge me, wouldn’t
I die from exhaustion?" Shi Feng responded softly.

Shi Feng’s retort didn’t fluster Gan Xingteng in the least. Rather, he
laughed as he continued to run his mouth, saying, "The high and mighty
Head Instructor of the Big Dipper Dojo only knows how to make up
excuses. Instructor Shi, aren’t you afraid that you might become a
laughingstock if others in our industry heard about your cowardice?"

Initially, he had thought that the Big Dipper Dojo’s rumored martial
arts master was truly quite powerful. Now, however, it seemed that those
rumors had been nothing but lies.

"I see that the Big Dipper Dojo only amounts to so much. If even its
Head Instructor is too afraid to spar, what’s the point of starting a
dojo? Might as well switch professions; start a dance hall instead!"

"You and I are closer in age. If you don’t want to spar with Senior
Brother Gan, how about my challenge? Do you dare to accept it?"

Although Gan Xingteng was not angry, the intermediate disciples behind
him were more than raring to fight. Wrathful flames filled their eyes
when they looked at Shi Feng, and they wanted nothing more than to teach
him a lesson, showing him exactly how powerful the White Tiger Dojo was.

Any one of the White Tiger Dojo’s advanced disciples could easily serve
as a dojo’s Head Instructor in a second-tier city. Even Chen Wu, Jin Hai
City’s top expert, had lost to Senior Brother Gan, yet Shi Feng had
actually implied that their Senior Brother wasn’t qualified to fight
him. It was an insult to the White Tiger Dojo and their Senior Brother
Gan.

In their opinions, even one of the White Tiger Dojo’s basic disciples
could easily defeat Shi Feng with a few moves. Sparring against their
Senior Brother Gan was too much of a privilege for this man.

"Don’t misunderstand me. I did not refuse your invitation to spar.
However, since you are White Tiger Dojo members, I can’t use my status
as an instructor to bully you, right? I intend to allow our disciples to
spar with you. What do you think?" Shi Feng asked as he glanced at Gan
Xingteng.

The entire dojo fell silent as Shi Feng finished his question.

The crowd from the White Tiger Dojo looked at Shi Feng as if he were an
idiot. If even the Big Dipper Dojo’s instructors were no match for them,
why would the disciples have any chance?

Even with one hand tied behind their backs, they could easily defeat any
of Big Dipper’s disciples.

Meanwhile, when the Big Dipper Dojo’s disciples heard Shi Feng, they
were all dumbfounded.

They had already learned how terrifying the White Tiger Dojo was when
they had watched the previous fights. Even if they fought together in
groups of five or six, they wouldn’t be a match for one of the White
Tiger Dojo’s fighters, much less in a one-on-one.

"Sure. Only, once every Big Dipper disciple has been defeated, I hope
that you will stop giving me excuses and spar against me yourself," Gan
Xingteng sneered and nodded.

"Rest assured; if you win, I will step up." Shi Feng laughed. He then
turned to Liang Jing and said, "Fetch Fire Dance and the others."

"Fetch them? But aren’t they..." Liang Jing was momentarily stunned by
Shi Feng’s order.

After she had become Shi Feng’s assistant, he had often enlisted her
help to manage some of Zero Wing Workshop’s affairs. Hence, she knew
Fire Dance and the others’ identities. None of these people were
professional fighters; they were professional gamers. Rather than having
them fight the White Tiger’s members, it would be more effective if the
dojo’s disciples fought.

"Go. It’s about time they take part in an actual battle." Shi Feng
understood the reason for Liang Jing’s shock. However, he still had her
summon Fire Dance and the others.

Fire Dance’s group might not be professional fighters, but after such a
long stay in the Greenwater Villa, they had undergone various training.
Lei Bao had even guided their foundations. In addition, they received an
endless supply of A-rank Nutrient Fluids and the occasional S-rank
Nutrient Fluid. Their current physiques were already many times stronger
than when they had first arrived at the Greenwater Villa.

Fire Dance and the others had even surprised a martial artist like Lei
Bao, and the man often praised the group for being martial arts
geniuses. Lei Bao had even wanted to accept them as his personal
disciples. Unfortunately, Shi Feng had rejected his requests.

A short moment later, Fire Dance and the others entered the dojo.
Immediately, their appearance caused a great commotion.

When the White Tiger Dojo group saw Fire Dance and the others, their
jaws nearly hit the floor. Rage flashed in their eyes as thoughts of
murdering Shi Feng surfaced in their minds.

Originally, they had thought that Shi Feng had summoned a group of
powerful experts to spar against them. Now, however, it would seem that
he was simply ridiculing them.

The group Shi Feng had called to face them actually included girls.

Although there was no lack of female disciples in the various dojos, and
there were female-only competitions in major fighting competitions,
males and females were simply on different levels. The fact that Shi
Feng had sent for a female disciple trampled on their glory and pride.
Why wouldn’t they be angry?

"Instructor Shi, are you trying to insult the White Tiger Dojo?" Gan
Xingteng asked Shi Feng with a frosty tone.

Gan Xinteng intended to wait for an answer. However, Fire Dance walked
up to the arena and pointed at the White Tiger’s members, issuing her
challenge, "One-on-one matches will be too boring. I want to take on all
of you at once!"

Before the White Tiger Dojo’s members could react, Liang Jing nearly
fainted.

Just who did Fire Dance think these people were?

This wasn’t a game!

They were all bona fide fighting experts. They were not random monsters
that one could casually defeat in a game...

Liang Jing had thought of warning Fire Dance. However, seeing the
murderous looks from White Tiger Dojo members, she rushed up to Shi Feng
and said softly, "Master Shi Feng, please ask her to stop! These people
are from the White Tiger Dojo! If she angers them and they stop holding
back, someone will end up in the hospital!"

"You’re right," Shi Feng nodded. He then looked towards Fire Dance and
said, "Hold back. We shouldn’t hospitalize them."

If it were Cola or Ye Wumian, they could’ve played with their opponents
without hurting them too badly. If it were up to Fire Dance, however,
her opponents would be in danger. After all, Fire Dance had never fought
ordinary people before. After reaching the Refinement Realm, she usually
only trained with Lei Bao. If she fought an ordinary person, she could
miscalculate her opponent and use too much strength.

"I understand." Fire Dance nodded and smiled.

Shi Feng’s instructions left Liang Jing speechless. Although she wanted
to inform him that that was not what she had meant, the indifferent
youth from the White Tiger Dojo had entered the arena. As for the other
White Tiger members, they shouted their indignation.

"You Ziping, you better not hold back just because she’s pretty! Show
them the strength of the White Tiger Dojo!"

"You Ziping, if you can’t defeat her with a single move, I’ll mock you
forever!"

The visiting fighters’ eyes were all bloodshot with anger. They all
wished they were in the cold You Ziping’s place, eager to show these
bumpkins from the Big Dipper Dojo the extent of their strength.

Meanwhile, Gan Xinteng laughed out of anger. He even wondered if Shi
Feng acted out of desperation after realizing the hopelessness of the
Big Dipper’s situation.

You Ziping nodded seriously as he turned to Fire Dance with a chilling
expression.

Since You Ziping was already prepared, Shi Feng promptly initiated the
fight, "Alright, then. Since you have decided, let the match begin."

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 903 - Who’s Next?

When Shi Feng announced the start of the battle, You Ziping shot the man
a glance, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Shi Feng was simply too calm.

He had participated in many fighting competitions before and had met
people of various standards, so he could tell that Shi Feng’s serenity
was not an act. Rather, his calm originated from absolute confidence as
if everything were within his control.

However, in his opinion, his match against Fire Dance was unbalanced.
Fire Dance had no chance of winning against him.

After all, females were generally weaker than males.

It was especially true for a great beauty like Fire Dance. Although Fire
Dance wore a set of dark blue sportswear, her clothing couldn’t hide her
curvaceous body. She looked nothing like a muscular gorilla. On the
contrary, she looked like someone who often practiced yoga. Her perfect
figure only contained charm, not strength.

In the face of absolute strength, all trickery was useless. All martial
artists new this.

In terms of strength, although he was not at the peak of the White Tiger
Dojo’s intermediate disciples, he was still considered above average.
Currently, he had a punching strength of 422 kg. Although he barely
qualified to participate in the national youth championship, in a
third-tier city like Jin Hai City, he could definitely rank among the
city’s top fighters.

In an actual fight, it was not easy for one to make up the difference in
strength. That required a wealth of combat experience and techniques.
However, while he might only be 18 years old, he had already
participated in over a dozen large-scale competitions; he possessed a
considerable amount of combat experience. He even frequently sparred
with the dojo’s advanced disciples. In terms of combat techniques, he
was already on their level.

With the advantage of strength, experience, and techniques, losing was
impossible.

So, why was Shi Feng so calm?

Where was his confidence coming from?

However, You Ziping quickly shook these questions away as he returned
his gaze to Fire Dance. He no longer wanted to think about what might be
going through Shi Feng’s mind. Defeating Fire Dance was his priority.

With this match, he would teach Shi Feng the meaning of a true
professional fighter.

"Fall!"

You Ziping shouted, his voice as cold as snow. Like an arrow, he dashed
to Fire Dance and sent a fierce punch towards her abdomen.

His attack was both fast and precise. He did not hold back in the least.

"Ziping sure is vicious. No matter what is going on, his opponent is
still a great beauty, yet he’s not showing any mercy," Gan Xingteng
muttered with sympathy. With this, the match would end as quickly as it
had begun.

Even in the White Tiger Dojo, You Ziping was looked upon favorably.
However, the boy had one shortcoming; he did not know how to hold back.
To a youth, however, this was a benefit. If one were frequently
distracted, it would be very difficult to improve.

Peng!

The sound of a collision radiated from the arena.

"She blocked it?! How is that possible?!" The people below the arena
stared at Fire Dance in disbelief.

The impact should have sent Fire Dance flying, yet she had actually
blocked You Ziping’s fist with one hand.

It was truly hard to imagine just how that thin, frail arm could endure
so much force. Logically, her arm should’ve been knocked away; no one
would have been surprised if her bones had cracked or shattered.

However, Fire Dance showed no sign of pain. On the contrary, she had
received You Ziping’s full-power punch as if she had reached out to say
hello.

You Ziping was also momentarily stunned. Hurriedly, he tried to
withdraw. However, he suddenly discovered that his fist would not budge
no matter how hard he tried. Fire Dance’s tender fingers clasped his
fist like chains.

With no other choice, You Ziping raised his left leg and swept it
towards Fire Dance’s neck.

Peng!

However, Fire Dance caught his iron-like leg with her other hand.

As if he had predicted this, You Ziping quickly sent a follow-up punch
with his other hand.

Just before You Ziping’s fist struck Fire Dance’s face, a creak echoed
throughout the dojo. In the next moment, You Ziping released an
agonizing scream, his fist halting as he suddenly tumbled to the ground.
The fist and ankle that Fire Dance had caught had already begun to turn
purple.

The various spectators were flabbergasted. Having forgotten about the
pale-faced You Ziping, everyone stared at Fire Dance with awe.

Fire Dance’s performance was simply too shocking.

Nobody could believe their eyes.

Among the crowd, the White Tiger Dojo members were the most affected.
They knew just how strong You Ziping was. Among their group, only two or
three people were stronger than him.

Yet, in front of Fire Dance, You Ziping was as powerful as a child.

What technique?

What combat experience?

In front of absolute strength, they were nothing.

Does she have some kind of godly strength? Gan Xingteng’s expression was
somber as he looked at the injured You Ziping.

Fire Dance was merely a young girl. However, even he was far weaker than
her. He couldn’t compete with her strength in a fight. He could only
rely on his speed and techniques to secure victory.

Liang Jing, who stood beside Shi Feng, was similarly stunned. She had
assumed that Fire Dance would be hospitalized after this match. She had
never imagined that Fire Dance was actually this powerful.

Is she a hidden master like Shi Feng? Liang Jing could not help but
wonder. There was no other way to explain this overwhelming victory.

However, there was one factor that confused Liang Jing; if Fire Dance
possessed such skills, why hasn’t she participated in any fighting
competitions?

With her skills, she would even perform excellently in the national
competition. If she could earn herself a victory, she would earn an
unimaginable amount of money. She wouldn’t need to continue working as a
professional gamer.

As for Shi Feng, he glanced at the stunned Liang Jing before shifting
his gaze to You Ziping, who was still on the ground. He shook his head
and sighed, saying, "Of all the things you could’ve relied on, you chose
physical strength."

After Fire Dance had reached the Refinement Realm, her body’s physique
had improved rapidly. Moreover, with Lei Bao’s guidance, she had already
grasped the technique to utilize internal force. To Fire Dance, a
punching strength four or five hundred kilograms was not difficult to
achieve.

You Ziping had been looking for a beating by relying on physical
strength. If the boy had simply used his combat experience, he might’ve
lasted a little longer.

"I believe that the outcome has been decided. Take him away," Shi Feng
said, pointing at You Ziping as he looked at Gan Xingteng.

Only now did the White Tiger members recover from their daze.

This match was over. They had even forgotten that one of their
companions was injured and needed immediate medical attention.

"Relax, I didn’t use that much force. His bones should be intact. After
some treatment, he just needs to rest for a few days to recover," Fire
Dance explained as she looked down at the silent You Ziping. She then
turned to Gan Xingteng, who stood below the arena, and quietly asked,
"The first match is over. Who’s next?"

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 904 - Difference in Experience

Fire Dance’s voice was like a jade bead falling to the ground as it
resounded throughout the dojo. Although her voice was not loud, her
words had ingrained themselves into everyone’s minds, making them
impossible to forget.

The White Tiger Dojo members instantly paled at these words.

Every one of them silently turned to their companions, lacking their
previous confidence.

You Ziping’s overall strength could rank second among their group; only
Gan Xingteng was slightly stronger. They would only suffer if they
fought Fire Dance.

In contrast, the Big Dipper’s disciples stared at Fire Dance with
reverence.

Even You Ziping, who had beaten their instructors, had been defeated in
less than a handful of moves. Fire Dance’s strength was astounding.

Moreover, when they saw the visiting fighters’ fear, a bliss sprouted in
their hearts.

So what if the White Tiger Dojo was impressive?

In the end, its disciples had still lost against their Big Dipper Dojo.

Aside from helping them vent their stress, Fire Dance’s victory
reassured them of their decision to join the Big Dipper Dojo.

Before they had joined the Big Dipper Dojo, they had already heard some
rumors.

They heard that, in the Greenwater Villa, there were some people who
were undergoing special training. However, they had no idea about what
that special training entailed. Looking at it now, however, they were
absolutely sure that the villa was a training ground for martial arts
masters.

If they performed well, they might even have a chance to participate in
that special training.

If they could have even half of Fire Dance’s abilities, they could
nurture a powerful reputation for themselves within Jin Hai City. They
might even make a name for themselves in the large-scale competitions in
their province.

After all, even Gan Xingteng, who had defeated Hall Master Chen Wu, wore
a grim expression. His fear of Fire Dance was obvious.

In the past, Chen Wu had become Jin Hai City’s champion fighter, and his
results in the provincial competitions had been impressive.

"Is nobody willing to face me?" Fire Dance asked once more as she swept
a glance over the White Tiger Dojo members.

Before she had come to the dojo, she had heard from Liang Jing just how
powerful the White Tiger Dojo’s members were and had been warned to be
careful against them. However, after that first match, she did not
consider these people particularly strong. On the contrary, she thought
they were pitifully weak.

When You Ziping had attacked, he had left several holes in his defense.
There had just been too many excess movements. Even Violet Cloud could
defeat You Ziping easily, not to mention someone like her, who knew how
to use internal force.

What Fire Dance did not know was that, during her time in the Greenwater
Villa, her strength had long since surpassed ordinary people. However,
since she was usually cooped up inside the villa, she hadn’t had much
contact with the outside world. Hence, she had not noticed these
tremendous changes.

"I’ll be your opponent!" Gan Xingteng had already realized that this
opponent was more than he could handle. However, to preserve the White
Tiger Dojo’s glory, he had to take center stage even if it meant
humiliation.

Before coming to Jin Hai City, the main branch had made it clear that
his group needed to wipe the floor with every dojo in Jin Hai City,
paving the way for their branch dojo.

Even You Ziping could deal with these bumpkins easily, not to mention a
Senior like him. Chen Wu should have been the only troublesome opponent
they encountered. As for the martial arts master that governed the Big
Dipper Training Center, he did not believe the rumor.

Even their White Tiger Dojo had to treat martial arts masters with
respect. How could an exalted figure possibly be content in a third-tier
city like Jin Hai City?

Although Gan Xingteng was unsure if Jin Hai City actually housed a
martial arts master, he was certain that Fire Dance was an expert who
shouldn’t be taken lightly. At the very least, if they wanted a high
chance of defeating her, they needed one of the White Tiger Dojo’s
instructors to take her on.

However, not all hope was lost yet. No matter what was said or done, he
was an advanced disciple from the White Tiger Dojo. His combat
experience and strength far surpassed You Ziping’s. Previously, You
Ziping had sparred against Fire Dance without knowing anything about
her. Now that he knew that Fire Dance was extraordinarily strong, he
would not make the same mistake. As long as he maintained a certain
distance from Fire Dance and waited for her to reveal a flaw in her
defense, he could defeat her.

Moreover, based on Fire Dance’s appearance, the girl only looked to be
in her early twenties. She didn’t have much combat experience. No matter
how much she trained, actual combat was different. She would reveal her
flaws when she attacked.

As Gan Xingteng considered the upcoming fight, Shi Feng announced the
start of the sparring session.

As soon as Shi Feng shouted "start," Fire Dance crossed the distance of
five yards like a leopard and arrived before Gan Xingteng in the blink
of an eye. She proceeded to send an open-palm strike towards Gan
Xingteng’s chest; the wind whistled as her palm sliced through the air.

So fast!

Surprised, Gan Xingteng abruptly retreated.

Fortunately for Gan Xingteng, he had evaded Fire Dance’s fast attack in
the nick of time, with the latter’s palm stopping just a few centimeters
from his chest. This single exchange struck fear into Gan Xingteng’s
heart. He hadn’t expected her to have explosive speed in addition to an
absurd amount of physical strength. Had that attack struck, with Fire
Dance’s strength, he would have had some trouble breathing in the best
case scenario. In the worst case scenario, his ribs would have broken,
and he would have lost consciousness on the spot.

However, Fire Dance’s sudden attack had revealed a hole in her defense.

When she had thrust her palm forward, she had left her side exposed. As
long as he attacked that location, Fire Dance wouldn’t be able to defend
against his attack.

Hmph. In the end, a youngster is still a youngster. Because you’re so
eager to win, you’ve exposed such a basic flaw. Gan Xingteng inwardly
laughed. He then sent a roundhouse kick at Fire Dance.

Both this kick’s speed and power were far more refined than You
Ziping’s.

Just as Gan Xingteng’s leg was about to connect with Fire Dance’s side,
Fire Dance moved, her other hand snaking out to grasp the man’s leg.
Suddenly, she jumped and twisted in the air, and with Gan Xingteng’s leg
as a pivot point, she planted her feet straight onto his face.

Immediately, Gan Xingteng’s face flattened, blood spurting from his
nostrils and his eyes rolling as his head was thrown back.

Gan Xingteng felt the world spin. He couldn’t even feel pain. After
taking a few steps back, his body abruptly fell to the mat as he
fainted.

"Senior Brother Gan!"

The White Tiger Dojo’s members cried out; none of them could believe
what had just happened.

They all felt as if they were dreaming.

Just how fast had Gan Xingteng’s kick been?

They had only seen an afterimage of his leg, yet Fire Dance had managed
to grab it and use it as a pivot point, utilizing the flaw she had
exposed to land a finishing blow.

How much combat experience and how much reaction speed was required to
carry out this feat?!

Even their instructors couldn’t replicate Fire Dance’s counterattack.

You Ziping, who rested below the arena, was dazed when he saw this. He
finally understood that his loss had not been a simple lack of strength.
Fire Dance had only chosen the simplest, most efficient method to deal
with him because the gap between them was simply too massive...

However, there was one point that he could not make sense of.

How did Fire Dance gain such a frightening amount of combat experience?!

To perform that kind of counterattack, one needed extremely precise
control over their bodies. Any mistakes could easily put one in peril.
Only those who frequently dealt with such situations could execute such
an accurate strike at such a crucial moment.

Yet, how old was Fire Dance? How could she possibly possess that much
life-and-death experiences?

"Are you wondering why there is such a huge disparity between your
combat experience?" Shi Feng asked as he walked up to You Ziping. As if
he knew the boy’s thoughts, he smiled and said, "If you wish to know, I
can tell you."

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 905 - Workshop Expands

"Are you seriously willing to say it?" You Ziping eyed Shi Feng
suspiciously.

Accumulating combat experience was not something easy to do—especially
combat experience involving life-and-death situations. Training under
such circumstances was practically gambling with one’s life. There were
quite a number of martial artists who had destroyed their own futures as
a result of such training.

If there actually was a method to accumulate life-and-death combat
experience, improving rapidly within a short time would be an easy task.

This rapid improvement was also the reason why so many martial arts
experts liked to challenge their own limits.

"Of course. However, I have a condition," Shi Feng laughed.

"I knew it. Forget it. I won’t be joining your dojo." You Ziping let out
a soft snort. He had long since known that a person like Shi Feng
wouldn’t reveal such a huge secret without conditions.

However, Shi Feng’s attempt at poaching him would only end up in
failure.

Many major dojos in first-tier cities had come scouting You Ziping ever
since his talent became known. Some had even offered very excellent
treatment, much better than what he was currently receiving from the
instructors of the White Tiger Dojo. However, he had still rejected them
all. He was not someone who would betray his benefactor. When he was at
his lowest, the White Tiger Dojo had given him an opportunity. Had the
White Tiger Dojo not nurtured him, he would not have his current
achievements today.

Simply put, he would not abandon the White Tiger Dojo just for his own
benefit.

"This kid sure thinks highly of himself. I really don’t know what the
chief sees in him, to actually want to nurture someone like him."
Standing a short distance away, the bearlike Cola clicked his tongue
when he overheard You Ziping’s response, highly annoyed by You Ziping’s
attitude.

Whether it was in God’s Domain or Jin Hai City, as long as Shi Feng said
that he was looking to nurture someone, tons of people would definitely
come swarming.

"The boss might have his own thoughts," said Ye Wumian standing beside
Cola. After taking a look at You Ziping, he continued, "However, that
kid indeed possesses some talent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able
to become an intermediate disciple of the White Tiger Dojo at such a
young age. Even his fellow intermediate disciples are looking at him
with respect."

Although Cola and the others spoke softly, their voices still failed to
escape Shi Feng’s ears.

The human brain ruled everything in the body. After Shi Feng’s brain
activity improved, his five senses had also become much more acute.

The trials of the Battle Tower, in particular, had further honed his
five senses. Not to mention a distance of over a dozen yards, even if
Cola and the others stood over twenty yards away from him, so long as he
focused slightly, he would still hear their whispers.

Meanwhile, regarding his companions’ sotto voce discussion, Shi Feng
could only laugh inwardly in understanding.

After all, not everyone was a reincarnator like he was; they did not
know the things that would happen in the future. Not to mention, You
Ziping was currently still a diamond in the rough. Who could possibly
expect him to become an expert ranked within the top 50 of the God’s
Domain Experts List in the future?

Seeing You Ziping rejecting his offer righteously, Shi Feng laughed and
said, "You misunderstood. I’m not trying to scout you into the Big
Dipper Dojo. I’m only inviting you to join the Zero Wing Gaming
Workshop. Doing so won’t affect your daily life in any way."

"Join a Gaming Workshop?" Surprised, You Ziping asked, "For real?"

In the current era, there were many Gaming Workshops in society. There
were also plenty of professional gamers. Although not comparable to the
fighting industry, the gaming industry was still an increasingly
important business sector.

Moreover, the majority of Gaming Workshops operated in the wee hours of
the night, so joining one would not affect one’s daily life.

If he could really increase his life-and-death combat experience just by
joining a Gaming Workshop, this would definitely be a worthwhile
exchange.

Shi Feng nodded before turning to look at the members of Big Dipper and
White Tiger and announcing, "This offer isn’t just you but for everyone
present. As long as you are below the age of 25, all of you have an
opportunity to join Zero Wing’s Workshop."

Zero Wing was already developing quite well. Originally, Shi Feng had
planned to wait a little while longer before recruiting for Zero Wing’s
internal training program. Now that a major dojo like the White Tiger
Dojo had already started making its move and begun poaching talents en
masse, he naturally could not fall behind.

Previously, he had only intended to nurture a few core members of Zero
Wing at the Greenwater Villa, so he had not bothered dragging in the
disciples of the Big Dipper Dojo. Now that he had such an excellent
opportunity, he could use this chance to recruit a few good talents and
start internally nurturing experts in large numbers just like the
various major powers of God’s Domain. With this, he wouldn’t have to
worry about lacking experts or talents getting poached away.

Everyone was momentarily stunned when they heard this.

Liang Jing was also at a loss for words.

This place was a dojo, a place that nurtured experts for the world of
fighting, yet Shi Feng was actually recruiting these people to become
professional gamers. Doing so was simply ludicrous.

If Director Xiao learned of this matter, he was sure to fly into a rage.

"Instructor Shi, if we join Zero Wing’s Workshop, will we really become
stronger?" a few disciples asked curiously.

Hearing these disciples asking such a question rendered Fire Dance and
the others speechless.

They were the high and mighty Zero Wing!

Moreover, when all was said and done, Zero Wing was extremely famous in
Star-Moon Kingdom, and even possessed some fame in the world of God’s
Domain. Despite all that, these people actually did not know anything
about them.

Of course, they also understood that, although these disciples might
know about virtual reality games, their lifelong goal had always been to
achieve fame in the world of fighting. Hence, they rarely came into
contact with pleasure-seeking activities, focusing their all into
training their bodies, instead.

How could a bunch of people who had precious little exposure to virtual
reality games possibly have heard of Zero Wing’s name?

"Let’s put it this way. If you can pass the test and join the Zero Wing
Workshop, I can assure you that it won’t be long before you become much
stronger than your present selves," Shi Feng said definitively.

"I want to take part in the test!"

"I want to try as well!"

Immediately, many disciples in the dojo raised their hands and voiced
their intent to apply for Zero Wing’s Workshop, every one of them firmly
believing Shi Feng’s words. After all, Fire Dance was the best example.
Even Gan Xingteng, who had managed to defeat Hall Master Chen Wu,
suffered a quick defeat at her hands.

"What about you guys?" Shi Feng asked as he looked at the youths of the
White Tiger Dojo.

"No! Absolutely not!" shouted Gan Xingteng, who had just regained
consciousness. "As long as you are a member of the White Tiger Dojo, you
are not allowed to join any kind of workshop! Otherwise, you will be
expelled!"

Some of the White Tiger Dojo members, who had initially been
entertaining thoughts of taking the test, immediately lowered their
heads at these words.

"Senior Brother Gan, why is this so?" a short youth asked curiously.

Logically, there should not be any clash between a dojo and a Gaming
Workshop. Disciples would normally take on part-time jobs. After all,
not everyone could make a living out of participating in competitions,
and the dojo did not provide everyone with financial support. They still
needed to live.

Joining a Gaming Workshop could be considered a part-time job. Moreover,
it was more lucrative than any other part-time job.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 906 - You Will Regret It

Shi Feng was also somewhat surprised by Gan Xingteng’s yelling. He then
shot a curious look at Gan Xingteng, whose countenance had completely
distorted.

Something occurred to Shi Feng.

The White Tiger Dojo might’ve already entered into a partnership with a
corporation, and instead of recruiting more members to attract
investors, it was already preparing to enter God’s Domain.

Meanwhile, in reply to the questions posed by the disciples of the White
Tiger Dojo, Gan Xingteng simply sent them a glare and said strictly, "If
you want to join a Gaming Workshop, be my guest. When the time comes,
don’t blame me for not warning you."

Immediately, the crowd from the White Tiger Dojo fell silent.

In all dojos, there were two kinds of disciples. The first kind had to
pay an exorbitant fee to join and was usually there just to train their
body and learn some combat techniques. The dojo didn’t place them under
any restrictions. The second kind was under contract. They were subject
to relatively strict restrictions. However, they paid only a small fee
or, depending on their rank, nothing at all to receive nurturing from
the dojo. Disciples under this category were all aiming to become
professional fighters, and they were more like contracted artists
working for an agency.

The White Tiger disciples who had come to the Big Dipper Dojo this time
all fell under the latter category.

They had undergone multiple examinations just to get accepted as a
contracted disciple of the White Tiger Dojo. After all, the White Tiger
Dojo was renowned in the industry, having produced many famous industry
professionals. Just being able to get selected as a contracted disciple
proved that one was already among the cream of the crop.

If they were expelled from the White Tiger Dojo, the consequences would
be unimaginable.

Faced with that sort of pressure, everyone naturally no longer dared to
harbor thoughts of joining the Zero Wing Workshop.

"The White Tiger Dojo sure is overbearing. Their contracted disciples
don’t possess any freedom at all."

"If it were me, I wouldn’t stay in such a dojo at all. It’s not even a
guarantee that I’d become a top-tier professional in the future."

"Sure enough, our dojo is much better. Aside from the usual training, we
can do whatever we want during our free time."

The disciples of the Big Dipper Dojo were shocked at the restrictions
the White Tiger Dojo placed on its disciples. Previously, they still
felt relatively envious of the White Tiger Dojo members. Now, however,
rather than envious, they felt fortunate that they had not joined such a
tyrannical dojo.

Moreover, Shi Feng had already assured them that anyone who managed to
join Zero Wing’s Workshop would definitely gain significant improvements
in the future.

Not only would they be able to earn money, but they would also be able
to improve their strength.

Compared to joining the White Tiger Dojo, they would have a much better
life staying at the Big Dipper Dojo and joining Zero Wing’s Workshop.

When the White Tiger Dojo members heard the Big Dipper disciples’ words,
their complexions turned extremely ugly. At this moment, none of the
pride they had before was evident on their faces.

At the White Tiger Dojo members’ silence, Shi Feng simply smiled and
said, "The choice is yours. I won’t force you to make a decision. If you
guys really want to join, you are welcome to come here and take the test
any time."

Although the White Tiger Dojo’s interference made it more difficult for
him to poach You Ziping, now that the boy had come to Jin Hai City, the
White Tiger Dojo would naturally come into conflict with the Big Dipper
Dojo. At that time, he would still have plenty of opportunities to scout
You Ziping. Having already cast his bait, all he needed to do was wait
patiently.

As far as Shi Feng knew, You Ziping had chosen to develop himself at the
White Tiger Dojo because he liked the daughter of one of the White Tiger
Dojo’s branch heads. Unfortunately, this branch head had not favored You
Ziping and had given her daughter to a genius fighter called Xie Qiwen,
instead.

Xie Qiwen was very amazing. At just the young age of 25, he had already
managed to qualify for an international fighting competition. Meanwhile,
You Ziping had been a mere advanced disciple of the White Tiger Dojo
back then, mingling only at the bottom ranks of national competitions.

With such a great disparity between the two young men, it was obvious
which person the branch head would choose.

After that incident, You Ziping had left the White Tiger Dojo and joined
the Super Guild Pantheon. Afterward, his achievements had skyrocketed.

According to the current timeline, that branch head should not have
given her daughter to anyone yet. You Ziping and Xie Qiwen were still
competing with each other for her hand. However, if You Ziping did not
present any outstanding performances to that branch head, then trying to
gain her daughter would definitely be a pipe dream.

Currently, Xie Qiwen was a big celebrity in the White Tiger Dojo. He was
already a famous fighter on the national level. You Ziping simply stood
no chance the way he was right now.

If You Ziping wanted to have a fighting chance against Xie Qiwen, then
the opportunity to strengthen himself that Shi Feng was extending to him
was his only chance.

Even if the current You Ziping did not wish to join Zero Wing, once he
felt that he could not outcompete Xie Qiwen, he would surely think back
to the absolute strength Fire Dance showed today. At that time, he would
naturally consider joining Zero Wing.

Just as Gan Xingteng thought that no one would dare to join the Zero
Wing Workshop, a White Tiger Dojo member suddenly raised his hand.

"I want to take the test!"

Gan Xingteng and the other White Tiger Dojo members promptly turned to
look at the origin of this voice.

The person speaking was a young man around 20 years old. To those aiming
to become professional fighters, his body was slightly too thin. It was
truly hard to imagine how such a person had managed to become an
intermediate disciple of the White Tiger Dojo.

"Lu Ping, have you lost your mind?!" You Ziping was filled with shock as
he turned to look at the young man currently taking care of him.

In the White Tiger Dojo, Lu Ping’s talent was considered merely average.
The only reason he had managed to become an intermediate disciple was
his having trained at the dojo for many years. Currently, he was already
21 years old, yet he had been promoted to an intermediate disciple just
recently.

He could also be considered one of the few friends You Ziping had in the
White Tiger Dojo.

You Ziping never imagined that...

Lu Ping would actually forsake his future at the White Tiger Dojo just
to join a Gaming Workshop.

Although You Ziping wanted to dissuade his friend, Lu Ping forestalled
him.

"I’m different from you. You are a genius, while I’m just an ordinary
person. I know my own limits. It would be a miracle if I can even become
an advanced disciple by the time I reach thirty. Rather than continue
walking on this path, I would rather take a gamble," Lu Ping explained.

Hearing these words, You Ziping inwardly ridiculed himself. At the same
time, he also understood that Lu Ping was firm on his decision.

The other members of the White Tiger Dojo could more or less understand
Lu Ping’s feelings as well when they heard his explanation.

Gan Xingteng, however, had an extremely ugly expression on his face
right now.

He had originally come to the Big Dipper Dojo, representing the White
Tiger Dojo, to humiliate the people here as well as poach some of its
disciples. He had never imagined that he would end up on the receiving
end of this plan, instead. If news of this matter were to spread, the
White Tiger Dojo’s reputation would fall into ruin.

"Hahaha! Good! Very good!" Gan Xingteng could not help but laugh madly
at this development. He then turned to Lu Ping and said, "I won’t hold
you back if you want to leave. However, you will definitely regret this
decision in the future! We’re leaving!"

Seeing that several more people in his group were starting to show signs
of hesitation, he no longer dared to remain here any longer. He
hurriedly called for everyone to leave the Big Dipper Dojo.

At this time, Cola walked up to the somewhat dazed Lu Ping and patted
the young man’s shoulders. In a very welcoming tone, Cola then said,
"Brother, I have high hopes for you! I can assure you that, if you
manage to join the Zero Wing Workshop, it will be—without a doubt—the
wisest decision you make in this lifetime! I mean, take myself for
example. Before I joined Zero Wing, I was far weaker than your current
self. As long as you work hard, you will certainly become much stronger
than you would ever be if you stayed in the White Tiger Dojo!"

"May I know how long Big Brother has been with Zero Wing?" After Lu Ping
took a close look at the tall and robust Cola, as well as considered the
feeling he got when Cola had patted his shoulders, he could tell that
Cola possessed immense physical strength. He estimated Cola’s strength
to be equal or above that of Gan Xingteng’s.

After making a rough calculation, Cola answered honestly, "It’s been
roughly a month since I’ve started training officially."

"Just over a month?! And you say you were weaker than me before?! You’re
not lying to me, right?!" Lu Ping’s eyes widened in shock. He simply
could not believe Cola’s words.

Cola rolled his eyes at Lu Ping, feeling that the young man was getting
overly excited over nothing. He then pointed to Fire Dance and the
others and said, "Why would I lie to you? All of us here started taking
part in the special training at the same time. If you don’t believe me,
ask them yourself!"

"That’s right. All of us did indeed start training here only a month
ago, more or less. And before Cola began the special training, he really
was weaker than your current self." Fire Dance nodded and laughed.

Hearing Fire Dance’s confirmation, Lu Ping was immediately dumbfounded.

Or to put it in another way, the amount of information was just too much
for his brain to process.

Right now, he felt as if he had wasted all his life training for
nothing.

Just what kind of place did he come to?

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 907 - Strength Changes

After leaving the Big Dipper Dojo with miserable expressions, Gan
Xingteng and the other members of the White Tiger Dojo returned to the
high-class hotel where they were temporarily lodging. Disregarding his
injuries, Gan Xingteng immediately reported what had happened at the Big
Dipper Dojo to the main branch of the White Tiger Dojo upon arrival.

"What did you say? There’s an expert who’s even stronger than you at the
Big Dipper Dojo?" the white-robed middle-aged man on the other side of
the video call repeated in surprise. "Could that person be that rumored
internal force expert?"

"Master Jiang, that Head Instructor called Shi Feng did not take action.
The one who fought was a woman. Judging from her appearance, she should
be around the same age as Shi Feng. However, she is extremely powerful.
Even Xie Qiwen would have difficulty defeating her. I suspect that the
real behind-the-scenes boss is that woman," Gan Xingteng reported
carefully as he looked at the man in the screen. "Moreover, I believe
that the Big Dipper Dojo has plans similar to ours."

Although Jiang Tianyuan, the man before him, was not the main dojo
master of the White Tiger Dojo, he was still a very powerful branch
master. The man had been famous for more than 20 years already. One
should not take his appearance at face value. While he might look like
someone in his mid-thirties, in reality, he was already 50 years old
this year.

"This is interesting. Even Xie Qiwen wouldn’t be able to defeat her
easily? It’s no wonder the Big Dipper Group has constantly been
expanding its influence recently. But it doesn’t matter. The mindset of
that bunch from the Big Dipper Group is too simple. What do they think
they can accomplish with just one expert?" Jiang Tianyuan laughed. "I
recall that Jin Hai City is going to hold a city-wide competition soon.
I’ll send Xie Qiwen and Tang Jingyao to help you secure both male and
female championship titles in Jin Hai City. At that time, even if the
Big Dipper Dojo tries to recruit members, it won’t be able to outmatch
us. For the moment, just focus on properly dealing with the matters of
the branch dojo."

"Understood!" Gan Xingteng nodded hurriedly, shock filling his heart.

He had never imagined that Jiang Tianyuan would get so serious as to
actually send both Xie Qiwen and Tang Jingyao over. The two of them were
the pride of the White Tiger Dojo. Both of them usually took part only
in national-level competitions, and they were also very famous fighters
within the country. Having them participate in such a small competition
was simply a waste of time.

At that time, a commotion would definitely arise in Jin Hai City.

As long as those two people took action, none of the other dojos in Jin
Hai City would have any hopes of securing the championship title.

---

Inside the Big Dipper Dojo, Shi Feng had Fire Dance and the others
preside over the assessment of the new applicants. Meanwhile, Shi Feng
himself discussed with Liang Jing the matters of recruitment and
advertising for Zero Wing’s Workshop.

Shi Feng’s approach to these problems was simple: advertising through
the Big Dipper Training Center’s connections. The advertisement would
state that Zero Wing was trying to recruit internal elites, as well as
some application conditions such as only men and women below the age of
25 were allowed to apply. It was simply a recruitment advertisement.

Originally, Liang Jing thought that even if a Gaming Workshop utilized
Big Dipper’s connections to disseminate an advertisement, there would
not be many applicants.

Although the application conditions Shi Feng proposed were not
particularly strict, the criteria for passing the assessment itself was
very high. As proof of this, only 10% of the disciples of the Big Dipper
Dojo had managed to pass the assessment—and every single one of these
disciples had been handpicked by Big Dipper. If ordinary people, who
only exercised occasionally, were to apply to the Zero Wing Workshop, it
would be great if even 1% managed to pass the assessment.

Moreover, the treatment Shi Feng offered was only average at best. She
expected that anyone who saw the advertised benefits would directly give
up on applying altogether.

However, when the next day arrived, everyone in the Big Dipper Training
Center was stupefied.

There were actually tens of thousands of people swarming into the Big
Dipper Training Center, every one of them wishing to take Zero Wing’s
test. These people had very nearly destroyed the entrance of the
training center.

The lively scene was even more exaggerated than Jin Hai City’s annual
fighting competition.

Meanwhile, the only thing these people talked about as they filled the
hallways of the Big Dipper Training Center was Zero Wing, their eyes
filled with excitement and admiration as they spoke.

In Liang Jing’s opinion, these people had all lost their minds. Since
when did Big Dipper possess such powerful advertising capabilities? With
this, there would be no need to run any training center or dojo. Big
Dipper could simply start an advertising company and make a fortune.

Wasn’t Zero Wing just a Gaming Workshop? It was not as if these people
were applying to join one of the Fortune 500 companies.

When Xiao Yu found out about this flood of visitors, he thought that a
major incident had occurred at Big Dipper. As a result, even though he
resided in another city, he hurriedly took a flight back to Jin Hai
City. When he arrived at the Big Dipper Training Center and heard what
the crowd was discussing, his mind stopped completely.

He had never imagined that a game like God’s Domain could actually
garner such popularity as well as possess such massive influence.

Previously, he still considered God’s Domain to be like any other game.
Even if those major corporations invested in it, they were only doing so
to raise their prestige and help promote the game.

Now, however, it would seem that was not the case.

"It looks like I’ll have to find some time to have a discussion with Shi
Feng." At this moment, Xiao Yu finally understood why Shi Feng was so
intent on playing a virtual reality game. Otherwise, with the young
man’s abilities, he could easily become a star in the world of fighting.

Meanwhile, the large number of applicants also made the extremely
confident White Tiger Dojo impatient.

"Just what kind of trick did they pull?! Why are all these people trying
to join that place?!" No matter how many times Gan Xingteng looked
through Zero Wing’s flyer, he could not figure out why so many people
were trying to join Zero Wing’s Workshop.

Meanwhile, the instructions from the White Tiger Dojo’s main
headquarters were also very simple: speed up the construction of the
branch dojo. At the same time, the main headquarters also withdrew some
funds to start advertising as well, refusing to believe that they could
not outcompete Big Dipper with the fame of the White Tiger Dojo.

...

After learning of the White Tiger Dojo’s actions, Liang Jing suggested
Shi Feng either increase his scope of advertising or reduce the
difficulty of the assessment. However, Shi Feng rejected her
suggestions.

In his opinion, the people of the White Tiger Dojo were truly fools. He
was currently recruiting members for a Gaming Workshop, not a dojo. No
matter how much the White Tiger Dojo advertised itself, it would not
affect his recruitment campaign in any way.

Following which, Shi Feng handed over all the tasks related to the
recruitment to Liang Jing to handle, which kept her extremely busy. Not
only did she have to go through the applications of tens of thousands of
people as well as manage their assessments, but crowds of new applicants
also continued coming in every day. If she did not mobilize every staff
member of Big Dipper, she would’ve died from overwork already.

Fortunately, becoming an internal elite of Zero Wing was not easy, and
the passing rate of the assessment was exceedingly low. At the moment,
the passing rate was not even 1%.

As for Shi Feng himself, he continued training at the Battle Tower. At
the same time, he shared some of his Battle Points with Fire Dance and
the others, allowing them to fight with the simulated experts for long
periods of time.

During the two days that God’s Domain’s system update took to finish,
Fire Dance and the others received massive improvements.

Violet Cloud, in particular, had finally set foot into the Refinement
Realm after training at the Battle Tower, becoming Zero Wing’s third
expert to set foot into the Realms of Refinement. As for everyone else,
they had all reached the Half-step Refinement Realm standard already.

"When Big Sis Aqua finds out about this, she will most likely be very
shocked at our improvement speed during this period," Violet Cloud said
over the public channel, after entering her virtual gaming cabin, her
heart full of anticipation as she prepared to log into God’s Domain.
"Oh, right. Guild Leader, please don’t tell Big Sis Aqua about this
matter right after you log in. She was always bullying me before. This
time, I must give her a surprise!"

"Sure," Shi Feng laughed as he shook his head. After Aqua Rose obtained
her Epic Staff, although she was still a bit inferior to Violet Cloud in
terms of techniques, she became far superior in terms of Basic
Attributes. As a result, when the two sparred with each other, Violet
Cloud was usually the one who got the worst of it. "After you guys log
in, gather at White River City. I have something important to tell you
all. In addition, there is also the matter of these newcomers."

Following which, when the countdown timer for God’s Domain’s system
upgrade ended, everyone logged into the game simultaneously.

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 908: 3-Star Shop Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: Vampirecat

Chapter 908 – 3-Star Shop

As soon as Shi Feng returned to God’s Domain after forty hours of
waiting, the sound of a system notification entered his ears.

System: The environment of the area you are in has changed.

System: You have 30 seconds of invulnerability to look for a safe zone.

“Isn’t this transformation a little too much?!” Shi Feng was surprised
as he observed his surroundings.

At this moment, the previously lush, green valley was nothing more than
scorched earth. He could even faintly see streams of magma flowing
nearby. This place had already turned into a volcanic hell.

When the waves of hot air blew over Shi Feng, even with his high Fire
Resistance, his skin still registered a burning sensation.

The pungent smell in the air was almost unbearable.

After God’s Domain underwent its fourth evolution, the five senses of
players had evidently become much more acute. As a result, such severe
external environments would have a greater impact on the combat power of
players.

Likewise, monsters also had their senses heightened. With their enhanced
senses, monsters would now have significantly greater perception ranges.

This change was extremely disadvantageous for players who grinded at
night. After all, while players would have their acuity reduced at
night, monsters would not. Now that the senses of monsters were sharper,
most likely, players would be under attack even before they could detect
these monsters.

This change was a nightmare, particularly for players who were usually
active in high-level maps, which were already very dangerous to
adventure in, in the first place. Now, things just became even more
dangerous.

Although Shi Feng had already chosen a safe zone to set up a
teleportation point before he logged out, with such drastic changes to
the environment, his previously safe zone was now infested with
extremely fierce Level 40 monsters. If not for the invulnerability
provided by the system, he would’ve long since become dinner for these
monsters.

He immediately activated Wind Rider and continued searching for a safe
zone to set up a teleportation point.

After looking for about half an hour or so, he finally found an elevated
location for the teleportation point. He also set up a protective
barrier using the Ancient Abyssal Book.

Aside from the monsters that were originally in the valley, one could
also frequently see abyssal monsters flying overhead. These monsters
were much higher-leveled than those residing in the valley, with the
lowest being Level 80. To current players, these monsters were
practically invincible existences.

Without the barrier set up using the Ancient Abyssal Book, any player
that came here would only become food for the abyssal monsters.

However, it was also thanks to these abyssal monsters that he could get
an opportunity to make a fortune.

Eventually, he would only need to pay out some Magic Crystals in order
to rake in large sums of Coins.

After he was done with all of his tasks here, Shi Feng took out a Return
Scroll and left the valley.

At White River City, Shi Feng discovered that the city’s defensive magic
array had already been activated, as soon as he walked out of the
Teleportation Hall. There were also thousands of abyssal monsters
hovering about in the air beyond the magic array, with the
lowest-leveled among them being Level 180 and the highest being Level
200 Grand Lords.

With the appearance of such terrifying monsters, the atmosphere within
White River City had become subdued. The players walking around the
street all felt extremely stressed, all of them fearing that the
defensive magic array in the sky would suddenly crumble.

“We’re doomed this time! With so many monsters here, will our White
River City be captured as well?”

“That can’t be possible, right? Although White River City is not
comparable to the capital, it is still a major city in the kingdom’s
eastern region. If even White River City falls, won’t the surrounding
cities fare even worse?”

When everyone thought about the gigantic monsters flying in the sky
above the city, their scalps involuntarily numbed. In this situation,
they couldn’t grind and level up within the region of White River City.

At the same time, the Guilds based in the eastern region of Star-Moon
Kingdom were also holding urgent meetings one after another.

The various Guilds had initially believed that the Abyss Invasion would
only affect the Twin Towers Kingdom. They never thought that it would
embroil the surrounding countries as well. Now, these Guilds had no
choice but to decide whether or not they should relocate to another
city. However, the consequences of doing so were something that no Guild
could accept.

It had taken them a lot of time and resources to establish themselves in
their current respective cities. If they were to leave the city they
controlled and choose to start developing all over again in another
city, the cost of doing so would be much higher than the first time.

The number two Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom’s eastern region, Overwhelming
Smile, was currently extremely busy.

Over a hundred people were seated inside its spacious meeting room.
These people were all members of Overwhelming Smile’s upper echelon, and
they were existences that ordinary players would rarely get to meet.

“Hahaha! The timing of these abyssal monsters is simply impeccable! I
want to see just how Zero Wing is going to continue strutting around in
this situation!” Feng Xuanyang could not help but smile when he received
the latest report.

Based on the information from Underworld, the eastern region of
Star-Moon Kingdom wasn’t the only part of the kingdom affected by the
Abyss Invasion. These abyssal monsters were already showing signs of
spreading throughout the entire realm. By the time that happened, it
would be relatively dangerous for players to go out and grind.

Along with this report, the upper echelon of Underworld had also given
the command for Overwhelming Smile to move its elites temporarily to the
Black Dragon Empire, which did not receive any harassment from the
abyssal monsters.

Underworld’s influence spread across multiple kingdoms. A pause in its
operations in Star-Moon Kingdom would not affect the entire organization
too significantly. It definitely possessed the ability to transfer its
elites to the cities of other kingdoms and empires that were under its
control.

Small and upstart Guilds with no background, on the other hand, did not
possess this ability. These Guilds generally had their foundations in
only one country and could not afford to move their base of operations
in a hurry. Even if they did relocate, they would have to start from
scratch. However, how could these Guilds compete in a foreign city
against the entrenched local Guilds, which had already developed for
months?

For Zero Wing, the tyrant of Star-Moon Kingdom, things were even more
severe. The amount of capital and number of advantages it would lose by
migrating its base of operations would be unbearable even for a
first-rate Guild. With such a loss, Zero Wing’s development would no
doubt suffer a significant setback. When that happened, it would be
nearly impossible for the Guild to catch up to the major powers of God’s
Domain.

In contrast to Feng Xuanyang’s joyful reaction, Youlan currently had a
slight frown on her face.

Zero Wing is really unlucky, but I guess this is also part of life.
Youlan could not help but sigh inwardly.

Zero Wing’s rise was already a legend in Star-Moon Kingdom. Ultimately,
however, it couldn’t save itself from falling due to external factors.

Who could’ve possibly imagined that the system would play such a trick?
This development had thoroughly ruined Zero Wing.

Of course, Youlan was also feeling very fortunate about the appearance
of the abyssal monsters.

This invasion was both a disaster and an opportunity.

Currently, due to the abyssal monsters, the players belonging to
countries neighboring the Twin Towers Kingdoms would definitely shift to
other kingdoms and empires. Moreover, the possibility of players
migrating to the Black Dragon Empire was the greatest. With so many
players swarming into the Black Dragon Empire, the player population of
the cities there would naturally soar. Hence, the market there for items
would expand in spades.

If she could nurture a batch of her own Advanced Lifestyle players now,
her authority in Underworld would surely grow as well.

Thinking up to this point, Youlan could not help but wish she could take
action sooner.

At this time, every minute and second was money!

Unfortunately, while today should have been the day they went to the
Holy City of Titan, due to the system upgrade, the operation had been
delayed.

While every Guild was busy holding meetings and deciding on how they
should develop in the future, Shi Feng himself arrived at the City Hall
of White River City.

“How may I help you, sir?” the NPC beauty standing behind the VIP
counter asked with a smile.

In response, he calmly took out a purple-gold, diamond-shaped token and
said, “I wish to upgrade the Candlelight Trading Firm into a 3-star
Shop.”

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 909: Shocking Star-Moon Kingdom Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor:
Vampirecat

Chapter 909 – Shocking Star-Moon Kingdom

After the female receptionist accepted the purple-gold token and
confirmed that there were no problems, she looked at Shi Feng and said,
“Sir, if you wish to promote your Shop to 3-star status, you still have
to pay an additional 3,000 Gold reconstruction fee.”

Without hesitation, Shi Feng handed 3,000 Gold over to the receptionist.

Previously, he had been busy with setting up a teleportation point.
There had also been the matter of the Mutated Dragon. Back then, he
simply had no time to check how much he had earned from the Blackwing
Auction House.

Although Shi Feng had spent 20,000 Gold to purchase the Engineering
Locomotive Design from Sinned Heart, the 5,000 Strengthening Devices he
sold at Blackwing City had made him a fortune.

After deducting all the miscellaneous fees, he currently had close to
30,000 Gold Coins sitting in his pockets right now. If those first-rate
Guilds were to learn of this, they would definitely be green with envy.

In truth, Shi Feng had never imagined that the Strengthening Devices
would be so welcome; the final 1,500 devices sold at a minimum price of
13 Gold 15 Silver. The Combat Guilds at Blackwing City had gone nuts
over the devices.

It’s a pity that the number of people who can produce the Strengthening
Device is limited. Otherwise, with just the Strengthening Device, I
could probably earn enough money to construct a city, Shi Feng sighed
inwardly.

While the Strengthening Device Forging Design itself was already
extremely rare, the forgers capable of producing the item at a
profitable rate were even rarer. As a result, the number of designs he
had on hand was much more than the number of forgers he had who were
capable of producing the item right now.

As players reached higher levels, their chances of obtaining the
Strengthening Device Forging Design would rise. As the number of
Strengthening Devices on the market increased, its price would
definitely fall. By then, it would be very good if he could sell one for
eight or nine Gold. In another few months’ time, even selling a
Strengthening Device for five Gold would be an extravagant dream.

After Shi Feng paid the fees and completed all the necessary procedures,
as soon as he walked out of the City Hall’s entrance and was about to
head back to the Guild Residence...

A commotion broke out among players on the street.

“Did you hear? The Candlelight Trading Firm’s Shop has transformed
again!”

“Transformed? Could there be a new product?”

“No, that’s not it. The entire trading firm itself has undergone a
transformation! Before, it was only a five-story building. Now, it is
seven stories tall! Currently, it is only second to the NPC-operated
Starstreak Trading Firm in terms of floors!”

“What? Aren’t the number of floors for Shops fixed?”

“That’s right! That’s why everyone suspects that Candlelight’s Shop has
been promoted to a 3-star Shop!”

“What!? Even the Black Dragon Empire had a 2-star Shop appear in its
imperial capital only recently! How can the Candlelight Trading Firm
possibly upgrade to a 3-star Shop so quickly?!”

News of the Candlelight Trading Firm obtaining a 3-star Shop spread like
wildfire. Very quickly, every Guild in the entire Star-Moon Kingdom had
found out about it.

This incident completely offset the depression and silence brought on by
the abyssal monsters.

“Just what is Zero Wing thinking?”

“The abyssal monsters have already started to spread throughout the
entire kingdom. White River City is even under siege right now. To
upgrade a Shop in White River City to 3-stars, isn’t Zero Wing throwing
good money after bad?!”

“Doesn’t Zero Wing know that players have already begun migrating to
other kingdoms and empires? Rather than constructing a 3-star Shop in a
city with a rapidly decreasing population, they might as well construct
it in a small city in the Black Dragon Empire.”

When the various Guilds received this news, their first reaction was to
comment on Zero Wing’s foolishness.

Meanwhile, the Guild that was the most excited about this news was
naturally Overwhelming Smile, Zero Wing’s long-time rival; some Guilds
that wished to overtake Zero Wing also got a kick out of this
development.

“Hahaha! Zero Wing is done for this time! It won’t be able to rise back
up even if it wanted to now!” Initially, when Feng Xuanyang received
news of the Candlelight Trading Firm’s promotion, he had been both
shocked and envious. Overwhelming Smile had yet to possess even a single
2-star Shop up to now, yet the Candlelight Trading Firm already had a
3-star Shop. Shortly after, however, he started gloating over Zero
Wing’s misfortune.

If not for the invasion of the abyssal monsters, the fact that the
Candlelight Trading Firm possessed a 3-star Shop would have indeed dealt
a heavy blow to Overwhelming Smile’s Overwhelming Trading Firm.

With the Special Workshop of 2-star Shops as an example, even a fool
could imagine just how many more additional benefits a 3-star Shop could
bring. Even a meager increase in the number of Special Workshops would
still greatly enhance the Candlelight Trading Firm’s ability to nurture
Lifestyle players.

In the current God’s Domain, economic battles between Guilds were
becoming increasingly important. This change in trend also led to Feng
Xuanyang loathing Youlan to the extreme. He deeply regretted not
contesting for the rights of the Overwhelming Trading Firm, allowing
Youlan to obtain them, instead. Right now, Youlan was already a very
important figure in Underworld; even he had to treat her with respect.

Before Shi Feng even walked into Zero Wing’s Residence, he could already
hear the merriment coming from inside.

Just moments ago, Melancholic Smile had even directly contacted Shi Feng
to report every functionality of the Candlelight Trading Firm’s new
3-star Shop, her voice bubbling with excitement.

Although the building itself had increased by only two floors, the
difference between the functions of a 2-star Shop and 3-star Shop made
Melancholic Smile think that she was dreaming.

That was right: dreaming.

In order to develop itself, the Candlelight Trading Firm had recruited
many Lifestyle players. Some of the new hires had very good potential.
The only thing they lacked was experience. Unfortunately, the
Candlelight Trading Firm had only five Special Workshops. With three
rooms reserved exclusively for Melancholic Smile, Cream Cocoa, and
Roasted Ironheart, only two were left for the others to use in turn and
increase their production experience.

With this, the amount of time allotted for each Lifestyle player was not
calculated in hours or days, but in minutes. Generally, a Lifestyle
player with good potential would have roughly 30 minutes to learn and
train inside a Special Workshop, once every several days.

Now, they had a total of 12 Special Workshops. Aside from the three
reserved, they now had nine Special Workshops for those with excellent
potential to use. This would increase their efficiency over fourfold.

Finally, there was the Basic Meditation Room, which was what truly
shocked Melancholic Smile.

Out of curiosity, she had spent 300 Magic Crystals to activate the room.
Although the price was indeed costly, the effects of the room left her
speechless. While inside the Meditation Room, her mind experienced a
calm like never before. In that calm state, even the most complicated
production procedures became very simple for her. As a result, her
production success rate had risen by roughly 10% while her production
speed had improved by at least 30% as well.

Although this improvement might not seem like much, to Lifestyle players
like herself who frequently produced items, this improvement was
extremely staggering. Currently, items that could raise production
success rate by just 1% were selling for astronomical prices; something
that could offer an increase of 10% would be priceless. There was also
the improvement in production speed.

Not to mention spending 300 Magic Crystals a day, even spending 500
crystals would be worth it—so long as the Meditation Room was used to
produce high-value items. If it were used only for items such as
Advanced Whetstones, they would never be able to make up for the cost of
using the room.

Shi Feng only gave some simple instructions regarding the Meditation
Rooms and Special Workshops. At the same time, he also had Melancholic
Smile start recruiting more Lifestyle players from the general public.

The fourth evolution of God’s Domain was not as simple as it appeared to
be.

Rather than the combat system, the Lifestyle production system was the
part that had truly evolved. Soon, Lifestyle players would play a
pivotal role in God’s Domain, just like combat players.

Otherwise, a Master Forger wouldn’t have attained such a high standing
in society in the past, to the point where even the Guild Leader of a
second-rate Guild like himself had to treat them with respect. Back
then, even the members of Shadow’s board of directors had treated the
Guild’s Master Forgers like their own babies.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 910: Killing Multiple Birds with One Stone Translator:
Hellscythe_ Editor: Vampirecat

Chapter 910 – Killing Multiple Birds with One Stone

While the Candlelight Trading Firm was causing a huge commotion...

Over a hundred people were currently gathered inside the meeting room of
Zero Wing’s Guild Residence.

Every person present was a core member of Zero Wing. Not only did
everyone possess very high Levels, but even the equipment they wore
could easily make expert players of God’s Domain envious. While the
general public considered Level 35 Dark-Gold Equipment rare, it was just
basic equipment for them. As for their combat standards, every one of
them could easily reach the fifth floor of the Trial Tower or higher.

Experts capable of reaching the Trial Tower’s fifth floor could easily
become a first-rate expert in a city with a player population of over
100,000.

Nevertheless, all these experts were gazing at the figure seated on the
Guild Leader’s throne with eyes filled with reverence and shock.

The reason for their reverence was the identity of the man before them.
He was a legendary character who had single-handedly established Zero
Wing and developed the upstart Guild to its current overbearing state.
The man was even the publicly acknowledged number one expert of
Star-Moon Kingdom, and until now, he still maintained his indomitable
record.

As for the reason for their shock when they looked at Shi Feng, it was
his Level.

At this moment, Shi Feng had not done anything to hide his Level. As
long as one paid a little attention, they would be able to see it.

Level 42!

Even the current top players in empires were only Level 39 at best. They
were also still relatively far from reaching Level 40. Previously, when
Fire Dance and the others had revealed themselves to be at Level 40, the
other core members had already been flabbergasted. Although there was
just a difference of one Level between them and the top players of
empires, the amount of EXP required to cross this gap was massive.

Now, Shi Feng was even more terrifying. He was actually two Levels
higher than Fire Dance and the others.

Not to mention the other core members present, even Fire Dance and her
team were staggered. After all, when they had last met, Shi Feng was
only Level 40. In just a short time, Shi Feng had actually managed to
pull ahead of them by two Levels. His leveling speed was simply
ludicrous.

“Guild Leader, everyone’s here already,” Aqua Rose said softly to Shi
Feng after checking the entire meeting room.

Nodding, Shi Feng swept a glance at everyone present and said seriously,
“I’ve asked you all to gather here for two matters. The first matter is
that Zero Wing is going to start branching out and developing at the
Twin Towers Kingdom and the Black Dragon Empire. The exact locations
where we’ll be setting up the branches have also been determined
already. When the time comes, I’ll have you all split up to these two
locations. I’ll also set up a new main force in both of these locations.
As for who will become part of this main force, I’ll be choosing them
from the Guild’s elite members. Of course, you all can put in your
recommendations as well. The treatment provided will be the same as
Star-Moon Kingdom’s main force.”

Truthfully speaking, Shi Feng did not wish to develop outwards so
quickly. However, now that God’s Domain had experienced its fourth
evolution, the economic war involving Lifestyle classes had also
officially begun. Even if he did not wish to develop Zero Wing in other
kingdoms, he had no choice but to do so. Without sufficient resources,
it would be impossible for them to contend against other large Guilds.

Before Shi Feng was done speaking, everyone present had already fallen
into a daze.

Even Aqua Rose, the Vice-Leader of Zero Wing, was shocked at this news.

Although Zero Wing expanding to other countries was something that was
bound to happen sooner or later, she had never imagined that that day
would come so quickly!

Or to put it in another way, they had long since grown impatient waiting
for the arrival of this day.

Currently, Zero Wing simply had too many members. While playing virtual
reality games, Guilds always had one big problem to face: the limited
amount of resources in an area. If a Guild wished to develop and grow
stronger, it needed to secure more resource-rich areas for itself.
Otherwise, sooner or later, it would face resource-deprivation due to
their constantly increasing member count. Then, the amount of resources
each Guild member could receive would decrease, which would affect the
overall development speed of the Guild members.

This problem was also the reason why first-rate Guilds would spread
their roots throughout multiple kingdoms and empires. The influence of
the major powers of the virtual gaming world spanned several dozens of
countries.

However, one thing that confused everyone was Shi Feng’s choice to
develop at the Twin Towers Kingdom and the Black Dragon Empire.

Setting aside how muddy the waters were at the Black Dragon Empire and
the fact that the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion was Zero Wing’s enemy, just
the Twin Towers Kingdom was already a huge problem.

The Twin Towers Kingdom was infested with abyssal monsters. The players
living there were scrambling to leave, yet Zero Wing was actually
choosing to charge into the kingdom.

The situation in the Twin Towers Kingdom was much more severe than
Star-Moon Kingdom’s. There was simply no way for them to level up there.
Just how were they supposed to develop themselves?

“Guild Leader, abyssal monsters have already conquered the Twin Towers
Kingdom. Why don’t we consider developing at the Purple Thorns Kingdom,
the kingdom west of Star-Moon Kingdom? The abyssal monsters haven’t
reached there. Moreover, the two first-rate Guilds in that kingdom have
constantly been at each other’s necks all this time. With our Guild’s
strength, we can easily make a place for ourselves there. In addition,
the Purple Thorns Kingdom is rich in herbs. Our Guild will have a much
easier time procuring herbs if we develop there,” Aqua Rose suggested
hurriedly.

She had long since made ample preparations regarding Zero Wing’s
development, only she never bothered making suggestions, as Shi Feng had
always said that the time was not right yet.

The Candlelight Trading Firm was the largest source of economic power
for Zero Wing. With the Purple Thorns Kingdom’s abundance of herbs, they
could definitely advance the Candlelight Trading Firm a step further.
They would no longer have to rely on external sources to obtain their
herbs. If they developed properly, they could definitely achieve
self-sufficiency in herbs and greatly reduce the expenses of the
Candlelight Trading Firm.

The players in the room voiced their agreement with Aqua Rose’s
suggestion one after another.

The current combat power of Zero Wing’s elite members was in no way
inferior to a first-rate Guild’s. In addition, they also had quite a
number of experts in the Guild now. Even if they sent only a portion of
their forces, they should not have any problem handling the threats
present in the Purple Thorns Kingdom. Moreover, Zero Wing already
possessed several plots of Land in the cities of the Purple Thorns
Kingdom. With this foundation, they would be able to construct a Guild
Residence in that kingdom right away. One could say that the Purple
Thorns Kingdom was the best option by far.

“While the Purple Thorns Kingdom is indeed a good option, the Twin
Towers Kingdom is much better,” Shi Feng replied, shaking his head.

“Better?” All the core members were filled with questions as they looked
at Shi Feng.

They simply could not figure out what exactly was good about branching
out to a place infested with abyssal monsters.

“I know that you all are worried about the abyssal monsters, but that is
also the greatest opportunity for Zero Wing.” Shi Feng naturally
understood everyone’s worries. In their shoes, he, too, would’ve chosen
to branch out to the Purple Thorns Kingdom. However, he now had both the
Ancient Abyssal Book and the Teleportation Magic Array in his
possession.

Regarding the threat of powerful abyssal monsters, he could just set up
multiple barriers and allow his Guild members to grind at high-resource
maps safely. There was also no need to worry about other Guilds and
players coming to contest for those locations. In addition, they could
also gain Honor Points by killing low-level abyssal monsters.

Now that the Guilds originally residing in the Twin Towers Kingdom had
left, although the Lands of the kingdom’s capital remained in the hands
of these Guilds, as long as Zero Wing paid some Coins, it could still
buy one or two plots of Land located near the heart of the city without
any difficulty. Had he chosen to branch out to other kingdoms, Zero Wing
couldn’t even dream of obtaining the central Lands of the top ten major
cities in these kingdoms, much less the central Lands of the capital
city. Nobody would be willing to sell them anything at all.

Even if there was a willing seller, that price would not be one that
Zero Wing would be willing to bear.

Furthermore, the Twin Towers Kingdom was a country of ore. In terms of
ore-related resources, it was only slightly inferior to the Storm
Empire. At the end of the day, the Candlelight Trading Firm focused
mainly on forging. Ore was something that it could not lack.

Hence, developing at the Twin Towers Kingdom was akin to killing
multiple birds with one stone.

Following which, Shi Feng cleverly hid the matter of the Ancient Abyssal
Book, simply telling everyone that he had discovered many special areas
not assaulted by the abyssal monsters. Afterwards, as long as he set up
teleportation points at these locations, they would be able to level up
without worrying about abyssal monsters or other players, essentially
turning those locations into Zero Wing’s backyard.

When they heard Shi Feng’s reason, everyone’s eyes sparkled,
anticipation filling their hearts.

Nobody present was a noob. They knew full well just how valuable an
uncontested high-resource map was. Otherwise, the various large Guilds
would not fight over these high-resource maps.

However, no one knew that Shi Feng had actually concealed another
important reason for his choice to develop at the Twin Towers Kingdom.

The large-scale Regional Dungeon, Tower of Time!

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 911: Tower of Time

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

Chapter 911 – Tower of Time

The Twin Towers Kingdom was named such because of its two ancient towers
within the kingdom’s boundaries.

These ancient towers had existed in God’s Domain for a long time; their
age could no longer be verified.

Among these two towers, one was the Tower of Time. It was also the Twin
Towers Kingdom’s sole, large-scale Regional Dungeon. Like the Dungeon in
the Stoneclaw Mountains, this Dungeon was set to Asura Mode. However,
the Tower of Time’s Level was much higher; thus it was more difficult to
raid.

Meanwhile, the Tower of Time’s fame throughout God’s Domain had not only
been due to its abundance of Magic Crystals, but its Bosses also had a
chance of dropping the Seven Luminaries Crystals.

The Level requirement just to enter the Tower of Time was Level 50.

In the past, when mainstream players had been around Level 50, the Mind
Space System had not yet launched in God’s Domain. As a result, everyone
had treated the Tower of Time like an ordinary Regional Dungeon that
produced large quantities of Magic Crystals. Even when people killed the
many Bosses inside the Dungeon and obtained the Seven Luminaries
Crystal, nobody knew their true value.

The various large Guilds had simply treated as the Seven Luminaries
Crystal as a high-end item to use or trade. Only after the Mind Space
System launched did everyone realize their blunder. The Guilds that used
or traded their Seven Luminaries Crystal had nearly choked to death with
anger.

Regional Dungeons all had level limits that prevented anyone below or
above a certain Level from entering. When the Mind Space System had been
introduced, God’s Domain had been operating for over a year. Players’
average Level had already been beyond the Tower of Time’s limit of Level
70. Hence, it had been practically impossible for Guilds to rely on
their main forces to grind the Bosses for Seven Luminaries Crystals.

Meanwhile, when one wanted to enter the Tower of Time, aside from the
level requirement, one needed a Space-time Crystal. A single Space-time
Crystal could allow 100 players into the Tower of Time. However, only
the monsters near the tower dropped the Space-time Crystals, and its
drop-rate wasn’t very high. This greatly restricted the number of
players who could enter the Dungeon.

In this life, before everyone knew the importance of the Tower of Time,
Shi Feng intended to take advantage of the situation and grind for
Space-time Crystals. Once Zero Wing’s core members reached Level 50,
they could get a headstart over the other Guilds, raiding the Tower of
Time.

After Shi Feng explained his plans for the Guild’s expansion to
everyone, he continued with notifying everyone about Zero Wing’s
preparation to nurture a large batch of internal experts.

“Guild Leader, if we try to recruit members now, it will be far less
effective than our past recruitment campaigns. After all, nobody knows
if White River City will hold off the abyssal monsters. Moreover, even
if the magic array holds, it is still extremely dangerous for players to
go out to level up. On the off chance that one encounters a high-level
abyssal monster, a team-wipe is practically a guarantee. Based on my
investigation, a portion of players have already moved to the Black
Dragon Empire.

“Moreover, many of our Guild members are worried about this crisis. This
really isn’t a good time to recruit members. We would be better off
holding a mass-recruitment campaign after we secure a foothold in the
Black Dragon Empire. It would be more effective to wait.”

Saying so, Aqua Rose handed Shi Feng a statistics report, which clearly
displayed White River City’s situation.

Due to the abyssal monsters, the city’s teleportation fee had been
temporarily removed. Currently, over 5% of White River City’s player
population had relocated. Among these players, the majority had migrated
to the Black Dragon Empire. As time passed, more players would relocate
to continue their development.

“Don’t worry about it. Start preparing for recruitment and assessment
work. We will soon make up for those who chose to head elsewhere to
develop,” Shi Feng said as he read the report. The situation was much
better than his initial prediction.

“Make up for?” Aqua Rose was slightly confused. However, since Shi Feng
had already spoken, she did not probe into the matter any further. She
trusted Shi Feng’s judgment.

Shi Feng simply smiled at Aqua Rose’s confusion. He then issued further
instructions regarding the recruitment campaign.

Everyone’s worries about the abyssal monsters capturing the city were
unnecessary.

The Abyss Passage had been activated in the Twin Towers Kingdom. The
powerful NPCs guarding the border had held back most of the strongest
abyssal monsters. As for the remaining powerful abyssal monsters, almost
all of them were busy besieging the various major cities. Hence, when
the players belonging to the neighboring kingdoms and empires ventured
out to level up, they just needed to be a little more careful of their
surroundings. Things were not so severe that their livelihoods in their
countries had been severed.

This was just like an addition of several Bosses, which should not be
provoked, in everyone’s leveling maps. The abyss invasion was not as
severe as everyone thought.

On the contrary, due to the temporarily removed teleportation fees in
affected cities, players now had more affordable leveling spots to
choose from.

Moreover, even if everyone failed to notice this, he could stealthily
spread the message himself. In addition, there would soon be a
teleportation array linked to a grinding area in the Twin Towers
Kingdom. By then, the countless players who wanted to change classes
would swarm to White River City. They didn’t need to worry about a lack
of players in the city.

Once the teleportation array was set up, they also wouldn’t need to
worry about lacking development funds.

As Shi Feng arranged for Blackie to lead the Dark Gods Legion’s elites
to power-level the newcomers from the Big Dipper Dojo, Aqua Rose
approached and whispered, “Guild Leader, Miss Phoenix Rain has arrived
and is waiting in the reception room. She says that she has brought what
you requested.”

“She’s finally here.” Shi Feng nodded. He then left the remaining
matters to Aqua Rose while he met Phoenix Rain.

—

Inside the elegant, stunning reception room, Phoenix Rain sat quietly by
the windowsill, a Black Cloak draped over her back. When Shi Feng
entered the room, her gaze promptly moved away from the Zero Wing
members walking around the first-floor hall and to Shi Feng.

Level 42?! Phoenix Rain was stunned.

Currently, she knew of several people who had reached Level 40 in the
empire. However, these people had used special methods to achieve their
level. Take herself for example. She was an Elementalist. Not only had
she learned several AOE Attack Spells, but she also had a large number
of elite members to assist her leveling progress. Her leveling speed was
already fast. However, even now, she was over 30% away from reaching
Level 40, yet Shi Feng had already reached Level 42.

“Phoenix Pavilion Master, may I see the Lake Heart City’s Deed?” Shi
Feng asked. He smiled in response to Phoenix Rain’s surprise.

“Here; take a look,” Phoenix Rain quickly recovered her composure and
took out a Deed for a Land in Lake Heart City. “This is the only Deed I
can give you. Even if you’re not satisfied, I cannot change it.”

“Mhm, not bad. Although it cannot compare to a golden Land, it still has
relatively high potential,” Shi Feng said with satisfaction after
examining the Deed.

With this Deed, Zero Wing could secure a foothold in the Black Dragon
Empire.

What followed next would depend on how things progressed on Melancholic
Smile’s side. Once they were ready, Zero Wing would officially start
pushing its way into the Black Dragon Empire.

—

Elsewhere, a large crowd of players had gathered before the
seven-story-tall Candlelight Trading Firm. It was even more lively than
during normal times.

While many among the crowd were Lifestyle players, the majority
consisted of sightseers.

After all, nobody had ever seen a 3-star Shop before. They were all
quite curious about the differences between a 3-star Shop and a 2-star
Shop. This was especially true for Lifestyle players.

Not long ago, the Candlelight Trading Firm had published a shocking
message.

The Candlelight Trading Firm was currently recruiting Lifestyle players,
regardless of rank. It did not care if one was an Apprentice, who had
just started, or someone far along the path of their Lifestyle. As long
as they could pass the simple entrance test, they could become an
official member of the Candlelight Trading Firm. High achievers would
even get the opportunity to improve themselves in the Special Workshop.
This was a benefit that could not be found anywhere else throughout the
entire Star-Moon Kingdom and even God’s Domain. After all, Special
Workshops were simply too rare. Most trading firms only allowed their
most skilled and trustworthy members to utilize their limited Special
Workshops. Ordinary people had no hope of enjoying this particular
benefit.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 912: Bottomless Candlelight Trading Firm

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

Chapter 912 – Bottomless Candlelight Trading Firm

The news of the Candlelight Trading Firm mass-recruiting Lifestyle
players spread like wildfire.

It wasn’t just limited to White River City; very quickly, everyone
throughout Star-Moon Kingdom heard about the opportunity. The official
forums buzzed with activity.

“What? This can’t be true, right? The Candlelight Trading Firm is
actually recruiting members without any rank restrictions?”

“I heard that Candlelight wants to recruit a lot of people this time. I
wonder if an Intermediate Apprentice like myself has a chance?”

“I remember that, when Heaven’s Burial recruited Lifestyle players,
applicants needed to be at least Advanced Apprentice rank with a 65%
success rate or higher to pass their assessment. However, Heaven’s
Burial still doesn’t have a 2-star Shop. Candlelight’s assessment will
probably be extremely difficult.”

Currently, Lifestyle players grew more important by the day. However, it
was extremely difficult for a Lifestyle player to make a name for
themself if they had to rely on their own strength. This was because
Lifestyle players needed a lot of resources for their practice. The more
important a Lifestyle class was, the more resources they needed to
improve. Moreover, the further a Lifestyle player progressed, the more
valuable were their required resources.

Hence, if a Lifestyle player did not join a Guild, it would become
extremely difficult for them to grow stronger.

Just hours after the Candlelight Trading Firm announced its recruitment
campaign, thousands of players had lined up outside the firm’s 3-star
Shop in White River City, and the crowd was still growing.

Melancholic Smile arranged for these Lifestyle players to take the
firm’s assessment, one after another.

The test was very simple. Lifestyle players were required to produce a
tool or item corresponding to their ranks, and they would be given a
pass as long as they achieved a success rate of above 60%.

“What, exactly, is Zero Wing trying to do?” When the various large
Guilds heard the news, they immediately assumed that Zero Wing had gone
nuts.

Although Lifestyle players were important, one needed to invest a lot of
resources to nurture profitable Lifestyle players. Moreover, a loss was
guaranteed during the early nurturing stages. Hence, when Guilds like
themselves recruited Lifestyle players, they set their requirements very
high and would only recruit a limited number. Otherwise, the expenditure
would do more harm than good.

Yet, not only was Zero Wing recruiting Lifestyle players regardless of
rank, but it had also significantly lowered the assessment’s difficulty.
During Zero Wing’s previous recruitment campaigns for Lifestyle players,
it had required a success rate of 70% or higher.

In just half an hour, Zero Wing had recruited over 30 Lifestyle players.
Among them, only seven were Advanced Apprentice rank, while the others
were below that. This outcome worried the Lifestyle players still
outside of the Candlelight Trading Firm. They were afraid that the
available slots would be taken up before their turn arrived.

Contrary to expectations, however, more Lifestyle players were accepted.
Very quickly, over a hundred players had been accepted into the firm.
However, the Candlelight Trading Firm showed no signs of stopping its
recruitment...

Seeing this, the spies the various Guilds had sent reported this
information to their respective Guilds.

“What?! They have accepted over a hundred Apprentices?! Has Zero Wing’s
upper management lost their minds?!”

“Could a 3-star Shop really be that powerful?”

The various Guilds that had received this message were stunned.
Normally, they would only recruit around 40 Lifestyle players when they
gained an additional 1-star Shop. If they recruited any more, there
wouldn’t be enough Workshops and resources to go around.

After the Candlelight Trading Firm upgraded one of its 2-star Shop to
3-star status, the building had only gained two floors. Generally, it
would be a miracle if they could recruit 200 players.

—

“Big Sis Melancholic, should we raise the assessment bar? At this rate,
we’ll fill the new Workshops. It will be a pity if we miss out on any
talented newcomers later on,” Cream Cocoa asked worriedly as she watched
the thousands of people lined up outside of the building.

“Relax. I’m actually concerned that we won’t be able to recruit enough
people.” Melancholic Smile smiled bitterly.

“Not enough people? How is that possible? There are thousands of people
outside right now. If we leave the bar at a 60% success rate, at least
four or five hundred of them should pass. How is that not enough
people?” Cream Cocoa was no longer the noob she had been when she had
first started playing God’s Domain. She knew that, although Lifestyle
players who could achieve a 60% success rate were rare, with the base
number being so high, a frightening number of people could pass the
assessment.

Five hundred Lifestyle players was not a small crowd. Even an ordinary
second-rate Guild could not afford to nurture so many.

Furthermore, the Candlelight Trading Firm was already saturated with
Lifestyle players.

With the extra Workshops that came with the two additional floor spaces,
the most they could afford to recruit was around 300 Lifestyle players.
Any more and they would have to rent Workshops from the Lifestyle
Associations.

However, renting Workshops would massively burden their finances.

“Four or five hundred really isn’t enough. The Guild Leader has already
determined that we need to recruit 1,200 players,” Melancholic Smile
chuckled. “With just the Lifestyle players in front of us, we will
probably won’t reach that goal. Hopefully, more players will show up.”

Cream Cocoa was rendered speechless.

Lifestyle players were only a small minority of the player population in
God’s Domain. In addition, the various Guilds often held recruitment
campaigns of their own. Gathering 1,200 qualified Lifestyle players was
a colossal task.

Unfortunately, Cream Cocoa had another concern.

Where were they going to house all of these Lifestyle players?

—

Elsewhere, Shi Feng had completed his trade with Phoenix Rain in the
City Hall and officially gained the Deed to a plot of Land in Lake Heart
City.

“This is the information we have obtained on the Evil Dragon Battle
Team. Take a look. The match is in two days. I look forward to the Asura
Battle Team’s performance,” Phoenix Rain said, smiling pleasantly as she
handed Shi Feng the information she had collected on the enemy battle
team and the time, venue and rules for the next battle. She was in a
good mood after obtaining the 10,000 Gold from Shi Feng.

“Oh? The Miracle Guild?” Shi Feng was slightly surprised after a general
glance through the information.

“We have only discovered this after the system upgrade,” Phoenix Rain
said solemnly. “You mustn’t underestimate the Miracle Guild. Although it
is a super-first-rate Guild like the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, Miracle’s
foundation is much stronger than ours. It can even contend with Super
Guilds. When the time comes, the Evil Dragon Battle Team’s roster will
undergo a complete change. You best prepare for the match.”

Although Phoenix Rain had said as much, she did not think that the Asura
Battle Team had any chance of winning.

After all, the Asura Battle Team had exposed too many of its trump
cards. The Miracle Guild would definitely come prepared. If Miracle went
all out in this match, the Asura Battle Team would be overwhelmed. After
all, the difference between each side’s strength was immense.

Phoenix Rain only prayed that the Miracle Guild would not take the match
too seriously. This way, she could haul in another fortune.

Shi Feng nodded silently in response to Phoenix Rain’s advice.

In truth, even without Phoenix Rain’s warning, Shi Feng knew just how
powerful the Miracle Guild was.

In his previous life, when a Tier 3 Mysterious Flame had appeared in
God’s Domain, the various large Guilds had employed all sorts of methods
to obtain it. In the end, however, a dozen or so experts from the
Miracle Guild had secured the flame. Among the Guilds experts that had
fought for the Mysterious Flame, two other Super Guilds’ top combatants
had been present.

That battle had become a classic within God’s Domain.

To put it simply, defeating the Miracle Guild-led Evil Dragon Battle
Team would be extremely difficult for the Asura Battle Team.

—

As Shi Feng hurried towards the Candlelight Trading Firm, a party of six
arrived in the Teleportation Hall in White River City. The instant these
players appeared, they became the main focus within the hall. Their
equipment was too gorgeous to ignore. Even the lowest quality equipment
was Dark-Gold rank. As for these players’ Levels, that was even more
impressive.

Of the six players, two were Level 40, while the remaining four were
Level 39. Even in an empire, this group would be a force to be reckoned
with, much less White River City.

“So this is White River City? The standard of the players here is quite
high.”

“We’re not here to sightsee; focus on the task at hand. Let’s head over
to Zero Wing to have a look.”

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 913: Intermediate Shop

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

Chapter 913 – Intermediate Shop

After these six players conversed among themselves, they left the
Teleportation Hall and stepped onto the busy street as everyone watched.

As soon as the group left the building, the leading white-haired,
middle-aged man carrying a black-and-white spear summoned a giant
snow-white wolf. The wolf was even larger than a lion.

An Assassin, wearing dark-gray leather armor with two blood-red daggers
hanging from his waist, summoned a black warhorse beside the middle-aged
man. The warhorse sported silver armor and looked far more majestic than
the horses NPC soldiers used.

The instant these two Mounts appeared, they had immediately attracted
the attention of every player on the street.

“Damn, who are those people? Their Mounts are definitely not Common
rank.”

“You’re right. I’ve never seen any Common Mounts that look that cool. At
the very least, they should be Bronze, maybe Mysterious-Iron, Mounts.”

To current players, even Common Mounts were a luxury, not to mention
Mounts ranked Bronze or above.

Hence, when the players on the street saw these Mounts, both envy and
admiration filled their hearts. Some beautiful female players even sent
the white-haired man on the giant wolf flirtatious glances.

Nowadays, God’s Domain was increasingly popular. One frequently saw the
game mentioned in the news. Moreover, powerful Guilds were offering
annual salaries ranging from 500,000 Credits to 6,000,000 Credits,
depending on a player’s strength. To ordinary people, this was an
astronomical amount of money.

Seeing as the white-haired man rode a Bronze Mount or greater at this
stage of the game, his salary must have been in the seven-digit range.

“Hahaha! Boss Blood, I think those beauties are interested in you!” an
Elementalist, who wore a robe embroidered with runic symbols and exuded
a refined air, poked fun at the white-haired Berserker leading his
group.

“It’s a pity that these beauties will never catch Boss Blood’s eyes.
After all, his heart already belongs to someone. Why won’t these
beauties look at me instead?” a Level 39 skinny, male Swordsman said as
he sighed.

“Masked, you really should learn a thing or two from the Boss. If you
put more effort into your improvement, you would’ve already reached
Level 40 and could a Mount to woo those beauties.” the male Assassin on
the black mare snorted.

“How can I possibly compare to Boss Blood? Even now, I have not passed
the test or obtained a title, unlike you, Kirin, who obtained your title
half a year ago,” the Swordsman named Masked Angel said enviously.

“Alright, that’s enough chit-chat. Focus on our task. I will head to
Zero Wing with Kirin. The rest of you, catch up with a carriage,” the
leading Berserker named Bloodsucker ordered sternly.

Immediately, everyone fell silent and did as they were told. The four
Level 39s rode an advanced horse carriage and followed Bloodsucker and
Kirin towards Zero Wing’s Guild Residence.

Although the advanced horse carriage was fast, it was still slightly
slower than the snow-white wolf and black warhorse. As a result, the gap
between the two groups gradually increased.

The party caused a Commotion everywhere they went.

—

Meanwhile, the Candlelight Trading Firm’s entrance was overcrowded.

Before anyone knew it, the Candlelight Trading Firm had recruited over
300 Lifestyle players. With this number, everyone could see how powerful
the Firm’s foundations were. The other trading firms in Star-Moon
Kingdom could not compare to this.

“Guild Leader, we’ve reached our recruitment limits for the moment. Any
more and we’ll have to send these people to the Lifestyle Associations,”
Melancholic Smile reported worriedly as she looked at the numerous files
on the newcomers.

One thousand, two hundred people–this was already beyond what the
Candlelight Trading Firm could handle. If they really recruited this
many people, they would lose money each day, rather than make it.

“It’s fine. Bring all of the information you have on the Candlelight’s
branch Shops,” Shi Feng instructed, waving his hand dismissively and
chuckling.

In God’s Domain, Shops were officially categorized by star-ranks.
However, one could also categorize a Shop by its size. Players in his
previous life had realized his and summarized the differences. There
were a total of four categories.

Basic Shop, Intermediate Shop, Advanced Shop, and Special Shop.

To begin with, 1-star and 2-star Shops fell under the Basic Shop
category. A Basic Shop could only accommodate a limited number of
Lifestyle players, and a firm had to rely on numbers to make up for the
lack of space. A Basic Shop’s assistance it could provide to Lifestyle
players was also quite limited.

The Intermediate Shop category included 3-star Shops to 5-star Shops. In
terms of size, Intermediate Shops were massively different than Basic
Shops. As long as a Shop reached 3-star status, it gained far more room
than a 2-star Shop. Hence, when the various Guilds opened their own
Shops, while it was relatively easy to upgrade a 1-star Shop to 2-star
status, it was many times more difficult to upgrade a 2-star Shop to a
3-star Shop.

Naturally, upgrading from an Intermediate Shop to an Advanced Shop was
even more difficult.

Meanwhile, the benefits an Intermediate Shop could provide became more
obvious. The Basic Meditation Room was a primary example.

After Shi Feng’s command, Melancholic Smile compiled all of the
information she had on every Candlelight’s branch Shop and handed the
files to Shi Feng.

Not only was the compiled information detailed, but it was also easy to
understand.

So far, the Candlelight Trading Firm had a total of 25 Shops. Among
them, 24 were branch Shops. These branch Shops covered 22 cities. The
fact that the firm had expanded so much was partly due to Phoenix Rain’s
secret assistance. Her help had allowed the Candlelight Trading Firm to
set up Shops in the cities of a few neighboring countries. Moreover, she
had only sold the Shops to Shi Feng at a price slightly higher than the
initial cost.

Phoenix Rain is certainly dedicated in her work. Shi Feng smiled
slightly after reading the information.

Among the many Shops, six were within the Black Dragon Empire. Moreover,
five of these Shops were in cities with a player population in the
millions. In addition, there were six Shops in the kingdoms neighboring
Star-Moon Kingdom. Among them, four were in the Purple Thorns Kingdom.
All four of these Shops were in the top ten most populated cities in the
kingdom. As for the remaining two branch Shops, they were in the Twin
Towers Kingdom. Unfortunately, most of the kingdom had fallen into ruin,
and only the capital city remained standing.

Shi Feng had to admit that it was beneficial to cooperate with a major
power. Without Phoenix Rain’s help, Shi Feng would have to exhaust
himself to no end to achieve a similar result, and this would have
greatly impacted his personal growth.

Based on this alone, one could see how frightening the foundations of
God’s Domain’s major powers were. Currently, Zero Wing’s advantage only
lay in the fact that it had a lot of liquid funds. However, this did not
mean that the game’s major powers were poorer than Zero Wing. Rather,
these powers reinvested most of the money they earned into valuable
Lands. Although Zero Wing had a lot of money on hand, it didn’t have
anywhere to invest.

In terms of capital turnover, the difference between Zero Wing and these
major powers was obvious at a glance.

I will have to thank Phoenix Rain. I would have had a hard time using up
these five slots otherwise. Shi Feng then chose five branch Shops and
upgraded them to 2-star Shops. When upgrading these Shops to 2-star
status, he saved far more money by using the special rights of a 3-star
Shop than when he had used a Promotion Order. Each Shop only cost 600
Gold to upgrade. With this, he only needed to spend 3,000 Gold to obtain
five 2-star Shops.

Meanwhile, of the five Shops Shi Feng chose, three were in the Black
Dragon Empire, with one of them in Lake Heart City. As for the remaining
two slots, he used one on a Shop in the Purple Thorns Kingdom, and the
other on the Shop in the Twin Towers Kingdom’s capital.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 914: Engineering Locomotive

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

The reconstruction of the five branch Shops completed fairly quickly.

Only ten minutes after Shi Feng chose to upgrade them, the five 1-star
Shops evolved into 2-star Shops.

Although the number of items that the Shop could sell had not changed,
it could accommodate far more Lifestyle players. The additional space
was more than enough for the 1,200 Lifestyle players the Candlelight
Trading Firm wanted to recruit.

God’s Domain was already developing faster than Shi Feng had expected.

When Shi Feng had first obtained the 3-star Shop Promotion Order, he had
not intended to recruit so many Lifestyle players. At most, he had
planned to recruit around five or six hundred players. However, after
the game’s fourth evolution, items became more complicated to produce,
and this, in turn, would impact production speeds.

After the system upgrade, Melancholic Smile had calculated the
statistics of everyone’s production speed within the trading firm.

To put it simply, the more advanced an item was, the more its production
speed had been affected.

For common items such as Whetstones, production speed had experienced
roughly a 15% reduction. As for items such as Advanced Whetstones, their
production had slowed by around 20%. In other words, if a Lifestyle
player was capable of producing five Advanced Whetstones within a
certain time before the system upgrade, then now, they were only capable
of producing four Advanced Whetstones within the same period.

As for items that only Intermediate Forgers or higher could craft, such
as the Strengthening Device, their production speed had decreased by
roughly 40%. Before the system upgrade, the Candlelight Trading Firm had
not been able to produce many Strengthening Devices each day; now, the
item’s output was pitifully low. Unfortunately, Shi Feng had already
agreed to hand over ten Bronze Mounts and 2,000 Strengthening Devices to
the Secret Pavilion within five days, as well as the rest of the items
within twelve days after the system update completed.

If he failed to do so, not only would he have to return the ten black
cards he had received, but he would also be out of the items he had
already paid.

Hence, Shi Feng was very short on time.

If he wished to increase production speed, he had two options: increase
his current workforce’s success rates or grow his workforce.

As there was a limit to how much he could raise a Lifestyle player’s
success rate, his only viable option was to bolster his workforce.

However, Shi Feng did not have much hope of nurturing a large batch of
excellent Lifestyle players from the new recruits.

Rather, he wanted the new Advanced Apprentices to take on the workload
of the firm’s Basic Forgers, while the Basic Forgers would take on the
Intermediate Forgers’ work. In turn, the Intermediate Forgers would take
care of the Advanced Forgers’ workload.

This way, he would have a higher chance of completing his task within
the allotted time.

Following which, Shi Feng explained his plans to Melancholic Smile and
had her begin preparations. After all, it would not be easy to sort so
many people in a short time.

“Guild Leader, I’m afraid that this will be very difficult to
accomplish. Even with the help of the Special Workshop, Cocoa, Uncle
Ironheart, and I only have a 40% success rate with the Strengthening
Devices. Even if the firm’s Intermediate Forgers have the help of the
Special Workshop, they will only have, at most, around a 15% success
rate. With such a low success rate, we’ll be lucky if we break even, let
alone make a profit.” Melancholic Smile was very familiar with the
success rates of the trading firm’s forgers as she usually analyzed the
trading firm’s statistics.

Although a 15% forging success rate seemed relatively high, when one
started the actual work, they would most likely fail ten out of ten
tries.

Based on her analysis, only with a 20% success rate would a forger have
a chance of succeeding once out ten tries. Only after reaching a 25%
success rate would a forger notice a qualitative change. Once a forger
reached that milestone, they would generally succeed once or twice out
of ten tries.

If they allowed Intermediate Forgers to produce the Strengthening
Device, they would be pushing their luck.

Cream Cocoa, who stood beside Melancholic Smile, nodded her agreement.
After a long period of research and experimentation, she decided that,
as long as the system-calculated success rate was below 20%, she would
give up on making the item. After all, her chances of successfully
crafting the item were too low. Even if she did produce the item, the
firm would only take a loss. Wasting money was one thing, but wasting
resources was another thing altogether.

The resources in God’s Domain were limited. The materials required to
produce advanced items were even rarer. It would be foolish to produce
an item without guaranteed success.

“Look at this,” Shi Feng said, chuckling as he retrieved a fist-sized,
aqua-blue ingot and placed it on the table.

Immediately, Melancholic Smile and Cocoa were stunned.

The Mana the ore faintly emitted was actually denser than the Mana from
the Magic Crystal.

When the two forgers clicked to read the item’s introduction, their jaws
dropped.

“Guild Leader, where did you get this?!” Melancholic Smile locked her
eyes with Shi Feng’s, excitement evident on her face. “Do you have a lot
of them?!”

Mysterious Flames were extremely rare in God’s Domain. They were so rare
that, even after a long investigation, Melancholic Smile had not found
any clues leading to a single Mysterious Flame.

She only knew about Mysterious Flames to begin with because of the
Ice-Blue Devil Flame in the Candlelight Trading Firm’s Special
Workshops. Shi Feng had left behind this Mysterious Flame. However,
after one obtained a Mysterious Flame, they could only place it in up to
three Workshops.

If not for the Ice-Blue Devil Flame, they would not have reached a 40%
success rate with the Strengthening Devices.

However, the Mana Source Ore was the perfect item to make up for their
lack of Mysterious Flames.

The Intermediate Mana Source Ore Shi Feng had revealed could grant an
ordinary flame the effects of a Tier 3 Mysterious Flame. The only
downside was that, unlike true Mysterious Flames that could be used
indefinitely, the ore was only effective for 30 minutes.

With the aid of a Tier 3 Mysterious Flame, the Intermediate Forgers
could at least reach a 25% success rate with the Strengthening Devices.
If they had a large stock of Intermediate Mana Source Ore, these
Intermediate Forgers could definitely produce the Strengthening Devices.
Currently, the Candlelight Trading Firm had close to 20 Intermediate
Forgers, more than their Strengthening Device Forging Designs. If they
allowed three Intermediate Forgers with the highest success rates to
learn their three remaining forging designs, they could double their
production team.

Meanwhile, if the three of them utilized the Intermediate Mana Source
Ore, their success rate might even exceed 50%. Including the Basic
Meditation Room’s effects, if they forged Strengthening Devices nonstop,
they might achieve a production volume of more than 700 devices. Rather
than suffering a slower production rate due to the system upgrade, they
could significantly increase their production. They could absolutely hit
the target Shi Feng had requested.

“Relax. I have enough for your needs.” Shi Feng nodded, laughing. He
then took out a table-sized design and unfurled it. This was none other
than the Bronze Engineering Locomotive Design that he had purchased from
Sinned Heart. “Melancholic, you’re the most familiar with the trading
firm’s people. Look for a few trustworthy engineers and alchemists and
work with them to produce this item.”

After glancing at the design and its name, Melancholic Smile was
thoroughly stupefied.

Cream Cocoa stared at the design as if she were looking at a priceless
treasure, her eyes sparkling brightly.

Although the design before them was an engineering design, the
manufacturing procedure involved three classes: engineers, forgers, and
alchemists–the three major Lifestyle classes. Moreover, the
manufacturing procedure required a lot of its crafters. The Engineering
Locomotive was far more difficult to manufacture than the Strengthening
Device. One mistake could lead to failure.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 915: Difference in Mounts

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

Mounts’ importance to players went without saying.

Even Melancholic Smile and Cream Cocoa understood the importance of any
Mount, not to mention Bronze Mounts. Currently, God’s Domain’s elite and
expert players moved ever closer to Level 40.

However, how could Common Mounts possibly satisfy these experts?
Unfortunately, obtaining a Bronze Mount was easier said than done. Even
large Guilds could only get their hands on a few, and these Mounts were
usually reserved for the Guild’s upper echelons. The other members could
only dream of riding one.

If it were truly possible to produce Bronze Mounts, they would sell tens
of times better than the Strengthening Device.

However, the Engineering Locomotive was extremely difficult to
manufacture.

At the very minimum, they needed an Advanced Engineer, an Advanced
Forger, and an Advanced Alchemist to have any possibility of success.
Even if they were equipped with a variety of support tools, they’d be
lucky if they had even a 30% success rate of producing the Locomotive.

In addition, manufacturing the Engineering Locomotive was a tedious
process. It would take a very long time just to produce one. Producing
one per day would be an impressive feat.

“Guild Leader, this Engineering Locomotive is too difficult to
manufacture. It also requires so many materials. Even if we successfully
produce one, the cost will be astounding. Are we really going to make
this, regardless of the cost?” Melancholic Smile’s lips twitched
slightly as she read the listed materials recorded on the design.

The hardest part of crafting the Engineering Locomotive would be the
power unit. The power unit alone required 30 Magic Crystals. Other
components, such as alchemy arrays, also required Magic Crystals. After
taking all of the miscellaneous components into account, they needed a
total of 50 Magic Crystals to produce one Engineering Locomotive. In
addition, the Mount’s manufacturing required certain rare materials such
as Fine Steel Ingots. A Fine Steel Ingot was the product of refining
Fine Iron with other materials, and one only had a chance of obtaining
Fine Iron from mining Hematite Ore.

On the market, a Refined Steel Ingot cost around 30 Silver. That was
practically the equivalent of a piece of Level 30 Bronze Equipment.
However, there were fewer Refined Steel Ingots available on the market
than Level 30 Bronze Equipment.

Meanwhile, the Engineering Locomotive required 20 Refined Iron Ingots—a
total cost of 6 Gold!

Based on market value, producing a single Bronze Engineering Locomotive
cost roughly 25 Gold. In reality, though, as most of the materials could
be sourced from their Guild, they wouldn’t have to spend that much. Even
so, the final cost would still be around 20 Gold...

Based on their current success rate, it could cost anywhere from 100
Gold to 160 Gold to craft one Engineering Locomotive. Meanwhile, a
single Bronze Mount currently sold for around 300 Gold. It was not
nearly as profitable as the Strengthening Devices. The only advantage
the Engineering Locomotive had was its demand. If they offered the
Mounts for sale, someone would buy them if the price were reasonable.

If they wished to save more money, they would need the help of a Master
Engineer.

Although there was only a single rank difference between an Advanced
Engineer and a Master Engineer, the latter could increase the success
rate of producing the Engineering Locomotive by around 30%. After
including the bonuses from various tools, they could achieve a success
rate of 60% or higher. With such a high success rate, they could reduce
their total cost to 40 Gold or lower. They could also produce the Mounts
much faster.

“How many Advanced Engineers do we have right now?” Shi Feng realized
how high the production cost was. However, he had already signed an
agreement with the Secret Pavilion. They had to manufacture the
Engineering Locomotives regardless of the cost. Moreover, producing the
Engineering Locomotive would allow Lifestyle classes to rapidly gain
Proficiency.

“We only have two people at the moment. There are three others who are
close to reaching the Advanced Engineer rank,” Melancholic Smile
replied.

“Two?” Shi Feng frowned. Based on their current manufacturing speed,
producing ten Engineering Locomotives in five days would be cutting it
very close. “Have them begin the process. I’ll help to produce some of
the components as well.”

“I’ll contact them right away,” Melancholic Smile said. She was
momentarily stunned when she heard that Shi Feng would also take part.
Hurriedly, she continued, “If they find out that our Guild Leader will
be leading this project, they will die from excitement.”

In Star-Moon Kingdom, the majority of players addressed Black Flame by
his title as the Sword King. Most had probably forgotten Black Flame’s
past identity.

However, while ordinary players had forgotten his past fame, to
Lifestyle players, the title of Star-Moon Kingdom’s Chief Forger still
resounded in their ears.

Moreover, Melancholic Smile understood one thing very clearly; Shi Feng
had been the first to become an Advanced Forger.

Suddenly, Aqua Rose contacted Shi Feng and said, “Guild Leader, two
people have entered our Guild Residence. Both are Level 40 players.
Moreover, their Mounts are high quality. They are saying that they have
something very important to talk to you about.”

“Two people with high-ranking Mounts?” Shi Feng was slightly surprised.
Reaching Level 40 was still very difficult at this stage of the game,
much less obtaining high-ranking Mounts. “Do you know their identities?”

“I’ve never met either of them. Moreover, they aren’t wearing a Guild
Emblem. Although, it is possible that they purposely removed it,” Aqua
Rose said as she shook her head. She had seen most of God’s Domain’s
mainstream experts at least once. However, she had zero recollection of
the two people that had arrived. Even after sending her subordinates to
investigate, she had not obtained any information on these players.

“This is interesting. Alright, I’ll head over right away.” Shi Feng
could not help his curiosity. After disconnecting the call, he rode the
Demonic Flame Tiger back to Zero Wing’s Residence.

—

In front of Zero Wing’s Residence:

As Zero Wing had announced another mass-recruitment, players crowded
around the Guild’s Residence. However, there was a clearing within the
crowd where players had given two people a wide berth. Two massive
Mounts rested beside these players. Nobody dared to approach either of
them.

“Who are these people? They look so strong!”

“They aren’t here to cause trouble, right?!”

When the players who had come to apply to Zero Wing saw the Berserker
Bloodsucker and the Assassin Kirin, they were shocked by the two’s auras
and equipment.

“The advanced horse carriage is so slow! When will Masked and the others
get here?” Kirin exclaimed as he looked at the time, paying no attention
to the surrounding crowd.

As soon as Kirin finished speaking, an advanced horse carriage
approached from one end of the street.

A moment later, the advanced horse carriage stopped before Zero Wing’s
Residence, and four people stepped out.

“Mysterious-Iron Mounts are wonderful. Once I reach Level 40, I will
have to find one of my own.”

“Masked, don’t even think about obtaining a Mysterious-Iron Mount. They
aren’t weeds that sprout up everywhere. Even those with titles in the
Guild are struggling to get their hands on one, let alone someone like
you.”

The four people that had emerged from the carriage chatted merrily
amongst themselves. However, when the crowd saw these four newcomers,
they were flabbergasted. All four were Level 39. Although the pressure
these four people gave off was not as strong as the two that had already
arrived, when these four players stood together, they felt like four
ferocious beasts. A single glance from them was enough to give one
shivers.

“This is Zero Wing’s Residence? It’s quite big, but it’s rather shabby.
The standard of the Guild members isn’t much to look at, either.” Masked
Angel gave a rough evaluation after a cursory examination of Zero Wing’s
Residence.

The other three agreed with Masked Angel.

However, the Zero Wing members coming and going were somewhat annoyed
when they heard the comment.

Zero Wing’s Residence had cost a lot of Gold to build. Even if it did
not rank number one in Star-Moon Kingdom, it ranked near the top.
However, these people spoke as if their Residence belonged in the Slums.

These Zero Wing members had intended to argue with these people.
However, when they saw a black figure appear at the entrance, they
immediately fell silent. Even the independent players lining up outside
the Residence stared at this figure with admiration.

Although the giant, snow-white wolf and pitch-black warhorse in front of
the entrance were quite attractive, they were on an entirely different
level from the Demonic Flame Tiger that had appeared like lightning. In
front of the Demonic Flame Tiger, the wolf and warhorse were practically
newborns...

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 916: Dark Players

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

“What rank is that Mount?”

Masked Angel was shocked, his eyes widening as he stared at the
towering, majestic Demonic Flame Tiger.

Although he already knew that Zero Wing possessed this Mount, after
witnessing it personally, he could not help his surprise.

Both Bloodsucker’s and Kirin’s Mounts were Mysterious-Iron Mounts.
However, when comparing their Mounts to the Demonic Flame Tiger, he
finally understood something.

The difference between their Mounts was not just one rank.

Standing there, he could feel the Demonic Flame Tiger give off a
significantly powerful pressure. Generally, he only felt this pressure
from Chieftain ranked monsters.

Could it be a Fine-Gold Mount?

This question simultaneously surfaced in Masked Angel and his
companions’ minds.

Even God’s Domain’s major powers did not have a single Fine-Gold Mount.
Currently, the best Mount they had was of Secret-Silver rank.

However, what truly shocked them was Shi Feng’s Level.

Shi Feng was not currently using the Demon Mask to disguise himself as
Black Flame. He did not even bother hiding his Level, so if one paid
attention, they would discover that Shi Feng had already reached Level
42. He was actually two levels higher than Bloodsucker and Kirin.

There was not a single player with such a high level throughout the
various empires.

It was hard to imagine that such an expert resided in a kingdom.

“I am Ye Feng, an Honorary Elder of Zero Wing. Our Guild Leader has some
urgent matters to attend to, so he can’t meet with you right now. I can
represent Zero Wing in any matters you wish to discuss. May I know what
business you have with Zero Wing?” Shi Feng asked, chuckling as he swept
a glance over Bloodsucker and the others as he remained on the Demonic
Flame Tiger.

Even an Elementalist like Phoenix Rain had only reached Level 39, yet
among these six people, not only had two surpassed Phoenix Rain, but the
other four were the same Level. Achieving such a high Level was
impossible without a special method or a powerful team.

To Aqua Rose, these players might be strangers. To Shi Feng, however,
they were extremely familiar.

All six players were Super Red Names belonging to the Dark Guild known
as Raven.

Raven had appeared in the virtual gaming world in the past. It was an
upstart Guild that had only established after God’s Domain had launched.
Moreover, even now, Raven was not famous in the least.

Dark Guilds could not compete against normal Guilds in terms of member
count. However, the Raven Guild’s member count was impressive with less
than 1,000 members. Even a decade after God’s Domain had launched, the
Guild had less than 3,000 members.

However, nobody in God’s Domain dared to underestimate Raven.

In the past, Raven had been one of the top six Dark Guilds in God’s
Domain. The Guild was extremely powerful; even Super Guilds had avoided
provoking it.

While the six people before him looked like ordinary players, this was
only a disguise. Without an advanced identification Skill, one could not
uncover any of their information. This disguise was similar to the Demon
Mask. It could even hide one’s aura.

However, under Shi Feng’s Omniscient Eyes, nothing would remain hidden.

Such dense Blood Auras. How many people have they killed already?

When Shi Feng used Omniscient Eyes, he discovered that their names were
no longer red. Rather, they were thoroughly black.

In God’s Domain, when one actively killed other players, aside from
their IDs changing color, a faint red Blood Aura would surround their
bodies. However, this Blood Aura was barely visible. Generally, only
after one had killed hundreds of players would this Blood Aura become
more evident. Even so, this Blood Aura would gradually fade with time.

However, the Blood Aura surrounding the six before him was powerful
enough to make one’s hair stand on end. Currently, their Blood Auras had
thickened into a bloody mist that enveloped a radius of four to five
yards around them.

Shi Feng could not even begin to fathom just how many players these six
people had killed to achieve such a dense Blood Aura.

However, this was still not why their IDs had turned black.

In God’s Domain, only players who had committed unforgivable sins would
sport pitch-black IDs. This was a type of curse. This curse could allow
players to grow stronger; in return, however, cursed players were
restricted to areas controlled by the dark forces. If NPC guards in an
ordinary NPC city found them, the consequences would be unimaginably
severe.

“Hello. My name is Bloodsucker. This place isn’t suited for our
discussion. Why don’t we look for somewhere more private to talk?”
Bloodsucker suggested, smiling faintly as he looked at Shi Feng.

“Alright, follow me,” Shi Feng nodded. He then led Bloodsucker and the
others into Zero Wing’s Residence.

After Shi Feng entered the Guild Residence, the crowd outside of the
Residence grew excited. Their eagerness to join Zero Wing grew.

—

Inside the reception room of Zero Wing’s Residence...

As Shi Feng was about to prepare some refreshments for Bloodsucker and
the others, Bloodsucker stopped him.

“I believe that Elder Ye Feng has already used an advanced
Identification Skill on us, right?” Bloodsucker said, smiling. “I’m
certain that you already know who we are. As you’ve seen, we are Red
Players, or to put it another way, Dark Players.”

Shi Feng nodded without attempting to hide his actions.

Now that God’s Domain had already been operating for so long, most
Guilds had a few people with advanced Identification Skills. Hence,
there was no point in hiding his actions.

“We are members of the Dark Guild Raven. You might not have heard of us
as our Guild has only recently established, but as for Raven’s strength,
you have seen for yourself. We have come here today seeking to
cooperation with Zero Wing,” Bloodsucker explained.

“Cooperation with Zero Wing? How do you wish to cooperate?” Shi Feng
asked curiously.

Generally, Dark Guilds and Adventure Guilds minded their own businesses
and tended to avoid each other. Moreover, Raven possessed powerful
financial backers. The Guild did not have that many members, either, so
it should be very easy for the Guild to develop. Raven shouldn’t need to
cooperate with any other Guild.

“That’s right. We’ve investigated Zero Wing thoroughly. On the surface,
while it might look like Zero Wing has a lot of experts, there are only
a few true experts in the Guild. If Zero Wing wants to progress in the
Dark Arena, relying on these few experts is not nearly enough. Even the
Asura Battle Team’s victory in the next match is unlikely. Furthermore,
since the system upgrade, the various major powers have begun to invest
heavily into the Dark Arena. It will be very difficult for Zero Wing to
earn money there in the future.

“You’ve already seen our strengths for yourself. If Zero Wing has
Raven’s assistance, your Guild will have a fighting chance for the
position of the Dark Arena’s organizer. Not only can Zero Wing earn an
astronomical sum of money each day, but you can also gain various rare
materials. With these resources, Zero Wing will be able to expand easily
and afford to nurture its Lifestyle and expert players. I’m sure you can
see the benefits of such an outcome.”

When Bloodsucker finished his proposal, he snapped his fingers.

Immediately, several pieces of Bloodsucker and Kirin’s equipment
revealed the special glowing effect of Epic Equipment. Bloodsucker and
Kirin’s weapons, in particular, were Epic Weapons. With this array of
equipment, they could rank at the peak of God’s Domain.

“What do you want in return?” Shi Feng asked, somewhat interested.

Just as Bloodsucker had said, in the eyes of ordinary players, Zero Wing
seemed like a Guild full of experts. However, in the elite Dark Arena,
Zero Wing was bland. Currently, only he, Fire Dance, and Violet Cloud
could reliably win a fight. Unfortunately, Aqua Rose was still a little
off the mark.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 917: Proof of Strength

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

The Dark Guild Raven maintained a relatively low profile during the
early stages of God’s Domain. The Guild always moved covertly. The
Guild’s desire to maintain a low profile was evident by the lack of
Guild Emblems on Bloodsucker and his companions.

If not for Raven trying to display its strength to gain Zero Wing’s
trust, the group would never act so flamboyantly.

Shi Feng had to admit that this was one of the benefits that Zero Wing
enjoyed as it moved closer to the top of God’s Domain.

Whenever he had an issue, people would oftentimes take the initiative to
offer their cooperation.

If Zero Wing were a third-rate Guild or an unrated Guild, meeting people
like Bloodsucker would be impossible, not to mention inspiring these
people to find him.

Shi Feng’s straightforward question had left Bloodsucker slightly
stunned.

He had initially thought that Shi Feng would play with words, driving
him to state his conditions. After all, during negotiations, the side
that revealed their terms first would be at a disadvantage.

However, he had never imagined that Shi Feng would ask him so blatantly;
he wasn’t used to this. The Guild had sent him, specifically, to
negotiate with Zero Wing because he was one of the Guild’s stronger
members. Now, however, all of his subtle arguments he had prepared to
persuade Shi Feng and his efforts to show off Kirin and his team’s
strength had gone to waste.

“What? You don’t have any conditions?” Shi Feng chuckled.

“No, it’s just that your straightforwardness surprised me a little.
After all, Raven is only a small, unknown Guild,” Bloodsucker said,
shaking his head. “Since Elder Ye Feng has said as much, I’ll tell you
Raven’s conditions.

“In return for Raven assisting the Asura Battle Team, we want 50% of the
income you gain from the Dark Arena!”

“You guys sure are ballsy. Fifty percent is too much. I can offer you
twenty percent at most.”

Shi Feng instantly rejected Bloodsucker’s offer. He was already
splitting the income from the Dark Arena with Phoenix Rain. If the Raven
Guild took another 50%, Zero Wing would be left with nothing.

“I’m guessing that you don’t fully understand Raven’s strength. How
about we prove ourselves first? We can negotiate afterward,” Bloodsucker
frowned when he heard Shi Feng’s offer. However, he was not surprised by
it. Their Guild had remained in the shadows. As of now, practically
nobody knew how terrifying Raven was. If not for the resources the
recently-launched Mind Space System required, they would not have sought
out Zero Wing for cooperation.

In his opinion, Shi Feng had only offered such a low percentage because
he didn’t know Raven’s true power. However, once they showed Shi Feng
that, with Raven’s assistance, Zero Wing’s chances of becoming the Dark
Arena’s organizer would improve, he would agree to 50%. After all, this
was a sure-profit exchange.

“Proof?” Shi Feng understood Bloodsucker’s train of thought. However, he
really could not afford to lose 50%. As Shi Feng considered rejecting
Bloodsucker’s offer, he suddenly had a good idea. Previously, his head
had ached over the lack of experts. Now that he had a chance to gain the
help of six top-tier experts, it would be a waste not to put them to
good use. Following which, he nodded and smiled, saying, “If Raven wants
to prove its strength, I just happen to have a very difficult quest that
I need some expert help with. If you can show me that you are
sufficiently powerful during this quest, there might be room for further
negotiations. Of course, I’ll pay you for your help.”

“No problem. You can leave this quest to Raven. As for the remuneration,
there’s no need. Consider this Raven’s gift to Zero Wing,” Bloodsucker
confidently stated. From the beginning, proving Raven’s strength had
been their goal in coming here. When the time came, they would shock
Zero Wing’s members.

“I still need to prepare. It’ll take around three hours. You should do
the same. This quest is very difficult. I just need you to send a party
of six experts,” Shi Feng said.

“No need. The six of us will be enough,” Bloodsucker assured.

Seeing Bloodsucker’s determination, Shi Feng ended the conversation.
After leaving the reception room, he contacted Youlan, telling her that
they could challenge the Holy City of Titan’s entrance trial
immediately. Both sides would send 50 experts each, and Zero Wing would
lead the team.

Youlan agreed upon receiving Shi Feng’s message.

Her original plan had been to challenge the entrance trial in three
days. However, the system upgrade had wasted nearly two days, so they
had no choice but to delay the operation by two more. However, after the
system upgrade, Lifestyle players’ production speed had slowed
significantly. As a result, the various large Guilds now urgently needed
a batch of Advanced Lifestyle players. Naturally, the sooner she got her
hands on Titan City’s slots, the better.

After confirming the plan with Youlan, Shi Feng contacted White Night,
having him send 14 of their experts over. Zero Wing’s members would fill
the remaining 30 slots.

Although Shi Feng did not know what kind of experts Youlan would
dispatch, he had a true gathering of experts.

With these experts’ combat power, they had a very high chance of
clearing Titan City’s trial as long as everyone followed his commands.

After two hours, 50 players had gathered inside a high-class restaurant
in the Noble’s District.

These players consisted of three groups: Zero Wing, Raven, and Owl.

Needless to say, Raven’s members were absurdly strong regarding Level
and equipment. However, Owl’s members had shocked both Zero Wing and
Raven.

Everyone’s jaws hit the floor after Owl’s members, led by White Night,
joined them in the restaurant and discarded their cloaks.

They were all Level 42!

One could easily rank among an empire’s top ten players in terms of
levels at Level 40. Moreover, these top ten included those who hid their
levels. Yet, White Night and his team were all Level 42.

Aside from their high levels, every member of White Night’s team wore
absurdly powerful equipment. Among them, four possessed equipment on par
with Bloodsucker and Kirin. As for White Night, the group’s leader, his
equipment surpassed Bloodsucker’s. The Ranger’s aura was also
incomparably sharp.

Due to this, Bloodsucker felt pressured.

Who are these people? Bloodsucker watched White Night and the others,
shock filling his heart. Are they Zero Wing’s hidden experts?

Kirin and the others also felt immense pressure from Owl’s members.
Previously, they had felt nervous when they met Fire Dance and Zero
Wing’s other top-tier experts. Now, an even more frightening group had
arrived.

Their hearts, which had brimmed with confidence, now faltered.

Theoretically, Level 40 players should stand at the very forefront of
God’s Domain, yet so many Level 42 experts stood before them. They even
began to wonder if there had been a flaw in the reports they had
received.

Shortly after White Night and the others had arrived, Youlan led a large
group of players into the high-class restaurant.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 918: Holy City of Titan

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

The high-class restaurants in the Noble’s District were famed for their
luxury. Even large Guilds’ elite members were reluctant to dine in these
restaurants. These players would rather have a few drinks at a bar or
eat their fill of ordinary food to get more bang for their buck.

Upon joining Shi Feng and the others in the restaurant, Youlan glanced
at the various players. Immediately, she was shocked.

How does Zero Wing have so many experts?! Youlan had already thoroughly
investigated Zero Wing, so she was very aware of Zero Wing’s current
combat power. She had never imagined that Zero Wing still had secrets.

Owl’s and Raven’s members were the source of her surprise.

Even the lowest among them was Level 39, with the majority having
reached Level 42. Zero Wing’s team composition overwhelmed the team she
had struggled to establish.

Among her players, the highest was only Level 39, while the others were
Level 38...

Although there was only a difference of two or three levels, the gap
between Level 39 and Level 40 was like the difference between heaven and
earth.

Unless one had equipment that could reduce level requirements,
otherwise, they could only wear Level 40 equipment upon reaching Level
40. However, such equipment was extremely rare. Generally, only Epic
items had such an Attribute.

There was a huge difference in terms of Basic Attributes between Level
35 and Level 40 equipment.

If they had so many high-level experts working together, clearing Titan
City’s entrance trial would be much easier.

Moreover, Youlan could tell that, even if White Night and Bloodsucker
were members of Super Guilds, they would be considered apex experts. It
would be very difficult to find an expert in Underworld that could
contend with these two.

“Big Brother Wolf, do you that Ranger and Berserker?” Youlan asked War
Wolf quietly.

The pressure she felt from White Night and Bloodsucker was extremely
powerful. They were like beacons in absolute darkness. Even if she
fought it, it would be hard not to notice them.

Among the information she had on God’s Domain’s experts, nothing had
been recorded on these two individuals.

Although she did not know who these two were, War Wolf might know them.
After all, War Wolf had once shone brightly in the virtual gaming world.
Although he had later stepped away, he knew far more hidden experts than
she did.

“I don’t know them. However, I am sure that both of them are martial
artists. Extremely powerful ones at that,” War Wolf replied, his
thoughts a little complex as he examined Shi Feng’s team.

A few months ago, Zero Wing had merely been an unknown, upstart Guild in
White River City. Even Zero Wing’s experts at that time weren’t worth
his attention, yet now, the Guild had several people on-par with him in
terms of combat standards.

As for White Night and Bloodsucker, who he had never seen before, even
he had to admit that he was weaker than them.

War Wolf could not help but wonder what kind of charm an upstart Guild
like Zero Wing had to attract so many experts. Even first-rate Gods
weren’t capable of this feat.

...

“It really makes you wonder just where the Guild Leader has found so
many experts. Overwhelming Smile’s members must be scared stiff right
about now.” Blackie giggled when he saw Youlan and her Overwhelming
Smile team’s shock.

The rest of Zero Wing’s members agreed with Blackie.

When White Night’s group had arrived, even they were surprised.

Shi Feng stepped forward and said, “Miss Youlan, now that everyone is
here, should we reform the team?”

“Alright. Everyone, leave your teams,” Youlan nodded as she pinned Shi
Feng with a penetrating gaze.

Although she had already known that Ye Feng would lead the expedition to
Titan City, she had been somewhat surprised to receive this news.

She thought that Black Flame would lead this expedition.

This was not because she doubted Ye Feng’s strength. However, Black
Flame was far more experienced with commanding a team.

It was of the utmost importance that they cleared Titan City’s entrance
trial. After all, once they could enter the Holy City of Titan, they
could rapidly nurture Advanced Lifestyle players. In the future, they
would have a greater advantage when competing with other trading firms.

“I’ll start dividing the workload. I want everyone to send me a list of
your Skills,” Shi Feng instructed Youlan and the others after inviting
them to his team.

“That is a Guild’s secret! How can we just reveal that information to an
outsider?!” Overwhelming Smile’s members immediately complained.

All Guilds kept their players’ Basic Attributes and Skills secret. It
was especially true for Guild experts. If others discovered this
information, it would be very easy to exploit their weaknesses.

Shi Feng then looked towards Youlan and said seriously, “I believe you
know how difficult Titan City’s entrance trial is. If I don’t know
everyone’s abilities, I can’t guarantee our success.”

After giving it some thought, Youlan nodded and said, “It’s alright.
Tell him.”

Titan City’s entrance trial was much harder than a 100-man Hell Mode
Team Dungeon. If the team leader did not even know what Skills his
members possessed, it would be hard for him to issue effective commands.

After receiving Youlan’s instructions, Overwhelming Smile’s members sent
their Skill lists to Shi Feng, albeit reluctantly.

As for the Skills Owl’s and Raven’s members possessed, the two groups
had long since notified Shi Feng.

Owl’s members had not held back in the least. However, Shi Feng was
certain that Raven’s members had held back some information. Regardless,
though, it would not affect the overall situation.

After Shi Feng examined the Skills of Overwhelming Smile’s members, he
was a little surprised.

Twenty-three of these players wielded Berserk Skills. Among them, Youlan
had learned a large-scale destruction Spell and a large-scale buff
Spell. This would be of great help to the team.

“Before we enter Titan City, I’ll give everyone certain
responsibilities. Make sure you understand your tasks. When the time
comes, you just need to do your part.” Shi Feng then called up his
system interface and split everyone into groups.

Shi Feng had split the team of 100 players into five teams of 20. Among
them, one team would serve as the main force while the remaining four
would serve as support.

Raiding Titan City’s entrance trial was different from raiding a 100-man
Team Dungeon, where players only had to deal with one Boss at a time.

The entrance trial resembled a field battle. Only, the team would face
far more danger. In the entrance trial, one could encounter a powerful
Boss at any time. It was even possible for multiple Bosses to appear at
once. It would not come as a surprise if one mistake led to a team-wipe.
Hence, they needed to prepare before they challenged the trial.

There was only one MT on the main team—Cola.

This decision confused Youlan and the others. Cola was only Level 40,
while the Guardian Knight White Night had brought was Level 42. In terms
of techniques, the Guardian Knight was also much stronger than Cola. No
matter how they looked at it, Cola should not be the main team’s MT.

Even if Shi Feng placed Cola on the main team, he should include another
MT. Wow was a single MT going to tank a Boss?

However, Shi Feng did not bother to explain his decision. He had chosen
Cola because he had previously passed the Epic ranked Dragonscale Shield
to the MT. With this shield alone, none of the other MTs could compete
with Cola. Not to mention, Cola was using the Tier 1 Set Equipment for
Guardian Knights. Comparing Basic Attributes, he was stronger than
Moonlight Knight, Owl’s Level 42 Guardian Knight, by a large margin. He
was the best choice to serve as the lead MT.

After the various tasks had been distributed, Youlan took out a golden
key and began to chant an incantation.

In the next moment, a pair of tightly shut, black stone doors appeared
in the hall. The stone doors towered over three-meters high, and there
were countless magical runes carved into the door’s stone. As the thick,
heavy doors slowly parted, a terrifying aura surged out, and everyone
immediately felt a powerful mental suppression weigh on them.

This mental suppression could rival that of Grand Lords.

However, every player here was an expert. Even if the mental suppression
affected them, the effects were minimal.

After everyone calmed their nerves, Shi Feng took the lead and stepped
through the doors. One after another, the other players followed him.

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 919: Titan’s Legend

Translator: Hellscythe_ Editor: FluffyGoblyn

The Holy City of Titan was buried in God’s Domain’s underground. Complex
terrain surrounded Titan City, forming a natural maze. Players could
easily get lost within the maze as they searched for Titan City.

Although Titan City was underground, crystals that radiated a bright,
blue glow covered the cavern’s ceiling. Hence, visibility was not an
issue.

After Shi Feng and the others entered the transfer gate, they had been
teleported to this maze’s entrance.

“This place is spectacular!”

As this was Aqua Rose and Zero Wing’s other members’ first time here,
they were captivated.

Even experts like White Night and Bloodsucker found the scene
awe-inspiring.

Aside from the spectacular scenery, ten, towering statues of Titans
loomed at the entrance. All ten radiated a boundless aura. In front of
these statues, players like themselves were no more significant than
insects.

Although they had known that the quest Shi Feng had called them to help
with was not simple, after witnessing this, they grew serious.

With their sharp senses, they felt warnings of death from their
surroundings the instant they reached this area.

It was especially true for the entrance. It felt more like the maw of a
gigantic beast.

“These are just statues, yet they have such powerful auras. Are these
statues alive?” Aqua Rose’s slender brows creased slightly as she swept
her gaze over the statues before her. She could feel the surrounding
pressure originating from these ten statues. If they had to fight while
bathed in this aura, they would suffer a disadvantage.

“Relax. Those are just statues. Their purpose is to frighten monsters
and prevent them from approaching,” Shi Feng explained.

These ten statues were the sculptures of the ten saints who had founded
the Holy City of Titan.

According to legend, every saint possessed enough strength to rival
Gods. Before they had died, these ten saints had used their remaining
power to construct Titan Armaments. As long as one equipped the Titan
Armaments, one could rival the Gods themselves. However, after several
catastrophes struck Titan City, these Titan Armaments had been lost.

In his previous life, Shi Feng had been fortunate enough to see one of
these Titan Armaments. Although it had only been a pair of gloves, the
gloves were Legendary rank. The gloves greatly increased the wearer’s
Strength Attribute. Even while using a Fragmented Legendary Weapon, the
player that had owned the Titan Gloves had fought a player wielding a
Legendary ranked battle axe to a standstill.

Among the equipment in God’s Domain, weapons provided the most benefits
to a player’s combat power, yet this pair of gloves had provided enough
Strength to rival a Legendary Weapon. One could just imagine how
powerful the Titan Armaments were.

In Shi Feng’s opinion, it was possible to rival a God if a player
obtained the complete set of Titan Armaments.

Unfortunately, the Titan Armaments were a mystery to players. Even after
ten years, players had only discovered three Titan Armaments. Moreover,
three different players had owned them. These players had been the
targets of numerous assassination attempts in the past.

“Alright, let’s head inside,” Shi Feng said as he clapped his hands.
After everyone took up their formation, they officially entered Titan
City’s entrance trial.

After several minutes of traveling down the straight pathway, the team
halted.

“Leader, there are four paths ahead. Which one should we take?” Aqua
Rose asked Shi Feng. “Should we send someone to scout ahead?”

Each path felt equally dangerous to her, so it was impossible to
determine which path they should take.

“Which path did you take last time?” Although Shi Feng knew which path
they should take, he still asked Youlan.

“We investigated all four paths the last time we were here. Among them,
a Great Lord guards the first path, while the next two are littered with
traps and ambushing monsters. A large number of mobs guard the last.
After we had killed those monsters, we discovered that the path led to
another crossroad. In the end, we took the path with the Great Lord.
However, after a short distance, three Great Lords annihilated us,”
Youlan explained.

Truth be told, they had gathered almost no information before the
reached an abrupt end.

Hence, Youlan had thought to search for experts to challenge the three
Bosses.

When Overwhelming Smile’s members recalled the three Great Lords that
had ganged up on them, a chill ran down their spines. There were not
many players who could face a Great Lord, not to mention three Great
Lords simultaneously. Moreover, even a 100-man team would be
hard-pressed to deal with one Great Lord here because, aside from the
Great Lord itself, there were many monsters traveling with the Great
Lord.

Before they had dealt with the three Great Lords, the weaker monsters
had swarmed and slaughtered them...

“So, that’s the case. Let’s go down the path with the crossroad, then,”
Shi Feng nodded.

“Generally, the path with a Boss it should be the correct option. Taking
the path with the crossroad is a waste of time,” Youlan explained.

“That might be true in other virtual reality games, but in God’s Domain,
it is only half correct,” Shi Feng said, chuckling. “This is an entrance
trial. Our ultimate goal is to pass through the maze, not to defeat the
Bosses, isn’t that right?”

In reality, all four paths led to Titan City.

If a team were strong enough, they could choose the most difficult path,
which contained various Bosses. This path was also the most direct and
would save the most time. In contrast, the path with the crossroads, as
Youlan had said, would be time-consuming. However, it was the safest
path among the four.

Youlan’s group had grown comfortable with the mindset of using brute
force to resolve issues. Hence, they had chosen to challenge the most
difficult path after entering the entrance trial. It was no wonder why
they had only traveled a short distance before team-wiping.

The first time Shi Feng had come here in his previous life, he had been
just as ignorant. He and his team had insisted on taking the most
difficult path and killing all of the Bosses. In the end, they suffered
team-wipe after team-wipe.

Fortunately, unlike Youlan’s group, his team was not as simple-minded.
When they challenged a Boss, they had a Cleric stay some distance away
from the team to revive everyone in the event that the Boss slaughtered
them. This way, they could challenge the Bosses endlessly. Moreover, as
this was an entrance trial, no matter how many times players died here,
they would not lose any EXP after reviving; although, they would lose
some Skill Proficiency.

After Youlan and the others heard Shi Feng’s reasoning, realization
dawned on them.

Following which, Shi Feng led everyone down the path with the
crossroads. As they progressed through the maze, Shi Feng often
deliberately took the wrong path, leading the team into difficult
situations and traps. However, with the team’s abilities, overcoming the
traps and Level 40 or so Elemental Beings wasn’t an issue.

After walking for nearly two hours, the team arrived before a large
temple. The temple was as big as five football fields, and a pair of
tightly shut iron doors sealed its entrance. A steel statue with glowing
red eyes that stood over ten meters tall walked back and forth before
these iron doors. There were also groups of smaller steel statues
patrolling the temple grounds like trained soldiers.

[Steel Slaughterer] (Elemental Being, Grand Lord) Level 44 HP
50,000,000/50,000,000

[Steel Guardian] (Elemental Being, Lord) Level 42 HP 7,000,000/7,000,000

[Steel Watcher] (Elemental Being, Elite) Level 40 HP 120,000/120,000

“Cola, you’ll tank the Steel Slaughterer later. The other MTs will each
handle one Guardian. White, lure those Elite monsters to us first. All
magical classes will assist to clear out the Elites. Go!”

-   Prev Chapter