editors: BlueBug & alamerysl
Su Xuanyan was like a boss in human form, and with his help, collecting materials for Xue Ling’s sword went quite smoothly. Presumably because his heart felt at ease around the man, Xue Ling did not try to hide anything from him, skipping the prerequisite quest chains and going directly to the final destination. They would kill off the boss, get the materials Xue Ling wanted, and leave.
The man felt a bit helpless, but also rather joyful. Xue Ling clearly knew that what he was doing was not normal, but had no intention of hiding it from him, and everything he did in front of him seemed so normal, so natural, that Su Xuanyan felt extraordinarily pleased. So, he casually tore away the data from certain places completely, ensuring that the main computer was so busy that it had no time to worry about what its precious disciple was doing.
Once he had collected enough materials, it was time to start crafting his sword. Xue Ling had originally planned to craft it in the sect, but the sect had just accepted quite a lot of newcomers that were also trying to forge their own swords. It would be bad if he caused a scene and exposed his sword’s peculiarities, so Xue Ling debated for a while and agreed to Su Xuanyan’s suggestion to craft his sword in a secret place he had found.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Su Xuanyan was even more mysterious than Xue Ling, and knew a lot about the game. He was especially knowledgeable about the game’s secrets, but Xue Ling did not look deeply into his identity. The two of them maintained a strange sense of harmony as they teamed up to kill monsters and occasionally flirted with each other, but they did not speak clearly about anything. Xue Ling found his interest piqued by this kind of situation, and was particularly happy spending time with the man like this.
The higher one’s level of sword cultivation was, the higher their chances of success when crafting their sword. Right now, the new players would not bond with their swords even if they could make them, and only use it for regular practice and as a handy weapon. But Xue Ling was different. Although this was his first time making a sword, he planned to make an artifact level sword that would grow with him and become his life bonded sword.
Su Xuanyan did exactly what he said he would. Not only did he really find Xue Ling a concealed place where he could craft his sword, but he also acted as his dao guardian outside. Xue Ling brought out all the materials that they had collected over the past few days and began to craft according to the process the system had looked up for him. He casually cheated, and maxed out his forging ability, which made the entire process extremely smooth. Only, in the moment when the sword was finished, Xue Ling sensed that the sword was trying to break away from his will.
This was an artifact level sword with a sword spirit. The sword spirit inside the sword panicked; it was not yet awake, but it obviously did not want to be used by the low-levelled Xue Ling. Xue Ling was too lazy to ** with a sword spirit and directly erased it. He had the system enter the sword instead, becoming an existence similar to a sword spirit.
The artifact was completed in a grand way, but the man suppressed all the visual effects into a restricted space, and nobody noticed anything at all.
It was only when Xue Ling came out carrying his sword that he discovered that there had been no strange occurrences outside. Despite that, he was very clear that the lightning tribulation had come and gone, as ten strikes of lightning had struck directly onto his sword. After absorbing the power of the lightning, the sword had become even more translucent, and held an iciness within that could be felt even in the surroundings. As its owner, Xue Ling was not affected, but Su Xuanyan could feel a chill from the sword.
He nodded and praised, “Not bad.”
Xue Ling curved his lips in a rare smile, somewhat proud and arrogant as he raised his head slightly. “Of course. You should consider who made the sword.”
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Su Xuanyan reached out a hand and pinched his face as he smiled rather indulgently. “Let’s go, then. It’s not suitable for you to stay here too long. It won’t be good if someone finds out.”
“Where is this?”
“Jwf Zfmva Dluaz.” Xs Ksctgct osj wvx nvtpfu lt wvx avox ctz dwvxofufz, “Jwvx vx jwf Mftfucraf Zfmva’x oachf. V esvfjag xtshy gls vt, rsj vn wf nvtzx lsj, vj’x lmfu.”
“Cuf gls ltf ln jwf Mftfucraf Zfmva’x xsrluzvtcjfx?”
“Tl.” Xs Ksctgct cadcgx qczf ofloaf nffa mfug pftjaf ctz cnnfhjvltcjf dwft wf xqvafz. Oufxsqcrag rfhcsxf dwft wf dcx xvthfuf jldcuzx c ofuxlt, wf dlsaz oachf jwcj ofuxlt nvuxj vt caa jwvtpx, xl jwf nffavtp ln rfvtp jcyft hcuf ln rg wvq dcx mfug dltzfunsa. Cj afcxj, Ksf Avtp ocujvhsacuag ftblgfz vj.
They left the Devil World, following the road that Su Xuanyan indicated. Xue Ling listened as Su Xuanyan said, “I only drilled a small hole to bring you in. There is nobody else in the Devil World other than the Venerable Devil, so any visual effects that occurred would not be seen by anyone. I only dared to bring you here because there’s no storyline related to the Venerable Devil yet, so he’s probably still sleeping. I also can’t stay here for long.” Before he could confirm Xue Ling’s attitude towards the Sealed Devil, Su Xuanyan did not want to take the risk of letting him know anything. He liked this feeling of ‘killing mobs’ with him. Everything around them was clearly virtual, just as fake as it had always been, but as long as this person was in the midst of it, everything that happened seemed as real as flesh and blood to him.
From the time when he discovered that this was only a game world, and that everything about him had been created, this world had completely collapsed in front of him. He lacked interest in everything, and even those so-called ‘players’ had been unable to arouse the smallest amount of excitement.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
He wasn’t interested in this world, and had even less feelings towards the ‘world’ that was outside. He was listlessly wasting his time in the endless passage of time, but this person’s appearance made all his waiting meaningful.
Even if he did not look at him and ignored him, as long as he was standing there, even if it was far away, it was already reason enough for him to let this game world continue to exist.
But how would he let this person not look at him, ignore him, and not have him in his eyes?
Turning his head back to watch Xue Ling as he looked around everywhere, Su Xuanyan hid his expression, and locked away all the darkness and desire that existed in his gaze.
There was no hurry. They could talk about it after he got rid of that damned main computer.
After leaving the Devil World, Xue Ling noticed a recruitment post on the world channel.
As long as players were willing to pay, the recruitment post could be pinned to the most prominent part of the world channel. This recruitment post had not been put up for long, but it seemed that there were still empty spots, which was why it had not been replaced.
It made sense. The players on the rankings who had time all had their own regular teams, and it would be difficult to find players that were both skilled and high levelled to feel out a new instance. After all, it was a game, and everyone had their own cliques. Although the guild system had not opened yet, there were not many independent players.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Xue Ling actually belonged to the independent player group. He clicked on the recruitment post and sent a join request to Thousand Miles Without Pause.
How could Su Xuanyan not see what he was doing? The man did not say much and only automatically switched modes before submitting his own join request.
The two of them had not even taken two steps before their requests were approved. Thousand Miles Without Pause opened a transmission array, and a notification for teleportation appeared before Xue Ling. He really deserved to be the top ranked player; his efficiency was really amazing. Xue Ling raised his eyebrows, and accepted.
Before being teleported away, Xue Ling saw another teleportation portal appear at Su Xuanyan’s feet. He curved his lips and sent a message to the other side.
Their dialogue stopped there. Xue Ling appeared in the midst of a team, and Su Xuanyan followed closely after. Their gazes met, and then they looked away.
Thousand Miles Without Pause had seen Xue Ling and Su Xuanyan before during the recruitment fair. He nodded to them as he said, “This is a new instance. Supposedly we can get a guild order when we clear the instance. If the two of you also want the guild order, we can cooperate again next time. ]
Su Xuanyan smiled, “I am a businessman. I have no interest in things like that as I have no plan to form a guild.”
Thousand Miles Without Pause nodded. “I see. I’m afraid we may have to do the instance several times before the guild order drops. If anything drops that you need, just say so.”
There was no smile Xue Ling’s face as he kept up an indifferent expression. He saw Thousand Miles Without Pause look over, and only said, “I’m only here to baptise my sword.” His sword was newly forged, and had not been christened with blood yet. Doing an instance so that it could drink its fill of blood was indeed one of the reasons Xue Ling had decided to come this time. As for the second reason…
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
His gaze landed on a person who looked like a novice. He raised his brow and asked, “A newbie that just reached level 10?”
When he said it like that, the people in the team’s expressions all turned awkward. Everyone in the team was friends with Thousand Miles Without Pause, and today was the first time the protagonist shou had joined their party. According to the original plot, Xue Ling had also been in the party when they found this instance ahead of time thanks to Listening to Rain on a Bridge’s bumbling and mistakes. Back then, Thousand Miles Without Pause had brought along his friends, but they had been short one person, so they had to post a recruitment notice in the world. The person they had found that time had not been Su Xuanyan, but rather the senior disciple of Ten Thousand Swords Sect, Depth of Despair.
“This is my younger martial-brother.” Thousand Miles Without Pause kept Listening to Rain on a Bridge behind him as he said, “He was the one who opened this instance, so we have to bring him along. Don’t worry, I won’t let him pull us down.”
Because all the people that they had recruited before had left because of him, Listening to Rain on a Bridge bowed his head, feeling rather distressed. Thousand Miles Without Pause’s protectiveness made him feel a little warm, and he pressed his lips together as he glanced at Xue Ling, his gaze filled with wariness. “I’ll try my best not to be a burden.” He appeared very pathetic as he spoke.
Xue Ling’s sword made a soft whispering noise as Xue Ling curved his lips. He no longer looked at Listening To Rain On A Bridge and only said, “Let’s start.”
It sounded as if he had agreed. Listening to Rain on a Bridge clutched at Thousand Miles Without Pause’s sleeve and let out a long sigh of relief before finally raising his gaze to look deeply at Xue Ling.
This person was so good looking it was almost ridiculous, and he was as cold as ice, but it appeared that he wasn’t a hard-hearted person that was impossible to get along with…
Since nobody in the team had any objections, Thousand Miles Without Pause brought Listening to Rain on a Bridge over to speak with the NPC and start the instance.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
This instance was called the Zi Period instance, but it did not mean that it could only be started during the Zi period, which was between 11pm and 1am. After entering the instance, everyone discovered that time had stopped for them and it was 11pm in the instance. The interior was dark, without even the tiniest bit of light. They could only hear the sound of rustling coming from somewhere.
Listening To Rain On A Bridge’s voice sounded out as he explained the purpose of the instance to everyone. “The master guard of Zou City discovered that a lot of people have gone missing in the city recently, and that they had all disappeared around the Zi period. He asked me to help him investigate this matter, but I never thought that it would open up an instance. Everyone’s time has been stopped at this point, and the master guard asked us to rescue these people and bring them out.”
“Did it mention anything about what is inside this instance?” Someone asked.
“No”.
Xue Ling pressed his lips together, and a strange light flashed through his eyes.
What else came out during the Zi period? At that hour, naturally it could only be some evil spirits and ghosts.
Unfortunately for his sword, it seemed that he could only exterminate some ghosts, and he had no idea how long it would be before it could be stained with some hot blood.
Su Xuanyan stood idly behind Xue Ling with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes glued to Xue Ling’s body with no intention of moving away. The others paid him no heed, and he was happily enjoying himself, sweeping his gaze over Xue Ling from his head to his feet, then from the bottom back up again. No matter how he looked, he felt that this person was particularly pleasing to the eye, and especially suited to be embraced in his arms to kiss and touch. Xue Ling was so delightful that Su Xuanyan would be unable to tear himself away.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
The private chat channel appeared in front of the man, showing a single line of text that made the smile lurking in the corners of his mouth even more attractive.
Did he really think he wouldn’t be able to feel it? That kind of gaze that wanted to peel off all his clothes and lick him from head to tail? It was too outrageous!
