Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Essence of Swordsmanship

Zhang Shan and Heart Follows My Will defeated the boss together, and unexpectedly, this boss had never been killed before, triggering a system announcement. To most players, there was nothing unusual about it—a top player wielding a divine artifact getting a first boss kill was par for the course.

But for the members of Storm Guild and Heaven & Earth Guild, it was a different story. Storm Guild knew he hadn’t returned to Yang City. Yet here he was in Yingtian City, slaying someone else’s boss.

Heaven & Earth Guild members were baffled to see Zhang Shan and Heart Follows My Will appear together in the announcement. Only then did they realize Zhang Shan hadn’t gone back to Yang City; he was still in Yingtian City. What was he planning?

“Brother Six-Barrel, you’re really something. You said you’d stay in Yingtian City to mess with Heaven & Earth Guild, and now you sneak off to kill a boss,” Storm Blade grumbled. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have gone back either—he could have stayed in Yingtian City and tagged along for a first boss kill.

“It was an accident, really. Just stumbled upon a weak boss and took it down in passing.”

“Listen to him, will you? A weak boss, just taken down in passing—when will I ever be able to casually kill a boss like that?”

“In your dreams.”

“Exactly. How can you compare with Divine Artifact Bro? He can solo red bosses; what’s a mere orange boss to him?”

“Come on, you’re all so boastful. When did orange bosses become ‘mere’?”

“To us, every boss is tough. For Divine Artifact Bro, anything below red is just trash.”

“Spot on.”

While Storm Guild bantered cheerfully, the mood in Heaven & Earth Guild grew somber after the system announcement.

“What’s going on? How is Heart Follows My Will with Six-Barrel Bodhisattva? Did he go to Yang City too?”

“Impossible. To prevent Storm Guild from causing trouble again, I already had people guarding the teleportation hall. Heart Follows My Will never went there.”

“So Six-Barrel Bodhisattva hasn’t left, he’s still in Yingtian City?”

“Seems so. He’s even on the same map as us—we just haven’t noticed him yet.”

“But all the other Storm Guild members have gone back. Why is he still hanging around?”

“Who knows? He’s alone now. Maybe he still wants to harass us?”

“If so, he’s asking for trouble. We have so many people—no way he’d dare come alone.”

“True. Maybe he’s just here leveling up and farming mobs. Boss, should we go take them out?”

“Yes, this is an opportunity! There are only two of them left, and no support. If we find them, we can wipe them out easily.”

“It won’t be so easy. The map’s huge, they’ll be hard to find. And Six-Barrel Bodhisattva is a monster—he moves fast, not easy to kill.”

Heavenly Dragon Blade felt conflicted. He wanted to lead his team to hunt down Zhang Shan and vent his anger, but realizing it was easier said than done. If they didn’t split up, searching would be impossible; if they did, they’d just be easy prey.

He worried that Zhang Shan was staying specifically to target them, which would be troublesome and make it impossible to focus on leveling up and farming. Though he doubted it was likely, he still felt the need to stay alert.

“Notify all guild members to group closer together. Don’t let anyone get ambushed.”

“Isn’t that a bit much? Staying all together slows down leveling.”

“Just stick together for now, keep farming slowly. If nothing happens after half an hour, we’ll spread out again.”

Zhang Shan had no idea about Heavenly Dragon Blade’s restless mood, nor did he care. He was only interested in seeing what loot the boss had dropped.

He opened his bag to check.

One orange item—a ring for the agility class. Not bad; he could use it once he reached level twenty-five. The rest was three junk purple items and a single material.

If not for a skill book, this first boss kill’s drop would have been really disappointing. Only one orange item from a first kill on an orange boss?

“Heart Follows Bro, let’s discuss how to split the loot.”

“No need to discuss, just take it all. I barely contributed, and I don’t need anything right now.”

“Take a look first, just in case,” Zhang Shan said with a chuckle.

He displayed all the drops. The equipment was hardly worth mentioning; Heart Follows My Will probably wouldn’t care for any of it. But the skill book—he wouldn’t pass up on that.

Sword Technique Manual: Level 1, increases Magic Swordsman’s attack power by two percent, lasts three minutes, cooldown one minute, mana cost one hundred, class requirement: Magic Swordsman.

At level one it’s a two percent boost; at level ten, presumably a twenty percent increase, with three minutes duration and one minute cooldown. That means it could be maintained continuously—a highly practical skill. Zhang Shan hadn’t seen anyone with it yet.

It must be a rare and valuable skill.

Heart Follows My Will looked awkward after seeing the skill book. He wanted it badly, but he’d just said he didn’t need anything—now it was hard to take back his words.

Understanding that these wealthy players cared about their reputation, Zhang Shan said, “The skill book is yours; I’ll take the rest of the equipment and materials. Is that alright?”

Though the skill book was worth more than all the equipment combined, sharing loot after a joint boss fight was the right thing to do. Greed wasn’t good, and Zhang Shan didn’t lack money—whether in-game or in reality, he had no reason to cheat anyone.

“Thank you, Brother Six-Barrel. I really need this skill book; it’ll give me a big boost. But I barely helped—how about I give you some gold in return?”

“No need. Let’s just split according to normal game rules.”

With that, Zhang Shan assigned the skill book to him and kept the rest for himself.

This boss fight yielded decent rewards: almost a million experience, plus a ring he’d soon be able to use.

A modest gain.

He kept farming. Since they’d both appeared in the system announcement, Heaven & Earth Guild would surely have guessed he hadn’t left yet. They were probably tightly grouped together now, staying safe. Going over now wouldn’t be causing them trouble—it would just bring trouble to himself.

After another hour or so of farming, his experience barely increased; combined with the boss fight, he was still under two million. He was far from reaching level twenty-five today, so he’d take it slow and go bother Heaven & Earth Guild for now.

“Heart Follows Bro, I’m off to stir up trouble with Heaven & Earth Guild. You keep farming.”

“Should I come with you? You might get mobbed on your own.”

“It’s fine. I’m fast—if there are too many, I’ll just run.”

“Alright, be careful. Since you’re attacking proactively, you’ll get a red name; you won’t be able to return to Yang City directly.”

“No worries. I’ll farm here until my name turns white, then head back.”

Zhang Shan didn’t care at all. He’d just gained another skill point, maxed out Berserk at level ten, and Heaven & Earth Guild couldn’t do a thing to him.