Chapter 14: Are You People Fighting the Boss or Not?
Qingtian Wai's Buddhist Cultivator was already standing at the very front. With a cast of Diamond Body, he firmly secured the Mad Monk's aggro and absorbed most of the damage from the attack.
The instant the Mad Monk's staff came down, Wei Yu Ning Qiu's heal landed on Qingtian Wai. A cast of Fragrance from the Orange Well would continuously restore health for twenty seconds. Twenty seconds was a long time. If the boss followed up with several more attacks during that period, Qingtian Wai's HP bar would be hanging by a thread.
The moment his words fell, Qingzhou Yiguo had already cast Wind and Rain Halt. The skill struck the Mad Monk with perfect accuracy, successfully rooting him in place and buying precious recovery time for Qingtian Wai.
The troublesome part about the Mad Monk was his weapon. The martial staff of Mount Xumi could sweep across a huge area and had an exceptionally long attack range, making it extremely difficult for melee classes to dodge. Because of this, most groups running the Mount Xumi dungeon favored ranged classes. Some teams wouldn't even take melee DPS at all, aside from the tank.
But Wujin Shi's party was different. Besides himself, there were Qingtian Wai the Buddhist Cultivator, Qian Yu the Sword Cultivator, and Baobao Hong the Demon Cultivator—three more melee fighters. Half the team was melee.
The more melee players a team had, the higher the demands on the group. The raid leader needed excellent awareness, capable of predicting the Mad Monk's next move and making the correct calls in advance. Team members needed fast reactions and strong mechanics to dodge attacks in time.
After watching carefully for a while, Chi Zhen realized that aside from Wujin Shi, only Qingtian Wai, Qian Yu, and Wei Yu Ning Qiu could truly be considered highly skilled. The other three had average awareness and passable mechanics. They relied heavily on Wujin Shi's shot-calling. Fortunately, they listened well. None of them had a rebellious streak, so the run proceeded smoothly without major mistakes.
As for Qingtian Wai, the main tank— He was still wearing gear from half a year ago, old and battered. The only reason he could maintain aggro was because his personal mechanics were excellent and Wujin Shi's leadership was equally strong.
[Damn, Wujin Shi is insane.]
[That Qingtian Wai guy is wearing complete trash gear. I thought he was getting carried, but he's actually holding aggro pretty well.]
[What shocked me most is Wei Yu Ning Qiu. Her mechanics are genuinely good. I thought she came here to sabotage Xiao Chi, but she's actually healing seriously?]
[Wait, what exactly did Wei Yu Ning Qiu come here for?]
[To seriously play the game, apparently. #Funny]
[I've been paying attention this whole time expecting some soap-opera drama, but everyone is just... seriously playing the game? Huh?]
[Not gonna lie, Wujin Shi's shot-calling feels amazing. Calm, stable, no yelling. Listening to him makes an eight-man clear feel easy.]
[Holy shit, Wujin Shi is squeezing every bit of value out of the streamer. Look at the skill bar—every control skill gets used the instant its cooldown ends. I can't even figure out how this combo chain is connected.]
Chi Zhen glanced at the chat and couldn't help turning on his microphone. "Wujin Shi has basically integrated every crowd-control skill in the party into one giant combo chain. He's synchronized everyone's abilities so perfectly with the Spirit Cultivator's cooldowns that there's not even a one-second gap. The Mad Monk is either rooted, weakened, poisoned, bleeding, or stunned at all times. Incredible. Seriously incredible!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Qingtian Wai's voice rang out. "Xiao Chi, that's not fair. Why are you only praising Wujin Shi? What about my god-tier mechanics?"
Everyone kept playing, but couldn't resist chiming in.
Baobao Hong said, "What? Where's the praise?"
Qingtian Wai, loud as ever, replied, "In the livestream! Since the stream started, all he's done is praise Wujin Shi. What's going on? Are we invisible or something?"
Qian Yu spoke up. He had a rather pleasant youthful voice. "Wujin Shi's shot-calling really is impressive."
"Do you stream twenty-four hours a day? You're streaming a dungeon run too? What's even interesting about that?" A sweet female voice entered the conversation. So sweet it sounded as though a million-dollar audio engineer had tuned it to perfection.
It was Wei Yu Ning Qiu.
Qingtian Wai wasn't afraid of death. "That's Xiao Chi's job. He's got over a thousand viewers in his stream! Streamers have monthly hour quotas to meet. If they don't stream enough, they get their pay docked, right Xiao Chi?"
Chi Zhen suddenly didn't know how to answer. Discussing this topic in front of Wei Yu Ning Qiu felt incredibly awkward. He could only brush it off. "Something like that..."
"Everyone be careful. The Mad Monk's about to enter Berserk mode." Wujin Shi interrupted.
The group immediately stopped chatting and focused on dealing damage.
"Spirit Cultivator, get ready. As soon as the Mad Monk enters Berserk mode, he'll use his final ultimate. Immediately interrupt it with Falling Shadows with the Wind." While issuing commands, Wujin Shi never stopped attacking.
"Got it."
Interrupting the Mad Monk sounded simple in theory, but was actually very difficult. Falling Shadows with the Wind had a two-second cast time. The Mad Monk's ultimate also had only a two-second cast time. To interrupt successfully, one had to precisely predict the exact moment the Mad Monk entered Berserk mode and begin casting immediately. If any step was even half a beat too slow, the attempt would fail.
There were very few abilities capable of interrupting boss casts. Falling Shadows with the Wind was one of them.
"Interrupt!" Wujin Shi called out.
Chi Zhen reacted instantly.
The Spirit Cultivator swung his Fusang Wood Branch and leapt into the air. The ultimate skill crashed straight down onto the Mad Monk.
The Mad Monk's cast was interrupted. Everyone unleashed their damage without restraint. Several dozen seconds later, the Mad Monk slowly collapsed.
[System] Ming Jing: Impossible... This is impossible. I cannot have been defeated by a group of nobodies! I was the most gifted inner disciple Mount Xumi has seen in a thousand years. The elders placed their hopes upon me. The sect supported me. I cannot lose to insignificant people like you! I... cannot...The road to the Great Dao is endless. How far have you even traveled? What do you know of the dangers that lie upon it? Do not celebrate too soon… Even cultivators are but ants upon this path… Hahaha… How hateful… How hateful that until my dying breath, I never comprehended Mount Xumi's true teachings...
The Mad Monk fell to the ground. Treasures scattered across the floor, sparkling brightly. The party stepped forward.
Then Qingtian Wai suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs: "BAOBAO HONG! DON'T LOOT THE BOSS!!! DON'T TOUCH IT!"
Everyone was startled by his shout, and several people immediately started cursing him out.
Gou Yao Zou Wo Bu Liu said, "Baobao Hong never loots bosses! She's very self-aware! Why the hell are you screaming like a banshee?!"
Baobao Hong protested indignantly, "Why can't I loot the boss? My name literally has 'Hong(Red)' in it! I'm destined to defy fate!"
Qingtian Wai shouted, "No!!! You're way too unlucky! You'll make my weapon disappear! Quick! Whoever has good luck, go loot the boss before Baobao Hong jinxes it!"
The responsibility felt surprisingly heavy. Everyone hesitated and, for a moment, nobody dared step forward.
Finally, Wujin Shi spoke. "I think Qingzhou Yiguo has pretty good luck. You do it."
Wei Yu Ning Qiu sneered lightly. "You two seem pretty familiar."
The entire party held their breath.
Obediently, Chi Zhen stepped forward and clicked on the Mad Monk's corpse, posting the loot in party chat.
[Party] Qingzhou Yiguo: [Soulbreaker Staff] x1, [Soulbreaker Bracers] x1, [Qi-Gathering Ring] x1, [Superior Treasure Chest] x3, [Fragmented Soul Bones] x10
Qingtian Wai lost his mind.
A Buddhist Cultivator weapon had dropped. And Buddhist Cultivator bracers.
"THE WEAPON!!! THE WEAPON!!! And it's a Superior Immortal Artifact tier weapon!! Oh my god! Xiao Chi, I love you! Your luck is insane! AHHHHH! I, Qingtian Wai, swear in the name of Mount Xumi that from this day forward, every single boss must be looted by our Xiao Chi!!!"
There was only one Buddhist Cultivator in the party, so naturally the weapon and bracers went to Qingtian Wai.
The treasure chests and materials would be held until the end and divided equally.
That left the Qi-Gathering Ring. A Superior Immortal Artifact-tier ring. The best ring in the current version of the game. Spirit Cultivators, Medical Cultivator, and Dao Cultivators could all use it.
The party only had one Spirit Cultivator and one Medical Cultivator.
Wujin Shi remained calm. "Both of you need it? Roll for it."
The game's built-in dice system generated numbers from 1 to 100. Large raid groups often had too many players for a normal six-sided die to be useful.
Everyone looked at Qingzhou Yiguo, then at Wei Yu Ning Qiu.
The two of them seemed to possess some kind of mystical bad luck together.
The kind of destined-enemies fate. Wei Yu Ning Qiu clicked the dice icon.
[System] Congratulations! Player [Wei Yu Ning Qiu] rolled 95.
Everyone exclaimed in admiration.
Wei Yu Ning Qiu looked pleased.
[System] Congratulations! Player [Qingzhou Yiguo] rolled 100.
Everyone stared in shock.
Wei Yu Ning Qiu spoke coldly. "Your luck is really good. Just like Wujin Shi said."
Chi Zhen: "..."
"Hehe. Yesterday you just happened to do a quest together. Today you just happened to run a dungeon together." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "And now you're close enough that he even knows whether your luck is good or bad."
The viewers in the stream instantly got excited.
[It's happening! Are they finally going to fight?!]
[But Wei Yu Ning Qiu healed him seriously earlier. She didn't let Xiao Chi die at all.]
That was true. Even though Wei Yu Ning Qiu was being sarcastic now, she had healed diligently during the dungeon run. Not a single heal had been withheld from Chi Zhen. Given Chi Zhen's personality, there was a good chance he would voluntarily give up the ring just because she was a girl.
However—
After being hunted down for days, even a clay figurine would develop some temper.
Silently, Chi Zhen equipped the ring he had won. Then, unusually for him, he actually defended himself. "That day at Mount Guguan fighting the Zhēng beast was the first time Wujin Shi and I ever did a quest together. I've already explained that many times. Accidentally broadcasting your... situation on stream was my mistake, and I've already apologized and made amends. If you're still angry, you can add me to your kill-on-sight list. But this has nothing to do with Wujin Shi."
[Party] Baobao Hong: ...
[Party] Qingtian Wai: ...
[Party] Gou Yao Zou Wo Bu Liu: ...
[Party] Qian Yu: Are you people going to fight the second boss or not?
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