Chapter 29: Why Does He Have One When I Don't?
As soon as Endless Time arrived, Blue Sky Beyond looked as if he'd spotted a savior. "Brother Shi! Did you pick up those dozens of trees you blew up yesterday or not?!"
Then he launched into a rapid-fire explanation of the Little Vegetable Guild's current dire situation.
Endless Time remained completely calm and unhurried. He uttered two cruel words: "Didn't pick them up."
Blue Sky Beyond collapsed. "Why didn't you pick them up?! Why didn't you pick them up?! You spent millions of spirit stones blowing up trees! You're already broke! Don't you know how to minimize losses?!"
Endless Time couldn't be bothered with him. "I barely had time to run for my life. You think I was going to pick up trees?"
Chi Zhen quickly stepped in to calm everyone down. "We can develop the guild secret realm little by little. I've already accumulated some materials from doing dailies..."
Thousand Feathers calmly identified the core issue. "Guild Leader, does our guild only have the four of us?"
"Uh... currently, yes..." Chi Zhen admitted shamefully.
Thousand Feathers analyzed, "The fundamental problem is that we have too few people. If we had more members, gathering materials together would be much easier."
Blue Sky Beyond said, "Easy. Let's start recruiting."
The chat instantly filled with requests. [Let me join!] [I'm making an alt just to join the Little Vegetable Guild!]
Chi Zhen hesitated. "If there are too many people, I'm worried I won't be able to manage them..."
Endless Time immediately objected. "Better not. If we recruit now, we'll probably attract spies from certain guilds, along with people whose primary goal isn't playing the game but spectating and looking for entertainment."
Thousand Feathers asked, "Entertainment?"
Endless Time replied, "Guild Leader Xiao Chi streams every day, right? Including right now."
Blue Sky Beyond instantly understood. "That means everything we say to Xiao Chi, whether in YY or private messages, can be seen!"
Chi Zhen said apologetically, "Sorry... playing with me is kind of troublesome."
Blue Sky Beyond sounded baffled. "Why are you apologizing? We're the ones who wanted to play with you. What's troublesome about it? I think your viewers are hilarious. They talk so well—ahahahaha. No, no, that's not the main point. The main point is that we should make a WeChat group. If we have any secret tactics in the future, we can discuss them there so the viewers won't see!"
A WeChat group?
Endless Time's WeChat?
Wasn't that crossing the boundary of ordinary online friends?
Afraid that Endless Time might feel uncomfortable, Chi Zhen quickly said, "When we're discussing tactics, I can just mute the stream. Then the viewers won't hear anything."
Blue Sky Beyond completely missed Chi Zhen's concern. "I'll send you my WeChat ID privately. Just add me after your stream tonight, and I'll make a group~"
He didn't mention Endless Time or Thousand Feathers. Which meant he had already added both of them on WeChat.
The three of them really were close.
[6]
[Although I feel called out, I have to admit this man's instincts are annoyingly sharp. I really am here for the drama.]
[If I send a Fruit Transport Planes and become a boss, can I join the guild?]
[Endless Time: I spent millions of spirit stones for this man. What right does your Fruit Transport Planes have to speak?]
[Damn, the relationship is progressing fast. He just joined the guild, and they're already exchanging WeChat contacts. By that logic, they'll be married tomorrow.]
[I don't care, you two have to talk in-game! No private WeChat chats or I'm going to riot!]
[Xiao Chi, livestream the entire process of adding Endless Time on WeChat right now!]
"Seriously, viewers, what is wrong with you people?" Blue Sky Beyond's dissatisfied voice rang through YY. "I'm the one adding Xiao Chi on WeChat first. Not a single word about me. You skip right over me and immediately start shipping him with Endless Time! What's wrong with me? Why won't you ship me and Xiao Chi?! Aren't Buddhist cultivators handsome? This ascetic appearance! This restrained heart! These protective abilities!"
Hearing the term shipping spoken aloud in public made Chi Zhen feel as if he were experiencing social death.
[?]
[Because sword cultivators are more handsome, more ascetic, and more restrained. Most importantly, they have hair.]
[Shipping Thousand Feathers and Xiao Chi makes more sense than shipping you.]
[You dare try to break up my ship?]
The most mortifying part was that Blue Sky Beyond was reading every comment aloud. What nobody expected was that Endless Time completely agreed.
"Has hair? True."
Blue Sky Beyond nearly coughed up blood.
But a new message quickly stole his attention.
"Sister Dog wants to join our guild too. She's asking if the Little Vegetable Guild is still recruiting." Blue Sky Beyond brightened immediately. "And she's bringing her best friend! That's two more members!"
"We can recruit people we know," Endless Time said.
Soon, two guild applications arrived, and Chi Zhen approved both.
Two new figures appeared in the guild realm. If A Dog Wants To Leave I Don't Stop It, and her friend, a healer of the Alchemist cultivation class named Lime.
Sister Dog and her friend also joined the YY channel. The moment she entered, Sister Dog's energetic, forceful voice rang out: "Oh my god, the forums are full of posts about you guys! What exactly happened yesterday? How heroic was Endless Time? After reading everything, I seriously can't stand Way of Heaven anymore. They're still arguing today—"
"Ahem, ahem." Blue Sky Beyond coughed strategically. "Xiao Chi's streaming. Streaming."
Sister Dog forcibly suppressed the gossiping spirit that was about to burst out of her chest and switched to a tactical cough. "Ahem. Ahem. The weather's pretty dry today, huh?"
[It's the middle of summer and you're talking about dry weather?]
[It's okay if they can't say it. I can. Way of Heaven is having an internal meltdown. That's all there is to it!]
[Some people think Way of Heaven's leadership turned a minor issue into a major one and ended up driving away a top-tier player like Endless Time~]
[Some people think Endless Time has absolutely no sense of guild loyalty. He left just like that~]
[I swear Cold Sword Shadow is going to ruin Way of Heaven sooner or later. One sentence from Misty Autumn Rain and the biggest guild on the server starts jumping around bullying a small streamer, and they still couldn't win. What an embarrassing loss.]
[To be fair, during all those times Way of Heaven ganged up on Xiao Chi, Misty Autumn Rain wasn't even there. I think they were just having a PvP addiction episode.]
[It's like they're all missing part of their brains. They took one player's personal kill-on-sight grudge and forcibly escalated it into a conflict between a major guild and a small player.]
[PvP players all seem to have some kind of illness.]
At this point, even Chi Zhen wanted to perform a strategic cough.
The six of them held a brief meeting and drafted the first version of the Little Vegetable Guild's rules.
Rule One: The Guild Leader is a streamer. Ninety-nine percent of the time when he is online, he is live. Everyone should watch what they say.
Rule Two: If necessary, confidential information and secret tactics may only be discussed after the Guild Leader mutes the stream.
Rule Three: The guild is currently in a major development phase. Everyone should reserve at least thirty minutes daily for guild activities.
Rule Four: Do not recruit random players for now. Since the Guild Leader is famous, the risks are high. Friends and acquaintances are acceptable.
Rule Five: Materials stored in the guild warehouse are the Guild Leader's personal property and may not be taken without permission.
The rules were mostly written by Blue Sky Beyond. By the time Rule Four was read aloud, Xiao Chi already felt like fainting.
No, really. He was originally just a small streamer. Wasn't the reason his stream had become so lively because Endless Time was too overpowered, Blue Sky Beyond was too talkative, and Misty Autumn Rain was too good at causing trouble?
He was completely innocent.
After Blue Sky Beyond finished reading the guild rules one by one, everyone gathered in the guild realm and asked the Guild Leader to assign tasks.
Xiao Chi weakly suggested, "Now that there are quite a few people in the guild... how about someone else becomes Guild Leader? I'm not very good at it."
Sister Dog said, "Being Guild Leader is easy. You just issue orders."
The comment seemed directed at someone in particular.
Blue Sky Beyond immediately said seriously, "The key is cultivating a capable assistant. I recommend promoting me to Vice Guild Leader so I can help manage important guild affairs."
Sister Dog replied with a single word. "Scram."
But Chi Zhen clicked his mouse and actually promoted Blue Sky Beyond to Vice Guild Leader.
Blue Sky Beyond was instantly full of energy. "Family! Today's goal is to chop down two hundred trees! We have six people! Each person only needs to cut down thirty-three trees! Mission accomplished! Let's go, family!"
His enthusiasm was so infectious that everyone was already preparing to teleport to the wilderness and chop down every tree they saw.
Chi Zhen hurriedly stopped them. "Wait! Make sure you bring enough axes. Axes have durability, and they're cheap. There's no point teleporting back and forth for repairs. Just throw them away when they break. Also, wood is different from other materials. Most materials stack up to ninety-nine per slot, but logs take one inventory slot each. Clean out your bags before you leave."
Everyone immediately demanded that Blue Sky Beyond be stripped of his Vice Guild Leader position.
While everyone cleared inventory space, Chi Zhen continued giving instructions. "When you leave, teleport to Mount Bianchun. The terrain there is gentle and easy to climb, and the trees are packed closely together. It's much more efficient than other locations."
So everyone grabbed their axes, teleported to Mount Bianchun, and began chopping trees in earnest.
[Wait, Mount Bianchun's peach blossom scenery is one of Quest for the Azure Heavens's greatest attractions. Is the Little Vegetable Guild trying to destroy it?]
[Other people are confessing their love under peach trees while you lunatics are chopping them down with axes?!]
Without stopping his own work, Chi Zhen explained, "They'll respawn tomorrow. It's fine."
[Game Designer: ??? You're ruining Quest for the Azure Heavens's reputation as the Land of Romance! I'll fight you for this!]
[Friend] Endless Time: Two million spirit stones?
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: Ah, didn't you spend all your spirit stones yesterday blowing up so many firebomb talismans?
[Friend] Endless Time: You're giving this to me? Or lending it to me?
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: Ah, ah! I'm paying you back! You spent so much money yesterday to help me out, so it's only right that I return it. I only have two million spirit stones right now, though. I'll pay back the other two million in a few days.
[Friend] Endless Time: You'll earn two million spirit stones in a few days?
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: Not exactly...
Even if Chi Zhen was an exceptional life-skills player, there was no way he could earn that much in a few days. The reason he said "a few days" was because he planned to buy gold on the trading platform in installments. It would take a few days to gather another two million spirit stones.
[Friend] Endless Time: No need to buy gold. I mailed the two million back to you. Check your mail. Just keep taking me through dungeons, Brother Xiao Chi.
Ahhh! He called him Brother Xiao Chi again!
Chi Zhen panicked. Nervous. Flustered. Scratching his head.
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: Then, if you need any equipment or materials, you can just take them from the warehouse.
[Guild] Player Endless Time has been promoted to Vice Guild Leader.
[Guild] Player Endless Time has been granted Guild Warehouse management permissions.
[Guild] Blue Sky Beyond: ???
[Guild] Blue Sky Beyond: Why is there another Vice Guild Leader now?
[Guild] Blue Sky Beyond: Why does Endless Time have warehouse permissions but I don't???
[Wait, what plot point did I miss? What's this two million spirit stones thing?]
[If I'm guessing correctly, this little rascal Xiao Chi secretly mailed Endless Time two million spirit stones behind our backs!!!]
[Holy crap! Two million!]
[Stay calm, everyone. Endless Time did spend several million yesterday—AAAAAH I CAN'T STAY CALM! HE'S SO IN LOVE!]
[From a martial arts code-of-honor perspective, paying him back is totally normal. What's NOT normal is doing it behind our backs!]
Blue Sky Beyond immediately exploded in YY. "What is this two million spirit stones nonsense the chat is talking about?! Yesterday, out of pure kindness, I gave Endless Time one hundred thousand spirit stones! One hundred thousand! No, Endless Time, return my hard-earned money!"
Endless Time replied calmly, "Then take off your weapon and your Soulbreaker armor and return them to me."
Blue Sky Beyond refused outright. "Why should I? Brother Xiao Chi took me through those dungeons. I looted those myself!"
Sister Dog snapped, "Can you shut up and chop trees already?"
Chi Zhen felt like his head was splitting into two.
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