Chapter 25: Fun to Play With
If the Nameless Seed didn't still need the snow from Mount Guguan to nourish it, Chi Zhen really wouldn't have wanted to log into the game the next day.
At first, he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with being marked for revenge by so many people.
After all, conflict between players and conflict between guilds were both legitimate ways to play the game.
He had even found it pretty entertaining when he was maneuvering against members of the two major guilds in Mount Guguan and Zhuyu Waters.
But what had happened in his stream yesterday made him extremely uncomfortable, even a little unhappy. People had spent money to order his character to stand up and get killed—
Yes, he had made money from it. Yesterday had been the most profitable day since he started streaming. Half of the 5,000-yuan Fruit Transport Plane gift came to him, and together with the other miscellaneous gifts, he'd earned around 4,000 yuan.
But his feelings about it were complicated.
Fortunately, he had a full day of classes today and didn't get out until 8:30 p.m. The regular viewers who frequented his stream all knew that. For the time being, he didn't have to think about what to do when he started streaming today—or what would happen if he logged in and the people from Way of Heaven were still camping his corpse.
In Quest for the Azure Heavens, wherever you logged out was where you'd log back in. Whatever state your character was in when you logged out would remain unchanged when you logged back in.
So if the people from Way of Heaven were truly determined to make things difficult for him, all they had to do was keep waiting at the place where he'd logged out yesterday.
But if he refused to log in, wouldn't that be exactly what Way of Heaven wanted?
The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt.
After agonizing over it for quite a while, Chi Zhen still started his stream at nine o'clock.
He entered the streaming room first without immediately opening the game.
After some thought, he changed the stream title to: "The Gears of Fate Begin to Turn — Seventh-Day Anniversary..."
As soon as the stream went live, eight or nine hundred viewers flooded in, and the number continued climbing.
Chi Zhen began with his usual greeting. "Hello everyone, welcome to my stream."
Then, as usual, he asked for the platform's daily free gift from viewers—the little flowers that increased popularity points.
Today's flower barrage was astonishingly fierce. For a good two minutes, the entire screen was filled with tiny flowers scrolling nonstop, making it impossible to read any other messages.
Chi Zhen widened his eyes. "Wow, these flowers are coming in aggressively today. What's going on? Did everyone give all three of their flowers to me?"
By then, the viewer count had already passed one thousand.
[Feeling sorry for the streamer, so all three flowers are yours.]
[Here for the drama. We've been waiting forever—you're so late, streamer!]
[Report! The forums are full of righteous bystanders cursing Way of Heaven's petty behavior today!]
[Xiao Chi, did you skip the forums again today? Hurry up and check them out! It's an absolute spectacle!]
[Report! Way of Heaven's people are still camping your respawn point! Log in on a different account, Xiao Chi!]
Chi Zhen scratched his head. "I had classes all day. I literally just got out. I started streaming before I even had time to catch my breath. How would I have time to browse the forums? They're still camping me? It's already been a whole day. Why do Way of Heaven's people have so much free time? No, seriously, do they think I'm some kind of Chosen Son of Heaven? Why are they putting in so much effort just to camp me? Honestly, even I'm starting to get confused."
[Go browse the forums. You'll understand after that.]
[It's complicated to explain. Basically, you're an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. The main issue is internal conflict within Way of Heaven.]
[Huh? I think it's mainly because Way of Heaven is ridiculously chuuni. The type that plays a demonic cultivator and thinks they're a Demon Lord, or plays a sword cultivator and thinks they're the leader of the Immortal Alliance. #Laughing]
Thinking he might as well pad his stream time while he could, Chi Zhen opened the forums.
One look and— Good grief. Half the front page was filled with posts about Way of Heaven, Misty Autumn Rain, and Endless Time.
"Uh..." Chi Zhen said. "Is there a summary hero around here?"
[Read the hottest post.]
[Summary: The boss who spent 5,000 yesterday got exposed as a member of Way of Heaven. Way of Heaven refuses to admit it and is demanding to know whether Endless Time still cares about the guild. If he does, then he should cut ties with The Light Boat Has Passed!]
[Holy crap, Summary Hero, you're amazing.]
[That's an absolutely flawless summary.]
Chi Zhen carefully read the summary. By the time he finished, he had successfully confused himself.
"Huh?"
He didn't entirely trust the Summary Hero, but there were simply too many posts, so he clicked on the most popular one first.
After reading it, he found that, yes, the boss from yesterday really had been exposed as a member of Way of Heaven.
Someone had discovered that the account he registered on the streaming platform with was linked to an email address. On Pineapple Live, phone numbers were hidden by default, but email addresses were displayed on user profiles.
The original poster searched for that email account and found that it had once participated in an official Quest for the Azure Heavens forum event. At the time, each account could claim a gift package. That account had posted a screenshot of a demonic cultivator character, submitted its in-game ID, and received the official reward.
The character ID was: Blood Twining.
Someone had asked him how difficult the Demonic Cultivator class was to play.
He replied that it was only an alt account. His main account—a Ghost Cultivator—was much more exciting.
Then, as it happened, the original poster had a friend in Way of Heaven and discovered that there was indeed a Ghost Cultivator in the guild whose ID was: Blood Twining.
Moreover, this Ghost Cultivator had once been instantly killed by The Light Boat Has Passed and had cursed furiously afterward. He had even declared in guild chat that he would definitely make The Light Boat Has Passed pay for it one day.
The righteous bystanders took that post and confronted Way of Heaven in the world chat. Way of Heaven immediately denied everything, claiming it was a malicious frame-up!
"So the first half of Summary Hero's summary was actually true." After finally finishing all the posts, Chi Zhen reached that conclusion half an hour later.
[I suspect you're padding stream time, but I have no evidence.]
[I really want to roast Xiao Chi, but he says he has reading difficulties. Turns out it's true.]
[Are you going to spend another half hour figuring out the second half of the summary?]
Chi Zhen rapidly clicked through posts on the front page, skimming the opening posts. They all seemed more or less the same—righteous bystanders questioning Way of Heaven, with a handful of Way of Heaven members coming out to argue back.
He wanted to keep reading, but the chat had already started urging him to log into the game.
[Hurry up and log in! Something huge is happening!]
[Report! Endless Time and the Way of Heaven members are fighting in guild chat! Endless Time said to pull everyone back and stop corpse-camping. The guild leader is online but leaving him on read~ Blood Twining said, "If you've got the guts, come save him yourself~" Then Endless Time actually flew over there~]
[Endless Time is now standing guard with his broadsword at the spot where Xiao Chi logged out yesterday~]
[He's so in love!]
Startled, Chi Zhen quickly logged into the game.
The moment he logged in, all he could see was an azure sky.
Right. The Light Boat Has Passed was still lying on the ground.
He moved his mouse around and finally saw the tall figure of a sword cultivator standing before him.
Dressed in black robes, his black Kunwu Blade had been taken off his back and was now gripped firmly in his hand. The blade pointed toward the ground, gleaming with a cold light.
It was a stance— A stance of standing in front of The Light Boat Has Passed and protecting him.
[Friend] Endless Time: Logged in?
[Friend] Endless Time: Wait a bit. Blue Sky Beyond is on his way.
[Friend] Endless Time: When I say "get up," you get up and draw a teleportation array.
[Friend] Endless Time: Blue Sky Beyond and I will hold them off.
Chi Zhen froze.
Then he received a party invitation from Endless Time and accepted it.
There were only three people in the party: himself, Endless Time, and Blue Sky Beyond.
As soon as Chi Zhen logged in, more and more people gathered around the respawn point. Way of Heaven members kept arriving. Looking around now, there were already twenty or thirty of them.
With that many people, how could just Endless Time and Blue Sky Beyond possibly hold them back?
And yet, because it was Endless Time saying it, the words somehow inspired confidence.
[Holy shit! Endless Time is incredible!]
[I'm in love! Who could resist the damned charm of a man like this?!]
[That back view just radiates security! This is the first time I've truly understood how cool blade cultivators are!]
Chi Zhen hesitated. He was genuinely moved.
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: But won't this cause trouble for you? The people in your guild will definitely have opinions. It won't be good for you or Blue Sky Beyond. I'm fine. I can just switch to another account today.
[Friend] Endless Time: It won't cause any trouble.
The instant that message was sent, the guild tag above Endless Time's head suddenly disappeared.
In Quest for the Azure Heavens, a character's ID floated above their head to make identification easier. If a player belonged to a guild, the guild name appeared after their ID.
Endless Time's display had always been: [Endless Time] [Way of Heaven]
Now only: [Endless Time] remained.
Chi Zhen's head buzzed.
[THIS IS INSANE! Endless Time quit the guild!]
[Report! A guild notification just appeared in Way of Heaven's guild chat saying Endless Time left the guild! Blue Sky Beyond left too!]
[Report! Before quitting, Endless Time posted a message in guild chat! "I quit. Not fun anymore." Just those six words!!! Way of Heaven is completely stunned right now!]
[Holy shit, this plot is developing so fast I can't keep up???]
[What's going on? Is Endless Time really this devoted? Is this the legendary "a hero enraged for a beauty" situation?!]
[I need a moment to process this.]
[Friend] Blue Sky Beyond: Brother Chi, what's wrong with the viewers in your stream? I came to help you too, and I quit the guild too, but nobody's mentioning me at all!
[Friend] Blue Sky Beyond: Why does Endless Time get to be the male lead while I don't?!
[Friend] Endless Time: ?
Chi Zhen couldn't process any of it. His brain had already crashed.
At that moment, Blue Sky Beyond arrived.
Thousand Feathers requested to join the party, and Endless Time accepted.
[Friend] Thousand Feathers: Why did all of you quit the guild?
[Friend] Thousand Feathers: I'm here.
Only when Chi Zhen turned his head did he realize that Thousand Feathers was already standing nearby. And Thousand Feathers's guild tag was blank as well.
[Friend] The Light Boat Has Passed: You quit the guild too?!
[Friend] Thousand Feathers: ? Because I want to play with you guys.
The team now had four people—and not a single healer.
[Friend] Endless Time: Get on YY. I’ll command.
[Ah, Xiao Chi, I’ll come help too. I’m nearby~]
[I’ll also call my friends over to help. We’re not from Way of Heaven anyway~]
[Perfect romance, so touching I’m tearing up. I’m bringing my guild over to help~]
Chi Zhen opened YY and said quietly, “A few viewers in my stream said they want to come help me…”
“Alright.” Endless Time replied.
Soon, a lot more people joined the team, and Endless Time converted it into a raid group.
In Quest for the Azure Heavens, a party has a maximum of five people. After converting into a raid group, it can hold up to six parties—thirty people total. During guild wars, they use the guild system, where a guild can hold up to twenty parties—up to a hundred players.
The raid quickly filled to thirty people. Blue Sky Beyond immediately posted the YY link and called everyone over.
[Raid] Blue Sky Beyond: If you have YY, get on YY. When you’re in, type 1.
[Raid] Cake Master: I’ve been sick of Way of Heaven for a long time.
[Raid] Xiaoxiao: Congrats on the god-tier quitting the guild, what a happy occasion!
[Raid] Flooding: Way of Heaven treats world chat like its own front yard, spamming insults and trash talk all day. A guild with that kind of behavior is better off avoided.
[Raid] NPC: Uh… I’m a healing support. I just hope the commander doesn’t mind I’ve never done PvP before (scared)
[Raid] Buried Sword Festival Flower Soul: Just spam heals mindlessly, that’s easy enough.
[Raid] Warm Wind: Suggestion: guild leader should shut up and stop randomly commanding.
[Raid] Feng Cheng: The commander will assign squads. Just take care of your own group.
The righteous bystanders in the raid channel chatted and laughed freely. Endless Time diligently assigned roles and balanced classes, while Blue Sky Beyond flitted around building connections. The atmosphere was lively and chaotic.
Chi Zhen looked up—and saw that Way of Heaven had also formed a surrounding formation on the opposite side.
Cold Sword Shadow and Misty Autumn Rain were both standing clearly among them.
[Nearby] Cold Sword Shadow: Endless Time, we’ve been brothers for so long. You quit the guild without saying a word—no explanation at all. Why?
[Nearby] Endless Time: Because it wasn’t fun anymore.
[Nearby] Cold Sword Shadow: Way of Heaven has the best resources on the server. What do you mean it’s not fun? Is going against the guild like this supposed to be fun?
[Nearby] Endless Time: It is fun.
Even though game characters had no subtle facial expressions, Chi Zhen somehow felt that Cold Sword Shadow had been choked by that answer.
[Nearby] Cold Sword Shadow: What about Blue Sky Beyond and Thousand Feathers? As the guild leader, I’ll give you all a chance to reconsider.
[Nearby] Blue Sky Beyond: I can’t. I owe Endless Time three million.
[Nearby] Thousand Feathers: You owe that much money???
[Nearby] Thousand Feathers: Guild leader, I’m leaving too. Endless Time’s command is very logical, I don’t feel tired following it, and he’s also really good at playing sword cultivator—he can teach me.
[Hahaha]
[Blue Sky Beyond you damn genius!]
[Holy crap Thousand Feathers is the real genius here! Praising a sword cultivator for playing sword cultivator well right in front of Cold Sword Shadow?! That’s peak humiliation—if I were him I’d spit blood!]
[Endless Time is really something… look at the people around him]
[Streamer, you’re blessed]
On YY, Endless Time turned on his mic: “Ready? If you are, press 1. We push first.”
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