VRMMO: The Unrivaled

He Yi looked directly at me, her mouth wide, but unable to say a word.

I looked at her and said calmly. "I heard you were lost. Murong Mingyue told me to find you.”

"Oh...”

He Yi lowered her head, her gaze flashing. She did not look at me.

Maybe because I had not reached the stage of Asura, my voice was still so low and hoarse. It was very different from reality, so she did not recognize it.

I slowly turned around and had the Dark Wasp open the way. Looking back, I said, "Come with me. The monsters in Silver Moon Forest are high-level. Your level is so low… just don’t die.”

"Yes.”

He Yi nodded and said, "I have something I want to ask you.”

"Yes, what is it?"

"How did you meet Murong? Why… are you so familiar with each other? Also, why do I feel you are avoiding me and never accept my friend requests?"

He Yi's words struck my heart like lightning bolts. I did not know how to respond, and almost turned to stone. I couldn't stammer out a word.

"Hmph...”

He Yi smiled and said, "I am not stupid. Mingyue is not strong enough to get a Hero's Token. Why are you helping her?"

"I...” I still could not give an answer. Under He Yi's beautiful eyes, all my defenses have been thoroughly broken.

"Hm, let me guess...” He Yi looked at me and said with a smile. "Mingyue's relatives are all in America, you cannot be her kin. Then there is only one reason left, you—are courting Mingyue?"

"?"

My mouth gaped. I hurriedly said, "You... Don’t misunderstand. There is no such thing!"

He Yi giggled. "See, you panicked! How could you be so good to her otherwise? Tell me, what do you like about her?"

"I really have no intentions toward her...” I continued to explain.

He Yi raised her delicate brows in disbelief.

"Fine, don't believe me.” I spread my hands and continued to walk forward.

He Yi followed me closely. When we were close to the Chaos Ice Cave, I finally couldn't resist asking, "Okay now. Your level isn’t high enough and you cannot enter the Chaos Ice Cave. Why did you even come...”

"?"

He Yi's eyes were wide as she looked in shock at me. A few seconds later, she said helplessly, "This map has a level limit?"

"Yes, you must kill a Level 70 elite monster to enter. Can you do so?"

"No...”

……

The two of us were stuck outside the map. He Yi hugged her sword and leaned against the cold granite, her beautiful eyes moving around my body. This made me have a feeling that I could not hide any secrets from her sight, and she saw everything.

I felt slightly uncomfortable and said, "Then wait for Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue. I’m returning to the city. If you need me, find me!"

He Yi looked at me with wide eyes. She didn't say anything and nodded minutely.

I hurriedly took out and crushed a return scroll as though I had been pardoned. I feared that if I stayed for even a few minutes, all my secrets would have been exposed.

Whoosh!

When I returned to Floating Ice City, it was filled with people.

Coincidentally, Yamete sent over a message: "Lu Chen, quick, come to the Holy Temple, I have something good to show you!"

"Oh, on my way!"

I sprinted over with my sword and found Yamete, Du Thirteen, and Beiming Xue. All three had excited expressions.

"What is it?"

"Look at this!"

Mamate came over with a fiery-red leather armor flashing with light in his hand.

I took it and noticed Mamate’s unique mark. The armor’s stats were unusually good—

Greedy Wolf Armor (Steel-grade)

Defense: 40

Agility: +18

Stamina: +7

Passive: Increases the user's Agility by 2% and critical rate by 1.2%

Level Requirement: 50

Creator: Yamete

……

I laughed. "Mamate is mighty to craft a leather armor with such high stats. Tsk, tsk, a leather armor like this can be sold for at least 100 gold, right?"

Yamete nodded. "Yes! Lu Chen, do you know what these Greedy Wolf Armor are made out of?"

"Pelts?"

"Yes, they were made from the pelts you had given me. They’re amazing. I made so many leather armors. Although not all of them came out as good as this, there are entire batches of them!"

Yamete was very excited and produced more than a dozen pieces of leather armor with a wave of his hand. They were all Greedy Wolf Armors, but all had different stats. The Defense ranged between 35~42 points and added between 15~20 points of Agility while the Stamina bonus was around 7 points. The best one had 42 Defense and 19 Agility. From its stats alone, it could rival Silver-grade equipment!

"Lu Chen, you decide. What should we do with this batch?" Yamete laughed and said, "Do we sell it or use it ourselves? Lil Beiming doesn't need them, her chest armor is better.”

I thought for a moment and said, "Sell, and raise funds for the workshop. Right now is a good chance to make money. We have to plan for the future. Otherwise, we won't even have bread to eat in the future!"

"Alright!"

Du Thirteen was excited and immediately wanted to leave, but Beiming Xue pulled him back by the collar in front of me.

"What is it, Beiming?" I asked.

Beiming Xue said, "There is a new notice on the forums posted just moments ago. Did you see it?"

"What notice?" We all asked in unison.

Beiming Xue smiled. "The major cities are going to hold a regional tournament, team fights. Five people. With nine tier 2 cities, there will be nine champions. The rewards are bountiful. I even heard that one of the rewards is a certain Hero’s Token!"

My eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes!"

I hurriedly opened the forums. As expected, on the front page of Heavenblessed's official website, there was a banner with the words "Who Will Fight Me" written in golden characters, and with the diagram of a sword. Following that was a string of words, "All servers of Heavenblessed, in total 129 cities have launched an event at the same time—[Who Will Fight Me]!

This was a tournament for teams of five. Single-elimination format. Teams that win the championship will receive generous rewards.

I was not concerned with anything else, but if the championship reward was a Hero's Token like Beiming Xue said, this was what the Bloody Mercenaries needed the most. Once we had a Hero's Token, we could create our guild, and our Bloody Mercenaries would formally have our own faction and people!

I opened the thread, and my eyes lit up. As expected—

[Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching 1/8 finals: Level +1, Reputation +1000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Dark Steel–grade equipment!

[Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching quarterfinals: Level +2, Reputation +2000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Silver-grade equipment!

[Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching semifinals: Level +2, Reputation +2500, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Gold-grade equipment!

[Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for 2nd place: Level +3, Reputation +3000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Gold-grade equipment!

[Who Will Fight Me] Championship team reward: Player Level +3, Reputation +5000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Dark Gold–grade equipment!

……

Damn! The rewards were so great. Compared to this, a third-promotion reward was nothing!

Immediately, I confirmed my goal. This time, I had to get first in the Floating Ice City region for the “Who Will Fight Me” tournament. If we got first place, all of us would rise three levels and get a good piece of equipment. If we were lucky, we could even get a legendary Dark Gold–grade item!

What was a Dark Gold–grade equipment you say? At the current stage it was akin to Divine Armaments!

Just me having a Gold-grade weapon was enough for people like Purple Marquis to lose all their courage. If I had a Dark Gold–grade item, wouldn't I become invincible?

"Finished reading?" Beiming Xue asked with a smile.

"Yes.” I nodded.

"Any thoughts?" Beiming Xue asked.

I clenched my fists and said with a small smile, "The championship of Floating Ice City is ours!"

Beiming Xue's smile grew sweeter. "Yes, boss is so domineering. Floating Ice City’s championship spot is ours!"

Yamete said, "Gui Guzi is leveling up. We should push hard. Levels will be of major importance in such competition. Also, Lu Chen, have you thought of our line-up?"

I smiled slightly. "There are only five people in the workshop. Do I have any choice?"

"Haha...”

Therefore, it was officially confirmed that the five people of the Bloody Mercenaries workshop would attend the Who Will Fight Me competition. Undoubtedly, there would be thousands of teams in Floating Ice City fighting to attend this contest. It was much harder to get any results than we imagined.

The China server was always a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There were numerous experts hiding in the deep woods, and hiding their skills and names. But once a tournament like Who Will Fight Me appeared, these experts hiding in the darkness would float to the surface. Floating Ice City was also the server for the Delta region. It had produced Heavenly Kings like Vegetable Tofu Soup and Frivolous Scholar. The place was not lacking experts. This first tournament since the start of Heavenblessed would be full of turmoil and fights between tigers and dragons!

I smiled. The chance to create a legend had arrived!

……

The forums had exploded. Who Will Fight Me had created enormous waves like a bomb. In the last month, everyone had been busy leveling up. It was like concealing a sword for ten years, and finally having a chance to display it. This tournament came at the perfect time, not a day too early or late!

On one of the top posts on the forums was Dominating Heaven Blade. He was extremely aggressive and the contents of his post were like so—

"I, Dominating Heaven Blade, represent Gods of Destruction in our promise to all the fans that our core members will form a five-person team and claim the throne of the Floating Ice City. Gods of Destruction will become the champions of Who Will Fight Me at any price. No one can stop us!"

His words were full of a monarch's demeanor.