Proofreader: TheFan
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“Once upon a time, there lived a King and a Queen, they gave birth to a lovely girl. This girl’s skin was as white as snow, her cheeks were rosy like apples, and she had jet-black hair. She was so beautiful, as beautiful as Leng’Er, and so the King and Queen decided to name her ‘Snow White’.”
Not only was Snow White beautiful, but she was also very obedient and had a good heart. She loved playing with the animals in the forest, such as the fawn, small rabbits, squirrels and birds. The animals all liked Snow White because Snow White brought food for them to eat and told them stories. She lived everyday happily.
“Not long after, Snow White’s mother passed away. Her stepmother was very pretty but wicked. She hated Snow White for being prettier than her and secretly wanted to kill her for it…”
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“…the witch was finally subjected to God’s punishment, and died. Snow White promised to marry the prince, and they held a grand wedding. From then on Snow White and the prince lived happily ever after.”
After telling yet another story, Ling Chen opened his eyes to see the young girl nearby. Leng’Er was lying on a small bed of soft toys made by Ling Chen. She rolled around occasionally, but was otherwise so peaceful and so comfortable that she didn’t want to come back down. On this bed of dolls, she was almost like a doll herself – and a beautiful and cute one too.
“This is Snow White’s story, does Leng’Er like it?” Ling Chen asked with a smile.
“I like… master, I want to hear more stories,” Leng’Er turned around to lie on her stomach, looking at Ling Chen with her dark eyes.
“You still want to listen…” Ling Chen was beginning to think that telling her children’s stories was not the right thing to do. Telling stories like this was not something he did particularly well. He thought, and closed his eyes, saying, “Well, I’ll just tell Leng’Er the Snow White story again.”
“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, lovely girl. Her name was Snow White…”
“…Uncle Hunter could not bear to kill Snow White, and so he released her, letting her escape. Snow White kept running into the forest and then she ran into a boy. This boy’s name was Pinocchio and he had a really strange nose. Whenever he told a lie, his nose would grow longer, and when he told the truth, his nose would grow shorter…”
“…Snow White fell in love with Pinocchio’s nose’s ability to grow longer and shorter, and from that day lived happily ever after… The end.”
This time, Leng’Er’s face was vacant.
“Master, why would Snow White… like… a nose that could grow longer and shorter?” her head was cocked, as she thought about this question.
“This question…” Ling Chen smirked, “Leng’Er will understand when she is a little older. So Leng’Er should be obedient, so this way you will grow up faster.”
Leng’Er still didn’t understand. Moreover, what does being obedient and growing up have to do with each other?
After looking for a while, Ling Chen let out a yawn and stood up from the grass, stretching his waist. Looking one last time, he closed in on Leng’Er, and said with a smile, “Leng’Er, I think we’ll stop now for today. Seeing as you were so good today, these dolls are all yours. If you like to listen to stories, I will come back tomorrow to tell you more. For now, I will take you to a place with many people, it’ll be fun.”
Seeing Leng’Er’s attitude towards to him, Ling Chen couldn’t help but smile as he got back up.
Attitude towards the Master: 2 (Normal)
Finally… it was finally a positive value!! A positive value meant Leng’Er would no longer reject him and wouldn’t try to run away. So, he finally felt at peace.
Who knew, when he had a child with Shui Ruo, he would probably coax them like this.
Right now, we should go to the plains district. Looking at the direction of the plains district, Ling Chen’s warm smile slowly became cold.
Second District of the Plains Region
When Ling Chen arrived, it was in the final moments before the determined time. He directed the Cloud Stepping Mare to quickly rush ahead, and was greatly shocked by the crowd that was far ahead.
Many people were expected… but surely this was too many!!
But even facing the terrifying number of people present, Ling Chen still did not reduce his speed and continued to rush ahead.
“Ah! Ling Tian… Ling Tian is here!!”
“That’s correct! It really is Ling Tian! He’s finally here, I thought he wouldn’t dare to come.”
“Make way, quickly make way!”
In front of Ling Chen, the dense crowd quickly moved aside to make a passage for him. Ling Chen was very fast but the crowd split apart just as quickly. Ling Chen was then able to move through the crowd without obstruction such that from above, he resembled a sharp knife cutting through the crowd.
Not long after, Ling Chen managed to rush through to the centre of the district. There, the people of the Yan Huang Alliance were waiting for him. As he neared, he used one hand to press onto the horse and launched himself up high from the horse, gliding the next 10m… With him descending so quickly, many people were expecting him to meet his unfortunate end but as Ling Chen reached the ground, he landed solidly on his two feet, completely still. He didn’t even wobble let alone fall, not swaying once.
Although not intentional, Ling Chen’s entrance was way more impressive than the Yan Huang Alliance’s traditional entrance. When he arrived there were quite a few people staring at him, yet he merely took a quick look at his surroundings before facing Long Tian Yun, declaring, “Phew, I ended up not being late.”
“With not even a second to spare… you really did make it on time,” said Long Tian Yun cynically. He stared for a time then raised one hand, “Ling Tian, since the time has already come, so lets begin. Are you ready?”
Long Tian Yun was vigorous and resolute as always. Never one to waste time on idle talk, he immediately started the fight the moment he arrived. This also meant that he had absolute confidence in the Sword Emperor. Ling Chen gently laughed and said, “This line should be mine, Alliance Master Long. Have you prepared the Guild Creation Token? I believe with his prestige, and with so many of his friends present to witness, Alliance Master Long would not fail to bring this item.”
Puffsshhttt… many of players at the scene spat.
“Hahahaha!” Long Tian Yun bellowed. Laughing and clapping his hands, his eyes were slits and his whole face was filled with a happy expression, “Ling Tian, I feel like I’m beginning to like you. For your energy and courage, even I, Long Tian Yun can’t help but admire it. Concerning the Guild Creation Token, you can have faith. Whatever I say, goes. I will never say something I don’t mean. What about you, did you bring Soaring Cloud and Zephyr Blade.”
“The Equipment Ranking has my name written on it, what do you think?” Ling Chen replied.
“Very good, then, lets begin, I believe your time is extremely precious. Xie Yu.”
Shouting towards the Sword Emperor, Long Tian Yun and the others retreated into the crowd. The silent Sword Emperor finally started moving, taking 2 steps forward, standing probably less than 10 steps away from Ling Chen. He didn’t seem to do anything, his body covered in silver with a tall and slender single-handed sword in his right hand.
That’s right, a single-handed sword. The Sword Emperor only used a single-handed sword.
A single-handed sword was held with one hand, usually accompanied with a shield so that one hand held the sword and one hand held the shield. But a single-handed sword of the same grade and level was hugely different to a double-handed sword. If one hand is not needed, then it tended to be that one would choose a double-handed sword… but the Sword Emperor was the exception. His left hand was empty, yet no one had ever seen him use a double-handed sword, only the single-handed sword.
It seemed that the sword that the Sword Emperor was holding was a Silver grade sword. At the present stage, silver weapons were rare, but compared to the Celestial Weapons that Ling Chen had, there was obviously a big difference.
“Since it is a contest, it needs to be fair. Relax, I will not take advantage of you because of your equipment,” Ling Chen opened his mouth and what he said made the people’s chins almost hit the ground.
There was a dim ray of light, and something that appeared to look like a lance appeared in Ling Chen’s hand. It was a one-handed sword! But that sword, as people would have seen before, was a cheap sword from the store. It was a sword that might not have even been picked up, a level 15 common sword!
“The equipment on me is significantly stronger than yours, so my weapon should be weaker compared to yours. This way, neither will have an advantage. Let’s begin.” Ling Chen lifted his right hand and pointed his sword at the Sword Emperor.
The large crowd exploded with excitement.
“Is this Ling Tian guy crazy! If he uses his Celestial Equipment he might stand a chance, but now he is using a common equipment!”
“He’s suicidal! He doesn’t know his own strength!”
“Who does he think he is?! He is facing the Sword Emperor! You should be packing everything you can to face the Sword Emperor!”
“Hahahahah, that’s too funny! He’s definitely never seen the strength of the Sword Emperor. Use whatever you want! The result will be the same.”
“Huh, it must be that Ling Tian knows he can’t win, so he is using a common sword to keep his reputation.”
“3 seconds!! 3 seconds at most, no longer than that!”
The crowd was filled with laughing, taunting, various snorts and comments of contempt. Ling Chen’s overestimation of his own ability was simply ridiculous.
“Huff, extremely arrogant!” Xiao Qiu Feng, who was filled with anticipation, said as he wrinkled her brow. Against anyone else it would be just, but this is the Sword Emperor!
The calmest was none other than Yun Feng. He completely understood why Ling Tian did this. The Sword Emperor could not beat Eve, but Ling Tian was on the same level of Eve in terms of strength, and so he was willing to take a cheap weapon in fighting the Sword Emperor. After hearing the words of Xiao Qiu Feng, he laughed and leisurely said, “This is a strong sense of self respect, and also a lot of pride. But, if he says something like that, when he beats the Sword Emperor, no one can say that the reason he won was because of his equipment, don’t you think so?”
Xiao Qiu Feng nodded without speaking.
The crowd quarreled on for a long time, until Long Tian Yun called out, with a smile on his face, “Ling Tian, you need not do so. Equips are the measure of strength, you can still use your strongest equipment.”
“Hey, Young Master, you don’t need to waste time with this nonsense,” Cang Yan said, without waiting for Ling Chen’s reply, as he walked out from the crowd, carrying a look of contempt and sneering at him, “Ling Tian, you are the first to dare to act so wildly before the Yan Huang Alliance. Before you and the Sword Emperor fight, I have a few words to say,” he looked at Ling Chen from head to toe and narrowed his eyes. “The Sword Emperor, who is my superior in the Yan Huang Alliance, cannot be challenged by anyone. And you, who have no qualifications whatsoever, wish to challenge the Sword Emperor? Sure, but first defeat me if you can. If you cannot even defeat me, then go away, for you are not qualified to challenge the Sword Emperor of the Yan Huang Alliance.”
“Well said!”
“Fight the Flame Emperor first!”
“Huh, who is the Flame Emperor? If he is chosen, it would be a great honour.”
To the players, the more chaos the better. After Cang Yan spoke, the crowd once again began to make a racket. Of course, many of these were the people of the Yan Huang Alliance adding fuel to the fire.
Long Tian Yun’s expression did not change, nor did he make a sound.
The voice by Long Tian Yun’s side made Cang Yan smile even harder, he sneered and said, “Ling Tian, come, change to your strongest equipment and try me. I will let you attack first, but if you do not have to courage to do this, best you leave the two Celestial equipment behind and be gone. Save yourself the embarrassment.”
Cang Yan was prone to bearing grudges. Ling Chen still kept what he said yesterday in his heart. He was looking for an opportunity to mercilessly humiliate and teach Cang Yan a lesson, and in his eyes, this was good opportunity.
Ling Chen looked at him. Looking at this contempt was like looking at an idiot. Suddenly…
Swish!!
Bang!!
The people could only see the silhouette passing by, at almost the same time, there was a loud collision, that rang out in everyone’s ears.
“Ahhhh!!!”
12,108!
After the sounds and the shout, a purple damage value appeared. It floated above a human figure.
Cang Yan!
The scream was Cang Yan being smacked away like a ball – high and far away he flew. He flew above the empty space in the centre of the district, then towards the surrounding crowd, hitting some players above the head.
Normally when someone was making an action, there would be a warning motion, allowing the opponent to know what was coming, but no one clearly saw Ling Chen’s movements. When they heard the sound of the collision and Cang Yan’s voice, all they could see was Cang Yan flying into the distance, the scarily high damage value, the neon green sword that was held in his hands and the other weapon which was the shape of a giant stone column. No one knew even when Ling Chen managed to pull it out before Cang Yan. Afterward, it was Ling Chen’s voice that rang out.
“If you don’t want to permanently disappear from the rankings, be careful of what comes out of your mouth.”