After the Wind Soul, the Thunder Soul and the Earth Soul fell one after another beneath Ye Tianxie’s Hour of Fate. His gaze shifted, and his blood-hazed body cut a crimson afterimage through the darkness as it charged the Bow Soul. The Bow Soul’s Cloud-Splitting Arrow and Flying Swallow Shot both shrieked past, grazing his body, not one of them landing squarely; in moments Ye Tianxie had closed on him, and a Dragon Rend Slash sent him flying — one-shot.
Since that blood-colored light had blazed up, in the space of a blink the light in this place had dimmed considerably — because the Heaven Soul corps members who had been giving off silver light since their revival were going down one after another, at a speed no ordinary person could have accepted. Of the thirteen who had risen… only the last two remained!
A stimulation of the spirit came from within, and a sense of rage about to erupt rose in his mind. Ye Tianxie, who had been caught by the Immovable Soul’s Spirit Taunt once already, was instantly alert; he gathered his spirit to its peak, slowly drove the rage back out, and went out to meet the Immovable Soul who had been chasing along at his heels with his shield up the whole time.
As the two closed, the Immovable Soul raised his shield and then slammed it at Ye Tianxie’s body. Ye Tianxie leapt mid-charge, rising more than a meter into the air with his legs spread apart, letting the Berserk Shield Bash strike empty air; both hands gripping the Hour of Fate, he brought Dragon Rend Slash down with a low roar.
BOOM!!
Striking downward from above with the force of splitting bamboo, the impact carried in that blow exceeded even the Immovable Soul’s Berserk Shield Bash, and the Immovable Soul’s body was smashed into a tumbling flight. Ye Tianxie landed, strode after him, and brought Dragon Rend Slash down without mercy.
-8371, -8422, -8319!
The high-health, high-defense Immovable Soul, after withstanding four attacks from Ye Tianxie, had his health emptied like the eleven companions before him and fell to the ground once more.
The surroundings went deathly silent; apart from Ye Tianxie’s own breathing not another sound could be heard, exactly as when he had first stepped inside. The union of Ye Tianxie’s talent abilities and the Hour of Fate had once again produced a battle that in ordinary players’ eyes came close to myth. Neither could have been missing… because without Ye Tianxie’s terrifying talent stats, triggering the Blood Sacrifice of Fate would have been suicide. And without the Blood Sacrifice of Fate, Ye Tianxie could still have won, but at a cost of perhaps tens or even a hundred times as much time.
Twelve had fallen beneath his Hour of Fate a second time, but it still wasn’t over. Because there was one more… the Mercenary King who had brought all twelve back at once!
Ever since every member of the Heaven Soul corps had revived under the Glory of the Mercenary King, he had stood there in one unchanging posture without moving, never launching a single attack on Ye Tianxie. Yet Ye Tianxie had felt those eyes watching him the whole time, the gaze moving as his body moved.
The light like fresh blood still wrapped Ye Tianxie’s body, making him look as terrifying as a vengeful ghost crawled out of a pool of blood. This last enemy did not make him relax his guard; he gathered his spirit, leveled the Hour of Fate, and walked slowly toward him, one step at a time. The sound of his feet on the ground was heavy and harsh.
And just then the Mercenary King before him, who ought to have been a dead man, suddenly spoke:
“Well done, brave young man.”
Ye Tianxie’s steps stopped abruptly, his eyes fixed on the Mercenary King’s ashen face. The voice had come from him… but as it sounded, Ye Tianxie saw clearly that the Mercenary King’s lips had not moved at all.
“It’s an honor to speak with you, valiant Mercenary King. I think that as I stand now, I should have earned the right to receive your relic.” Ye Tianxie said it without alarm or fuss, neither humble nor overbearing, entirely level — keeping a certain respect for a hero while holding onto the pride that belonged to a victor.
The Mercenary King was unmoved by his words and went on speaking as though to himself. “A hundred years ago, I died… My last thought held fast to the final pride of my Heaven Soul mercenary corps. Only a strong one such as you is qualified to carry the dignity and the glory of my Heaven Soul corps… Will you accept the soul-inheritance of my Heaven Soul corps, continue the legend of my Heaven Soul corps, and help me in death to destroy the Rakshasa Ghost King who once trampled my Heaven Soul…”
The Mercenary King’s voice was slow and low, every word like iron. The true Mercenary King had died long ago, but a hero’s pride would not let him accept the Heaven Soul corps simply perishing, and so before dying he had sealed his last consciousness deep within his body, guarding the corps’ final soul and waiting for someone who could carry the Heaven Soul corps onward.
“Ding… The deceased leader of the Heaven Soul mercenary corps, Ren Zhanqing, requests that you rebuild the Heaven Soul mercenary corps and destroy the Rakshasa Ghost King who annihilated it. On accepting this quest, you must within one month use the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory, bestowed by the Mercenary King, to found a new Heaven Soul mercenary corps, and within three years destroy the Rakshasa Ghost King. Should you fail to found the Heaven Soul corps within one month, or fail to defeat the Rakshasa Ghost King within three years, the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory will vanish automatically. Accept?”
“Yes!”
After a brief silence, a single word came out of Ye Tianxie’s mouth.
“Ding… You have accepted the quest ‘Glory of the Heaven Soul Mercenary Corps.’ Quest attribute: Unique. Quest content: within one month you must use the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory bestowed by the corps to found a new Heaven Soul mercenary corps, and within three years destroy the Rakshasa Ghost King. Quest reward: the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory. Quest penalty: should you fail to found the Heaven Soul corps within one month, or fail to defeat the Rakshasa Ghost King within three years, the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory will vanish automatically.”
“Thank you, brave and powerful young man…”
That was the Mercenary King’s last utterance. As it faded, the round golden badge hanging at his chest drifted free of him and floated slowly toward Ye Tianxie. Ye Tianxie reached out and closed his hand on the golden badge…
Badges: supremely precious equipment, of which any number could be worn at once. After the Hero’s Badge, won through a hair’s-breadth escape from death in the novice village, another badge had appeared before him.
As his hand touched the golden badge, a loud System prompt rang out across the entire World of Fate…
“Ding… Worldwide Announcement! Attention, players of the world. Huaxia battle region player ‘Xietian’ has successfully completed the regional Mercenary System quest ‘Relic of the Mercenary King.’ The Huaxia battle region’s Mercenary System is now open; Huaxia players may apply at any major city’s Mercenary Guild to found a mercenary corps. The Huaxia battle region has the honor of being the first battle region in the world to open the Mercenary System; Battle Region Honor Value +100. Huaxia battle region player Xietian has the honor of being the first player to complete the Mercenary System quest; Renown +100×10, additional reward obtained: the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory.”
“Ding… Worldwide Announcement! Attention, players of the world. Huaxia battle region player ‘Xietian’ has successfully completed the regional Mercenary System quest ‘Relic of the Mercenary King.’ The Huaxia battle region’s Mercenary System is now open; Huaxia players may apply at any major city’s Mercenary Guild to found a mercenary corps. The Huaxia battle region has the honor of being the first battle region in the world to open the Mercenary System; Battle Region Honor Value +100. Huaxia battle region player Xietian has the honor of being the first player to complete the Mercenary System quest; Renown +100×10, additional reward obtained: the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory.”
“Ding… Worldwide Announcement! Attention, players of the world. Huaxia battle region player ‘Xietian’ has successfully completed the regional Mercenary System quest ‘Relic of the Mercenary King.’ The Huaxia battle region’s Mercenary System is now open; Huaxia players may apply at any major city’s Mercenary Guild to found a mercenary corps. The Huaxia battle region has the honor of being the first battle region in the world to open the Mercenary System; Battle Region Honor Value +100. Huaxia battle region player Xietian has the honor of being the first player to complete the Mercenary System quest; Renown +100×10, additional reward obtained: the Mercenary King’s Badge of Glory.”
“Ding… Worldwide Announcement…”
“Ding… Worldwide Announcement…”
The prompt that rang across the whole World of Fate, across every national battle region there was, sounded a full five times. Players everywhere were stunned first, then erupted into an uproar like water boiling over.
At that moment, since the prompt announcing the opening of the World of Fate‘s three great early-stage System Quests… only… half an hour had passed!!
Half an hour — only half an hour, and already a player had completed the System Quest!
Wait… the person the prompt named as having completed it…
Xietian…
And only Xietian… only one player!!
One man had completed this hugely challenging System Quest by himself!
A System Quest was a quest entrusted to every player of a battle region, and it could only be completed once. The scale of such a quest’s difficulty could be imagined. And in half an hour that man called Xietian from the Huaxia region had passed it alone, single-handed… How was that possible?!
Could the Huaxia region’s System Quest have been too easy? No… impossible! The System prompt had emphasized earlier that the System Quests of every battle region were balanced to what could fairly be called perfection.
And the ones least able to believe their ears were the players from the various battle regions who had been the first to enter the trial maps and had come back defeated in short order. Having tasted it themselves, they knew exactly how terrifying that quest was at the players’ current average level… no, it was a quest that simply could not be completed. Even with everyone raised to level 20 there would scarcely be hope of finishing it.
They could not have imagined that any country had completed it this quickly — and moreover… that one man had done it.
Xietian: a name everyone in the Huaxia battle region knew, and one most players in other national regions had heard as well. Because he was first on the Huaxia region’s Level Ranking, the man who had passed the Abyss trial alone in the novice stage like something out of myth.
And this time, when the prompt announcing the Huaxia region’s completion of the Mercenary System quest rang across the World of Fate, players throughout Huaxia were shocked, and then boiled over… and players across the world, in disbelief, committed the name to memory!
After today, there would be no one in the world who did not know the name Xietian.
(End of Chapter 177)