“You did it. Something that shouldn’t have been possible happened, right here in your hands. That tells you something — you’re one of heaven’s own favorites, and you’ve got a fate and a future ahead of you that people are going to envy. Even if things aren’t going well for you right now, even if you feel like you’re stuck in some helpless kind of despair — someday, everything you’ve lost, everything you want, everything you’ve been longing for, is going to come back to you, many times over. Trust me.”
The successfully identified Violet Reaper Sword returned to Ye Tianxie’s hand, and the 300-gold identification fee transferred itself automatically to Shattered Star-Heart. Immortal Spirit-grade artifacts were extraordinarily rare, and the fee for identifying one was steep to match — even for a mere Level 15 Immortal Spirit-grade piece, a player-identifier’s fee ran a full 300 gold. But set against the artifact’s true worth, that fee was nothing outrageous at all.
“Thank you… thank you…” Shattered Star-Heart pressed a hand to her lips, murmuring softly through quiet tears. She understood, all at once, that he’d seen straight through to who she really was, and had been quietly helping her in his own way this whole time… saving her… In this moment, she suddenly didn’t feel alone anymore. Even the fear that had wrapped itself around her heart for so long seemed to be fading, little by little, dissolving away…
Hope… never give up hope… everything was going to be all right.
As long as you had heart, a miracle wasn’t so far away — you just had to try, just had to hold onto hope, and her little sister would get better, and someday there’d be a beautiful house, the most delicious food, a beautiful home, a happiness with nothing left to worry over, everything she’d ever longed for…
Ye Tianxie gave a satisfied smile and turned to walk quietly away. Two steps out, he stopped, and said, “Beauty isn’t a sin. But more often than not, it brings all kinds of trouble down on a person. If that day ever comes, feel free to call on me.”
With that, he walked on at an unhurried pace, leaving the commercial district behind and heading for home, pulling up the properties of the now-identified Violet Reaper Sword as he went.
Violet Reaper Sword: Immortal Spirit-grade artifact. Requirement: Level 15 Warrior-class, Strength 75+. An Immortal Spirit sword holding surging bolts of lightning power within it. Stats: Attack +120, Strength +18, Accuracy +10, Attack Speed +35, Luck +2, attacks carry an additional 30–50 Lightning-attribute damage, 3% chance on attack to inflict 2–3 seconds of Paralysis.
Bonus Skill: Flash of Lightning — Gathers lightning power into the blade and, in an instant, unleashes a bolt of lightning to strike the enemy directly ahead. Single-target melee attack, dealing 180% of a normal attack plus 300 Lightning damage, with a 20% chance to inflict 2–4 seconds of Paralysis. Costs 45 MP. Cooldown 30 seconds.
Ye Tianxie let out a low sound of admiration. No wonder it was Immortal Spirit-grade — only Level 15, and it already carried a full seven stat lines plus a powerful skill of its own. That “Flash of Lightning” skill had obviously come straight from the little Immortal Beast that dropped the sword, just with a slightly different effect this time around. The raw strength of the stats was even more impressive — on top of packing rare fixed attributes, its attack power alone was already closing in on what a Level 25 Gold-grade weapon could offer.
…
…
Back at Guoguo’s Cottage, Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui sat at a corner of the table, leisurely sipping tea — tea they’d dug out of a cabinet somewhere in the hall. For all their refined tastes, even they had to admit the tea hidden away in here was intoxicatingly pure.
“Hey! Tianxie, where are you?” Su Feifei held her communicator to her ear — this had to be the third or fourth time she’d asked already.
A chime sounded, the door swung open, and Ye Tianxie stepped inside. Spotting Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui already there, he asked, a little surprised, “Back already?”
“Who else but me, clearing a path with this tiger build of mine? With Fourth Brother’s frame, he’d probably still be waiting in line by tomorrow.” Zuo Pojun pulled out a strange, gleaming card and waved it around proudly — the funds card every player now had, letting them freely and instantly exchange between real-world currency and in-game gold. Speed was only half of it; the security behind the thing was airtight.
“Big Sister’s card should come through fast too — she’s got her own special channels. Second Brother, you have no idea what it’s like out on the square right now. Packed so tight a person could get crushed to death.” Zuo Pojun shook his head, going on about it.
“Feifei, has your dad ever thought about extending his business into the World of Fate?” Ye Tianxie asked, taking a seat at the table.
Su Feifei ran a hand through her hair absently and gave a small shake of her head. “Actually, my dad’s very, very bullish on the commercial future of the World of Fate. He’s just mentioned before that the older he gets, the less he wants to chase after wealth and status and fighting his way up anymore — what he wants more than anything now is peace and stability. So even though he knows there’s huge room and potential here, I don’t think he’d bother pouring effort into it again.”
“Oh! What a shame. Uncle Su really is a man worth admiring. He’s one of the two people who can earn even Big Sister’s admiration.” Murong Qiushui cut in.
The two people Big Sister admired most? Ye Tianxie’s interest was piqued. “Besides Su Luo, who’s the other person who’s earned Big Sister’s admiration?”
“Hee hee hee hee…” Murong Qiushui covered his mouth, giggling in a way that made the scalps of everyone else at the table crawl. “Second Brother, you really do keep close tabs on everything to do with Big Sister, don’t you? As for the other person Big Sister admires… Second Brother, do you know Tianhua Group?”
Ye Tianxie shook his head, and Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui both immediately made the exact same speechless face. Frankly, there were vanishingly few people left in all of Huaxia who didn’t know that name these days. It was a bit like people a few hundred years ago not knowing Tencent.
“Tianhua Group — I know it. Founded by a man named Zhao Tianhua. He started with a tiny little decor shop and grew it explosively over just a dozen-plus years, and now it touches nearly every industry, with assets pushing close to a hundred billion. My dad talks about him more than anyone else — always going on about how Zhao Tianhua’s vision, his mind, his methods, leave him in awe.” Su Feifei said.
Murong Qiushui toyed idly with his fingers, his voice going soft and delicate. “But in the end, he could never quite measure up to your father… and the key reason isn’t that he’s not as capable, or that he’s younger, with less time behind him. It’s because…”
“My dad’s said that too, actually — because of a woman,” Su Feifei said, pursing her lips. “Zhao Tianhua’s a deeply devoted man. He gave up so much time and so many opportunities for one woman — otherwise Tianhua Group would be even bigger than it is now.”
“Ah, now that’s exactly right. All because of a woman… sigh, a beautiful face really is the most terrifying thing in this world… Actually, just a moment ago, I got a rather amusing bit of news. Yesterday, Zhao Tianhua transferred a full 59% of his shares over to the woman he was so infatuated with. And that woman… tsk tsk, by this morning she’d already handed every last share over to the Yun family. Sounds like quite the long-planned little scheme, doesn’t it? Oh! However did the world end up with a creature like a woman in it.” Murong Qiushui let out a long, theatrical sigh.
“Ah?!” Su Feifei let out a startled cry.
“What? There’s actually a woman like that?” Zuo Pojun’s eyes went wide. A man who’d poured every last drop of blood, sweat, and effort into building an empire, only to have it sold out so mercilessly… did that woman have a shred of humanity left in her? Zhao Tianhua was sharp as a blade — how could he possibly have fallen for someone like that?
“Where’d you hear that?” Ye Tianxie thought it over for a moment, then asked, offhand.
“From Big Sister, of course. Given what Big Sister’s capable of, I genuinely wonder if there’s anything in this world she doesn’t know.” Then Murong Qiushui’s expression sobered, and he said, half-seriously: “Knowing Big Sister the way I do, if she doesn’t make a move on an opening like this, she wouldn’t be the Liu Qiyue everyone loves and fears in the same breath — half devil, half angel.”
Zuo Pojun curled his lip. “Fourth Brother, calling me by my name is one thing, but you’ve got the nerve to say Big Sister’s name straight out too?… If she ever finds out, the consequences won’t be pretty. Even Second Brother doesn’t dare do that.”
Just then, Ye Tianxie’s communicator rang. The instant he picked up, a soft, unmistakably trembling, panicked voice came through: “Xietian… Big Brother, save me…”
Ye Tianxie snapped the communicator shut and rose to his feet, his face gone dark.
“What’s wrong?” Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui both stood up at once, watching Ye Tianxie’s darkening expression with alarm.
“It’s nothing. Someone’s just asking to die, that’s all. I’m going to go take a look.” With that, Ye Tianxie strode quickly toward the door.
“Ah… wait, Second Brother, we’re coming too…”
Su Feifei hesitated for a moment, then hurried after him as well — she’d heard clearly enough that the voice on the communicator had belonged to a girl.
…
…
City of Stars commercial district, in front of the identification shop, not long after Ye Tianxie had left.
Shattered Star-Heart had stood rooted in place for a long while, still unable to settle the storm inside her. Today, identifying gear for Ye Tianxie had earned her 635 gold — almost double what she’d made yesterday. She needed the money badly; it was no small fortune to her. But even that much money couldn’t come close to the sheer force of what he’d stirred inside her.
He’d given her money. But he’d also given her warmth, and hope.
She wiped away her tears and let herself smile… She was one of heaven’s favorites, she told herself. Miracles were real. Everything was going to be all right. No more sorrow, no more crying in secret… she repeated the words quietly to herself in her heart… But the heart that had only just begun to heal was about to take another blow.
Beauty wasn’t a sin — but more often than not, it was the root of disaster, especially for a woman who carried nearly every element of beauty at once, wrapped in a soft, delicate fragility that made her all too easy for men to want to possess.
A tall, broad-shouldered man carrying a massive blade strode up to the identification shop. He didn’t go inside. Instead, he swept the waiting identifiers with an arrogant, overbearing look, then pulled out a silver-colored boot and bellowed, full of swagger: “One piece of Silver gear! Who’s going to identify it for me!”
It was hard to blame him for getting carried away with himself — owning even a single piece of Silver-grade equipment was more than enough to earn the right to swagger. At the sound of his shout, every player passing by turned to look, eyes bright with envy and jealousy, some already guessing at who he might be. To own a Silver-grade artifact, while dressed head to toe in matching Bronze-grade gear and weapons — this was clearly no ordinary player.
And that piece of Silver-grade gear had, in fact, just come off the body of a Level 10 3-star Elite. When he and six others had teamed up to bring the 3-star Elite down, and it had dropped a silver-colored boot, he’d nearly laughed his own face crooked.
(End of Chapter 159)