Start the Fire First

Start the fire first. The five-person team was still chatting.

"I heard the Fire Cloud Leopard is around here!"

"Didn't they say a lot of guilds came? Why isn't there any activity at all?"

"Hey, that looks like a black cat over there!"

"Wow, kitty!"

The female Player in the team immediately ran toward the black leopard.

From a distance, it really did look like a cat.

But up close, they realized the damn thing was way bigger than any cat! A Tier 1 Elite magical beast—the Wind Claw Leopard!

The Fire Cloud Leopard was not a lone operator like the Clear Wind Bird.

The Fire Rock Hills were a prime leveling area, home to large numbers of Wind Claw Leopards.

All of those Wind Claw Leopards obeyed the Fire Cloud Leopard.

In Battle Through the Heavens, the difficulty of taking down a boss was not just the boss itself, but also its whole mob of underlings.

The Wind Claw Leopard let out a howl.

The female Player, who was only a Two-Star Fighter, was so frightened her hair practically stood on end.

"Not a cat, not a cat!"

"Don't be scared, Xiao Xiang. A big cat is still a cat! Brothers, get them!"

Players who dared to come and join the commotion at this stage were generally part of the first wave.

It was now the fourth day since Battle Through the Heavens had launched.

Twenty days had passed in the game.

The first-wave Players were genuine gaming fanatics, practically equipped with eight livers.

Most of them had already reached the Two-Star Fighter level.

The four male Players had all equipped their combat skills and gear.

Though it was all the lowest-grade standard equipment.

They did possess a certain degree of fighting ability.

Leopard-type magical beasts were generally fast but weak in defense.

Fighter-level Players could reliably break through a Wind Claw Leopard's defenses with combat skills.

The four men and one woman brandished their weapons and kept hammering the Black Wind Leopard.

Especially the female Player who had been shouting "kitty" earlier—she was now yelling the loudest.

"Ahhh! You deceived my delicate little heart! I'll chop you to death!"

The damn girl was wielding a Wolf Tooth Club.

And she called herself delicate? Chao Bafang watched with great interest from the tree.

"This girl is a little hot-tempered, but she's quite pretty. Hey, Great God, why aren't you watching? Aren't you interested in beautiful women?"

"Beautiful women?"

Yang Shan yawned.

"Bafang, you just haven't seen enough. Does this count as beautiful?"

Yang Shan was not lying.

Tian Yao Company's obsession with beautiful female NPCs and its understanding of "beauty" were absolutely on point.

Not to mention Gu Xun'er and Medusa Queen, the two heroines deeply connected to the original protagonist.

Female supporting characters like Yun Yun, Xiao Yi Xian, Qing Lin, Ya Fei, and Nalan Yanran were each beautiful in their own way.

Later on, they even developed their own groups of looks-based fans among the Players! Of course, those NPCs were merely a drop in the ocean compared to the entire "beauty roster" of Battle Through the Heavens.

Thanks to the power of AI, the behavioral logic of these NPCs was practically indistinguishable from that of real people.

Countless Players played "dating simulations" with NPCs.

There were even more female Players than male Players!

After all, Battle Through the Heavens had plenty of handsome men too.

Of course, compared to the NPCs, the Players were no slouches either.

Especially Liu Run, the president of Listening Rain Pavilion, and Lü Feirou, the president of Phoenix Palace. No old pervert who came across their videos would swipe away right away.

They would usually open their profiles, then hit play all in chronological order.

Compared to those great beauties, that girl with the Wolf Tooth Club could only be said to look slightly better than an ordinary passerby.

Yang Shan used a saber.

With no women in his heart, drawing the saber came naturally.

When he occasionally did not draw his saber, then he could think about women.

The five Players worked together fairly well. Though they had all been injured, they beat the Wind Claw Leopard to death.

But before they could even collect the drops, a large crowd of Players appeared behind them.

Wang Tianhao, who led them, merely gave a look, and Xiao Ji, his number one lackey, was already waving his saber and shouting, "You lot over there! Have some sense. Tian Hao Alliance has reserved this place!"

Chao Bafang muttered quietly.

"That bastard Wang Tianhao got here damn fast!"

Yang Shan also secretly glanced at Wang Tianhao.

The inspection function could not reveal Player information, but as long as the level gap was not too great, Players' levels could still be inspected.

"He's only a Five-Star Fighter after all this time? Pathetic. This Fire Cloud Leopard has nothing to do with Wang Tianhao anymore."

Chao Bafang said awkwardly, "Great God, I'm... I'm only a Four-Star Fighter."

It took time for forum posts to spread and for events to ferment.

Yang Shan and Chao Bafang had also returned to the Great Prairie beside the Fire Rock Hills and leveled for another five days of game time.

Though Chao Bafang had the Refined Halberd, the purple quest at launch had delayed him, so he had only now caught up in level.

Yang Shan, meanwhile, had risen from an Eight-Star Fighter to a Nine-Star Fighter.

But reaching the Dou Master level was out of the question for now. The experience required for every major realm breakthrough rose sharply.

A Fighter needed one thousand experience points to level up, but going from a Nine-Star Fighter to a Dou Master required five thousand experience points! A Tier 2 Elite Savage Bull gave one hundred base experience points. Since Yang Shan was a Nine-Star Fighter, most of his Level-Surpassing Bonus had been reduced, so each Savage Bull only gave him one hundred and twenty experience points.

Yang Shan needed to kill forty-two of them to level up!

But the Savage Bulls Yang Shan had killed last time had not even respawned yet.

As soon as Yang Shan reached the Nine-Star Fighter level, there were barely any Savage Bulls left on the Great Prairie.

Yang Shan paid no attention to Wang Tianhao's overbearing behavior.

Online games were inherently about competing for resources. Yang Shan was not that kind-hearted, and showing himself now would only make Wang Tianhao wary in advance.

Still, Tian Hao Alliance had some foundation.

There were probably close to two hundred lackeys following Wang Tianhao.

Being able to gather so many Players in the early stages of the game, before obtaining a Mountain Occupation Token and officially establishing a faction, was already quite impressive.

It was not just Tian Hao Alliance. Members from the two major guilds, Hero King Manor and War Soul Hall, had also arrived at the Fire Rock Hills.

Compared to Wang Tianhao, Jin Shankao and Tang Baizhan were far more meticulous.

They had already sent people ahead to obtain the Fire Cloud Leopard's real-time location! Jin Shankao deliberately sent Tang Baizhan a message. "President Tang, why haven't you arrived yet?"

Jin Shankao had actually known for a while that Tang Baizhan had reached the Fire Rock Hills.

He said it on purpose so Tang Baizhan would not be too guarded.

Tang Baizhan quickly replied, "Oh, Boss Jin, so you're interested in the Fire Cloud Leopard too?"

Jin Shankao replied, "When are you planning to make a move?"

Tang Baizhan replied, "Boss Jin, that question makes it a little hard for me to answer."

Jin Shankao replied, "That Fire Cloud Leopard isn't simple, and plenty of guilds have their eyes on it. If our two sides join forces, the Fire Cloud Leopard will definitely be ours!"

Only after a while did Tang Baizhan send back a message. "We can consider it. Let's see how things go first."

Jin Shankao sneered as he closed the chat window. "Looks like Tang Baizhan is determined to take down the Fire Cloud Leopard!"

Beside him, Ye Suifeng played with the Fine Longsword bearing a Blue Word Seal in his hand. "It's fine, Boss. Leave Tang Baizhan to me."

Ye Suifeng had not only switched to a powerful weapon, but had also reached the Seven-Star Fighter level! He was a full two stars ahead of Wang Tianhao! Looking across all of Cloud Frost City, there were barely a few who could match him.

After pondering for a moment, Jin Shankao opened another chat window.

"We need to start the fire first. Let Tang Baizhan and Wang Tianhao fight each other for a while."

South of the Fire Rock Hills, the president of a small guild leading thirty Players confirmed that five thousand RMB had arrived in his account, then immediately rallied them.

"Brothers, internal news! The Fire Cloud Leopard's location has been found. Several guilds have already gone to surround and kill it. We can't fall behind! What's our slogan?"

The Players shouted in unison.

"Kill bosses, get epic drops, eat hot pot!"

The small guild president said passionately, "Good! Our chances of landing the final blow on the boss may not be high this time, but as guild president, since I'm organizing a group operation, I definitely won't let everyone suffer losses. I'm treating you all to hot pot! One hundred RMB per person, transferred immediately. If we kill the boss, I'll give out huge rewards!"

"Do not fear death! Death only costs a little experience. Take a gamble!"

The Players shouted, "A bicycle becomes a motorcycle!"

The same thing was happening elsewhere in the Fire Rock Hills.

Jin Shankao truly deserved to be the boss of a major company.

He threw out Fifty Thousand RMB without even blinking.

Ten small guilds had become Jin Shankao's hired hands.

With those ten small guilds taking the lead.

There would surely be even more Players trying to fish in troubled waters.

After closing the chat window, Jin Shankao smiled. "The fire has been lit. Tang Baizhan and Wang Tianhao should be unable to sit still now!"