I've Put Up with You Long Enough

After Ye Fengxing climbed the dirt slope, he kept running. At the top, he activated Wind of Freedom and used the speed boost to leap onto a tree some distance away.

Xiao Xiaoxian noticed one detail: the branch his opponent landed on was at least ten meters from the dirt slope. Making that jump was no easy feat.

First, he needed a fast running start-and Xiao Xiaoxian had no objections on that score. Everyone knew how fast the guy was.

Second, he needed precision! It was quite a distance, and the branch wasn't particularly thick. Landing squarely on it was hardly easy.

As for the third point... the fellow showed no intention of stopping once he landed on the branch. Under his weight, it dipped, then sprang sharply upward! Borrowing that force, he glided through the air, flying straight into the distance... where another small hill stood.

Except... this expert seemed to have miscalculated the distance. He was already about to land, yet the little hill was still over twenty meters away! Besides, after "flying" from so far away and so high up, he would die whether he hit the hillside or the ground...

That was what Xiao Xiaoxian thought at first, too. This fellow had put on quite a show of "scaling walls and rooftops as easily as walking on level ground," but a tragedy was still a tragedy. Reality was always cruel. Then, on second thought, something was wrong... the guy had that godly skill, Blink. He wasn't afraid of falling from a height at all!

Goddammit! In Light of Freedom, you couldn't learn Blink until at least level 40! As for Cloudsoar... Xiao Xiaoxian wasn't quite sure what level it required, but not a single Mage in his guild knew it. How had that bastard learned it? Shameless! What an animal!

Sure enough, just as Xiao Xiaoxian expected, the Mage used Blink to shift a full twenty meters sideways in midair, "flying" straight to the middle of the hillside. With his agility, reaching the top would take only a minute.

Ye Fengxing glanced around and saw several dozen opponents jogging toward him in scattered groups. Apparently, they intended to trap him here.

This spot wasn't far from the cave where Adaric was hiding. Ye Fengxing intended to use himself as bait to lure War Hero's members into surrounding him. They couldn't get up here anyway. Even if he sang opera and turned somersaults on top, the people below could only stand and watch.

Kuang Dao was absolutely furious! After hurrying all the way here, he had finally arrived, and his side had indeed surrounded the enemy. Yet his whole crowd of several dozen people could only stare helplessly as the guy lay up there fully clothed, looking utterly relaxed. What the hell was this?!

Nearly all the men in the Ninth Division were veteran online gamers, and none would ever accept falling behind when it came to cursing. A dozen or so men, young and old, formed a semicircle at the foot of the slope and shouted abuse at the top of their lungs! Some even twisted their bodies around, working hard to express their contempt and mockery through body language.

For a while, the area around that modest little hill became extraordinarily lively...

Brick and Sky had barely approached before War Hero's members spotted them. One man looked them over and demanded fiercely, "Your levels are so low. What are you doing here?"

"We're here to practice gathering." Brick opened his tiny, nearly invisible eyes and put on an honest, simple expression. "We're both casual players. The official website said this map has lots of rare materials, so we came to take a look."

"Exactly, exactly. We're just here to look around. Is this place..." Sky gazed into the distance and trailed off hesitantly.

"The War Hero Family has reserved this area. You should go somewhere else." Hearing that they weren't here to grind levels, the man's tone immediately softened considerably.

"So you're the famous War Hero Family!" Sky stepped forward, looking "excited." "I've heard so much about you! They say everyone in your guild is a top-tier player, and you really live up to your reputation. You're already leveling in groups in the Glittering Forest. Impressive, truly impressive."

"Oh, you're too kind." The man looked a little embarrassed, and his tone softened further. "Well, you could gather around here if you really need to."

Brick also stepped forward. "Hey, brother, we definitely won't get in your way. We're only gathering ordinary materials. If we find anything especially rare, we certainly won't keep it for ourselves. And if we encounter an Elite Monster or anything like that, we'll notify your guild members. Could you do us this little favor?"

"Well..." While the man was still hesitating, Sky tactfully "took his hand" and smiled. "A little token of appreciation. Please accept it."

"All right, wait here a moment." The man was "easygoing," too, and immediately went to consult his raid leader.

War Hero Yi Yan had no attention to spare for such trivial matters at the moment. He simply said, "Let them do what they want."

Since they weren't here to steal experience, there was no fundamental conflict between the two sides. Even if they weren't friends, they could treat them as harmless bystanders. Making enemies for no reason was never a good thing, after all.

With permission granted, Brick and Sky immediately walked in openly.

"Goddammit, how much did you give him?" After they had walked some distance, Brick immediately poked Sky and whispered.

"Come on, we can ask Brother Ye to pay us back later. What the hell are you fussing over?"

"Like hell! You're still hoping to get money out of him? Have you got a fever?"

"Fair point..." Sky spread his hands helplessly. "Then what do you suggest? Brother Ye already said this was an emergency! How else could we get in? Or perhaps you'd like to put in a little effort, unleash your divine might, and fight your way through? Death to anyone who blocks your path! How about it?"

"Get lost, you bastard!" Brick knew Sky was telling the truth, but it was all his money. How could he not feel the pinch?

[Party][One Leaf Windwalk]: You both got in? Nice, nice. Can you see me?

[Party][Brick to the Face]: Of course we can, you show-off! Standing that high, it'd be hard not to.

[Party][One Leaf Windwalk]: See that rocky slope beside me? There's a cave in the grass beneath it. Find a way to slip inside in a moment. Remember, don't let anyone else enter. Attack them if necessary.

[Party][Sky Wanderer]: What about you, Brother Ye?

[Party][One Leaf Windwalk]: Just get inside, and I'll follow.

[Party][Brick to the Face]: We'll give it a try.

[Party][One Leaf Windwalk]: Hurry!

Brick and Sky glanced toward Ye Fengxing's position. A ring of people surrounded it, all glaring wide-eyed and spraying spit without restraint. For the moment, hardly anyone was inclined to spare the two of them a second glance.

The pair made a show of practicing their gathering skills. This place truly was a treasure trove, with plenty of rare herbs, ores, and assorted materials. They gathered their way along this invisible "route."

Before long, Brick noticed something. Hang on... why are we getting farther and farther from the place Brother Ye told us about?

Sky dug up a piece of blue-quality ore, stood, and glanced back. "What do we do? Heaven isn't on our side. There's nothing to gather over there. How are we supposed to sneak across?"

Brick was speechless for a long while before answering helplessly, "Keep looking. Check that direction more."

They searched for quite a while longer and still found nothing. Instead, they had Ye Fengxing frantic enough to message them, asking why they kept moving farther away. Brick explained the situation exactly as it was, leaving a certain someone at a loss, too. After a moment's consideration, he said decisively, "Don't worry about making them suspicious. Go straight over. We're done wasting time with them. Move!"

"Got it!" Sky had been waiting for those words. After all, he was a first-rate expert already brushing against the threshold of professional play. Calling him a god would be a stretch, but "minor god" wouldn't be an undeserved title. Though he still fell short of the monsters on the Beaconfire Team, he was well beyond the likes of ordinary "guild elites."

The two of them had only stooped to this meek, sneaky, underhanded act because they had no other choice. They had no idea what was in that cave that could make Brother Ye come up with so many tricks.

Brick and Sky approached their destination, still keeping up the act. With the way those two kept looking left and right, they really did look convincing.

"Hey, look! There's a Silverleaf Herb over there!" Sky's voice trembled... Heaven certainly knew how to toy with people. At this crucial moment, it had actually decided to make its presence felt. A freshly spawned, tender little Silverleaf Herb nestled shyly among the weeds in front of the cave entrance. After all that acting, how was Sky supposed to feel?

"XXXXX!" This time, even the usually good-tempered Brick couldn't resist letting out a curse... Why the hell were we even pretending? We could just stride straight over.

[Party][Brick to the Face]: We're about to enter the cave. You can start your countdown.

[Party][One Leaf Windwalk]: Good. I'll make a little noise to draw their attention.

The messages had barely appeared when boom and bang rang out from the other side...

The War Hero Family's elites had been getting tired of cursing. After all, hurling abuse drained both body and mind, and doing it too long could make a person dizzy. But now, a certain someone had directly upgraded the scene from "buzzing bees" to "a violently stirred hornet's nest"!

"What a bunch of real 'talents'..." Listening to the waves of shouting rising from below, Ye Fengxing felt a degree of "admiration" for these people. With their command of Chinese language and literature, it was a shame they weren't wielding their pens in a literature department.

"Huh?" Before he could finish marveling, a sudden flash of light came from the other side. Something new seemed to be happening...

Sky's fury was boiling over! You damned heavens, you really knew how to screw with people! We were just about to get into the cave when some random guy had to show up and interfere, telling us not to enter because they'd be camping an Elite Monster here later or some crap. What absolute bullshit!

"Man, all that cursing really wore me out. I'll go inside and rest a bit first," the man muttered to himself. Little did he know that those words could have some very unpleasant consequences...

Sky turned toward Brick and gave him a meaningful look. Brick understood immediately and jumped into the cave first.

"Huh? You two..." The man reacted half a beat too slowly, thinking something unexpected had happened-perhaps the fat Missionary had suddenly spotted an Elite Monster... but the Archer beside him immediately supplied an unmistakable explanation.

"Screw you! Get the hell out of my way!" Sky sent the man flying with a side kick, then fired seven or eight arrows in rapid succession. In an instant, the man became a moving, human-shaped archery target, forcibly bent from an "I" into an "S."

A beam of white light shot out of the cave after him. Though its damage was pitiful, it still helped its caster vent his pent-up frustration.

"Goddamn son of a bitch. I've put up with you long enough." The plump Missionary held the Holy Light Cross, holy radiance surging around him, his face murderous...