Chapter 1 Aftermath

Jue Tian dissipated with the wind after his death.

Shi Feng played with the dagger Jue Tian had dropped. The blade seemed capable of slicing through the air, a sharpness rarely seen.

"Blade of Assassination?" Shi Feng examined the attribute description and confirmed it was indeed a top-tier assassin's weapon.

Blade of Assassination, Dagger, Mithril Rank, Equipment Level 8, Class Restriction: Assassin.

Attack Power: 51
Strength +5
Agility +12
Attack Speed +2
Durability: 35/60

Passive Skill: Razor Edge. Attacks have a 15% chance to inflict Armor Break, reducing defense by 50% for 10 seconds. Does not stack.

With such high attack power and agility, it was no wonder it could deal so much damage to him.

The Blade of Assassination was crafted entirely to enhance attack and speed, making it an assassin's weapon favored by agility-based classes. Shi Feng estimated it to be worth at least 1 gold.

"Now that Jue Tian is taken care of, it'll probably take him a long time to recover," Shi Feng said, smiling as he looked at the Blade of Assassination.

Previously, Shi Feng worried about Jue Tian ambushing him all the time. Now, after teaching Jue Tian a lesson with the Ice-Blue Devil Flames, he not only dropped a level and ruined all his equipment but also dropped the Blade of Assassination. It was impossible for Jue Tian to cause him trouble in the short term.

"Brother Feng, you're... you're just too cool! You were basically a god of fire just now! I felt so pumped just watching from a distance. I never knew Swordsmen had skills like that! If I'd known, I would've played a Swordsman. I'd use that move to pick up girls, and I'd definitely succeed every time!" Hei Zi excitedly ran over, looking at the Ice-Blue Devil Flames burning on Shi Feng's body with immense envy.

As for Shi Feng killing Jue Tian, Hei Zi didn't think much of it at all.

In Hei Zi's eyes, Jue Tian was indeed a skilled player, but he was just an elite member of the Martial Union. It was perfectly normal for Shi Feng to defeat him. On the contrary, the incredibly cool azure flames on Shi Feng's body were what shocked people.

Shi Feng was speechless when he heard Hei Zi treating the Ice-Blue Devil Flames as a tool for picking up girls. He didn't understand what Hei Zi was thinking all day.

"These flames aren't a Swordsman's skill; they're a Strange Fire that can boost a player's attack damage," Shi Feng explained.

"Strange Fire?" Hei Zi looked blank.

Although Hei Zi didn't know what Strange Fire was, he knew it must be extremely precious if it could boost attack damage. Seeing that Shi Feng possessed such a thing, he wasn't jealous but genuinely happy. This way, Shi Feng could become even stronger, and then no one would dare to bully them.

At this moment, Lonely Snow also came over after picking up the loot. Seeing Shi Feng covered in flames, emitting scorching heat, and able to control the dazzling azure flames, she was also incredibly shocked. She almost mistook Shi Feng for a hidden class. However, after Hei Zi's half-baked explanation, Lonely Snow understood how precious and powerful the Ice-Blue Devil Flames were.

The Ice-Blue Devil Flames were definitely Shi Feng's secret. If others knew these secrets, many people would want to obtain them. But Shi Feng was willing to tell her, proving that Shi Feng trusted her. Just that trust alone made Lonely Snow feel that it was worth risking her life for Shi Feng.

"Enough chatting for now. Let's kill the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus quickly and leave this place. After Jue Tian revives, he might tell the Martial Union to come here and ambush us," Shi Feng said, stopping the explanation and turning to charge toward the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus in the distance.

Hei Zi also understood that they couldn't stay here for long and began chanting spells to assist Shi Feng in attacking and restricting the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus.

Although the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus had high defense and health, its nearsightedness meant that Shi Feng could easily toy with it to death.

All Shi Feng needed to do was charge in, unleash all his burst skills, and then run away. Hei Zi would desperately output from a distance. Once Shi Feng's skills were used up, he would use Evil Whiplash to restrict the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus's movement. Lonely Snow would use Charge and Tendon Break before flashing away. Once Shi Feng was 25 yards away from the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus, it would lose its target and charge around aimlessly. When Shi Feng's skill cooldowns were over, he would unleash another barrage of attacks, repeating the cycle.

This time, Shi Feng didn't hold back and directly used the Ice-Blue Devil Flames, increasing his damage by 20% and the power of his ice and fire skills by 40%.

This boost instantly made it much easier for Shi Feng to attack the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus. Even normal attacks could deal fifty to sixty points of damage, and the Yan Lei Burst could deal over four hundred damage.

Even with the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus's high defense and health, its health points couldn't stop plummeting.

A few minutes later, the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus let out a miserable cry and collapsed to the ground with a bang, dropping four items and a large amount of experience points.

Among the three items were two Level 15 Bronze equipment, a Tier 1 Strength Gem, and Bronze-grade leatherworking materials. The Shadow Blessing effect was fully utilized. Otherwise, a Level 15 Elite would only drop one piece of Bronze equipment and some materials besides a lot of experience points.

"Let's go. Let's go kill Swamp Hippopotamuses somewhere else."

After killing the Steel-Hide Hippopotamus, Shi Feng took Hei Zi and Lonely Snow to another monster-grinding spot.

The Silent Swamp was extremely large, two or three times larger than the Gale Canyon. The area inhabited by the Swamp Hippopotamuses occupied one-tenth of the Silent Swamp's size and was scattered throughout the Silent Swamp. It wouldn't be easy to find them with just one or two hundred people.

Moreover, Shi Feng was very familiar with the Silent Swamp. He had lived here for more than twenty days in the past, knew which areas had the most Swamp Hippopotamuses, where they spawned quickly, and also knew the elite monster spawn points in the Silent Swamp. However, the only monsters Shi Feng and his companions could handle now were the Steel-Hide Hippopotamuses. The other monsters didn't have obvious weaknesses, and fighting them would be life-threatening.

"Leveling up here is so awesome! I thought leveling up in Gale Canyon was fast enough, but after coming here for just over an hour, I've already leveled up to Level 9. If this keeps up, I'll be able to level up to Level 10 and go to White River City in less than three hours! The guild elites are probably only at Level 9," Hei Zi excitedly said. "If Cola and the others hadn't died and came with us, all six of us could have gone to White River City today and become the first team to enter White River City."

Lonely Snow nodded in agreement.

It had to be said that leveling up with Shi Feng was just too awesome. This leveling speed was more than ten times faster than others. Even if the Martial Union surrounded and killed them, causing them to die once, Shi Feng could quickly make up for their lost levels and even improve them a lot. They weren't afraid of going against a large guild like the Martial Union at all.

Red Leaf Town, Slums.

Jue Tian was drinking alone in a bar, drowning his sorrows. When other players saw Jue Tian, they obediently sat far away, not daring to approach, because Jue Tian looked murderous today, and no one wanted to touch that bad luck.

"Damn it, this loss is too great. I'll get revenge for this sooner or later," Jue Tian didn't feel bad about the lost level, but about the equipment, especially the Blade of Assassination.

He could catch up with the experience points by spending a little more time, but equipment was different, especially top-quality equipment. These top-quality equipment could only be obtained by killing monsters or doing high-level quests. It wasn't something that could be obtained by spending some time. It required opportunity.

"What exactly is that azure flame? After attaching to the weapon, it can easily destroy my Xuan Tie equipment and greatly consume the durability of Mithril equipment?" Jue Tian shuddered when he thought of the Ice-Blue Devil Flames on Shi Feng's body, because for players, destroying equipment was more terrifying than death.

Just thinking about how every time he fought Shi Feng in the future, he might destroy the top-quality equipment he had worked so hard to obtain was a nightmare.

"Brother Jue Tian, long time no see. You still like to drink so much," a middle-aged man with a black cloak and a small beard sat opposite Jue Tian and said with a smile.

"Nan Lang, why do you have time to come to me?" Jue Tian completely lost his usual indifference when he saw the person who came.

"Of course, I'm here to congratulate you," the man named Nan Lang said with a smile. "Haven't you always wanted to join our Underworld? Now the higher-ups have recognized your strength and qualified you to become an outer member of our Underworld. You'll be one of us from now on. I think you know what that means."

"What? I've passed the review?" Jue Tian was so excited that he almost jumped up.

The loss and depression from being killed by Shi Feng earlier were swept away. Even the lost Blade of Assassination didn't matter to Jue Tian anymore, because nothing was happier than joining the Underworld.

Jue Tian had spent three full years trying to join the Underworld, going through more than ten assessments and tests. Now, he had finally been recognized by the Underworld and officially become an outer member of the Underworld.

The Underworld was a very mysterious organization that possessed terrifying power in reality. The resources, power, and information it controlled were unimaginable to outsiders. He was shocked by the identities of some outer members he knew.

However, he didn't know why the Underworld suddenly started paying attention to virtual games ten years ago.

In order to join the Underworld, Jue Tian, as an assassin, also started playing virtual games.

Now, the Underworld was paying unprecedented attention to God's Domain, so he devoted himself wholeheartedly to God's Domain. Now that he had finally become an outer member of the Underworld, how could he not be excited?

"Jue Tian, I saw you were Level 9 before? Why are you Level 8 now? You weren't killed by that player, were you?" The uncle named Nan Lang joked as he drank.

He knew Jue Tian's strength very well. He was definitely a top-tier assassin, and his equipment was excellent. He also had a Mithril weapon and learned many rare and high-level skills. There were few people in the entire Red Leaf Town who could kill Jue Tian in a head-on fight, and most of them wouldn't have a win rate of more than 60%.

The only person with a win rate of over 80% was probably the well-known Ice Snow Goddess. No one else could do it.

Moreover, if Jue Tian ran away with all his might, even the Ice Snow Goddess couldn't stop him.

Now that Jue Tian had dropped a level, it was likely because he had died accidentally while doing a high-difficulty quest.

However, when he heard Nan Lang say this, Jue Tian's face suddenly darkened, and his mood was not good.

"No way, you were really killed? Who was it?"

"Did you provoke the Ice Snow Goddess Bai Qingxue? You wouldn't be so stupid, would you? You even dared to provoke her."

When Nan Lang saw Jue Tian's gloomy face, he knew he had guessed right and spat out the wine he had just poured into his mouth.