Chapter 82

The campfire gradually went out. After the dwarves' revelry, accompanied by joyful feelings and weary bodies, they left one by one. As the dwarves slowly departed, the campfire also gradually grew weak. What was originally a large pile of campfire, as time passed, slowly shrank, becoming tiny flames weakly flickering, as if it could go out at any moment.

But that last flame continued to flicker, unwilling to go out. Zhang Xiaobo stared at the flame, his mind heavy with thoughts.

He lifted his head to look at the sky; the night was deep, with the stars twinkling like mischievous children. Zhang Xiaobo lay on the ground, slowly counting the stars, one after another, until he forgot how many he had missed and started counting again. After getting tired of playing, he wondered how long it had been since he had last enjoyed such a carefree game like this? Doing such a foolish thing, yet he still did it.

"Ah!" Zhang Xiaobo sighed, muttering to himself, "Maybe this is what growing up entails."

"What do you mean by the consequences of growing up?" a voice came from behind. Zhang Xiaobo turned around and saw Jin Meng slowly walking out of the darkness. Having heard Zhang Xiaobo's muttering, he casually replied with that sentence.

"It's nothing, just a little venting." Zhang Xiaobo looked at the sky; the stars had lost their brilliance, the crescent silver moon hung in the sky, shedding a pure white light. He felt somewhat helpless, sighed, and after thinking for a while continued, "It seems we have all become part of the game. Since we players fully entered this game world, our exit key has been pressed down. Whether it was before, when only the night's dreams existed, or now, when we are fully immersed, we have treated all this as a game. But now I… I actually no longer treat these as a game."

Jin Meng listened to Zhang Xiaobo's words, for a moment not knowing how to respond. His mind was in utter chaos—game? Treat it as reality? He didn't know how to restore Zhang Xiaobo.

The moonlight was pure; only the two of them lifted their heads to gaze at the sky, yet neither spoke.

In their hearts, they silently worried about one thing—the invasion of Li State!

Feng Yan anxiously made his way to the temporary palace; along the road, as if he had lost his mind, he desperately, nonstop ran. At that moment, Chen Hao threw Chen Hao down. Chen Hao knew his heart was anxious, so he quietly followed behind Feng Yan.

Chen Hao slowly followed Feng Yan; Feng Yan kept running toward the temporary palace. Along the way, pairs of eyes stared at Feng Yan. When they tried to act, they couldn't move a muscle, and instead all retreated back.

Chen Hao was puzzled in his heart, and then, looking at the direction they had retreated, it was precisely the Prince's palace!

Chen Hao felt uneasy; he wanted to go see, but after looking at Feng Yan beside him, he shook his head, followed Feng Yan's steps, then turned back to look at those people's backs and said somewhat unwillingly, "Really, you got off cheap!"

Feng Yan ran to the lodging palace, suddenly pushed open the gate, then shouted loudly: "Wang You! Wang You! Where are you?"

Feng Yan shouted near collapse, he was very afraid in his heart, he feared that such a girl would be by his side, or during the time he was away be killed or insulted by them, he anxiously ran back to the lodging palace, but found that the guards here had all withdrawn, which forced Feng Yan's suspended heart to rise directly to his throat, making him even more anxious.

"Could it be, she has already... already!" Feng Yan felt afraid, he thought this time should be like last time, she was waiting for them to return here, then to rest in peace.

"Adventurer Feng Yan, long time no see!" A voice slowly sounded inside the lodging palace hall, Feng Yan looked up and saw Wang You being held at knifepoint by a bounty hunter, the dagger slowly pressing forward; Feng Yan first felt a surge of joy in his heart, but seeing this scene, his expression turned solemn.

"Do you still remember me?" That guy, the captor of Wang You, then slid the hand holding the dagger across Wang You's face back and forth, then continued saying, "Adventurer Feng Yan, let's make a deal, this deal is very important for you!"

"Speak, what deal!" Feng Yan said coldly, then sized up the guy in front of him; the man's appearance was extremely lascivious, his body bulky, when he spoke his mouth revealed black teeth, which reminded Feng Yan that he was one of the three brothers.

"I know I can't kill you; my two brothers died under your sword, all when you were escorting the Dwarves to the Golden Paulownia Forest. At that time my luck was good, I escaped by jumping into the water while fleeing, thus narrowly escaping disaster. I returned to the Prince's palace, and scouts told me you have a flower-like beauty here, so I wanted to seize her as a plaything for the Prince, but now you've actually come back! Then give me the sword on your person; in exchange I will release her!" The man's words were full of smugness, then he kept tightening his grip on his hand, taking the opportunity to grope as well.

"Good!" Feng Yan replied, then drew the Black Sword from his person, walked toward that man, preparing to exchange.

"Wait! Did I say you could come over like that? Hands holding the sword, come over on your knees!" The man said triumphantly, then burst out laughing: "Hahaha, I never expected you to have this day too, adventurer, the invincible adventurer Feng Yan actually kneels before a petty bounty hunter!"

Feng Yan completely ignored the man's words, and with a thud knelt down, then slowly stepped forward step by step; Wang You shook her head violently, tears streaming down her cheeks onto the ground, she thought she did not deserve to have Feng Yan go to such lengths.

"No!" Wang You finally shouted.

But Feng Yan seemed not to have heard, kneeling step by step toward the man; the man picked up the Black Sword, examined the blade, and couldn't help praising: "What a fine sword! No wonder adventurers can remain invincible!"

Having said that, he swung at Feng Yan's head!

Accompanied by the whoosh of the Black Sword slicing past, Feng Yan sidestepped to dodge, then clenched his right hand and delivered a heavy punch to the man's waist!

That punch carried a gust of wind, it slammed into the waist, and all that could be heard was the sound of bones breaking!

"Crack!"

"Ah!" the man let out a miserable scream!

Accompanied by the sound of breaking bones, the man collapsed to the ground, and the Black Sword fell to the ground.

Wang You, still shaken, stood in place; Feng Yan went over to comfort her, saying: "It's fine, I'm here now; Chen Hao should be back soon; from now on, wherever we go, we won't abandon you again—I won't let you leave my sight."

After hearing those words, Wang You suddenly embraced Feng Yan; Feng Yan patted her head and then said: "Let go first; I still have important matters to attend to!"

Wang You released Feng Yan; Feng Yan reached out his hand, and the Black Sword flew back into his grasp; the man stared in disbelief, then watched as Feng Yan walked step by step toward him!

"Don't kill me!" the man pleaded, his face showing fear.

"Sorry, you must die!" Feng Yan replied, his face revealing a murderous expression.

The Black Long Sword was raised, then came down heavily, accompanied by the sound of skull shattering, a miserable scream echoed throughout the Wanggong.

Chen Hao returned to the lodging palace, found the two safe and sound, then explained what he had seen; Feng Yan nodded and continued: "We can set out for the Golden Paulownia Forest now, to undertake our great endeavor!"