Chapter 1977

One hour later, inside the heart tavern of Drifting Cloud Lake.

Xiao Feng, Shen Chuo, Han Zichen, and Xue Ningzhen, the four of them drank a lot of alcohol and chatted a lot.

He originally was a bit worried that this battle would make Han Zichen feel uncomfortable.

He obviously underestimated the mindset of this female sword immortal.

She is very open-minded, does not see defeat as a disgrace; on the contrary, she is glad she could hold out that long against Shen Chuo, a fellow sword cultivator.

In fact, if both sides had gone all out from the start, she might have lost much earlier; Shen Chuo had been holding back at the beginning.

Moreover, in the end she did not use a sword technique, but a Qi Luck Secret Art.

Given all the circumstances, she had no complaints about losing; if she had won, she would instead feel that the victory was not honorable.

Seeing her in good spirits and unaffected, Xiao Feng and Shen Chuo finally relaxed.

"I never expected you, the alliance leader who usually doesn't care about war and alliance matters, to occasionally show concern for us allies like this." Han Zichen joked.

Everyone had drunk alcohol, but the alcohol in the game doesn't get you drunk, so it doesn't affect anything.

Xiao Feng said: "We're all friends, so it's normal to care a bit. Besides, I'm not indifferent to the alliance's situation; I'm just too busy to handle everything."

"Um, I can attest to that: the last time we fought the Red Stone Star and almost lost, it was only thanks to Brother Xiao Feng rushing to help alone that we turned the tide." Xue Ningzhen spoke, showing support.

Xiao Feng said he was very pleased.

He is naturally a big good person who loves to help others!

"Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Han Zichen teased: 'That also depends on the person. He cares a lot for Fellow Daoist Xue, even deliberately letting you win in the match for your reputation's sake.'"

"As for the others… hard to say."

"Huh?"

"You… how do you know?"

Xiao Feng and Xue Ningzhen both felt awkward.

Shen Chuo gave a dry cough: "Anyone with a bit of perceptiveness could see that."

"emmm…"

Xiao Feng and Xue Ningzhen exchanged a glance, both showing embarrassed expressions.

The matter of holding back, ordinary players probably wouldn't notice it.

But everyone present are old acquaintances from the alliance region, quite familiar with each other's backgrounds, so it couldn't be completely hidden.

"It's that…" Xue Ningzhen's face flushed, and she hurriedly explained: "Mainly because rumors are like knives, too hurtful, so I asked Brother Xiao Feng for help."

Xiao Feng quickly echoed: "Exactly, exactly, I'm such a big good person; you can't wrongly accuse me—this is purely mutual friendship assistance!"

At the same time he felt a bit stifled inside; this Han Fairy Maiden was going too far—he had originally worried she'd be unhappy after her loss, but he hadn't expected she'd still have the energy to tease him, joking about him and Xue Ningzhen!

Is he that kind of flirtatious person?

Obviously not!

The fields at home are almost too much to till; where would he dare to also covet other things?

Even if he had a clone technique, that… would still be going too far, right?

"Let's not talk about this, let's not talk about this—bringing it up just makes me uncomfortable. Let's keep drinking; let's discuss the upcoming matches!" Xue Ningzhen shifted the topic, raising her cup to invite them to drink together.

The four clinked cups and drank.

Shen Chuo sighed: "In the later matches, I basically have nothing to do; it's just watching Brother Xiao's performance."

The round of 16 to 8 matches have all been finished; the schedule for the quarterfinals (8 to 4) has already been decided.

The four teams in the lower bracket are: Blue Star 8

number, Zu Jian Xing Team 2, Tian Shen Zu Di Team 1, and Evil Realm.

The four teams in the upper bracket are: Blue Star 1, Zu Jian Xing Team 1, Spacetime Rift, and Strange Dimension.

Paired off, Shen Chuo's next opponent is Zu Jian Xing Team 1, facing three 8th-stage talent cheats; his chances of winning are minuscule.

The Spacetime Rift match also holds little suspense; back in the Primordial World, when Xiao Feng turned into a little kitten, he happened to encounter the Strange Dimension's "Cat God" squad.

That entire squad was horribly abused by Feng Feng Shi; merely making it to the top eight was already their limit, and they couldn't possibly win again.

The more interesting match is between Tian Shen Zu Di Team 1 and Evil Realm.

"Brother Xiao Feng has not yet used any real means up to now; I'm afraid even if all the participating teams combined forces, they still wouldn't be his match." Han Zichen shook her head; just thinking of Xiao Feng's strength gives her a sense of facing an abyss.

Xue Ningzhen nodded deeply in agreement.

"You all keep finding ways to praise me; if this continues I'll start to float away." Xiao Feng said helplessly.

These two female sword immortals are both the aloof, indifferent type in public. Han Zichen is a bit better, having more friends, relatively less icy.

Xue Ningzhen has comprehended the Law of Cold Ice; she has very few friends, truly an iceberg goddess from head to toe. Walking among crowds, passersby instinctively keep their distance, fearing injury from her icy aura.

But when chatting with him, the two lose all goddess pretenses and instead unconsciously lower themselves, treating him as a big shot.

…Although he indeed is a big shot.

"Do you still need praise? You won't even let me speak the truth."

"Let me speak!" Xue Ningzhen chuckled lightly.

"emmm…"

Xiao Feng also felt a bit embarrassed.

"By the way, did Old Shen go to Origin Mi Jing?" He thought of a topic and quickly shifted the conversation.

Shen Chuo replied: "I've been there, but haven't started the challenge yet; I want to wait for a few friends and bring them along."

Xiao Feng said: "Your talent is rather special, so passing should be relatively easy; Fellow Daoist Han is the same."

Shen Chuo and Han Zichen are not the type with absurdly overpowered attribute panels; their greatest strength lies in their talent for output.

Even if Origin Mi Jing suppresses their attributes to one ten-thousandth, they still have the ability to defeat versions of themselves that have full attributes but lack major skills and talent.

Therefore, that long mountain path is actually not difficult for them.

"What lies beyond the Origin Secret Realm?" Xue Lemon asked, quite curious.

Translation: "What lies beyond the Origin Mi Jing?" Xue Ningzhen asked, quite curious.

Check: Chinese: "What lies beyond the Origin Secret Realm?" Xue Lemon asked, quite curious.

We translated "What lies beyond the Origin Mi Jing?" Good.

Xiao Feng explained: "That place is the ultimate battlefield of the Myriad Clans' Hegemony, though it's not officially open yet; it's merely giving God King players a chance to climb. I and the Feng Feng Shi were the first to go up, and the first-layer trial gave us quite a few treasures; the rewards ahead should be even greater."

Translation: Xiao Feng explained: "That place is the ultimate battlefield of the Myriad Clans' Hegemony, but it's not officially open yet; it merely gives God King players a chance to climb. I and the Feng Feng Shi went up first, and the first-layer trial gave us plenty of treasures; the rewards ahead should be even greater."

Check: we used 'Ultimate Zhan Chang' for the ultimate battlefield, 'Myriad Clans' Hegemony' for the myriad clans' hegemony, 'God King players' for the god king players, 'Feng Feng Shi' for the Feng Feng clan, 'treasures' for treasures, and 'rewards' for rewards.

Now note: we translated the first-layer trial as 'first-layer trial'. Good.

"Ah, I'm afraid it'll be a bit difficult for me to go up..."

Translation: "Ah, I'm afraid it'll be a bit difficult for me to go up..."

We need to keep the ellipsis. Chinese uses two full-width periods; we can output three dots. We'll output "...", but we need to match the number? Not required. We'll output "...".

Xue Lemon sighed.

Translation: Xue Ningzhen sighed.

Xiao Feng chuckled: "If you need it later, I can lend you a few Supreme Treasures; I recently took down a group of Venerables, so I have plenty of treasures."

Translation: Xiao Feng chuckled: "If you need it later, I can lend you a few Supreme Treasures; I recently wiped out a group of Venerables, so I have plenty of treasures."

Check: we translated the term for supreme treasure as 'Supreme Treasure', the term for venerable as 'Venerable', and the term for treasures as 'treasures'.

"Tsk tsk~"

Translation: "Tsk tsk~"

Han Zichen gave him a meaningful look; though he said nothing, his expression made it clear—he seemed to be saying, "Take a look, take a look, you still claim you have no ulterior motive? Who would voluntarily lend out Supreme Treasures?"

Translation: Han Zichen gave him a meaningful look; though he said nothing, his expression made it clear—he seemed to be saying, "Take a look, take a look, you still claim you have no ulterior motive? Who would voluntarily lend out Supreme Treasures?"

Han Zichen gave him a meaningful look; though he said nothing, his expression made it clear—he seemed to be saying, "Take a look, take a look, you still claim you have no ulterior motive? Who would voluntarily lend out Supreme Treasures?"

Note: we rendered the word meaning 'to attempt' as 'ulterior motive' (could also be 'intent'), and we kept 'ulterior motive'. Also we translated the phrase meaning 'voluntarily lend out supreme treasures' as 'voluntarily lend out Supreme Treasures'. Good.

Xiao Feng hurriedly explained: "No, I really have a lot of treasures; everyone knows each other, there's nothing to hide."

Translation: Xiao Feng hurriedly explained: "No, I really do have a lot of treasures; we're all acquaintances, so there's nothing to hide.

Note: The line ends without closing quote. We'll keep open quote at end.

If you two need them, I can lend them too; it's no big deal.

Translation: If you two need them, I can lend them too—no big deal."

Note: The line starts without opening quote (continuation) and ends with closing quote. We'll output exactly that.

Shen Chuo gave a foolish laugh, and Xue Lemon's face flushed slightly.

Translation: Shen Chuo gave a foolish laugh, and Xue Ningzhen's cheeks flushed slightly.

"Ah, it's hard to be a good person these days." Xiao Feng sighed.

Translation: "Ah, it's hard to be a good person these days." Xiao Feng sighed.

He just wants to help the players of the human faction gain some benefits, so they can secure an early advantage in the Myriad Clans' Hegemony later, preventing other races from taking advantage.

Translation: He merely wanted to give the human camp's players some advantages, to gain an early edge in the Myriad Clans' Hegemony later and avoid being taken advantage of by foreign races.

These people are too narrow-minded!

Translation: These people are too petty!

"Thank you, Brother Dao; we'll talk about it later—I won't lend you things for nothing, I'll definitely repay you!" To clear his suspicions, Xue Lemon hurriedly gave thanks.

Translation: "Thanks, elder brother; we'll talk later—I won't lend you things for nothing, and I'll certainly repay you later!" To dispel suspicion, Xue Ningzhen hurriedly gave thanks.

Xiao Feng sighed: "The Feng Feng Shi are the best when it comes to lending things—straightforward, with no hesitation in their dealings, and they don't worry about misunderstandings. You lot can't break free from the shackles of the mundane world; you're so worldly!"

Translation: Seeing their three reactions, Xiao Feng remarked: "The Feng Feng Shi are better—lending things is straightforward, with no hidden baggage in personal relations, and no worry about misunderstandings. You lot can't break free from the shackles of mundane worldliness; you're utterly vulgar!"

"We're just ordinary mortals." Shen Chuo laughed.

Translation: "We're just ordinary people." Shen Chuo laughed.

Han Zichen raised an eyebrow: "You wouldn't happen to have designs on the Feng Feng Shi, would you?"

Translation: Han Zichen raised an eyebrow: "You wouldn't happen to have designs on the Feng Feng Shi, would you?"

"???" Xiao Feng heard it and his body sat straight up, he had the urge to pick up his wine cup and knock her head.