Chapter 325

Gravity subtly shifted; when he opened his eyes again, Li Cheng stood in a spacious ancient Chinese study.

The study was exquisitely furnished: landscape paintings hung on the walls, inkstone, brush, paper, and ink rested on the desk, scrolls lined the shelves emitting faint ink fragrance, window lattices were carved with patterns, curtains hung lightly, and the sound of a waterfall outside was clearly audible.

Eight people stood in the study; Li Cheng, Yuan Zhixia, who received the same task, and two others wore black robes, while the remaining four wore white.

Everyone exchanged wary glances, sizing each other up, waiting for the system briefing.

【Three thousand years ago, a brutal divine-warrior war shattered Buzhou Mountain, severing the connection between heaven and earth. The celestial and mortal realms became isolated, no longer interfering with each other. Cultivators could no longer ascend to the Immortal Realm, and their lifespans plummeted to two hundred years.】

【Seeing ascension hopeless, cultivators turned to governing the devastated mortal realm, spontaneously forming what became known as the Immortal Court, establishing laws to regulate disputes among cultivators and imposing sanctions when necessary.】

【Lord Xiao Shui Sect, once a declining sect, rose within less than one hundred and fifty years under the joint leadership of its sect master, Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord, and his lady, Master Miao Yin, becoming today's third-largest sect in the mortal realm. The couple, harmonious as lute and zither, advanced together and were revered by all as celestial lovers.】

【Yet, from youthful devotion to mutual loathing, their marriage, for myriad reasons, became untenable; they finally tore apart and brought their divorce to the Immortal Court. Thus began the century-shaking divorce case.】

【In this mission, the eight players will be divided into two teams as lawyers, representing Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord and Master Miao Yin respectively, engaging in courtroom debates, gathering evidence, refuting the opposing side, and maximizing benefits for their clients.】

The briefing ended; now came the mission details.

【Stage Two Mission Objective: Win the divorce case for client Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord.】

【Mission Time Limit: 72 hours.】

【Mission Reward 1: 1500 experience points.】

【Mission Reward 2: 5000 game currency points.】

【Mission Reward 3: One random item, quality determined by mission evaluation.】

【Mission Reward 4: One random skill scroll, quality determined by mission evaluation.】

【Mission Reward 5: One gift from Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord.】

【Failure Penalty: Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord's wrath.】

Oh no.

Li Cheng rubbed his temples; no wonder this mission offered such a massive 5000-point reward—it truly was a xianxia setting.

Especially the final reward and penalty, which invited wild speculation.

Win well, and you might purify your marrow, cleanse your bones, gain a free top-tier spiritual root, plus a cave dwelling, cultivation art, and spirit herb bonus pack?

Lose badly, and you get sentenced to eternal imprisonment in the Soul-Severing Banner or the Demon-Imprisoning Tower?

The others, having heard the briefing too, displayed varied expressions; unconsciously, they lined up on either side by robe color.

Clearly, those in black were the lawyers for Lord Xiao Shui Star Lord; those in white were for Master Miao Yin.

After a brief silence, a white-robed man with sharp eyebrows and star-like eyes, handsome and martial, spoke first: "Everyone heard the briefing, right?"

This team deathmatch doesn't require mutual slaughter—it's purely a courtroom debate.

Given the briefing mentioned divine-warriors, the Immortal Realm, Buzhou Mountain, and the severed connection between heaven and earth, even among countless battleground worlds, this is a high-tier power level.

In other words, we won't be allowed to use force or underhanded methods to end the mission early. 」

As if to prove his point, the man drew a rusted bronze sword from thin air and slashed it diagonally toward the ground.

The blade unleashed a chilling aura, but before the sword energy touched the floor,

the bell hanging by the window rang automatically, and the aura vanished instantly.

【This… is a ban on supernatural power?】

The others' eyelids twitched; some missions had such peaceful zones at the start, usually enforced directly by the system,

but this time, because it was a high-power world, the battleground simply took a shortcut—using the world's lore to justify the peaceful zone.

"We haven't met our clients yet, and the door hasn't been knocked on—so this is still a peaceful zone. To show good faith, here's my personal info." The white-robed man sheathed the bronze sword, snapped his fingers, and a string of text floated above his head.

【Ziwei · Zhongtian Beiji】【Lv31】

Oh oh oh, isn't this Gouchen's older brother?

Li Cheng's heart stirred; after the Toy City mission, he'd specifically researched clues about Zhongtian Beiji.

His parents were Malaysian Chinese businessmen; he received elite education, excelled academically, competed in math Olympiads, and mastered fencing, horseback riding, and skiing. At Stanford, he co-founded a cryptocurrency website with classmates and cashed out for ten million U. S. dollars.

A thoroughly bourgeois capitalist heir.

Until the battleground descended—he was randomly selected as a player due to his personal qualities (though rumors claimed he used family connections to orchestrate a kidnapping and murder of a local new player, stealing their talent),

then immediately broke off his engagement to the daughter of a local official,

threw himself wholeheartedly into the battleground world, steadily and rapidly leveling up until becoming Lv31, now acting as GOC's Southeast Asia regional representative.

Hmm… due to internal factional power struggles within GOC, his "acting" prefix still hasn't been removed.

But if he continues leveling and delivers results, becoming the full-fledged regional director overseeing nearly 700 million people is surely imminent.

No mistake—every single detail checks out!

In the study, Zhongtian Beiji's expression was open, his gaze stern.

Other players who had heard his name, after consideration, displayed their own IDs.

Master Miao Yin's camp:

A middle-aged white man in a tailored suit, hair and toes meticulously groomed, displayed 【Legal Titan · Howard】【Lv17】

A thin, short, elderly man with dull eyes and unremarkable features, 【Nameless One · Haye】【Lv20】

A twelve- or thirteen-year-old with flawless, androgynous beauty, resembling the actress Tadina Papamosh from the classic Greek film "Iphigenia," 【Human Computer · Ada】【Lv5】

This is bad.

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched; as a high-frequency forum user, he loved reading bizarre news.

This 【Legal Titan · Howard】 was, like Zhongtian Beiji, one of the earliest to publicly reveal his player identity.

In the real world, he was a partner at the renowned Ruiseng International Law Firm, specializing in corporate transactions, environmental law, and tax law.

His clients included Prometheus, European Heavy Industries, and the Beast with a Thousand Throats—when these major organizations faced commercial disputes but didn't want to openly wage war, they hired lawyers to negotiate using GOC's advisory legal codes.

Howard's famous victory was representing the Beast with a Thousand Throats in a lawsuit against Gen-Sys Biotech for patent infringement, accusing them of copying several bio-enhancement formulas for familiars, successfully forcing the biotech firm to pay thirty thousand game currency points.

And the second, Haye, was even more heavyweight—he was a disciple of Jacques Vergès.

Jacques Vergès was a famous French lawyer, renowned for defending some highly controversial cases. He was born in 1925 and died in 2013. His father was a French diplomat and his mother was a Vietnamese teacher; because his parents were in an interracial marriage, his father was demoted from his official post, which caused Vergès to develop a firm anti-colonialist ideology from a young age.

After becoming a left-wing human rights lawyer, his clients included, but were not limited to, Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief in the Lyon region of France during WWII, Cold War-era terrorist Carlos the Jackal, former Yugoslav president Milošević, and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

His home was also filled with gifts from these "stars of the human race." In his own words, "Defending does not mean justifying. A lawyer does not judge, does not condemn, does not declare someone innocent. He merely tries his best to understand the situation."

(By the evaluation standards of the toy factory, if Vergès were still alive, he could absolutely squeeze out A-rank and S-rank concepts.)

Heyer, as Vergès' assistant and disciple, also appeared in newspapers many times, until a year ago when, at the age of eighty, he was selected as a Player, almost breaking the age record among Players.

Both members of Master Miao Yin's faction are "celebrities" in the legal world; as for Aida at the end, although she is only lv5, judging by the title of Human-Form Computer, she is no simple matter.

And on his own side.

Li Cheng turned his head to look behind him.

(End of chapter)