Chapter 1587: Reignited Spirit

It was around 8 am when Lin Yixin suddenly clutched her chest and ran into her room. Since the gang was still in the middle of enjoying their tea, I immediately put a hand on He Yi’s shoulder and said, "Eve, keep Chengfeng and the others company, will you? I need to check up on Yiyi. I won’t be logging into the game during the day, but I will participate in the WEL preliminaries later, okay?"

"Yes. Go!" He Yi watched my back as I departed.

I locked the door behind me after I had entered the girl’s room. She was sitting on her chair with sweat all over her forehead.

……

I walked up to her and held her gently. "Does it hurt?"

"N… no…" She shook her head, but bit her lip so hard that it nearly bled.

My heart ached horribly at the sight. "And you call me Little Cheat. I won’t think of you any less for being in pain, you know…"

She broke into a smile, but her nose began bleeding before she could say anything. She quickly grabbed a nearby syringe, drew some blood, and placed it among the other blood samples. Throughout the process, she continued twitching from time to time and tearing at the sheer amount of pain she was suffering from[1].

I didn’t know how to comfort her. All I could do was to hold her tightly and talk about anything to distract her from the pain. While wiping away her tears, she said, "Don’t laugh…"

I would be shocked if I could even smile under these circumstances. "I won’t…"

She said softly while biting her lips, "I’m not crying because I’m regretting my decision or something. It’s because it really, really hurts, and I can’t control myself…"

I whispered, "Yes, I know. If my Yiyi wasn’t so pain-averse, we would’ve done it already…"

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"That is a complete lie!!"

Lin Yixin’s face turned even redder, but it looked like she had temporarily forgotten her pain as she said, "Is that the only thing you can think of, you pervert? Hmph! On behalf of all 2 million Snowy Cathaya members, I extend our utmost disdain for you…"

I pecked her once on the lips before wiping away her nosebleed with a tissue. "Whatever. Your disdain is my honor… Huh, that sounded even more self-deprecating than when I recited it in my mind…"

Lin Yixin was going to smile again when another wave of pain turned it into a frown. At least she wasn’t bleeding from all her orifices like yesterday. This was a definite sign that the virus in Lin Yixin’s body was decreasing day by day.

It was afternoon when the 7-hour-long detoxification process was finally over. After Lin Yixin took a bath, she lay down lazily on my chest looking like she had just gone through a tribulation. It reminded me of a pretty little cat that just returned from a ten-kilometer jog.

I kissed her on the lips while rubbing her back. "Feeling better?"

"Mn."

She nodded before blinking her eyes once. "It feels like I just recovered from a huge illness. My body feels empty, and I feel no appetite even though I haven’t eaten anything for lunch. If I’m not mistaken, it won’t return until dinnertime at least. We’ll have to eat more later. You haven’t eaten anything for lunch as well, right? "

"Yep. It’s all your fault I had to skip lunch…"

"Pooh! And who do you think I’m suffering for, you heartless little thief?"

"That is why I love you so much… Give me another kiss."

"Shameless…"

……

We were curled up together on the sofa when I pulled a blanket over our bodies. The afternoon sunlight shining through the window felt very warm and comfortable. I felt like I might fall asleep at any moment, so I took out my phone and checked the forums for a bit. Lin Yixin was staring at my screen as well. The biggest headline on the official page was of course the WEL preliminaries. The rewards for winning had also been announced—

MVP Champion Reward: Level +7, Luck +15, 1 Heaven Domain Soul Armament.

Champion Team Reward: Level +5, Luck +8, 5 million USD, 10% chance to draw a Heaven Domain Soul Armament.

Runner-up Team Reward: Level +4, Luck+6, 2 million USD, 30% chance to draw an Upper Divine Armament.

3rd to 4th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+4, 1 million USD, 30% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament.

5th to 8th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+3, 500k USD, 10% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament.

9th to 16th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+2, 200k USD, 5% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament.

……

I scrolled down the page and found that everyone in the Top 64 would have a chance to draw a Divine Armament. This year’s MVP reward seemed just as amazing as the previous year. I wonder what a Heaven Domain Soul Armament looks like? One thing for certain, it was definitely better than an Upper Divine Armament.

Lin Yixin asked with widened eyes, "Heaven Domain Soul Armament? Do you think that it’s greater than your Ancient Divine Armament, the Xuanyuan Sword, Little Cheat?"

I shook my head. "It’s hard to say. The Xuanyuan Sword is the king of the Twelve Divine Armaments, and it is closer to an Outstanding Ancient Divine Armament than an Upper Divine Armament. This Heaven Domain Soul Armament is at best as strong as an Ancient Divine Armament, although I am certain that it’ll carry a special effect just like the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments. These days, assembling a set of Lower Divine Armaments or Middle Divine Armaments is pretty simple. What isn’t simple is assembling a set of Ghost Armaments!"

"Says the guy who already has a set of Ghost Armaments."

"Not really. The Song of Freedom, Cloak of Divine Fervor, Flying Dragon Wristguards and Rising Cloud are just four, that’s not a full set…"

She chided me, "You make it sound like it’s no different from owning a four-piece bedding set! There are only 72 Ghost Armaments in the world, and each one is a priceless treasure on its own!"

I chuckled. "Everything depreciates eventually. When the Heaven Domain Soul Armament becomes the mainstream equipment, most of my equipment will become second-rate at most. Though, I guess the Xuanyuan Sword will remain top-tier. It still can evolve one time and I’m sure it will remain the greatest offensive-type Divine Armament in the world if it evolves… Speaking of which, your Wind Severing Sword can also evolve, am I right?"

She nodded. "Mn. I haven’t triggered it yet, but there’s no hurry… By the way, are you really going to give up on these WEL preliminaries, Little Cheat? You should know that the WEL is such a cutthroat competition that the rule where the previous champion and runner-up are usually allowed to skip the preliminaries entirely doesn’t apply. Even Ancient Sword must fight tooth and claw to enter the Top 64 and attend the offline championship!"

I let out a sigh. "I know, but… my delay is around 2.7 seconds right now. This means that any command from my brain will only take effect inside the game after 2.7 seconds. I know I’m amazing, but I highly doubt I’ll be able to enter the championship like this."

Lin Yixin rubbed my nose and whispered, "Idiot. If even you choose to give up before trying, what will Sister He Yi, Lil Beiming and Lian Xin think? Do you want them to wallow in sorrow and depression forever?"

The realization struck me like a lightning bolt. Grateful, I hugged Lin Yixin tightly and kissed her cheeks at least a couple of times before declaring, "Understood. Delay or not, I will do everything in my power to get our team into the offline championships!"

"That’s the spirit!"

She giggled. "Even if you can’t fight at your best, you should know that each and every one of your party members is incredibly powerful in their own right. Sister He Yi is an ascended Stormwind Holy Knight with one of the best Famous General Skills in the game, Royal Road. Not only is her technique around the same level as Chaos Moon, her overall power is at least greater than Gui Guzi’s[2]. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin are some of the best, if not the best, ranged players in the entire world. Finally, every player in your team is a god. Even if you don’t fight a single match, there is still a good chance your team may win the whole thing. What you need to do is to accompany them into every match and cheer them from behind. If nothing else, you should let them know that you will always support them…"

Touched, I nodded and said, "Yeah. Thank you, Yiyi. I can’t believe I nearly failed to realize it until you told me. I will log into the game on time, and I will fight every day for as long as I live! I’ll even participate in the matches actively. Worse comes to worst, I’ll just release the Phantom Wolf King to stall the enemy and bombard them with a million AoE skills. There can’t be too many people who can handle this tactic in the preliminaries…"

"Heehee. That’s the Little Cheat I know and love!"

"Oh my, a confession? I’m a hard catch, but I guess you’re barely up to my standards. I accept."

"Screw you!"

……

We ate dinner at Snowy Cathaya’s kitchen. I had to hold Xinran’s hand and comfort her again and again until she finally agreed to let me stay at the Snowy Cathaya workshop until Lin Yixin had recovered. There was no persuading her from not coming over and visiting me everyday though, so I had no choice but to burden He Yi with this.

While eating dinner, I said, "So… the preliminaries start at 8 pm, right? I’ll be fighting one of the 1v1s and the last 2v2 with sis. As for strategy, there’s no need for strategy until we encounter a particularly difficult line-up!"

Beiming Xue’s eyes widened. "Big bro, have you finally resolved yourself to fight the WEL seriously?"

I nodded. "Mn! It’s because I saw that the MVP and a champion team player can win a Heaven Domain Soul Armament. I don’t think it’ll be stronger than my Xuanyuan Sword, but it’s better to have it in my hands than not, right?"

Lian Xin smiled widely. "That’s wonderful! We have a real shot if big bro is going to fight seriously!"

"Ahem. I don’t want to be a downer, but I’ll be frank. It’s going to be tough to win even the nationals…" I began explaining the participating teams like I was counting my family valuables. "Yiyi has given the Immortal Blade to Purple Marquis, which means that Snowy Cathaya now has two point securers in their team. If we run into them, it’s highly likely we’ll lose at least two points to them. It’s completely up to luck if we beat them or not. Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance are obviously powerful teams, and our second seed is far greater than what they were the last WEL. High Fighting Spirits has the Axe of Pangu, Little Gui has the Ghostblade Halberd, Chengfeng is Chengfeng, and Chaos Moon is no slouch herself. They’re a powerhouse team that can potentially crush any opposition who stands in their way."

"It’s fine. We’ll deal with them as they come," He Yi said smilingly.

"Yeah."

I nodded. "You guys should head home immediately after you finish dinner. I’d like to log in sooner to prepare for the match. The internationals are one thing, but it’ll be embarrassing if we fail to even make it into the national finals!"

"Okay!"

1. T/N: why is she doing this by herself? What if she snapped a needle in her arm? ☜

2. T/N: oh no I can hear the Nabuch sirens in my head E/N: Yes. And no, Gui Guzi was better than Chaos Moon since the beginning, so she’s not only outskilled, but Gui Guzi can literally outheal her damage if she doesn’t use her Ancient Divine Skill. ☜