Chapter 155 Stirring the Winds and Clouds Across All Directions

While Sword City was still filled with doubt, Ye Chen had already strode forward to the front of the teleportation array. Contrary to his usual low-profile demeanor, Ye Chen was exceptionally high-profile today. From afar, he laughed out loud at Lone Wanderer and the others: "Brothers of Dragon Ascendance, long time no see."

"Oh, isn't this Brother Ye? What brings you here to join the fun today? Brother Ye is quite a celebrity in Lianshan City nowadays, sitting at the top of the level leaderboard. So, Brother Ye, do you have a party? If not, come join Dragon Ascendance." Lone Wanderer appeared extremely magnanimous. Given that Ye Chen was now the premier expert in Lianshan City, he was more than willing to win him over.

"Hello, Brother Chen." "Hello, Brother Ye." "Hello, Brother Ye Chen." "Hello, expert bro."

Most of the Dragon Ascendance members present had met Ye Chen before. Especially Dragon Ascendance Mad Bull and others from the third squad who had cleared dungeons with him, they looked at Ye Chen as if they were seeing long-lost family, shouting wildly. Thief Without Taking and Dragon Ascendance Starslayer behind him also had shining eyes. No one knew Ye Chen's capabilities better than they did. If Ye Chen was willing to join, their chances of clearing the Martial Soul Secret Realm would be even greater. What a pity—what a pity that the Gold Elemental Stone had been taken away by some bastard, otherwise everyone could have descended into the secret realm together...

"Ye, how dare you show your face in public? Do you really take my Fierce Tiger guild for a bunch of nobodies?"

The harmonious atmosphere was instantly shattered by this exasperated shout. Everyone looked toward the source and saw Fierce Tiger Roar, a man who had once swaggered fiercely for a time. At this moment, his face was grim and distorted, teeth clenched in a murderous expression as if he wanted to rush up and fight Ye Chen to the death.

"Oh? So it's Brother Roar. How does it feel to have your attributes reduced by 50% for half a month? Want to try it again? Haha. Brother Roar is leveling up quite fast, already level 29. It seems that Earth Flame Eruption was quite powerful indeed." Ye Chen smiled cheerfully at Fierce Tiger Roar, as if greeting an old friend.

A blatant slap in the face, blatant mockery. Fierce Tiger Roar felt a surge of hot blood rush straight to his head. With bloodshot eyes, he charged frantically toward Ye Chen, screaming, "I'll fight you to the death!"

"Fierce Tiger Overlord, hurry up and pull back your mad dog. Don't blame me for beating a dog without looking at its master." Ye Chen let out a strange cry while drawing his staff, following up without hesitation with a Dark Magic Thunderbolt that struck Fierce Tiger Roar, giving Fierce Tiger Overlord no chance to intervene.

-2765 (Critical Hit!)

A blood-red number floated above Fierce Tiger Roar's head, causing the frantic Berserker to freeze slightly, seemingly unable to believe that his health bar of nearly 2,000 points had been instantly emptied. Then, before he could utter another word, with a loud bang, he turned into a sky full of white light and was sent back to the city for free.

Silence. Dead silence. The previously bustling scene fell completely quiet because of Ye Chen's single strike. Lone Wanderer and the others nearly popped their eyes out. They were well aware of Ye Chen's formidable strength; dragon magic could one-shot people, sure, but—damn it, this wasn't dragon magic! It looked like nothing more than a basic skill, yet it instantly killed a level 29 Berserker with nearly 3,000 points of damage. It was simply perverted.

Compared to Dragon Ascendance, the expressions of the Fierce Tiger members were rather strange. They seemed not to have recovered from the sudden turn of events yet. The high-ranking members of the other major watching guilds looked at each other in dismay, all wearing shocked expressions. They secretly estimated Ye Chen's actual attack power, but the results still terrified them. To deal that kind of damage, even if that cyan-black lightning was a rare-grade skill, Ye Chen's attack power must be at least over 1,000 points, otherwise, it would never be this ferocious. Of course, their calculations were wrong; they overestimated by a full 200 points. But that was hardly strange, as they naturally didn't know that Ye Chen's silver-tier set increased magic damage by 20%. A silver-tier set was something even these top-tier executives of Lianshan City wouldn't dare to dream of at the current stage.

"Oh, I'm truly sorry. I accidentally landed a critical hit; I originally just wanted to teach him a lesson." Ye Chen withdrew the Abyss Staff, shrugged helplessly, and wore an unbothered expression that immediately made the recovering Fierce Tiger members jump up and curse furiously.

"Take him down! Avenge Roar!"

"Damn it, this bastard doesn't take our Fierce Tiger seriously at all. He killed our man right in front of hundreds of our brothers. If we don't kill him, we won't be able to calm our anger."

"Kill, kill, kill! Kill this grandson!"

Bang! Suddenly, a black fireball hit the rogue who had just shouted "grandson" without any warning. Damage exceeding 1,500 points flashed across the Fierce Tiger crowd, and the rogue collapsed with a face full of disbelief.

"Ye Chen, you've gone too far! Killing my men right in front of me, Overlord—you are clearly making an enemy out of Fierce Tiger. Don't say I didn't warn you. No matter how awesome you think you are, you're just one person. It's not hard for our massive Fierce Tiger guild to squash you, and we can easily make it impossible for you to gain a foothold in Lianshan City. If you don't give me an explanation today, don't even think about leaving alive." Fierce Tiger Overlord's face was so gloomy it seemed capable of dripping water. With a wave of his right hand, the weapons of the Fierce Tiger members flashed as they were drawn from their sheaths.

Sword City and the others in the rear immediately grew anxious. Just as they were about to step forward to help, they were stopped by Ye Chen's private message. Lone Wanderer and the others exchanged glances, assuming that Ye Chen's backing was them. Figuring they were already at loggerheads with Fierce Tiger anyway, they thought they might as well do Ye Chen this favor. Lone Wanderer smiled and was just about to step forward to strongly back Ye Chen when he was taken aback by Ye Chen's words and stepped back.

"Fierce Tiger Overlord, I'm standing right here. Feel free to come and kill me. But don't say I didn't warn you either—if you dare make a move against me, I guarantee your Fierce Tiger guild won't even dream of entering the Martial Soul Secret Realm today." Ye Chen's meaningful smile left everyone present stunned.

Don't even think about entering the Martial Soul Secret Realm? On what grounds? The Gold Elemental Stone!

Almost simultaneously, the high-ranking members of all the guilds thought of this. Fierce Tiger Overlord clearly thought of it too, and his imposing aura instantly deflated.

"Brother Ye, could the legendary Mine Madman possibly be you???" Dragon Ascendance Starslayer couldn't help letting out a strange cry, and instantly, everyone's gaze in the surrounding area converged upon Ye Chen, burning with intensity.

"Untalented though I am, it is indeed yours truly," Ye Chen quoted a classical phrase, flicked his wrist, and pulled out a fist-sized golden ore. He activated the group share feature so that anyone observing the ore could view its attributes.

The entire area was filled with the sound of hurried breathing; every single pair of eyes was glued to that small piece of ore.

Fierce Tiger Overlord's expression fluctuated between shades of blue and white, while his subordinates argued amongst themselves with divergent opinions. Some said they should kill Ye Chen regardless of the cost, some thought it impossible, some advised enduring the insult for now, and others abstained to remain neutral.

Just as Fierce Tiger Overlord was weighing the pros and cons, Ye Chen spoke up once more: "Everyone, if I am willing to trade this Gold Elemental Stone for the heads of the Fierce Tiger members present here, I wonder if anyone would be interested?"

"Yes, why wouldn't we be? My Dragon Ascendance is willing to take on this trade!" Lone Wanderer was the first to jump out, and the Dragon Ascendance members behind him were also eager to try, immediately drawing their weapons.

"Ha, how can our Legends guild be left out of such a good thing? Besides, killing them off is good—it's one less competitor." The boss of Legends even gave the other major guilds a reminder. With Fierce Tiger's ambitions flaring up now, leaving aside whether everyone felt in danger, they certainly harbored deep apprehension. Taking advantage of this joint opportunity to weaken Fierce Tiger's strength was not a bad idea at all.

Sure enough, the other large and small families hearing this were also somewhat moved, and one by one, they closed in on Fierce Tiger with ill intentions. For a moment, the Fierce Tiger family found themselves plunged into a crisis simply because of a single sentence from Ye Chen.

...

In the rear, various high-end teams and elite studios closely watched this top-tier struggle in Lianshan City. A single remark from Ye Chen had stirred up all directions, leaving countless players' blood boiling. If the name "Ye Chen" had previously been merely a symbol on a leaderboard, then today, that name commanded genuine awe. An expert—this was a true expert.

Compared to the ordinary onlookers, however, the two once-celebrated elite studios harbored entirely different emotions at the moment.

Spirit Fox Goddess's face was ashen. Ye Chen—a guy who had repeatedly provoked Spirit Fox and even caused them to suffer heavy losses—was now basking in such infinite glory. This was simply unacceptable to her, and her lips were bitten pale.

The expressions of Wind Without Blood, Sword Without Heart, and the others were equally unsightly. It was precisely this guy who had snatched away their Lianshan City level supremacy crown, and Wind Without Blood had even been instantly killed multiple times. For this top-tier assassin of Lianshan City, whose self-confidence was exceptionally high, this was an utterly unacceptable humiliation.

"We cannot let him continue to grow. He must be eliminated as soon as possible; otherwise, this Dark Priest will likely become our Spirit Fox's greatest enemy in the future," Sword Without Heart said with a furrowed brow.

"Brother Without Heart, are you going to take action personally? But this guy's gear is absurdly overpowered, I'm afraid..." Wind Without Blood did not finish his sentence, but it was clear he believed that even if Sword Without Heart personally intervened, dealing with Ye Chen alone would be difficult.

"Afraid? What are you afraid of? Afraid that I'm not his match?" Sword Without Heart glanced sideways at Wind Without Blood and said coldly, "I, Sword Without Heart, have roamed Divine Descent for five years. I've seen plenty of experts more formidable than him, and killed plenty of them too. No matter how strong he is, he's still just a mage. How many of my sword strikes can he withstand? Without Blood, that kind of mindset won't do. Just because you were killed twice by tricks, you've developed a sense of fear? If so, you might as well give up being the top assassin."

Wind Without Blood's face flushed red from the scolding, leaving him unable to retort. Fortunately, Spirit Fox Goddess stepped in to smooth things over: "That Ye Chen does have some real strength and shouldn't be underestimated. Since we can solve the problem easily, let's not make it overly complicated. I think we should just mobilize a few teams to trample him. No matter how formidable he is, he won't be a match for over a hundred people."

Sword Without Heart's lips moved, but under Spirit Fox Goddess's gentle gaze, he finally closed his mouth and acquiesced to her plan.

On the other side, Sword City and the others gazed with ecstatic excitement at Ye Chen standing casually in the middle of the crowd. The young women's faces flushed slightly, their chests rising and falling rapidly. Back in the day when Feather of Light was at its absolute peak, it had never commanded such dazzling splendor.

"Yearning, you really did pick up a priceless treasure for Feather of Light," Sword City looked at Intoxicating Yearning and said with a low chuckle.

"Naturally! Who do you think I am? I am Intoxicating Yearning with eyes like torches. When little Ye Chen passed out from hunger on the roadside, I already knew he was destined not to remain confined to a puddle, and soaring into the skies was only a matter of time." Pride brimmed across Intoxicating Yearning's brows, and her stream of nonsense earned her a round of disdainful looks from the other women.

As everyone conversed, the situation within the arena shifted once more. The major guilds drew their naked blades, and the atmosphere in front of the teleportation array grew tense. At a single word from Ye Chen, a massive battle could erupt at any moment.

*(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to cast recommendation votes or monthly votes. Your support is my greatest driving force.)*

*PS: Congratulations to classmate "Squaring in the Corner" for being promoted as the seventh disciple of this book. Classmate "Squaring in the Corner" frequently tips, and little Jiu bows in gratitude.*