Chapter 18

"Ha ha ha ha! You useless trash, you're already done for so quickly, you're not even worth my time!"

Ying Tianlong, who had just defeated the opposing team, took off his helmet. The opposing team looked at Ying Tianlong with resentful eyes but could do nothing about this arrogant guy. "Hmph, let's go."

Seeing the opposing team leave, Ying Tianlong then checked the total time it took him to defeat the three opponents. "5 minutes and 30 seconds, we should be the fastest, right?" Ying Tianlong was very satisfied when he saw the time. He had specifically checked last year's results, which took a total of 7 minutes. By reducing the record by more than a minute, he was likely to set a new record this time.

"Sorry, boss. The fastest team has already finished."

Mo Xie of Tuantian Society was looking at the big screen at this moment.

"What—"

Ying Tianlong's face turned dark, and he immediately looked at the big screen.

"Longmu Society WIN, 2 minutes and 56 seconds."

"Three matches, all resolved in less than 3 minutes?!"

After seeing the match results, Ying Tianlong was immediately astonished.

"Li Zheng, isn't Longmu Society the one where Zhang Taihao is?"

Ying Tianlong asked Li Zheng.

"Heh, Zhang Taihao didn't even play; it was someone named Zhou Xian." Li Zheng looked at Ying Tianlong with a slightly mocking gaze.

"…Zhou Xian…?" Ying Tianlong's eyes gleamed with a cunning light. He said to Li Zheng, "Starting from the next match, get me all the information you can on this person."

"Sure, no problem. I was hired by your brother, and as long as you win, I have no issues."

Hearing Li Zheng's words, Ying Tianlong nodded in relief but then added, "That's good, but don't get it wrong. I now possess the most powerful 'Soul Command' in the world. No matter how skilled this person is, he's no match for me!"

"Platform 10, Tuantian Society wins. Please leave the arena within two minutes to make way for the next match."

"Fine, let's go." Ying Tianlong picked up his gaming helmet and left the arena.

"Heh, a bully who's actually a coward…" Li Zheng looked at the departing Ying Tianlong with a disdainful gaze.

"Who would have thought his brother is Ying Haitao." Mo Xie also looked at him with disdain, then called the other two substitutes and left.

"Heh, but precisely because he's a bully who's actually a coward, he's useful…" Li Zheng scanned the area, a mysterious smile appearing on his face, and then he also left.

...

That night, when everyone was quietly asleep, Zhou Xian entered the game world.

"Welcome to the Dragon Tomb World."

At the login screen, Zhou Xian looked at the completely different world with a sense of nostalgia.

"Who would have thought such a change could happen, is this really just an update by the game company?"

The renaming of the game to "Dragon Tomb" gave Zhou Xian a sense of unease from the start. This feeling made him feel constrained in everything he did.

He looked at the countdown on the login screen, lost in thought: "Strange things started happening after I touched the text on the helmet, and the game's name is the same as my Emperor Task…"

Although he wanted to figure everything out at once, Zhou Xian didn't have the time. He still had a lot to do in the real world.

Of course, since it was bedtime, Zhou Xian directly entered the game.

Zhou Xian's virtual helmet was very special. When he wore it, it could replace his sleep time. This was one of the reasons why Zhou Xian was stronger and more skilled than others.

After entering the game, Zhou Xian appeared in the Flowing Cloud Temple.

"Let's handle the in-game matters first…"

For Zhou Xian, the competitive matches were not a big deal. His intelligence in the game was his foundation.

Zhou Xian thought for a moment and then reviewed his current power status.

Flowing Cloud Temple's Relations with Surrounding Forces:

- Hundred Flowers City: Subordinate

- Demon Race: Friendly

- Xuanwu Kingdom: Neutral/Watchful

- Zhuque Kingdom: Neutral

- Qinglong Kingdom: Ignored

- Baihu Kingdom: Ignored

- Iron Blood Demon City: Hostile

- Seven Cultivations Sea: Deadly Enemy

In the game world, there were four major kingdoms: Qinglong, Baihu, Zhuque, and Xuanwu. Among these, players could choose to join Xuanwu Kingdom or Zhuque Kingdom. Qinglong Kingdom and Baihu Kingdom were on the east and west coasts, respectively, and could only be reached by boat or by taking a "U" route through the southern Iron Blood Demon City. Therefore, players rarely encountered people from these two kingdoms.

On the continent, the story mainly revolved around the wars between Xuanwu Kingdom and Zhuque Kingdom. Most of the storylines and plots were tied to these two major kingdoms.

However, this was just the internal conflict among humans.

In this world, besides the human race, there was also the demon race. Zhou Xian's Flowing Cloud Temple was a demon force, and its deadly enemy was the Seven Cultivations Sea, which sought to rule the demon race.

Zhou Xian's race was, of course, human, and his "nationality" belonged to Zhuque Kingdom. As for Xuanwu Kingdom, they had always been at odds with him. He guessed that the "watchful" attitude of Xuanwu Kingdom towards him was probably due to this.

"But Hundred Flowers City is a city without defenses."

Not only that, but the situation in Hundred Flowers City was also very chaotic.

In fact, this place had only been established for a short time, and Zhou Xian really didn't know how to plan a city.

Zhou Xian had many subordinates, not to mention the people of Flowing Cloud Temple, including the Hundred Flowers Fairy, people from Qinglong Kingdom, and even an ancient demon. However, there were no experts in city planning among them.

"City planning isn't a secondary profession, this is a problem…"

Zhou Xian realized that he had a lot of trouble to deal with in both the real world and the game world. And these troubles didn't seem easy to resolve…

"Temple Master."

At that moment, Fairy Caidie suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Flowing Cloud Temple.

"Caidie? What's the matter?" Zhou Xian asked.

"Yes, Temple Master. We recently discovered that many spies have infiltrated the city, possibly to gather information about us."

"Am I a jinx? No, I just thought about it in my mind…"

Zhou Xian muttered to himself and then said, "Who are these spies, have you figured it out?"

"Yes, they are all humans, either from Zhuque Kingdom or Xuanwu Kingdom."

Hearing Caidie's words, Zhou Xian felt a bit more at ease.

Between Xuanwu Kingdom and Zhuque Kingdom was a city called Zhongzhou City, which had the same name as the city where Zhou Xian lived. This city was the border and a key transportation route between the two kingdoms, and it was also the capital of the ancient empire.

Because of this, both Xuanwu Kingdom and Zhuque Kingdom were eyeing Zhongzhou City. In the game, there was an event called "National War" that revolved around the area from Zhongzhou to Shabak, aiming to gain control of this region.

"But the Hundred Flowers Valley, though remote, is a key route connecting Zhuque Kingdom to Xuanwu Kingdom."

This was the key point.

If someone took a bold move and directly attacked the enemy's heartland through this route, it would certainly change the war situation. Especially if they captured the Hundred Flowers Valley, the encirclement of Zhongzhou would change the entire game world's war situation.

"Why hasn't this happened before?"

Although he understood that the situation wasn't severe, the current situation still made Zhou Xian feel more chaotic. He couldn't help but complain.

"Because before, this place was shrouded in foul and gloomy energy. But with the establishment of Hundred Flowers City, the situation has improved, so…"

That made sense. Previously, a group of cultists occupied this place, making it a dungeon area used by players to "farm" content, and no one considered the strategic implications. But now, things were different. Zhou Xian had only recently obtained this city, and if someone discovered the true state of Hundred Flowers City, they might take action. "Hmm. But this isn't urgent. The most important thing now is development and planning, which can't be rushed. Let's wait and see for now."

"Yes, Temple Master."

Currently, players were exploring the new version of the game, so not many would help the two kingdoms with reconnaissance missions. There was still time.

But Zhou Xian had more important things to do.

"Today is July 6th. By tomorrow, I will have 24 hours before I can use the save/load function again. But what exactly is this ability? Time travel? Or something else…"

As he thought, Zhou Xian suddenly noticed a strange interface appearing in front of him!

"This—"

He was startled by the sudden appearance of the interface.

But after seeing the interface clearly, Zhou Xian's hands almost trembled. He tried to reach out with his hand.

Then, a warning appeared in front of Zhou Xian.

"Sorry, you cannot use the save function until 00:00 on July 7th."

It was that interface!

"Can it even appear in the real game?"

No, this amazing save function was part of the system.

For some reason, Zhou Xian suddenly had this thought.

"But if that's the case, doesn't it mean I can summon the game interface in the real world?"

Zhou Xian's mind was in chaos, so he decided to log out of the game.

"Phew…"

As soon as he left the game, he checked the time. It was 1:00 AM.

Zhou Xian felt his mind was a mess.

"But the most urgent thing now is to investigate the mastermind behind the attacks, and then deal with other matters…"

This was the most pressing issue. Zhou Xian couldn't tolerate anyone hurting his friends and family, so this had to be the top priority.