The King's Avatar Chapter 1125-1129

Chapter 1125: Confirmation

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Everything on Weibo was pure nonsense…

Cheng Siyan zoned out for a while before she came back to her senses. Everyone was just playing around, how could she possibly find what she wanted? This gave her a good reason though. If she had only relied on the nine words that Fang Rui posted on Weibo, then it would be inappropriate for her to ask for confirmation from Wind Howl. But because of the disturbances caused by the pro players, this matter had developed to the point that tens of thousands of Glory fans were talking about this topic. If she didn't seek any information from Wind Howl, she wouldn't have the nosiness a qualified reporter should have.

As a result, Cheng Siyan directly called Club Wind Howl. However, they denied knowing anything about Fang Rui's Weibo and asked her to wait for them to talk with Fang Rui.

This seemed like a response to evade the problem, but that was the actual situation at Club Wind Howl.

Fang Rui's Weibo had been posted late in the night, so the ensuing chaos had taken place in the morning. Wind Howl had only found out then too.

Wind Howl progressed very quickly with their investigation. First, they asked Fang Rui about the situation. His current situation in the team wasn't a secret, so they understood.

After that, they consulted team captain Tang Hao for his opinion, who didn't compromise at all. He didn't have any intentions of forcing Fang Rui away, but he would definitely not give up on his playstyle. Fang Rui hoped he could bring out more of his abilities, but so did Tang Hao. According to Tang Hao, catering to Fang Rui's style wouldn't allow him to perform to the best of his abilities, which was why he wasn't willing to back down.

The club realized that things wouldn't be working out. Since Tang Hao and Fang Rui weren't compatible, they had to sacrifice one of them. Wind Howl made their decision instantly. Tang Hao was their ace they would be relying on for the future, so it was obvious that he couldn't leave. Although Fang Rui had been in the team for several years and was at the peak of his his career, he still had to operate around Tang Hao as the ace. If he couldn't bring out his worth then they could only say sorry to him.

In the end, the boss of Wind Howl personally went to chat with Fang Rui and told him he was allowed to leave. As the number two in the team for the past five years, Wind Howl gave him the respect he deserved.

Fang Rui wasn't surprised about the outcome. After all, this problem hadn't just been a one-time issue, but one that had lasted throughout the entire last season. Neither of them were able to work it out during that entire time. This was probably the final hammer.

"I understand, I completely understand. You don't need to say any more." Fang Rui smiled and didn't listen to the boss' explanation any further. He knew that the club was without a choice as well.

"Alright!" The boss of Wind Howl didn't insist on explaining. "Wherever you want to go, we'll try to make things as convenient as possible for you."

"Hm… let me think about it!" Fang Rui spoke.

"That's fine, we have time." The boss of Wind Howl said.

Indeed, they had time. The transfer window had only opened for half a month. Apart from Excellent Era's large clean-out so far, there were no heavyweight transfers.

Where should I go?

After coming out from the boss's office, Fang Rui was depressed.

He had expected this outcome, but that didn't mean he was ready for it. He actually had to leave Wind Howl, the team he had played on for five years.

Perhaps, five years was only a small part of a person's life, but for many pro players, it might very well be all of it.

Fang Rui believed his situation wasn't bad because the five years that had passed were only a phase in his career. He only needed to find somewhere else and start a new chapter. But where should he go?

Fang Rui thought to himself as he grabbed out his phone. He didn't check his phone since last night, so when he turned it on, someone happened to give a call. He checked his phone and realised it was Cheng Siyan, the team's reporter from Esports Home. Fang Rui predicted what she would ask, but there was no point in hiding from a forthcoming reality. He picked up the phone.

"Are you really leaving?" Cheng Siyan finally waited for Fang Rui to power on his phone, and ended up hearing the exact news.

"Yeah! I'm leaving…" Fang Rui said. His eyes started to look around again.

"Where are you planning to go?" Cheng Siyan asked.

"I haven't decided yet..." Fang Rui said.

"There were a lot of teams inviting you on Weibo!" Cheng Siyan half-joked. The trash talk on Weibo shouldn't be taken seriously.

"Weibo?" Fang Rui was at loss.

"What, you haven't checked it yet?" Cheng Siyan asked.

"Nope!" Fang Rui said.

"Go have a look, it's very… interesting." Cheng Siyan could only come up with this word. "Even Ye Xiu commented on your Weibo."

"Ye Xiu?" Fang Rui was shocked.

"He invited you to Happy!" Cheng Siyan said.

"Happy?" Fang Rui started to ponder.

"Go have a look!" Cheng Siyan said.

Team Happy was scrolling through Weibo instead of playing the game in the morning, which was a rarity for them. But in reality, Ye Xiu left after casually leaving the playful message. Guan Rongfei, who hadn't slept for the whole night, had something important to discuss with him!

Happy still needed to collect their reward for killing the Ghost King from Ghost Lair!

Since they could pick their own materials as their reward, it was obvious that they would ask for the opinion of Guan Rongfei, the senior in charge of Happy's logistics. Since Guan Rongfei was most interested and passionate about the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, he was resolute in selecting materials to upgrade the umbrella. However, in order to upgrade Myriad Manifestation Umbrella to Level 75, Guan Rongfei's plan needed him to only use rare materials. The consumption was excessive, so he was hesitating on which materials to pick and prioritize.

They didn't immediately log out last night because they were waiting for Guan Rongfei to reach a conclusion before collecting the prize. After they had waited for half an hour, they couldn't help but return to their rooms to rest. But after they had returned in the morning, they found Guan Rongfei in front of the computer in the exact same position as last night. His screen was filled with documents and the ground was covered in drafts. This guy didn't know which method he should use to treasure this rare prize of self-selected materials, so he even went as far as to stay up the whole night.

What was even more tragic was that he still couldn't come up with a conclusion after staying up all night.

"Rest for now, we're not in a hurry." Ye Xiu said. They still had a lot of time left to collect their reward.

"Shush shush, I'm about to have an idea." Guan Rongfei stared at the screen and ignored Ye Xiu's suggestion.

Ye Xiu could only leave. After that, Su Mucheng happened to find some gossip as she casually scrolled through her Weibo. Ye Xiu went to have a look and also wrote something.

Ye Xiu posting on his Weibo immediately became an even hotter topic than Fang Rui's transfer. In comparison, the news about Zhao Yang's retirement became even colder. After many of the pro players shared the news along with a few lines of blessings, nothing else was said.

After all, retiring was an emotional event. What made it worse was that Zhao Yang's career was quite tragic. Even if a person was extremely dirty, shameless, or inhuman, they wouldn't have the energy to ridicule Zhao Yang.

Although they were opponents onstage, they were still friends outside of the match. It didn't matter whether one was close or distant, when he retired, it meant a permanent departure. They would never see this person on stage again in the future. During this time, everyone shared the same emotions.

Goodbye!

You'll be missed!

Blessings!

Good luck!

Apart from these words, what else could be said?

That was why Fang Rui's four-word post and five-word reply on his Weibo were able to stir up such a big reaction between the professional players. Even if he were going to transfer, who hadn't witnessed this before? When had something like this ever caused so much excitement on Weibo?

This situation was in fact an excuse that allowed them to shift their attention as well as let out their emotions. Perhaps retiring was even more saddening for them than death. None of them wanted to retire, nor would they want to see anyone else retire. Unfortunately, this was a point in life in which each of them had to face. It would happen sooner or later, just like how everyone's life would eventually wither away.

As a result, everyone messed around with Fang Rui. When they discovered Ye Xiu had posted, they also started to mess with him too. However, Ye Xiu was called over by Guan Rongfei, who said he had an idea and wanted Ye Xiu to give advice.

"Go ahead," Ye Xiu said after he came over.

"These." Guan Rongfei handed a piece of scratch paper to Ye Xiu, which had his requirements written illegibly and spaced out. The reward for this extra event was to have each of the five members select five materials, as well as a piece of Orange equipment. In total, that would be 25 materials and five pieces of Orange equipments. What Guan Rongfei had been trying so hard to plan was obviously the materials. What surprised Ye Xiu was that he even spent a whole night thinking about it. If it were up to him, he would have picked materials with higher priority. It shouldn't be this hard to pick, right? But when Ye Xiu received and looked over the messy list written by Guan Rongfei, he couldn't understand his reasoning.

"I think these should be enough," Guan Rongfei said.

"Enough? What's enough?" Ye Xiu couldn't understand.

"I want to do an experiment," Guan Rongfei said.

"Experiment?" Ye Xiu said.

"Hm… an important experiment that will determine my plan for the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella. Only if this works can the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella continue with the established plan. If not, I'm afraid I will need to make adjustments," Guan Rongfei said.

"What experiment? You've never mentioned it before." Ye Xiu said.

"You'll know soon enough," Guan Rongfei said.

"Then what am I supposed to look at?" Ye Xiu asked, holding up the ragged piece of scratch paper.

"Look? Who told you to look? Take the list of items and bring me the materials!" Guan Rongfei said.

Ye Xiu's face darkened. After all this time, this master hadn't called him over for advice, but rather for him to go over and get the materials.

"Right, I'll collect the rewards. Are you about to start?" Ye Xiu said.

"No no, I have to rest for a while. Collect it and leave it there for now, I'll deal with it at night. This must not go wrong." Guan Rongfei ended up talking to himself when he reached the end of his sentence. He then left without looking at Ye Xiu.

This wasn't the first day that Ye Xiu had met him, so he wasn't surprised by his attitude. He took out the list of items and collected five materials for each of the five characters who participated in yesterday's battle. After he collected them according to the list, he transferred them all to Lord Grim's account for safekeeping. They were upgrading the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, so it was obvious that they would be using Lord Grim's account.

After that, new information about Fang Rui came out. After Club Wind Howl had finished sorting out the internal problems, they officially announced and confirmed that Fang Rui would be leaving the team this summer.

Chapter 1126: Boundless Sea

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

The news was released on Team Wind Howl's official Weibo, so the pro players who were currently active on Weibo were the first to know.

Fang Rui was really going to transfer?

Everyone was stunned. They were just joking around earlier, who would have thought that the news was actually true?

Transfers were a different kind of departure. Even though it wasn't a permanent farewell like retirement was, but to be teammates one day and opponents the next wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Professional spirit, professionalism. It sounded simple, but everyone was human, and what kind of human didn't have emotions? The so-called professionalism was, at its core, simply the ability to control and control one's emotions.

Perhaps some people might enjoy leaving their original team and leap towards the future. But Fang Rui, everyone believed, was not that kind of person. Everyone saw and understood the problems between Fang Rui and Wind Howl. He only left out of helplessness. He personally felt wronged, and the team also felt that it was a pity too.

So as soon as the news was revealed to be true, people couldn't joke any longer.

After seeing that this news was confirmed, Chen Guo suddenly became nervous.

"Can we get him to our team?" Chen Guo asked.

Ye Xiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You can't just toss a good vegetable into our basket as soon as you see it! You have to see if it fits in or not. After all, we're not a recycling station."

Recycling station… A recycling station is for trash, okay? This is an All Star we're talking about here! Chen Guo resisted the urge to complain aloud.

"We don't need his dirty playing?" But as soon as the words left her mouth, Chen Guo stopped. She looked at Ye Xiu. And then she looked over at Wei Chen, who was casually dangling a slipper from one foot as he sat in front of his computer, smoking a cigarette.

Happy might lack many things, but dirty play certainly wasn't one of them.

What was the point in getting Fang Rui over here? Compete to see who could be the most shameless? Make a team that had shamelessness as its core playstyle, once and for all?

Just thinking about organizing a team like that, Chen Guo couldn't help but shiver. Let's just pass on him, she thought.

But after Ye Xiu finished, he immediately went back to join in on the fun.

Because the news was confirmed, the Weibo war that had entertained countless fans had suddenly quieted down. But in this calm, Ye Xiu, theat man with ten million followers, zero following, and one post, suddenly made his second post.

"So you're really transferring? Happy is absolutely your best choice. Team of champions, master of kings!"

Fuck!

You just couldn't resist?

A team that just emerged from the Challenger League was a "team of champions, master of kings"? Then what did that make everyone else?

"Tiny Herb, winner of two championships." Wang Jiexi wrote in an entirely neutral tone. Now that Excellent Era was no longer in the Alliance, two-time champion was an extremely impressive accomplishment.

"Samsara, winner of two championships in a row." Jiang Botao's follow-up was immediate. Repeating Wang Jiexi's words but adding "in a row" immediately made this accomplishment seem that much greater.

"Tiny Herb wasn't able to defend their title because they lost to the number one team in the universe, Blue Rain!" As expected of the master opportunist Huang Shaotian, he seized the chance to interject with his extraordinary hand speed. Blue Rain's sole championship, originally seemingly weaker than the others, was suddenly lifted in importance.

"Tyranny has your oldest and most familiar partner." Zhang Jiale also joined in on the fun, playing the emotion card because of Lin Jingyan's presence in the team.

"Yup, really quite old…" Then someone below immediately came out of nowhere and made this reply. Zhang Jiale was so mad he wanted to spit blood, but it was just an ordinary player, how could he get into an argument with someone like that?

In an instant, Weibo was suddenly lively again. But it was still unclear as to which, if any, of these teams were serious in their comments.

Because of Fang Rui's skill and status, if he transferred to another team, there was no way he would just be a substitute. He himself wouldn't be willing, and it would be a waste for the team.

His arrival would require his new team to undergo a huge readjustment, and this wasn't something that could be clarified in just a few words. When a team invited a new player, they would first perform thorough analysis and observation of the player. As Ye Xiu said, it wasn't a matter of tossing all the good vegetables into the basket, you had to see if you could use this vegetable to create a suitable taste.

After Fang Rui's confirmed transfer, there were immediately people pulling him this way and that, but it was impossible to gauge their sincerity.

Those that were actually interested in Fang Rui were likely gathered in intense discussion among the entire team. This was no small matter.

After people chattered on Weibo for a while longer, it finally quieted down once and for all. To make a deal right here right now was obviously impossible.

Fang Rui was going to transfer, but where he would end up wasn't something that could be decided in a short amount of time.

However, as Chen Guo watched Ye Xiu rile up the other pros, she suddenly started wondering again. Other teams had managers and bosses and many departments, all of which would need to be consulted for a matter like this. But Happy wasn't so complex and didn't have so many workers. She, the boss, was the "tossing good vegetables into basket" type of person as Ye Xiu put it, and the others like Tang Rou and Steamed Bun were just rookies and didn't have much to contribute on this end. So for issues like this, Ye Xiu was essentially the sole decision-maker, with Wei Chen occasionally giving his opinions from the side.

The other pro players were just playing around; their words didn't have any weight. But Ye Xiu wasn't the same, because in practice, he held the same power in Happy as Lou Guanning did in Heavenly Swords. They were each a pro player, but also the decision-making boss.

"This Fang Rui, do we want him or not?" Chen Guo asked.

"We don't," Ye Xiu said, smiling as he shook his head.

"Wouldn't he raise the ability of our team?" Chen Guo asked. All this time, she was trying to learn more. Although her ability at playing Glory probably wouldn't improve, she wanted to increase her knowledge and analytic ability to be a competent leader of Team Happy.

"He would," Ye Xiu said. "For a player with his skill, as long as you give him enough freedom, he would raise the ability of any team. But for us, his relative value is too low. An All Star player, and we'd have to get him an All Star account, how much investment would that take? And there's the price of his contract, too. If we did this, we'd be putting all of our eggs in one basket. There's no need for us to be stuck on this one tree for so long."

After hearing this, Chen Guo understood. In the end, it came down to the fact that Happy didn't have enough funds. The 5 million award from winning the Challenger League was already split among all the players, and as for the other funds from broadcasting and sponsorship deals and such, Happy currently had around 12 million in usable funds. Wei Chen also had 18 million himself, and he had said that this was his investment in the team and available to use. But neither Chen Guo nor Ye Xiu wanted to use Wei Chen's personal money.

12 million...

Since Fang Rui was already confirmed to be leaving Wind Howl, then even though he was an All Star, the price wouldn't be too high. But if Fang Rui were to come, he would have to have a suitable account. If they also wanted to get the All Star character Doubtful Demon, then 12 million might be barely enough, if that. And there was no way that Fang Rui would be like Ye Xiu and the others, who played without caring about income. He would definitely want a competitive contract. Fang Rui currently had an annual salary of 650,000 with Wind Howl, since he was still in his prime. He wasn't being transferred because of declining skill, so there was no reason for him to shrink his contract. With all of that, even if Happy were to tap into Wei Chen's 18 million, getting Fang Rui over would really put Happy into a predicament. Happy also had daily expenses, and all of its existing members still had to sign competitive contracts. Wu Chen needed a salary for managing the guild too. And there was still the issue of a lack of a stadium, which Happy had yet to resolve.

"Then what are you still causing this ruckus here for?" After thinking over all of that, Chen Guo knew they wouldn't be able to get Fang Rui. But she also didn't believe that Ye Xiu was just doing this all for fun - this guy always did things with a purpose.

"Haha. Let everyone have some fun together!" Ye Xiu said.

"And then?" Chen Guo wasn't discouraged. Ye Xiu definitely had an ulterior motive.

Indeed, on Ye Xiu's screen was a page displaying news of Zhao Yang's retirement. "We can think about getting the character Boundless Sea."

"Boundless Sea, Qi Master? Do we need it?" Chen Guo was surprised.

"It's at least more reliable than trying to get Fang Rui," said Ye Xiu.

"Would Seaside let the account go just like that?" Chen Guo asked. Boundless Sea had special significance to Seaside. It was like One Autumn Leaf and Excellent Era, or Vaccaria and Tiny Herb. The value of such a character wasn't just in the power of the character or its equipment - this was a team's soul and core. One would have to buy the other party's feelings and memories with this account as well, and the price for that would only ever be high, never low.

"I think there should be a chance," Ye Xiu said.

"Why?"

"If Seaside still had strong aspirations, I think that they wouldn't have had Zhao Yang retire just like this," said Ye Xiu.

After all, Wang Jiexi and Yang Cong, who had debuted the same year as Zhao Yang, were both still fighting. But a team without aspiration would let their core player retire; a team without aspiration, similarly, wouldn't needlessly cling to their core character.

Ye Xiu understood this. While others were still discussing as to which Qi Master player Seaside would recruit to replace Zhao Yang, he was pondering as to how to obtain Seaside's core character for Happy.

"Mm… what if other teams think the same thing and try to compete for it?" Chen Guo asked. Transferring accounts wasn't as complex a process as transferring players, since there were no personal preferences involved. Accounts weren't alive, the clubs could sell them wherever they wanted. So if there was competition, the price would just go up. This was therefore a difficult issue for Happy.

"Haha, think about it," Ye Xiu laughed. "Among the current powerhouse teams, which ones have Qi Masters on their main roster?"

Chen Guo blinked. With this question, the first team that popped into her mind was actually Excellent Era.

Player Guo Yang, character Qi Breaker, a first-string member of Excellent Era. Chen Guo had been a fan of Excellent Era, so she was of course familiar with him. But then...

"Wind Howl and Blue Rain." Ye Xiu answered for Chen Guo. "Last season, of the eight playoff teams, only these two teams had Qi Masters in their rosters. Wind Howl's Qi Master was from Excellent Era, this wasn't a class they originally had. He didn't integrate well over the past season, he often couldn't contribute much, so it's more likely that Wind Howl would give up on their Qi Master. As for Blue Rain, their Qi Master Receding Tides is fairly strong, so they might want to buy some equipment that they don't already have off Boundless Sea. But they probably wouldn't directly incorporate Boundless Sea into their team, that sort of base level change isn't their style."

"So that's to say, we don't have any big competitors when it comes to Boundless Sea?" Chen Guo said.

Chapter 1127: Guan Rongfei’s Experiment

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

The news about the two All Stars meant that this day was fated to be no ordinary day. However, for many, business had to continue as usual. Today was the seventh and last day of the Ghost Parade.

Since luck was crucial in the Ghost Parade, everyone's ranking fluctuated. However, due to the immense difference in the skill level between pro players and normal players, the effects of luck between the two were eliminated. The daily and overall rankings were dominated by pro players.

The last day.

On the overall rankings, Deception still held the first place. Those who managed to rank at the top of the overall rankings had great luck over all six days of the event. Out of over a hundred pro players, the only two who had continuous good luck was Mo Fan at first place and Zhang Jiale at second. As for the pro accounts after them, they had two or three days of bad luck, resulting in a large gap between their scores.

It seemed that the first place overall would be one of these two. However, the current situation had Zhang Jiale almost crying.

Second! Second again! He was second even in an online event; what kind of fate was this? Zhang Jiale was close to vomiting. Why did this world taunt him like this?

Zhang Jiale clenched his fist, sat in front of his computer and waiting for the last day of the event to start. But, something like luck couldn't be changed just by being diligent!

At exactly seven PM, the event began. On the last day, the number of ghosts had reached an unprecedented peak, and the players were immediately thrown into anxious hurrying.

Zhang Jiale wanted to get first place, so Tyrannical Ambition would naturally provide him with support. For example, from the very beginning, they had arranged for helpers around Dazzling Hundred Blossoms who would help him find ghosts. 

With help, Zhang Jiale had gotten off to a good start. However, after that wave, the effects of his helpers had weakened, because they also relied on luck to find ghosts. Having more people didn't mean having better luck. Though spreading out would increase their chances, as they spread out further and further, it became impossible for Dazzling Hundred Blossoms to run between them.

In the end, he still had to rely on himself. Zhang Jiale had Dazzling Hundred Blossoms dart about before slowly coming to a realization that he had been overtaken with bad luck.

His search for ghosts was extremely unsuccessful. Zhang Jiale could only hope that Deception was having an equally difficult time, but when he took a look at the ranking, Deception was still above him and had gained an even larger lead.

Apart from raising a monster, there was no other way to turn the tides.

Tyranny had a monster-feeding team, carefully and quietly preparing to raise one. They didn't need it to be anything amazing, just enough to send Dazzling Hundred Blossoms to first place. However, the guilds all knew to be aware of this sort of thing, so it was very hard to hide one. In the end, Zhang Jiale received a message saying that their monster had been found and they had been forced to kill it. It was better than feeding it to their opponents.

There was nothing more he could do.

Looking at the rankings, Zhang Jiale sighed. His luck was really quite abysmal today. In the daily rankings, he hadn't even managed to squeeze into the top five. On the other hand, Deception was sitting comfortably at third place, fortune still in his favor.

There was really no helping with something like luck.

The number of ghosts was continuously decreasing. After the easter egg had been triggered yesterday, the guilds all hoped they would get another chance. Thus, the competition for ghosts was even more intense. What mattered first and foremost wasn't if they could find all the ghosts, but maintaining a spot in the top five, or else they wouldn't even have a chance.

At ten that night, the number of ghosts fell to a two digit number and by then, the top five positions were stable already. Deception was still third, and everyone could tell that this was a guy whose luck had persisted for all seven days, much to their envy. Apart from him, the first, second, fourth and fifth were Blossoming Chaos, Angelica, Firebird Messenger, and Combat Form respectively.

Blossoming Chaos was Yu Feng and Angelica was Xu Bin, two All Star level players.

Firebird Messenger was Thunderclap's Dai Yanqi, the runner up for Best Rookie of the eighth season, and an Elementalist like the one who had ended up with the award, Zhao Yuzhe.

As for Combat Form… this character had appeared in the top five for the first time, but had been noticed long ago by everyone. After all, the skill difference between normal players and pro players was very apparent. This person was definitely pro level.

Not many were familiar with this character, but everyone knew that this was a young man from the old Excellent Era called Qiu Fei.

Excellent Era had already fallen, so why was he still here?

No one would hold in this curiosity for a full seven days. They had gone to check when they first started wondering. It was then that they had found out that Excellent Era was still there.

Excellent Era had survived, but it no longer held any of its previous splendor. The new owner clearly didn't have all that many funds, and the Excellent Era he had bought was basically just a skeleton. However, there were two very clear points to this. Of the original players of Excellent Era, he had managed to keep the young man called Qiu Fei as well as his Battle Mage Combat Form. In addition, he had managed to retain Excellent Dynasty.

This Excellent Era was clearly not a powerhouse anymore, but they didn't seem to be nearly as weak as a grassroots team. Just what Excellent Dynasty could accomplish alone was impressive. The players remaining in Excellent Era were extremely united and loyal, especially after the dire situation they had gone through. They would work hard to bring Excellent Era back off the ground.

Maybe it wouldn't be long before they would face Excellent Era on the battlefield again. That was what many people thought, but no one voiced it.

The number of ghosts continued to decrease at a slower and slower rate. In the past, pro players would have logged off by now. What little was remaining wouldn't be able to do much to their score. However, now that they knew of the existence of the easter egg, the top five pro players would stay for longer, until the event ended.

By 11:23, the number of ghosts paused at three.

There was three left, thirty-seven minutes left! The top five had already started forming parties, yet as time ticked by, the number three never changed. Even until the end, when midnight struck and the event ended, the easter egg quest had never been triggered.

On the final overall rankings, Deception stood at first place, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms at second. However, the halo of second place clearly overpowered first place. This was because Dazzling Hundred Blossoms was Zhang Jiale, the guy who had gotten who knew how many second places. Although everyone knew that Zhang Jiale would be upset at this result, many people still came to lament over it. However, Zhang Jiale had already logged off by then.

Everyone had claimed their daily ranking prizes daily. The overall ranking prizes on the last day were, naturally, the best. The number one Deception had obtained three pieces of level 75 Orange equipment, fifteen rare materials, thirty Fuji Heaven Stones that could be used to repair the durability of level 75 weapons, a fifty point skill book, and a significant amount of gold.

The other characters also gained rewards proportional to their final rankings.

However, currently, at Team Happy, Ye Xiu didn't have the time to spare for these rewards, because after sleeping a whole day, Guan Rongfei had finally come back. Ye Xiu hadn't forgotten that this guy had said he needed to conduct an extremely important experiment.

"Have you gathered all the materials?" As expected, that was the first thing Guan Rongfei asked.

"Everything's been prepared." Ye Xiu followed him to the R&D room. Guan Rongfei didn't stop him. The others were curious but had the clarity of mind to not follow them inside, whispering to each other outside.

"What sort of experiment is it?" Seeing Guan Rongfei sit and turn on the laptop, Ye Xiu couldn't help but ask this.

"I'm trying to create a bonus effect," Guan Rongfei said.

"What effect?" Ye Xiu was stunned. The effects on a piece of equipment would naturally determine what use the equipment had. In creating Silver weaponry, usually, the players themselves would ask for the effect they wanted and then the R&D team would go about trying to create it. Of course, rookies probably wouldn't have this sort of treatment and could only do their best to adapt to the current equipment and accounts in the club. However, Ye Xiu, no matter what, had the right to dictate what sort of equipment he had. Thus, the current situation was rather strange. Guan Rongfei was dead set on creating an effect, but Ye Xiu didn't know what it was. None of the effects he had suggested before required so much.

Twenty-five pieces of rare materials! 

"Lowering the level requirement." Guan Rongfei didn't bother to act mysterious and gave Ye Xiu the information he wanted.

"Lower the level requirement?" Ye Xiu naturally understood what this effect was, but, "Why would we want…"

"I'm going to upgrade the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella directly to level 80!" Before Ye Xiu finished his question, Guan Rongfei gave him his answer.

"Upgrade to level 80?" Ye Xiu was dumbstruck. Apart from someone like Guan Rongfei, very rarely did people manage to surprise him so.

Currently, characters only went up to level 75. If the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was upgraded to level 80, then it would be impossible to equip. Thus, it needed the effect of lowering the level requirement. This effect was rather common on usual equipment, but the pro circle had probably never looked into creating such an effect. This was because this was an effect used while still levelling up. For characters that were at max level, it was useless.

However, Guan Rongfei said that he could create level 80 equipment when the level limit was still 75. Then that effect would naturally be key.

"You're crazy, how is that possible?" Ye Xiu was simply surprised, but he had no doubt that it was possible because he believed in Guan Rongfei's ability. If the other brought it up, then there was a possibility. 

"It's impossible for other equipment, but not for the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella," Guan Rongfei said.

"Why?"

"This is something I've researched for a long time, but I haven't managed to find a way to realize it on any piece of equipment. I've realized that what was preventing any breakthrough was the fact that there were too few materials used to make the equipment, so it doesn't have the ability to create such a powerful effect. However, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, this extremely complex piece of equipment can't be compared to normal equipment. After careful study of the materials, I believe that the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella can breakthrough to level 80. However, before that, I have to test out creating the effect of 'lowering the level requirement by 5' with level 75 materials."

"Alright! Go ahead!" Ye Xiu handed over Lord Grim's account card. Guan Rongfei logged in and went directly for the equipment editor. He was much more familiar with the operation of the equipment editor than Ye Xiu.

"I'm going to start now." After that last sentence, Guan Rongfei focused on operating the editor

Chapter 1128: Former Teammate

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Ye Xiu and Guan Rongfei shut themselves in the R&D room. Although no one else went to watch, they were all very curious as to what the result would be. So, even though Ghost Parade had ended, everyone lingered in the training room.

After tossing around some random guesses without much success, everyone quickly started talking about what had happened today.

"Seeing him stirring up all that ruckus, I thought he wanted to try and get Fang Rui over here. But in the end, it turned out he was after Boundless Sea," Chen Guo said, with a bit of resentment at Ye Xiu's sneakiness.

"Boundless Sea? The Qi Master?" That caught Wei Chen's attention, and he glanced over at Su Mucheng. After hearing Chen Guo speak, Su Mucheng also lifted her head, and it looked like there was something on her mind.

"Yeah! He said that the current strong teams wouldn't be interested in Boundless Sea, so it'd be easier for us to compete." Chen Guo said.

"Is that the only reason?" Wei Chen smiled.

"Is it not?" Chen Guo was puzzled.

"Weren't you an Excellent Era fan in the past?" Wei Chen asked.

"Huh?" Chen Guo was thrown off by this seemingly unrelated question.

"A fan of Ye Qiu?" Wei Chen continued to ask.

"Um…" Chen Guo's reply was vague. Now that she was familiar with Ye Xiu, if she admitted this, wouldn't that boost his ego? Chen Guo didn't want to make him even more arrogant! But she had no way of denying the reality of her past.

"Then when Excellent Era won three championships in a row, don't you know who the partner standing by Ye Xiu's side was?"

"Huh?" Chen Guo had to think. In reality, by the time she had become a fan of Excellent Era, their dynasty had already ended. And the first player she had liked wasn't Ye Xiu, but Su Mucheng. Her support for Ye Xiu and Excellent Era didn't come until after she had become a fan of Su Mucheng.

Of course, as a fan of Excellent Era, she couldn't completely forget about Excellent Era's golden age of three championships. With Wei Chen's reminder, she suddenly remembered.

When Excellent Era won three championships in a row, Team Excellent Era did not yet have Su Mucheng. They didn't have Dancing Rain, nor did they have a Launcher.

However, One Autumn Leaf didn't fight alone. In that era, standing by his side were his reliable teammates, and the one that was mentioned the most was a player named Wu Xuefeng. And this player's class was Qi Master, account Qi Breaker.

All of this suddenly surfaced in Chen Guo's mind.

One Autumn Leaf, Qi Breaker, the partnership that had dominated the Alliance for three years. Launcher? That only came after. The first character who had stood beside the Battle God was a Qi Master!

Wu Xuefeng retired after Excellent Era's three championships. Chen Guo, who had only become a fan afterwards, had only heard mention of his name. But even just hearing about this was enough to get one fired up. Ye Xiu intended to get a Qi Master, and Chen Guo now felt the significance behind that.

"Is Wu Xuefeng returning?" Chen Guo was excited. The partnership that had swept the Alliance for three years, if it could be recreated, then how thrilling would that be? But Chen Guo had forgotten, the character that Ye Xiu now controlled was no longer the Battle Mage One Autumn Leaf.

"Him? Probably not!" As a first-generation player, Wei Chen of course knew Wu Xuefeng personally.

"Why not?" asked Chen Guo.

"Not long after retiring, he went abroad. Never heard any news about him again," said Wei Chen.

"Maybe Ye Xiu contacted him?" Chen Guo said.

"Even if he did, you shouldn't be too excited. That guy's even older than me! Otherwise why else would he retire? Although he was very lucky, he had Ye Xiu beside him. His slipping condition was completely hidden by Ye Xiu's continual improvement. Damn, if I'd been in Excellent Era then, maybe I also could have stumbled upon three championships." There was a trace of envy and indignance in Wei Chen's words.

Chen Guo processed this information. She didn't say anything at first, but instead searched up Wu Xuefeng's name on the Internet. Chen Guo realized that she knew very little about this former Excellent Era player. When speaking of Excellent Era's championship days, people generally only talked about Ye Xiu and his One Autumn Leaf, and Chen Guo was like everyone else, only paying attention to the Battle God.

There wasn't too much information online about Wu Xuefeng. After all, the Alliance was still being established during that period and hadn't reached the level of influence it had now. Back then, the Glory pro scene was very small. However, the development of the Glory Alliance was incredibly rapid, which was evident from the increasing amount of news from each season as the years progressed.

Season 3, another championship, establishing a dynasty, there was much discussion about these topics. But as for topics about Wu Xuefeng, Chen Guo didn't see the respect given to a hero. More people discussed his luck, the luck of becoming Ye Xiu's helper.

"If I'd been in Excellent Era, maybe I also could have stumbled upon three championships."

Chen Guo discovered that Wei Chen's statement just now was a popular sentiment back then. Even an ordinary player dared say this. This was a great compliment to Ye Xiu's strength, but it was disrespectful toward Wu Xuefeng and the other members of Excellent Era. Sadly, Chen Guo searched for quite a while, but couldn't find an honest and reliable analysis.

"It wasn't like that." At this moment, Su Mucheng's voice came from right next to her. Chen Guo turned her head, and saw that Su Mucheng was also looking at the archived news on the screen.

"Wu Xuefeng was an outstanding player," Su Mucheng said. "Without him, Excellent Era wouldn't have won its three championships."

"Ye Xiu said this?" Chen Guo asked.

Su Mucheng nodded.

"Then would he come back?" Chen Guo asked, pointing at Wu Xuefeng's name on her screen.

"Don't know." Su Mucheng shook her head.

No one knew. And the one who had the most direct interactions with Wu Xuefeng, aside from Ye Xiu, was of course Wei Chen.

"That guy…" After being asked, Wei Chen began to search through his memories. "He was truly a guy who relied on his brain and not his hands to fight matches. That might be the reason why he maintained his condition better than I did, even though he was clearly older than me!" Wei Chen gave his serious opinion, which showed that his "if I'd been in Excellent Era" statement was just his automatic trash talk. He didn't disregard Wu Xuefeng's personal contributions to Excellent Era's success.

"He used his brain?"

"Experience. Awareness. Accurate judgment. Precise technique," Wei Chen said.

"Then why did he retire?" Chen Guo asked.

"Please, his condition was only a little better than mine! His age was hanging right there. To be able to play those three years was already his limit," Wei Chen said.

After he said that, Wei Chen crouched in front of the computer. "There should still be some old match videos of him online!"

There really weren't many recordings from matches that had occurred years and years ago. But Excellent Era was at the peak back then, so their matches were more likely to be recorded and thus comparably easier to find now. Wei Chen soon found one, and Chen Guo realized that it was actually a video she had watched before. But just looking at the title of the video, it was obvious that this video wasn't saved to remember Wu Xuefeng.

Ye Qiu, One Autumn Leaf. It seemed as though the Excellent Era of that time period had left behind only these two names. And Chen Guo had been the same, only paying attention to the Battle God's playing and completely forgetting about the Battle God's teammates. Was there some stand-out performance in this match? Chen Guo had no recollection.

The video quickly began playing. Although the quality wasn't very good, Chen Guo still immediately found One Autumn Leaf. But what about Wu Xuefeng's Qi Breaker?

"Hm, seems like he's not in view right now…" Wei Chen said, regretful.

Soon, the two teams in the video began launching attacks. Excellent Era's opponent in this match was a team formerly at the summit, Royal Style.

Peaceful Hermit!

Chen Guo quickly discovered another God-level character. The scythe in his hand flashed with the light and fire of vanquishing demons. A Spirit Guidance was used, and a twisting arc flew into the midst of Excellent Era's formation.

Open battle!

Chen Guo became entirely engrossed in the God-level faceoff between One Autumn Leaf and Peaceful Hermit, until Wei Chen suddenly pointed at the screen and shouted, "He appeared! Right there!"

"Ah?" Chen Guo shook herself as though awakening from a dream, and remembered why she was watching this video in the first place.

Qi Breaker finally appeared on screen. He was currently moving around constantly, his body occasionally vanishing from view. Because the video was entirely focused on Ye Xiu and One Autumn Leaf, the camera didn't move to follow anyone else.

"How sneaky!" This was Wei Chen's appraisal of Qi Breaker's changing position.

"Did he also play dirty?" asked Chen Guo.

"Not exactly." said Wei Chen. "His playstyle was whatever suited the situation best."

The screen still showed the fight between One Autumn Leaf and Peaceful Hermit. But suddenly, Peaceful Hermit flew horizontally, out of view.

The camera immediately swiveled to follow, and so Chen Guo saw that Qi Breaker had used a Cloud Grasping Fist to abruptly pull Peaceful Hermit away from the middle of his fierce battle with One Autumn Leaf.

"Fuck, what a pig of a teammate!!!" A scrolling comment** suddenly appeared onscreen.

"He interrupted One Autumn Leaf's attack rhythm, how overbearing!"

"His brain must be underwater."

Before the fourth comment could appear, Wei Chen turned off the scrolling comments. "A bunch of idiots," he scoffed. "Just now, if Qi Breaker hadn't pulled Peaceful Hermit away, One Autumn Leaf would have been in trouble. Did you see it?"

Chen Guo felt her face redden, because she hadn't seen anything at all. In that moment, her thought process reflected the sentiments of the scrolling comments. She also thought that Qi Breaker's sudden Cloud Grasping Fist had interrupted Ye Xiu's rhythm. If you wanted to coordinate then just directly attack, why pull Peaceful Hermit out of One Autumn Leaf's attack range?

"So you see, he always appeared when he was most needed. Truly a reliable helper." Wei Chen continued to give his analysis.

"To get Boundless Sea, I think… Wu Xuefeng wouldn't come back, Ye Xiu's probably thinking of finding another helper!" said Wei Chen.

"Oh, then who?" Chen Guo asked. Ye Xiu must have given some thought as to who to ask!

As she was thinking, she suddenly heard two loud shouts from the R&D room.

"Shit!"

"Fuck!"

Neither Ye Xiu nor Guan Rongfei were the type to lose control easily. What happened? Everyone immediately crowded around to look.

In the R&D room, Ye Xiu and Guan Rongfei were staring at the computer screen, wordless.

On the screen, Lord Grim's Myriad Manifestation Umbrella was flashing through its various forms, but the lowest line on its list of stats didn't change.

Equipment Required Level -4…

Chapter 1129: Many Monks But Not Much Gruel

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Glory equipment was separated every 5 levels. Characters weren't though, so lowering the equipment required level didn't necessarily have to be by 5. From the effect bonuses on current equipment, lowering the equipment required level between 1 to 5 levels was possible.

But Guan Rongfei was upgrading the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella. Apart from lowering the equipment required level by 5, any other effect was useless. It meant that this upgrade was a failure.

"What exactly went wrong?" Guan Rongfei muttered to himself. He had checked all of the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella's forms. Every single form had this effect, and all of them lowered the equipment required level by 4.

At this moment, Chen Guo and the others had gathered here, asking what had happened.

Ye Xiu explained. No one cared about the experiment's failure. All of them were shocked. Level 75 was the level cap, but Guan Rongfei had wanted to produce a Level 80 equipment. What sort of imagination did this guy have?　　

"Look at my Death's Hand!" This was the first thing Wei Chen said after recovering from his shock.

"No. Apart from the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, it isn't possible." Guan Rongfei shook his head. He didn't seem to care about the discussion that everyone else was having. He had already buried his head back into research again.　　

Ye Xiu and everyone else quietly left the room. After regaining their composure, they began expressing their regret towards this failed experiment.

"The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella isn't ruined, is it?" Chen Guo asked.

"No." Ye Xiu said. It could be considered as a fortune among misfortune. The experiment failed, but the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella's intrinsic functions hadn't been ruined. There was just an extra useless effect.

"How reckless! Why'd you directly start with the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella? Experiment with other equipment first before trying to do something like lower the required level!" Chen Guo said.

"That step had been completed long ago. The current focus is to get all of the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella's forms to have this stat. This step has been completed too actually. It's just that a problem occurred with the stat effect itself." Ye Xiu said.

"Then it'll definitely be possible at Level 80?" Chen Guo said.

"This… before we can ascertain that we can get this stat bonus, it's not convenient to test. If not, if we get it to Level 80 but there was only a reduction of 4 levels, how am I supposed to use it?" Ye Xiu said.

The experiment had failed.

When Ye Xiu and Guan Rongfei saw that the equipment required level had only been lowered by 5, they also felt grieved and frustrated. But the two quickly regained their calm. After all, there were many positives gained from this failure.

They couldn't help with this matter, so they quickly shifted the topic to the Qi Master.

"Wu Xuefeng? We haven't stayed in touch after he retired. I don't know!" Ye Xiu dispelled Chen Guo's guess. Sure enough, he had no intentions of looking for this old general to return.

"Then after we get Boundless Sea, who are we going to find to use it?" Chen Guo asked.　　

"We have to choose very carefully. Do you guys have any suggestions?" Ye Xiu asked.

Chen Guo coughed blood: "Don't you already have an idea?"

"Did I say that?" Ye Xiu was puzzled.

"Don't make things up!" Ye Xiu said to Chen Guo.

"I…"

"Let's analyze the current Qi Masters in the pro scene." Ye Xiu said.　　

Chen Guo understood. This transfer would be a transfer starting from scratch, from character to player.

"We have to get Boundless Sea first though." Ye Xiu said.

"What if we get Boundless Sea but can't find anyone?" Chen Guo couldn't help but ask.

"That shouldn't happen." Ye Xiu said, "An All Star character should be very attractive to pro players. Seeing the current circumstances in the pro scene, I don't think it will be too difficult to snatch an outstanding Qi Master player."

"What do you mean by circumstances?" Chen Guo didn't understand.

"Many monks but not much gruel." Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo stared blankly. She didn't continue asking about it. She was also trying to consciously train herself to be a better boss.

Many monks but not much gruel?

Chen Guo pondered over this phrase. Soon, she started to understand what Ye Xiu meant.

Among last season's top eight teams, there were only two Qi Masters. What's more, Team Wind Howl's Guo Yang wasn't in an important position on the team either. In the playoffs, the only active Qi Master was Team Blue Rain's Song Xiao.

Getting into the playoffs and fighting for the championship title was the dream of every pro player. But for Qi Masters, the current circumstances weren't good for them. Including the retiring All Star, Zhao Yang, the Qi Masters were on weak teams without any hopes for the playoffs. And in the powerhouses, none of them had any open positions for Qi Masters.

Zhao Yang had been fighting with Seaside for seven years. Admittedly, a part of that was because of his stubbornness, but a part of that was also because he didn't have many good choices.

This was the current situation for all Qi Masters. Even if they were outstanding players, they were being held back by weak teams. They may want to join a top team, but the top teams didn't have Qi Masters, so there was no opening for them.

Most pro players might not look too highly upon a new team like Team Happy, who lacked resources. However, Qi Masters didn't have any better choices. And perhaps Happy might truly have a bright future.

Thinking of all of this, Chen Guo felt like she had improved greatly. She at least understood that transfers weren't like buying vegetables at the supermarket. It was a lot more complex than that.

Three days later, while everyone was still focused on Fang Rui, the All Star character Boundless Sea was bought by Team Happy for 5.5 million. Everyone was shocked.

They weren't surprised that Happy could take out this sum of money. After all, winning the Challenger League earned them a good amount of money. A price of 5.5 million was relatively cheap for an All Star character, but when considering the current circumstances for Qi Masters as well as Team Seaside's current situation, it was a reasonable price.

After Zhao Yang retired, news related to Team Seaside quickly came out.

Fans would always be proud because of their All Star player or character in their team, but they would never think that sometimes their All Stars would be the burden of their team.

Team Seaside was in this situation. They were a small team. Whether it was a contract for an All Star player or creating an All Star character, it was a huge investment for them. And ever since their start in season three, they had always been doing their utmost to keep up this investment.　　

They had once been proud because of their All Star player and character, but they gradually realized that as they maintained this pride, the growth of the team became more and more unbalanced. A single skilled player and character wasn't enough to help them win more. When they tried improving their other players and characters, they discovered that because of Zhao Yang and Boundless Sea, they no longer had the resources to invest in anything else.

In a nutshell, Team Seaside was a small team with a big team's mindset. They had insisted on this unsuitable management style for seven years. They had hesitated and paced back and forth. It wasn't until this summer, when a new manager took office in Team Seaside, was a decision finally made. Seaside had decided to free themselves of this burden and take the path that a small team should be taking.

Zhao Yang had been let go, so he decisively chose to retire.

Boundless Sea had been sold. Seaside had invested too much into this character, and they didn't plan on continuing. If they weren't going to continue investing into Boundless Sea, there wasn't much point in keeping it. It would be better to sell it to strengthen the rest of the team.

Zhao Yang's retirement, Boundless Sea's sale. Behind those were changes to Team Seaside's management. Ye Xiu didn't know about all of this, but he had at least gotten a general sense of Seaside's position from Zhao Yang's retirement. As a result, he immediately acted and happily took in Boundless Sea.

Seaside obviously wanted to sell Boundless Sea for the highest price possible. However, the top teams in the Alliance weren't interested in a Qi Master, and the small teams were uncertain. The unwavering Happy suddenly stood above the crowd. After some negotiation, an agreement was quickly reached.

Boundless Sea transferred to Happy!

As soon as Happy acted, they grabbed an All Star character. For fans, it was very exciting news. But soon afterwards, doubts about Happy's management style sprouted up, questioning whether Happy would become the next Seaside.　

Two All Stars and a bunch of characters to upgrade. Happy was a grassroots team. Their burden had been very heavy to begin with. Even so, in this situation, Happy actually bought an All Star character. Did they have the resources to maintain such a top-tier character? Would Team Happy become like Team Seaside? Would they become a grassroots team that walked the path of a powerhouse until their demise?

However, the day after Boundless Sea joined Happy, Happy announced that Boundless Sea's Silver weapon, Mirror Moon, had been upgraded to Level 75.

Everyone was once again shocked!

Team Seaside hadn't been able to do it after half a season, yet Happy had done it in just a single day.　　

The people doubting Happy clearly hadn't done a thorough investigation. For example, the club guild leaders definitely wouldn't have given such naive evaluations because no one knew better than them that even though Happy's resources as a whole were certainly lacking, in terms of high-end resources like materials, Happy was quite rich. Ever since the Level 75 update, Happy had obtained the most wild bosses among the guilds.

Happy's situation was completely different from Seaside's. It could even be said that taking this path to the peak was the most suitable for them. Boundless Sea allowed Happy to avoid the initial stages of character creation, which was exactly where their deficiencies lay. On the other hand, directly upgrading a good character to the top was exactly where their resources lay.

However, upgrading a Level 70 Silver weapon to Level 75 in a single day wasn't just an issue of ample resources. It seemed like Team Happy had someone very capable at creating Silver equipment.

Was it Ye Xiu?

Just when everyone made this guess, another report came out. Excellent Era's R&D God had been taken in by Happy after Excellent Era disbanded.

Everything was clear now.

Excellent Era's R&D team was obviously very proficient with Qi Master equipment. Qi Masters had been a part of their main roster. At Happy, Boundless Sea seemed to be blessed by the heavens. The only thing the character lacked was an outstanding player. Suddenly, the entire Glory scene started helping Happy look for a Qi Master.

Nomyummi Nomyummi

Happy Birthday Ye Xiu! Thank you all for your support with the tower of cheers. We reached 100,000,000 :) Also, according to Joui "Ye Xiu's birthday is here (May 29th). Every year, to celebrate his birthday, Ye Xiu fans will change their profile pictures across all forms of social media into an Ye Xiu birthday avatar. Here is the one for this year~ I hope y'all join us to celebrate his birthday!" You can find the pics on the TKA Discord or on her tumblr: https://jouissancetka.tumblr.com/post/174054366678/jouissancetkhi-everyone-as-you-should

Chapter end