Chapter 192: Wild Talk

Shura’s Wrath

[TLN: We’ll be translating 异能者 (special ability users) as espers from now on]

Challenging the Sword Emperor…

These four words travelled like a furious gale throughout the entire China server in the virtual world.

These sentences that Ling Chen spoke immediately took prominence over anything else. The explosiveness of this news caused all players to become greatly excited. What sort of person was the Sword Emperor? The Sword Emperor was publicly recognised to be the number 1 player in China, an existence that was similar to a ‘god’. The Sword Emperor had never been defeated in battle before in China. Although the Heaven Rankings almost always changed from year to year, the number one position had always belonged to the Sword Emperor.

Two years ago at the International Mock Battle, Sword Emperor, who had represented China, had made it all the way to the semi-finals. However, the Sword Emperor had been defeated by the strongest player in existence, Eve. That was the only loss the Sword Emperor had ever suffered. However, losing to Eve was not something that was shameful. After all, she was described as someone who exceeded the limits of humans. Losing to Eve did not mean that the Sword Emperor was week; rather, it showed how monstrously strong Eve was.

Apart from Eve, almost everyone in China, including Long Tian Yun, believed that the Sword Emperor was undefeatable. This was especially so for those who had personally seen the Sword Emperor fight before- the Sword Emperor’s skill in sword fighting was simply spectacular and breathtaking. The Shinigami was terrifying, and the Flame Emperor was extremely strong. However, even if they joined forces, they still would not be able to defeat the Sword Emperor in a direct fight. In all these years, no one had dared to issue a direct challenge to the Sword Emperor, because all this would result in would be humiliation.

However, Ling Tian, this dark horse, had not appeared for that long, but had again and again sent waves across the entirety of China. Taking the top spot in all the Rankings, naturally all players would take a keen interest in him. This was the first time he had appeared in public, and the first thing he had done was to publicly challenge the Sword Emperor to a duel! Moreover, the location of the duel wasn’t at the Azure Dragon City Arena, but rather in the Second District of the Plains Region… in the virtual world, victory and defeat were determined by killing the other player. In the Arena, one would not suffer any loss after death. However, outside of the city, any deaths would lead to decrease in level, as well as dropping equipment. Moreover, the Second District of the Plains Region was a golden area for farming… this meant that there would be countless people watching the duel. This meant that if Long Tian Yun accepted this duel, the result would be the death of either Ling Tian or the Sword Emperor! No matter which of them died, it would shake the whole of China.

However, this was not all. There were also the stakes that created boundless excitement… if the Sword Emperor lost, Long Tian Yun would have to give Ling Tian the Guild Creation Token that he had just obtained. If Ling Tian lost, he would have to give Long Tian Yun two pieces of Celestial grade equipment!! The Guild Creation token was something that Long Tian Yun had used 1 billion gold to purchase, whereas the Celestial grade weapons were the only ones in the whole world- they were simply priceless! Notwithstanding, the Guild Creation Token that Long Tian Yun hand no longer had the value of 1 billion gold. Now, it was probably worth less than even 10 million gold. Thus, the two pieces of Celestial grade equipment were worth far more than Long Tian Yun’s Guild Creation Token. As such, Ling Tian’s stakes were much higher.

Yun Feng was completely speechless, and Xiao Qiu Feng’s expression became extremely stiff. Inside the VIP Box, Yun Meng Xin, Xiao Qi and Su’Er all widened their eyes… they never expected such an event to occur.

“Arghhhh what is he thinking!?!?” Yun Feng simply couldn’t understand what was going through Ling Chen’s head. He wanted to duel with the Sword Emperor… this was fine and all, but did it really have to be right after Long Tian Yun had been humiliated in such a way, and with the stakes being the Guild Creation Token that had just caused the humiliation… this was no longer simply just a duel, but also a gamble with Long Tian Yun.

Noisy chattering and exclaiming filled the entire hall. The moment Ling Tian had issued his challenge, the entirety of China had known about him challenging the Sword Emperor. This challenge took Long Tian Yun by surprise, and his eyes narrowed even further, staring at Ling Chen, but did not immediately answer.

“What? Don’t tell me that Alliance Master Long fears that your number 1 expert of Yan Huang Alliance isn’t a match for me, and that you’re afraid of losing the Guild Creation Token to me? Heh…” Ling Chen gave a short laugh, and although he was wearing a mask, everyone could imagine a mocking smile on his face, “The first day I entered into the Mystic Moon World, I had heard about how daring, how courageous, how heroic Alliance Master Long was. I also heard about how invincible the Sword Emperor was. However, it’s a pity that the real people don’t live up to their reputations. Since Alliance Master Long doesn’t have the guts to even accept a challenge from a newbie like me, tsk tsk… fine, I won’t pressure Alliance Master Long- let’s all forget about the duel between the Sword Emperor and myself…”

Just as Ling Chen finished speaking, all of the players started clamouring again. Disappointment was written over countless players’ faces, but his next few sentences once again caused everyone to become dumbfounded.

“… and instead: I, Ling Tian, challenge your Yan Huang Alliance’s Sword Emperor and Flame Emperor to a duel tomorrow afternoon at 2pm, at the Second District of the Plains Region! Moreover, it won’t be a tag team battle, but rather they can both fight me at once!! What about this?” Ling Chen stretched out two fingers, and pointed at the Sword Emperor and the Flame Emperor. His tone and actions were both incredibly arrogant.

Bam… Yun Feng’s body collapsed, his head hitting the armrest of his chair.

If the impression that Ling Tian gave before when challenging the Sword Emperor was one of confidence, indeed, overconfidence, this was simply wildly arrogant… moreover, it was the sort of unfounded, presumptuous arrogance. Perhaps… this guy was truly crazy.

Anyone who had seen the Sword Emperor fight before would know that the Sword Emperor’s might did not come from weapons or equipment. Rather, everyone knew that the Sword Emperor had never accepted any equipment, items or gold from the Yan Huang Alliance, even that which was personally given by Long Tian Yun. Everything that the Sword Emperor had, came from hard work. Even though the Sword Emperor’s equipment was not all that impressive, there was still no one who could rival the Sword Emperor. In the time it took another player of the same class, same level, with the same equipment to strike once with their sword, the Sword Emperor could strike countless times… no one could even clearly see the Sword Emperor’s blade when attacking. Just with a flick of a wrist, the Sword Emperor had instantly killed many enemies without them realising what had just happened.

Ling Tian challenging the Sword Emperor caused everyone to become incomparably excited. This was not just because they could see an exciting battle, but also because of the freshness of the experience and the exhilaration it would bring. In the hearts of most people, apart from Eve, the Sword Emperor was undefeatable. It would take a split second for the Sword Emperor to defeat most enemies.

An invincible Sword Emperor plus a Flame Emperor. The Flame Emperor was publicly acknowledged to be the strongest Elementalist. He was a talented fire esper in the real world whose abilities were also transferred to the virtual world. In the virtual world, when casting Fire magic, his chanting time was significantly shorter than anyone else’s, and had far greater control over the accuracy of his flames than any other Fire Elementalist. There were practically no people who could dodge his flame attacks.

Upon hearing that he wanted to fight both the Sword Emperor and Flame Emperor at the same time, a few thoughts all appeared in the minds of the crowd… talking big, presumptuous and arrogant, what a joke, is he crazy?

“HAHAHA!!” Cang Yan reacted as if he had heard the funniest joke in the entire world. He looked at Ling Chen with a look of derision, “Hahaha, interesting, interesting. So that infamous Ling Tian is actually such a retard, this is quite eye-opening. Kid, do you think that you’re invincible just because you’re first on a few rankings and you have Celestial grade weapons? Hahaha, what a joke. To true experts, levels and equipment don’t mean much. Let alone two pieces of Celestial grade equipment, even if your whole body was covered in godly equipment you’d still be like a small ant to me. You want to challenge me? You don’t have the right!!”

“Alright, stop.” Long Tian Yun raised his hand and cut Cang Yan off. He slightly smiled, and looked at Ling Chen with some interest, “Ling Tian, you don’t need to resort to such low methods of provocation. Since a long time ago, I wanted to see how powerful this legendary Ling Tian was, and with this gift of two Celestial grade equipment, why not? However, just Sword Emperor is enough.”

This sentence signified that Long Tian Yun had accepted Ling Chen’s challenge, and the crowd around them grew even more excited. This piece of information spread across the entire country at an incredible speed. Moreover, Long Tian Yun’s casual sentence not only rejected Ling Chen’s new offer, by stating that only Sword Emperor would fight against him, but also said that Ling Chen would be gifting him two Celestial grade weapons for free… evidently, he did not believe that the Sword Emperor would lose, and did not take Ling Tian seriously at all. Ling Chen smiled, “Very good, Alliance Master Long is indeed a straightforward person. In that case, I’ll be waiting for Alliance Master Long and the Sword Emperor at the Second District of the Plains Region tomorrow at 2pm… oh, and remember to bring the Guild Creation Token.”

With his mask on his face, no one could see what sort of smile he could making. Although Long Tian Yun had stated that Ling Chen didn’t need to use such ‘low methods of provocation’, it had evidently worked.

With Long Tian Yun’s careful and wary personality, no matter how much he believed in the Sword Emperor’s strength, he still would not have agreed to Ling Chen’s challenge so easily. However, the time and place Ling Chen had chosen to issue this challenge had been perfect. After being humiliated so badly, how could Long Tian Yun remain calm and think clearly? Moreover, there were countless eyes watching what was going on here. Ling Chen had first challenged the Sword Emperor, then both the Sword Emperor and the Flame Emperor. If Long Tian Yun didn’t agree, the Yan Huang Alliance would be made into an even bigger laughingstock! Furthermore, Ling Chen’s arrogance also made Long Tian Yun believe that being of a similar player level with the Sword Emperor, how could such a person defeat the Sword Emperor?

As such, Long Tian Yun accepted the challenge without much thought.

“Then, see you tomorrow, Alliance Master Long. Please definitely don’t forget to bring the Guild Creation Token, hahaha.”

As he laughed, Ling Chen turned around and quickly walked out of the Auction Hall. The people behind Long Tian Yun all began to chase after him, but were stopped by Long Tian Yun, “No need to chase after him, everyone go back with me. Let’s not think about the affair with Ling Tian for now. Tomorrow, we’ll see which one of us it was that was overconfident!!”