I was waving my arms and legs, not forgetting to cheer as well. Now it was clear just how big the gap was between me and some of those hardcore grinders. Among the people besieging the Azure Flood Dragon, there were already two experts who could fly on swords. Just look at their flying swords, radiating dazzling light as they soared back and forth—how cool is that! It was obvious that the flying swords in their hands weren’t the rewards from completing the sect’s sword-forging quest; their quality was quite impressive, clearly much better than the junk you get from the sword-forging quest.

One of their sword lights was as white as snow, like a bolt of silk, and each strike could chop off dozens of HP from the Azure Flood Dragon. This Azure Flood Dragon had a defense of 1800; if I tried stabbing it with my Green Fang Ghost Arrow, I wouldn’t even know if I could break through its defense.

As more and more players joined the siege, the Azure Flood Dragon, though ferocious, was helpless against the endless, wave-after-wave “ant swarm” tactics. Still, a level 48 monster is truly formidable—I waited nearly two hours before I finally heard a “ding-dong” from the system, and three waves of warmth surged through me, instantly leveling me up to 21.

“Whoa! That’s awesome. Huh? Why is there another system prompt?”

I checked the system messages and found a line of small text: “Player Drunken Blue Ox discovered the immature Azure Flood Dragon in advance and slew it, saving Chengdu from a flood disaster. Awarded 600 merit points!”

“Wow, there’s actually something this good! My merit points are now at 1,676—guess I’m one of the high-merit achievers in Shushan! Since the system says I killed the Azure Flood Dragon, it must be true. It must have been at the critical moment that the Black Dog Nail finished off the beast’s last drop of HP.”

Retracting the two Black Dog Nails, I looked at the still-gathered army of players and felt a bit guilty. Didn’t I just take sixty percent of the experience? I really didn’t contribute much!

The spot where the Azure Flood Dragon fell was already a bloody mess. After killing the monster, everyone scrambling for loot was a common sight in online games, and with some items dropped by players who died early, there seemed to be quite a few good things in there. But I didn’t bother to join the chaos.

After reaching level 21, my Qingcheng Sword Technique also reached the fourth level, and I learned the Sword Riding skill. Now all I lacked was a handy flying sword. But hoping to accumulate 100,000 merit points to claim Julia Bennett’s Demon-Slaying Flying Sword was just unrealistic and far-fetched. I’d be better off hoping to get a top-grade flying sword from a boss drop.

I used a Chengdu Earth Deity Talisman to teleport back—I needed to buy some supplies, then return to Qingcheng Mountain to take the sword-forging quest. Although the system’s reward flying sword isn’t that great, it’s still better than nothing, right?

To make things easier for players, all the NPC merchants in Chengdu are gathered near Qingyang Palace. Counting up the loot I’d gotten these past few days, I had plenty of wolf pelts, a few dozen taels of silver, and a dozen or so pieces of clothing and accessories. After selling off all the useless stuff, I actually managed to save up five taels of gold.

I stocked up on some health and energy pills, bought five Chengdu Earth Deity Talismans—damn! In Shushan, each Earth Deity Talisman only works for its own location. In Chengdu, you can only buy talismans to return to Chengdu. If I want to go back to Qingcheng Mountain, I still have to rely on my own two legs.

Looking at the five taels of gold in my hand, I wondered if I could score a bargain and buy a barely usable flying sword… Sword riding! How exciting would that be?

After leaving the pharmacy, I headed straight for the auction house. The weapon shop in Shushan is expensive and has nothing good—only people with more money than sense would shop there. No matter how crappy the flying sword you buy there, it won’t be as cheap as five taels of gold—fifty taels would be more like it.

Although it’s open beta now and the auction system isn’t live yet, some players still set up stalls here. I wandered around the auction house—sigh, there really aren’t enough people during open beta! The whole auction hall is half the size of a soccer field, but there are only a dozen or so players setting up stalls, and even fewer buyers. As soon as I walked in, a few sellers who hadn’t had any business in a while eyed me with a green, hungry look.

Chapter 13: Thunder Command Technique

“Hey! Bro! New player, right? I’ve got some good stuff here! You look all right, so I’ll give you a discount!”

“What! ‘Thunder Command Technique’? Requires level 35 to practice, after which you can summon thunder from the void, gather electricity into force, needs 8 intelligence, 38 constitution…” Before I could say more, the other party had already opened the trade window.

“Damn! This kind of rare manual is just too powerful! My intelligence is really low—people with high intelligence can start practicing Daoist arts at lower levels. With this ‘Thunder Command Technique,’ someone else might be able to equip and practice it at level 20. Constitution determines how much true energy backlash you can withstand when practicing sword techniques and Daoist arts. This Thunder Command Technique is practically tailor-made for me, but I don’t have time to practice it now. In Shushan, you can only practice one technique at a time. I haven’t even succeeded with the Qingcheng Sword Technique yet—I’m still working on it. How could I have the spare time to practice the Thunder Command Technique!”

After mastering the Qingcheng Sword Technique, I still plan to practice the Qingcheng Qi Refining Technique. By the time I finish these two, who knows what Shushan will look like—the Thunder Command Technique might have become worthless by then!