Hei Zi's jaw dropped in the audience, and Shui Se Qiang Wei and the others widened their eyes.
"You're going to fight personally, Guild Master?" Ban Jiu watched Shi Feng approaching at a leisurely pace, unable to hide his surprise.
Shi Feng wasn't wearing his black cloak this time — he looked exactly as he normally did. However, if any player used an observation skill on him, they would find that everything except his name displayed as "Unknown." Even advanced observation skills yielded the same result.
"Mm. I want to see what they're really capable of." Shi Feng nodded.
Although Hei Zi had sent over some battle recordings earlier, Fei Ying and the others had never forced their opponents to reveal their true strength. Moreover, there was nothing particularly distinctive about those fights, making it hard to measure them against the Divine Realm's well-known experts.
"Guild Master, be careful. When I fought him, I felt like I couldn't put any real power behind my strikes — like all my force was hitting cotton. Especially when he delivered the final blow, his movement was bizarre. From the footage, it looked like just one person — not even a shadow. But when you actually face him, it feels like he's everywhere around you."
"Ghost Step?"
Hearing Ban Jiu's description of the fight, the only technique Shi Feng could think of was Ghost Step. It was one of the advanced movement arts, making attacks utterly unpredictable. In the entire Divine Realm, only a handful of people had ever mastered it — but none of them resembled the man currently standing on the arena.
...
"Ye Feng? Looks like the Zero Wing guild is finally taking things seriously." Xing Huo, seated in the VIP section, watched Shi Feng with a smile.
As far as he knew, after Black Flame, the strongest fighters in Zero Wing were Huo Wu, Bai Qingxue, Ye Feng, Ziyan Liuyun, and the like.
"Is he strong?" asked a burly man beside Xing Huo, who held an iron hammer in one hand and carried a massive crimson shield on his back.
"Zhi Shou, if Xing Huo says that, the guy must be strong. What a shame — it's still the agreed-upon fight window for Hu Wei. If that guy had come out a little later, it would've been my turn." A stunningly beautiful woman clutching a dark angular dagger, dressed in a level 45 Dark Gold set called "Light of the Night," gazed at Shi Feng on the arena and sighed. "Watching from the sidelines the whole time is really wearing on me."
"Hua Yu's right. We shouldn't have set the agreed-upon time so long. Now Hu Wei gets all the glory."
The others voiced their agreement.
They knew all too well how strong the Berserker Hu Wei was on the arena. At level 44, he ranked in the top ten of any empire. While he didn't wear a full level 45 Dark Gold set, he had two pieces of growth equipment that had already been upgraded to Dark Gold rank — far stronger than ordinary Dark Gold gear and perfectly suited to a Berserker's stats. The rest of his equipment was all level 45 Dark Gold as well.
But that wasn't even the most impressive part. Recently, Hu Wei's growth weapon set — the Gale War Axes — had finally been promoted to Epic rank, boosting his combat power by an entire tier. Even their guild leader had praised Hu Wei's current level, saying he was ready to challenge experts ranked in the top two hundred of the Fengyun Expert Rankings.
And that was without using Ghost Step.
But across the entire Star Moon Kingdom?
Aside from Black Flame, who held the fifty-first spot on the Fengyun Expert Rankings, not a single other person had broken into the top two hundred. The only one worth mentioning was Huo Wu, who had recently climbed to rank 215 and might stand a chance. Everyone else wasn't even worth discussing.
"Now Hu Wei just needs to defeat this Ye Feng, then beat Zero Wing's Huo Wu or Bai Qingxue. After that, I'm sure Black Flame won't be able to sit still. When that happens, Xing Huo, Black Flame won't be able to refuse your challenge tomorrow." Zhi Shou hefted his iron hammer, his gaze drifting toward Shui Se Qiang Wei and the others in the audience. "When that time comes, you'd better bring your A-game, Xing Huo. The guild leader has always thought highly of you. This is your debut representing our adventuring party — you can't lose to that Black Flame."
"Brother Zhi Shou, don't you know my level? Just watch." Xing Huo smiled faintly.
As for the so-called title of Sword King, he couldn't have cared less. He had only one goal — to break into the top ten of the Fengyun Expert Rankings.
Meanwhile, the spectators in the audience who had come to watch were in an uproar.
"Holy crap — isn't that Zero Wing's Honorary Elder, Ye Feng?"
"So Zero Wing is finally getting serious after all those losses. That Berserker's winning streak is about to end."
"Not necessarily. All those other Zero Wing experts lost too. Ye Feng's got a strong reputation, but whether he can actually beat that Berserker is anyone's guess."
"Exactly. That Berserker's been fighting Zero Wing's best and his HP hasn't even dropped below fifty percent — and these are all melee fights. That proves his combat skill is off the charts. Even against Ye Feng, I'd say his odds are at least six to four. If anyone in Zero Wing can give him a real fight — not counting Black Flame — it'd be Huo Wu. Her strength is honestly inhuman."
"True. Ye Feng's always had a reputation, but his results are all from ages ago. Everyone's been playing the Divine Realm for so long now — who knows how much their skills have improved. A fight today wouldn't be as easy as it once was."
...