"Why is she suddenly contacting me?"
Weiyang Qianhen was a legendary figure in the Divine Realm, and her Midnight Tea Party was an organization that even super guilds treated with extreme caution. But neither Weiyang Qianhen nor the Midnight Tea Party had any interest in guilds or in making contact with them, so he had never had the chance to reach out.
He never expected that Weiyang Qianhen would be the one to contact him first.
Shi Feng didn't overthink it. He set aside his work immediately and clicked to accept the communication request.
"Congratulations, Guild Leader Black Flame. I hear that even the major superpowers are green with envy over your Stone Forest Town now," Weiyang Qianhen said with a light smile, her congratulations sounding genuinely warm.
"You flatter me. Vice Leader Weiyang is the impressive one. It's been a while, and you've already managed to get your hands on so many powerful weapons and equipment." Shi Feng looked at Weiyang Qianhen through the video feed. She wore a magnificent deep-purple mage robe, and although he couldn't tell her level, the magical energy around her body was visible to the naked eye, flickering in and out of existence. That could only mean her weapons and equipment were extraordinarily powerful — far beyond what ordinary epic-grade items could provide. "May I ask what prompted you to reach out to me so suddenly?"
"Actually, it's nothing too serious. I just wanted to invite you, Guild Leader Black Flame, to take on a quest together," Weiyang Qianhen said with a soft laugh. "If you help me complete this quest, I'm willing to offer one Secret Stone Tablet as payment. Even if we don't complete it, you'll still receive five thousand magic crystals as compensation."
"A Secret Stone Tablet?" Shi Feng's heart skipped a beat.
Secret Stone Tablets were ultra-rare items that even the major super guilds fought tooth and nail over. They were shortcuts that allowed guild experts to learn powerful combat techniques, and under normal circumstances they were never put up for trade.
It was hard to imagine Weiyang Qianhen would offer a Secret Stone Tablet as payment. Even a Bronze-rank Secret Stone Tablet would be shocking enough. If she had invited top experts from any super guild, they would have agreed on the spot without a second thought.
"That's right. I can't go into the specifics of the Secret Stone Tablet unless you agree to help me with that quest," Weiyang Qianhen said with a slight smile. "So? Are you willing to lend me a hand, Guild Leader Black Flame?"
"Do we need to go on the quest right away?" Shi Feng thought for a moment and asked.
"Not exactly." Weiyang Qianhen watched Shi Feng and felt genuinely surprised that he hadn't agreed immediately. A Secret Stone Tablet was something even super guilds would jump at, yet here he was hesitating. "There's still a lot of preparation needed before we set out. The next few days won't work."
"That's fine, then." Shi Feng still had plenty of work to do. Besides, tomorrow was the
"Then it's settled. Once I've made the preparations on my end, I'll contact you." Weiyang Qianhen's lips curved upward, a hint of pleasure in her eyes. "Oh, by the way — this time's Stormwind Tournament in the Black Dragon Empire is different from before. I hear that the top three guilds will receive invitations to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion headquarters for their internal auction."
"Internal auction?" Shi Feng's expression shifted with excitement.
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was a transcendent force in the virtual gaming world, and the number of rare items they had accumulated was beyond counting. But that wasn't even the most impressive part. What truly mattered was that, even in the real world, they could provide things vital to a guild's development — training slots, player data for simulation systems, S-rank nutrient solutions, virtual reality capsules, and even
Even first-rate guilds had an incredibly hard time obtaining these in bulk, let alone other large guilds.
But these items were only sold at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's internal auctions, and the auction wasn't held in the Divine Realm — it was at the Pavilion's real-world headquarters.
In his previous life, only first-rate guilds and above had been eligible to attend the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's internal auction. Guilds below that level didn't even qualify.
Of course, to obtain these items, the guilds had to pay a steep price. The currency used at the auction wasn't credit points — it was top-tier weapons, equipment, and precious materials that were not available on the open market. At minimum, magic crystals were required; even gold coins wouldn't work. It was essentially trading real-world resources for Divine Realm resources through a back channel.
That someone could pull this off made even the super guilds bow their heads.
This was genuinely a tremendous opportunity for the
But for Shi Feng, this was wonderful news. He had an enormous stockpile of Divine Realm resources — high-grade magic armor plates, magic devices, all sorts of secret potions, his current stock of Titan Magic
Now that the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was opening an internal auction, it was a golden opportunity for the Zero Wing studio to rise.
"I hear the Pavilion put a great deal of effort into organizing this internal auction. If you can attend, it will bring considerable benefits to a new guild like Zero Wing. I'd suggest you start preparing," Weiyang Qianhen advised before ending the communication.
"She's right — I do need to make some preparations." Shi Feng nodded to himself.
The items sold at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's internal auction were far from cheap. Just the S-rank nutrient solutions he had heard about — one bottle sold for a million credit points in the outside world, but at the auction it could fetch the equivalent of three to four million in rare materials. No ordinary guild could afford that. If he didn't start stockpiling resources now, he'd only end up as a spectator when the time came.
After the call ended, Shi Feng went right back to frantically refining Titan Magic Equipment. To increase his success rate, he even used the Magic Gold he had been hoarding and the hundred-plus pieces of
As he continued refining the Titan Magic Equipment, his skill grew increasingly polished. Especially after witnessing Grandmaster Blacksmith Seruroa reforge the legendary-grade fragment Thousand Changes and her use of magic arrays to condense materials — combined with his Seven Star Ring, which could enhance the ambient magical energy density — Shi Feng began experimenting with using magic arrays to condense materials himself.
After all, using magic arrays to condense materials could not only speed up the manufacturing process but also significantly improve the success rate.
One failure…
Two failures…
After countless attempts, as Shi Feng continuously recalled and tried out the various magic arrays he had learned about, the Astral Magic Array suddenly came to mind. He began experimenting with a basic Astral Magic Array to condense the materials.
Watching the materials take shape, the concentrated magical energy grew more and more terrifying.
Five minutes later, a piece of Titan Magic Equipment appeared before him. Unlike the previous versions, this one was silver-white instead of dark gray.
"Did it work?" Shi Feng carefully clicked on the item's attribute panel.
Immediately, a pleasant system notification chimed in his ear.
System: Congratulations! You have crafted a new advanced item.
System: Congratulations! You have advanced to Master Blacksmith.