Frost Hills of the Western Continent, Azure City.
As a guild city standing on a level-90 outdoor neutral map, Azure City had long served as a transit hub for countless players in the Frost Empire heading to maps of level 100 and above. On top of that, the Azure Commerce Alliance was a guild focused primarily on trade, making Azure City the largest commercial city in the Frost Empire's vicinity. Many players and forces came here to conduct transactions, and over five to six million players passed through on a daily basis.
While a massive crowd of players queued to enter the city, enormous flying mounts occasionally soared across the sky, flying straight into Azure City without waiting in line — a sight that left the ordinary players in the queue green with envy.
"This Azure City is incredible! When I visit other guild cities, I hardly ever see flying mounts. I've been queued up for barely any time and that's already the fifth one!" A level-103 freelance Berserker exclaimed in awe, watching a two-headed vulture glide past overhead.
"Azure City does normally have a fair number of flying mounts passing through, but nowhere near as many as today. I heard the Azure Commerce Alliance's major families are holding a competition among their younger generation today, and they've invited quite a few allied forces to attend. Those flying mounts up there are probably carrying the higher-ups from all those factions," a level-108 young man wearing a guild emblem explained from beside him.
"A competition among the Azure Commerce Alliance's younger generation?" The level-103 Berserker looked confused. "What's there to see about that? It's just a bunch of no-name newcomers scrapping with each other — not exactly a clash between top-tier experts. And these factions are really bringing entire entourages just to watch?"
"Maybe you don't know much about the Azure Commerce Alliance as a guild," the level-108 young Elementalist said, shooting the Berserker a glance. "The Alliance is a long-established family guild. The major families all make their living in virtual gaming and pour everything into it. You could say their younger generation has been trained since childhood — not like those superpowers who don't pick up experts until they're fifteen or sixteen. Even though those kids aren't old, their individual strength is staggeringly high — not something ordinary experts from the superpowers can compare to at all. Some of them are even stronger than the superpowers' top-tier experts. Besides, this kind of competition is purely a contest of combat technique. Just watching from the sidelines, you can learn a tremendous amount. Why else do you think those allied forces are bothering to bring their own promising newcomers along?"
"I heard this year's Azure Commerce Alliance family tournament is something special. Quite a few of the younger generation even went to the Violet Sword to study and improve. Just a few days ago, word came out of the Violet Sword that one of the Azure Commerce Alliance's younger generation actually fought to a draw against the Violet Sword's ace legion's vice commander — Wildfire Berserker. That sent shockwaves through the Violet Sword's upper echelons," a level-110 Tier 3 Swordsman wearing a guild emblem chimed in from nearby.
"A draw against Wildfire Berserker? That Wildfire Berserker is ranked in the top thirty on the Divine Realm's Power Rankings!" The level-103 freelance Berserker's face was full of disbelief. "And that Wildfire Berserker has been famous for over a decade — his strength is universally acknowledged as monstrous. I heard he can go head-to-head with a level-110 Tier 4 Legendary monster single-handedly without losing ground. How could anyone from the Azure Commerce Alliance's younger generation possibly fight him to a draw?"
Nearly every Berserker player knew of Wildfire Berserker. He was, in fact, a role model and idol for countless Berserker mains — this freelancer among them.
"This is insider information. I only know because a friend of mine is a core member of the Violet Sword," the level-110 Tier 3 Swordsman said, his eyes brimming with longing. "If only I could go watch this Azure Commerce Alliance family tournament in person. Maybe it would give me some kind of inspiration to push me to the next level."
Solo duels between top-tier experts were rarely seen in ordinary times. Even when they did happen, they were closely guarded secrets of the great superpowers, not casually shown to anyone. What ordinary players got to see were the clashes between top experts during large-scale guild wars between major factions or superpowers — but those battles weren't very useful as references.
That was because those fights were more about attribute suppression than anything else, with little emphasis on technique. And even when top-tier experts from opposing sides did encounter each other, it was rarely a clean one-on-one affair.
A one-on-one battle fought purely on technique — that was as precious as training material. Many people would pay enormous sums for recordings and still struggle to get their hands on them, let alone watch such a fight live.
Just as the group was chatting quietly, a low cry suddenly echoed across the sky, reverberating throughout the entire entrance to Azure City.
At the sound, everyone in the queue at Azure City's main gate turned to look. A colossal eagle with a wingspan of over twenty meters, its entire body wreathed in roiling dark flames, was rapidly approaching the city.
"Holy crap! That's the Violet Sword's Darkfire Shadow Eagle! The Violet Sword is here too?!"
"Incredible! The pressure from that thing is enormous — it's almost approaching that of a High Grand Lord!"
"Almost? The Darkfire Shadow Eagle can fight a High Grand Lord of the same level head-on. There are barely a handful of flying mounts in the entire Western Continent that can compare."
Everyone buzzed with discussion over the sudden appearance of the Darkfire Shadow Eagle, their eyes filled with envy and admiration.
A flying mount on par with a High Grand Lord — that was an unbelievable asset for any player. With sufficient damage output, one could practically solo a High Grand Lord out in the wild, making the leveling speed absurdly fast. And that was before accounting for the Darkfire Shadow Eagle's speed — just the time saved on travel alone was immeasurable.
Yet even as the crowd talked, the Darkfire Shadow Eagle had already transformed into a dark shadow and flown straight into the Azure Commerce Alliance's headquarters within Azure City.
As the eagle touched down, more than a dozen figures leaped off its back. Every one of them was level 111 or above, and at their head was a white-haired old man in silver armor who had reached level 112.
"Everything the Violet Sword could teach you has been taught. I hope none of you embarrass us — because if you do, don't go around saying I was your trainer. And you won't get a second chance to train with the Violet Sword," the white-haired old man on the Darkfire Shadow Eagle said coldly, looking down at the dozen or so people who had jumped off.
"Coach Tore, rest assured. All of us will make sure the Pang family realizes just how foolish they were to skip this training," a silver-eyed, blue-haired young man carrying a great sword on his back replied respectfully.
"Good. I'll be waiting for you in the Sacred Flame City. Don't let me or your elders down." The white-haired old man nodded, and his expression was notably more genial toward the silver-eyed, blue-haired young man than anyone else.
With that, the white-haired old man steered the Darkfire Shadow Eagle straight out of Azure City, leaving the silver-eyed, blue-haired young man and the others standing quietly in the center of the guild headquarters' plaza — surrounded by a crowd of onlooking Azure Commerce Alliance members and executives.
"Uncle Five, they've clearly gotten much stronger since coming back. Especially that Gu Han — he actually fought Wildfire Berserker to a draw. And that Yan Xiaoqian caught his eye too; I heard she's made tremendous progress. This is going to be tough," Fen Xiao remarked, clicking his tongue as he watched from not far away in the plaza.
Originally, with his level of skill, he'd had a real shot at breaking into the top three. But now, looking at the younger generation who had returned from training, even he was starting to lose confidence.
"I just hope Ling Yue can make a further breakthrough when she gets back. Otherwise, it's going to be very hard for our Pang family to even claim a spot in the top three," Pang Wushang said beside him, his brow furrowed as he looked at the dozen-plus figures.
As for first place — none of them were even entertaining that notion. The gap was simply too vast, especially with Gu Han, who existed on an entirely different plane from the rest. And now that quite a few others had already reached the Void Realm, cracking the top three was going to be a genuine challenge.
Their only hope lay in Ling Yue, who had the best combat talent among them.
But just as Gu Han and the others left the plaza and the crowd was beginning to disperse, a sudden boom thundered across the skies above Azure City, sending every player in the city into a stir.
"What was that sound?"
"Is some kind of special event about to happen in Azure City?"
The entire population of Azure City was brimming with curiosity over the unexpected boom. Quite a few players even stepped out of inns and taverns, searching for the source of the noise.
But before long, the players in Azure City simply froze.
Not far from the city, a hundred-meter-long steel behemoth had appeared and was heading straight toward Azure City.
"What the — how is there an airship?!"