When Shi Feng arrived at the location Ci Xin had given him for the Martial Alliance's elite squad, he found that there wasn't a single trace of the Martial Alliance there.
"Where are they?" Shi Feng looked around. Aside from over a dozen three-tailed venomous scorpions roaming the area, the flat stretch of sandy ground held not a single player. "Could Ci Xin have given me wrong information?"
Shi Feng felt that was unlikely. The Assassin Alliance was at least a top-tier second-rate guild, so they shouldn't make major mistakes when gathering intel. And Ci Xin had been so confident—there had to be basis for it.
"Forget it, I wasn't expecting to find them right away anyway." Shi Feng wasn't in a rush and began searching the surrounding area. If the Martial Alliance had entered White River City, Ci Xin would have learned about it immediately and notified him. But it was unlikely that the Martial Alliance had entered White River City at this point—after all, even Ci Xin's group hadn't made it in yet.
Time trickled by.
More and more players had reached level 10, filing into White River City one after another.
The vast majority of players who could enter White River City now were guild executives and elites. Only a small number were teams assembled by independent experts.
Quite a few of these players had purchased Shi Feng's White River City Guide, and they were thoroughly impressed by him.
"Captain, this Ye Feng is really something. Everything he wrote matches perfectly. Good thing we bought the Luxury Edition—the Simplified Edition was too bare-bones and only gave a rough overview of White River City. The Luxury Edition has tons of recommendations for the best questing spots by class. I picked up a whole bunch of quests from it."
"Tell me about it. Captain, your quick thinking really paid off. If I didn't know this was written by Ye Feng, I'd think it was an official White River City guide. I have no idea what Ye Feng used to do—he's got such sharp insight."
"That Ye Feng really does know his stuff. I only bought it as a reference and didn't take everything at face value. But now that I'm here in White River City, I'm genuinely shocked. Twenty thousand credit points for this Luxury Edition is an absolute steal. If it were up to me, the price would be at least fifty thousand, and I still might not be willing to sell. Just think about how long it must have taken to compile all this information—and it's first-hand data at that. I can't believe he's selling it for only twenty thousand credit points."
At the White River City teleportation gate, a guildless elite team of a dozen or so players chatted and laughed among themselves while waiting for the rest of their members.
"Hmm? A pug group?"
Bai Qingxue, who had just stepped out of the portal, noticed the team and felt a flicker of surprise. At this stage, the only people who could enter White River City were elites from major guilds—for a pug group to have made it in was extremely rare. It spoke volumes about how strong this team must be.
"I know them. These guys were famous five years ago in a major VR game. They were called the Holy Grail Knights."
"Even though they weren't a formal guild and never had more than a hundred members, every single member had exceptional skill. Their combat power was staggering. Their captain, Zhan Tian Cang Lang, was hailed as the top warrior in gaming at the time. No guild dared cross them back then. But for some reason, they dissolved later on. A lot of the members quit playing altogether."
"But some of the remaining members went on to become core executives in first- and second-rate guilds. The Holy Grail Knights have basically become a legend in the gaming world."
The shield warrior Gui Zhan, who knew the inside story, looked at a shield warrior of unremarkable height and build with a sudden air of solemn respect. This man was the captain, Zhan Tian Cang Lang. Gui Zhan had once idolized him—that was the reason he'd taken up the shield warrior class in the first place. He then explained the situation to Bai Qingxue in a measured tone.
"I see." Bai Qingxue couldn't help but take a closer look at Zhan Tian Cang Lang.
Five years ago, she hadn't yet touched virtual games, so she had no idea someone like him existed.
"Qingxue, are you thinking about recruiting him into our Snake of the Body?" Zhao Yueru asked with a smile, catching the interested look in Bai Qingxue's eyes.
"This man seems to carry no sharp edges at all, yet he's as heavy and deep as the ocean. His entire set of gear is Black Iron Rank—the weapon's a bit lacking, not Mythril Rank, but for a pug group, a shield warrior with equipment like that is already incredibly rare. It goes to show how strong the rest of the team must be. And for someone to keep a group like this in line, with every member obedient to his orders—that shows he's no ordinary person. If we could bring him on board, it would be a huge benefit for dungeon runs down the road." Bai Qingxue didn't deny it. The chance to recruit Shi Feng was already off the table.
The main reason was that she couldn't see through him. Shi Feng was shrouded in mystery wherever you looked. Especially this time—the ultra-luxury edition guide he'd sold her had left her utterly stunned upon arriving in White River City. Comparing it with the Luxury Edition made Bai Qingxue acutely aware of just how precious the guide Shi Feng had given her truly was.
If any other first-rate guild found out about this guide, they'd probably start an all-out war with her Snake of the Body just to get their hands on it. If you truly estimated its value, it was easily worth over five million credit points.
The ultra-luxury edition covered topics on guild development, how to expand and strengthen a guild, and most crucially, touched on the matter of guild headquarters. It also included daily quests for raising reputation in White River City. This gave them an enormous head start over other guilds—not something five million credit points could ever buy.
Right now she didn't dare tell anyone else about it, terrified of painting a target on her back and drawing the combined wrath of multiple first-rate guilds.
This was exactly why Bai Qingxue had come to fully grasp how dangerous Shi Feng was. Just being his friend was this risky—what kind of consequences would it bring to recruit him as a subordinate? She didn't even dare think about it.
Besides, Shi Feng had already managed to attract the enmity of dozens of major guilds. Fortunately, none of those guilds were particularly noteworthy. For truly powerful guilds, a guide for quickly reaching level 10 and progressing held no real appeal. Their executives knew far too many secrets, and their understanding of Divine Realm dwarfed that of those half-baked, second-rate guilds by an enormous margin.
Divine Realm had no bugs—or if there were any, they'd be discovered and patched almost immediately. If you really wanted to explain the secret behind that leveling guide, the only possibilities were either soloing monsters far above one's level or completing certain high-level quests to gain massive amounts of experience.
The former was only achievable by expert players or those with exceptionally good equipment.
The latter was clearly not something that could be repeated, since high-level quests had significant restrictions and rarity. Not everyone could take them on—they might be unique or rare quests, making them impossible to replicate.
So the major guilds had no interest in this not-so-secret secret. They were far more interested in the White River City Guide itself. But since Shi Feng had been clever enough to sell it openly, these prominent guilds naturally had no reason to go after him—and no time to waste tangling with those second-rate guilds either.
Shi Feng was the type who was so powerful he had no friends. Or rather, you simply didn't have enough strength to safely be his friend. As for the Zhan Tian Cang Lang standing before her—he didn't pose that kind of danger, and with such impressive strength, it would be a real pity not to recruit him.
"Let's go. We'll make contact with them." Once her team had assembled, Bai Qingxue spoke up.
(To be continued...)