MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

“Why are you thanking me?” Li Yi replied to his mail.

“Qianqian has always been using Gongsun Chuqian as her IGN in games. She changed her name because she saw my name, Tyrant Sword King the Fifth. I’m guessing… she changed it this time because you suggested it, right?”

Li Yi could not see Tyrant Sword King the Fifth’s expression, but from the email alone, he could tell how excited the latter was.

‘Bro, you’re thinking too much…’

“So you’re saying I asked Qian’er to change her name so she could match you?”

Tyrant Sword King the Fifth replied again, “I owe you a big one!”

“Sigh, what a pain…”

Just as Li Yi was about to respond to Tyrant Sword King the Fifth, Qian’er frowned slightly and sighed softly.

It was not just Li Yi, Tyrant Sword King the Fifth had messaged her too.

Li Yi asked, “Is Tyrant Sword King the Fifth harassing you?”

“How did you know?”

“He messaged me too and said he was grateful.”

“Grateful?”

“Yeah, because Tyrant Sword King the Fifth and Gongsun Chuqian are the names of a couple, so…”

“Gah, what a pain. I shouldn’t have listened to you and changed my name for no reason.” Qian’er glared at Li Yi fiercely.

Li Yi took the chance to ask, “So what’s between you and Tyrant Sword King the Fifth? Why are you so annoyed with him?”

Qian’er stared at him and lied, “Nothing, there’s nothing at all between us.”

“He just told me…”

“What did he tell you?” Qian’er grew tense.

“He said you’re his fiance, and that you’ve even signed a marriage certificate. He warned me not to target you, or else I’ll be a horrible homebreaker.”

“Ptooey!”

“So tell me, what is up between you two?”

Li Yi held Qian’er’s little hand and looked straight into her eyes.

His gaze made Qian’er extremely uncomfortable, and she stammered for a while before trying to cover it up.

“Me and him? We were a couple in another game in the past, but we’ve never met in real life. So there you go.”

“I want the truth!”

“That is the truth. Yikes, it’s getting late. I’m sleepy, I’m tired, I’m going to bed now, bye byeeee…”

Qian’er made up an excuse and logged off.

Li Yi was dazed for a while, and then he replied to Tyrant Sword King the Fifth via email.

“Don’t misunderstand, Qian’er is my wife. You’re overthinking it, brother…”

Those boldly taunting words shut Tyrant Sword King the Fifth up for a while. It took more than ten whole minutes before Tyrant Sword King the Fifth sent him another email and ended this conversation.

“I lost last time, but I definitely won’t lose this time. I’m going to prove to everyone that I’m stronger than you, Dark Wing!”

When they fought over the Hell-level King of Souls’ first kill back then, Li Yi and Tyrant Sword King the Fifth had made a wager, both of them betting 30 million each. In the end, Li Yi emerged as the victor.

Upon hearing Tyrant Sword King the Fifth’s bold declaration, Li Yi only felt like laughing. When it came to winning a battle of words, how could Tyrant Sword King hold a candle to Fengxi, the Daydream Emperor?

Li Yi logged off too, but he did not sleep. Instead, he looked for the videos of the other participants’ PK scenes and watched them all night. Aside from Jiaojiao’s and Unending Unmatched’s footage, he watched the other nine participants’ videos in detail.

Knowing thine enemy was one of the first steps to guaranteeing victory. In terms of ability, Li Yi was indeed ahead of these times, but the times were always changing. If he did not know what the players were capable of now, what was the point even if he did know more about the game than others?

Was he going to imitate Fengxi? Claiming that he knew how to beat his opponent, but losing every time he actually fought, and then… torturing the enemy with words and winning a mental victory?

He had to research his opponent’s fighting styles and favorite skills, then figure out how to dodge and counterattack. That was the only way to ensure that he never lost.

This was the first Pantheon Brawling King Tournament, so the Pantheon officials naturally prepared extremely luxurious rewards.

Firstly, the twelve participants would each receive a special title, Brawling King. It increased the damage dealt by 10% and reduced the damage taken by 10%.

When twelve became six, each of the players who made it to the Top Six would also receive a passport that allowed random entry into the Seven Secret Places. Such a prize was unprecedented.

King of Pantheon had been running for more than two years now, but only a select few players had ever entered the Seven Secret Places. They did not even number up to a hundred, and most of them died as soon as they stepped in. The number of players who managed to retrieve the treasure out of the Secret Places could probably be counted on one hand.

Li Yi made a trip to the Dwelling of the Undead once. After he created Queen Jiao, he gave her the two pieces of equipment that he had gotten from the Dwelling of the Undead. Both the Lord of Disaster Greatsword and the Undead’s Necklace of Natural Disaster were extremely useful Legendary items, especially the Lord of Disaster. This terrifying greatsword with the Dark attribute attached could even grow by itself. In theory, she would never have to get a new weapon…

She could use that weapon until the end of the Pantheon Continent…

Li Yi was determined to get the entrance ticket to the Seven Secret Places!

When six participants were reduced to three, each of the three would receive a Legendary Treasure Chest as a reward. Those were overpowered because everything they dropped would definitely be Legendary-level. Of course, there were good and bad Legendary-level items too, where good ones were like the Divine Bird Phoenix, a Legendary mount, as well as the Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water Divine Swords, while the bad ones were materials like Dragon Souls or Blood Jades.

As for the reward one would get for going from the Top Three to the last one standing, the Pantheon officials did not go into detail. They just covered it up with a ‘Mysterious Grand Prize’.

If the Top Three received a reward as ridiculous as the Legendary Treasure Chest, how bad could the first place prize be? There was no denying that the Pantheon officials’ maneuver with Mysterious Grand Prize was quite successful, as it incited a flurry of discussions. However, no one could be sure what the Mysterious Grand Prize was until it was eventually revealed.

Li Yi rejected Autumn Love’s proposal that he throw the match. To Li Yi, he already had enough money, so just like he told Autumn Love, he was determined to win the Brawl King Tournament. There was no way he was going to go easy on anyone.

He sold his Legendary equipment because he no longer needed them. Besides, he could not use them for much longer, because King of Pantheon was going to unlock the level cap soon. When that happened, the value of this so-called Legendary equipment would drop to rock bottom…

In truth, other than Autumn Love, many other dirty dealers had found Li Yi, and each of them had offered him lucrative rewards if he would just throw a match. However, he rejected all of them, without exception.

If it was a dozen years ago, who could have ever thought that there would be so much going on behind the scenes of an in-game tournament? The times had changed, as had the trends. In the past, the spotlight shone on celebrities in the entertainment scene, but now the biggest stars were the cream of the crop in the gaming arena.

Li Yi kept visualizing and trying to predict the first round of the battle. Players from the same country would not attack each other from the start, so his only options for his first opponents were the other eight.

“I’ll circle around you, disorient you with Chisel, then I’ll use Garotte, Bloodlet, followed by Scrape and Knee Kick, and then I’ll kill you with my Finishing Blow, Split.”

As Li Yi visualized it, his computer screen was still showing the videos of the other participants’ fights. Just then, it was showing clips from the time that Fake Fengxi became Seasonal Champion.

Fake Fengxi vanished using Stealth, and not long later, he appeared behind the opponent, using Chisel, Garotte, Scrape, Knee Kick, Split… and the opponent fell to the ground.

Li Yi returned to his senses and replayed that part, nodding. “Hmm, the punk’s got some moves.”

The Fengxi outside the Newbie Village was very good at theory, but when it came to actual fighting, even Pretty Good Mood could take him down easily, which just went to show what his standards were like. However, the Fake Fengxi in the arena had some real capabilities. He moved very precisely and attacked quickly, landing every hit that he initiated. That was exactly what a Thief had to master the most.

“It’s just…”

Li Yi watched a few more of the Fake Fengxi’s battle videos and realized that he had a unique trait, in that he would tell his opponent exactly what he was going to do before he did it, and then he would carry out his declarations to a T.

Compared to the Fengxi at the Newbie Village, this Fake Fengxi was clearly the practical type. At the very least, he walked his talk…

“What a show-off, but he speaks elegantly and prioritizes class. Just who could he be?”

Li Yi searched his memories but could not come up with anything at all. There had never been a powerhouse called Fengxi in his memories of his past life.

While there were more than ten million players in the King of Pantheon game, only a hundred participated in the God Wars. In his past life, Li Yi was one of the hundred, which was why he paid special attention to the other God Wars players. He did not know every single detail about every one of the other ninety-nine players, but he at least knew who they were.

From the videos, Li Yi could tell that the taller Fengxi was very skilled and definitely God-tier. However, logically speaking, there was no way he would not remember such a powerful character.

“Could it be that he did not participate in the God Wars in the past life?

“That makes no sense…”

Li Yi racked his brain for a long while but still came up blank. For instance, he had guessed that Fluttering Snow Purple Water Chestnut would not participate in the Brawl King Tournament this time, not because she was not strong enough, but because she did not really care about competitions of this level.

In the past life, Fluttering Snow Purple Water Chestnut was the third seed participant in the God Wars. She did not even need to go through the qualifiers like Li Yi had, as she had gone straight to the finals.

It made sense if he just thought about it. No matter what game she played, Fluttering Snow Purple Water Chestnut was a legendary powerhouse. She had just joined Pantheon, so be it her equipment or her gaming skills were not up to par. If she joined the Brawl King Tournament now and lost, given her ego, it would probably bug her for a long time, huh?

It was half past seven in the morning.

Li Yi stretched and was about to get out of bed when a pair of small and supple hands covered his eyes from behind.

“Guess who? I’ll give you a prize if you get it right,” said the person behind him in a fake voice.

“Jiaojiao?”

“Nope.”

“Ice?”

“Nope.”

“Qian’er?”

“Nope either!.”

“Could it be Director Yang?”

“No!” The person behind him grew frustrated, and the small hands over his eyes scratched him a few times, forcefully.