“Ashen Feather Court.”
“Shall we talk?”
When Luan's voice fell, the surrounding crowd, which had already been holding its breath, fell even quieter.
Cen Yao looked at her.
The other woman was not standing particularly close, yet she gave off an incredibly intense aura of oppression.
This pressure was not a deliberately released aura, but rather something forged from stepping through blood and fire in countless dungeons, allowing that sense of danger to settle naturally into her very bones.
Before Cen Yao could reply, Luan turned slightly, seemingly intending to lead her to a more suitable place for a conversation.
“There are too many people here,” she said. “Let's go somewhere else to talk in private.”
Cen Yao instinctively looked toward Zhu Lingxi and Pei Tinglan.
Zhu Lingxi stood by her side, her black hair cascading down, her fingers resting lightly on the edge of the Nuo mask at her waist.
She didn't say yes or no, simply watching Cen Yao quietly, clearly waiting for her to make her own decision.
Pei Tinglan sat in his wheelchair, his expression indifferent.
He didn't take a stance.
But Cen Yao had a strange feeling that if she dared to follow Luan, he would look at her like she was an idiot in the next second.
Just as Cen Yao was about to politely decline, a smiling voice suddenly chimed in from the side.
“Oh, wait a moment.”
“Luan, we at the Eclipse Corridor also need to have a chat with this young lady.”
Cen Yao looked up.
Eclipse had stepped out from the crowd at some point.
He wore a moon-white robe made of a seemingly unique material, which shimmered with faint silver patterns with every step he took.
The old copper coin in his hand had been put away at some point, and the smile on his face was very gentle.
Had Pei Tinglan not just described everyone in the Eclipse Corridor as a bunch of lunatics, Cen Yao might have even thought this man looked much easier to talk to than Luan.
But the more he appeared this way, the more vigilant she became.
Eclipse took a single step forward.
Though he had clearly been over ten meters away just a moment ago, in the next instant, he was already standing right in front of Cen Yao.
Cen Yao barely had time to react.
“Miss Cen Yao, is it?”
Eclipse leaned forward slightly, his smile gentle and his voice leisurely.
“It's like this. We in the Eclipse Corridor are quite interested in the array you used in the dungeon just now—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a blazing streak of fire suddenly tore through the air.
The flames appeared without any warning.
Carrying scorching heat and sharp killing intent, they blasted straight toward Eclipse's face!
“Holy crap!”
someone in the crowd gasped.
“Luan made a move?!”
The fire was too fast.
Cen Yao could even feel the heat wave rushing over her face.
Without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed Zhu Lingxi's wrist with one hand and pressed her other hand onto the armrest of Pei Tinglan's wheelchair.
She spun her magic wand between her fingers.
“Phantom Shift.”
Space folded slightly.
In the next second, the three of them vanished from where they stood, reappearing behind a stone sculpture at the edge of the plaza.
Where they had been, the fire erupted with a loud bang.
Blazing tongues of fire scorched the ground, sending a shower of stone fragments flying.
Eclipse's reaction was also ridiculously fast.
The moment the flames were about to touch his face, his body, like a piece of paper scattered by the night wind, suddenly dissolved into a faint moonlight.
The fire passed right through his afterimage.
When Eclipse reappeared, he was already standing several meters away from Luan.
He raised a hand to touch his unharmed face, his smile fading slightly.
“Luan.”
“A sneak attack?”
“Hmph.”
Luan gripped her short sword with one hand, its blade still wrapped in blazing red flames.
“A sneak attack?”
“Weren't you the one who cut the line?”
Eclipse raised an eyebrow.
“It's just a conversation. Since when is it first come, first served?”
“You call that a conversation?”
Luan sneered.
“Only someone tired of living would believe a single word from anyone in the Eclipse Corridor.”
She didn't pause for even a fraction of a second after speaking.
With a flick of her wrist, her short sword sliced through the air once more.
A line of fire swept across the ground like an awakened red serpent, rushing straight toward Eclipse.
Eclipse didn't dodge this time.
He raised his hand, a crescent-shaped black mark appearing on his palm.
When the line of fire reached him, it was suddenly distorted by some bizarre force, abruptly veering off course and streaking across the sky above the plaza.
Boom!
A training stone target not far away was pierced by the flames, instantly exploding into fragments.
The spectating players retreated in unison.
“They're fighting!”
“Hurry, get back!”
“Wait, aren't they here to recruit people?”
“When the Ashen Feather Court and the Eclipse Corridor clash, do you really expect them to sit down and have tea?”
“Won't they be punished by the System for fighting in the game lobby?”
“As long as they don't involve ordinary players or destroy the core area, who cares?”
“What if they do catch us in the crossfire?”
“Then you'd better run as fast as you can.”
Cen Yao stood behind the stone sculpture, silently watching the flames and moonlit shadows darting back and forth ahead.
A question mark slowly popped up in her mind.
Wait.
What is even happening?
She hadn't even declined yet.
How had they already started fighting?
Cen Yao: “...”
Zhu Lingxi's eyes, however, were sparkling.
She watched Eclipse raise his hand to block the flames, then saw Luan leap up by stepping on the exploding waves of fire, as if she were watching a Nuo opera she had never seen before.
“This...”
Zhu Lingxi couldn't help but marvel.
“This is so exciting.”
Cen Yao turned to look at her.
“Aren't you scared?”
Zhu Lingxi thought about it seriously.
“A little.”
She paused, then added, “But their fight looks so cool.”
Cen Yao: “...”
What kind of Nuo opera successor was this, enjoying the spectacle without a care in the world?
Pei Tinglan leaned back in his wheelchair, rubbing his temples.
“Let's go.”
“If we stay any longer, we won't even have anyone to complain to if we get caught in the crossfire.”
Cen Yao couldn't agree more.
She grabbed Zhu Lingxi's hand.
“Let's go, let's go.”
“Before they bring the fight over to our side.”
Rate on N.U.
