No Longer Dependent 

Translator/Editor: Mr Voltaire

Xuanyuan Xue Yi…

Mu Bing Yao looked down and saw Ling Chen"s fists tightly clenched, resulting in the sound of the bones in his fist grinding against each other… These years, he had always been protecting the girl called Shui Ruo, and had not left her alone for even a moment. For her, he would not allow his hands to be stained with blood anymore; for her, he would sacrifice anything… he had also said that he had decided to forget all the grudges he held in the past.

However, Ling Chen"s current reaction told her that he had not forgotten the grudges he held in the past… that depth of hatred, how could he let it go so easily! These peaceful years he had spent were all for Shui Ruo. If it were not for Shui Ruo, China"s capital would already have been filled with a sea of blood… in order to care for Shui Ruo, he had not taken any action, and had not even mentioned those people"s names. All of this was so that Shui Ruo could live a peaceful and safe life with him.

Mu Bing Yao believed that if Ling Shui Ruo died of the Isrock disease, then Ling Tian, maddened by grief and sorrow would let all of his hatred explode from within him… resulting in a terrifying outcome.

"Xuanyuan Xue Yi, is he that "Sword Emperor"?" Ling Chen asked as he frowned. Within all of the people he knew, to be called the Sword Emperor, as well as occupy the number one position in the Heaven Rankings and to be close with Long Tian Yun, the person could only be someone from the Xuanyuan family.

"No." Mu Bing Yao said, "Xuanyuan Xue Yi"s mission is to protect the Long family, and has never stepped into the virtual gaming world before. Even if he wanted to, the Xuanyuan family would not allow it."

"It"s not him?" Ling Chen frowned, his face full of confusion, "Then who is that number 1 on the Heaven Rankings, Sword Emperor then?"

"I don"t know."

"Whenever the Sword Emperor appears, his cloak is always fully wrapped around him. That includes his hair, eyes, hands… there is not a single bit of his body that is exposed. No one has ever seen what he truly looks like under his cloak. Moreover, he never speaks; he only kills. There were many times when I tried to look into his true ident.i.ty, but my investigations were always fruitless. All I know is that his real name is "Feng Xie Yu", same as his name in the virtual world. Perhaps the only people who know his true ident.i.ty are the Long family." Mu Bing Yao replied.

Ling Chen was silent… when had such a person appeared in the Long family.

"Have you fought with the Sword Emperor before?"

"It ended with my utter defeat." Mu Bing Yao said straightforwardly.

Ling Chen shook his head in dismay, and said in a quiet voice, "Forget about it, whoever he is, doesn"t really matter to me. Maybe one day if we fight, I"ll find out something about him." He then laughed out loud, "Ruo Ruo"s been getting better, so I"ve been so happy that I"m itching for some action."

Mu Bing Yao: "……"

"Bing Yao, you need to protect Meng Xin and them. Long Tian Yun will probably send people to investigate and keep an eye on them, so make sure you"re always alert." Ling Chen reminded her.

Mu Bing Yao nodded, "Don"t worry, Master."

"En." Ling Chen replied. He looked at this cold beauty"s face, and gave her a casual smile. He then turned around, and looked into the distance. Ling Chen decided that for the next few days, he would train here with the rest of the guild. Based on his progress in the morning, levelling up here was not slow at all, but was not very fast either. After all, there was only one Xi Ling destroying mobs, but five people absorbing the EXP.

What he didn"t know was that his casual smile just then caused the icy-faced girl"s heart to start rapidly beating.

When things were peaceful, she always thought of that incredibly weak girl called Shui Ruo, and wondered what sort of sorcery she had used to cause this man to make such inconceivable changes for her. He had changed so much that he would not even allow himself to be stained by blood anymore, putting down his unfathomable hatred.

Although, suffering from the Isrock Disease, she would be constantly walking along the border between life and death, and yet she was probably the luckiest and happiest girl in the world…

After an hour, Yun Meng Xin, Xiao Qi and Su"Er simultaneously logged on. They were currently living at the same place, and were together during lunchtime.

"Big sister Mu, Ling Tian, have you waited for long?" Seeing Ling Tian and Mu Bing Yao already waiting, Yun MEng Xin leisurely walked over.

"No, we just got here." Ling Chen said as he smiled.

"Big sister Mu, big brother Ling Tian." Behind Yun Meng Xin, Su"Er politely greeted them, looking like an adorable doll that no one could resist hugging.

Xiao Qi directly skipped over to Ling Tian, and directly grabbed onto his arm, "Big brother Ling Tian, you"re not allowed to sleep this afternoon. During lunch, the three of us were talking about you the whole time… there are so many things I want to ask you, I want to hear all of your stories, so make sure you tell us today… Alright? Big brother Ling Tian…"

As a result, Ling Chen was pulled by Xiao Qi to sit down on the gra.s.s with her, and was forced to answer many of her questions. However, being surrounded by four beautiful girls, any normal man would enjoy it. Not too far away, Xi Ling and Xiao Hui, one in the sky, one on the ground, were working tirelessly, turning mobs of Red Eyed Lizards into EXP for Ling Chen and the others.

Although they still had not known each other for a long time, they all felt quite close with each other, and interacted very naturally with each other. They had all met each other because of Heart"s Dream… and Ling Chen"s joining of the guild had caused great changes to Heart"s Dream.

In the next two days, Ling Chen trained with the four girls in the Red Eyed Lizard Territory… of course, it wasn"t really training, but "training", since it was free EXP. Under Xi Ling"s outrageously strong attacks, mobs and mobs of Red Eyed Lizards were turned into EXP, causing the four girls" levels to rapidly increase. By now, they had all reached LV13, whereas Ling Chen who had the permanent EXP debuff, "Heaven"s Jealously"…

"Ding… Congratulations you have levelled up, now LV14, HP+20, MP+10, Strength+5."

"Ding… Your pet "Holy Spirit Beast" Xiao Hui has levelled up, now LV14…"

In the time that the four girls had risen by two levels, Ling Chen"s LV13 EXP had just become full, reaching LV14. As for Xiao Hui… his level had long since caught up to Ling Chen, and was restricted by Ling Chen"s level.

"Finally LV14." Ling Chen let out a breath as he looked at the "Level Up" sign about his head.

"Congratulations! Big brother Ling Tian is definitely the first in China, no, first in the whole world to reach LV14… that"s right, I heard that when someone reaches LV15, the Player Rankings will be released." Xiao Qi said as she smiled, "At that time, big brother Ling Tian will definitely be in first place, and we… we"re already LV13, so we might even be able to get into the top 100! Wah, I"m getting excited just thinking about it."

The four girls felt that Ling Chen"s levelling speed was somewhat slow… the first time they had met, he was already LV13. Over the course of these few days, they had risen from LV10 to LV13, yet Ling Chen had only risen from LV13 to LV14. However, they did not think too much about this.

At this time, Yun Meng Xin had stood up, and after a short pause, said, "Qi Qi, Su Su, with our levels now, we are able to enter the top 100 on the Player Rankings… however…" She paused, then continued, "From tomorrow, we should go somewhere else to practice, and let Ling Tian train by himself."

Ling Chen looked up at Yun Meng Xin, but did not say anything.

"Ah? Why? It"s so easy to level up with big brother Ling Tian, and we don"t even need to do anything ourselves. Why do we need to go somewhere else?" Xiao Qi and Su"Er both revealed expressions of confusion.

"Is it… Is it because having high levels… is bad for us?" Su"Er asked in a small voice.

Yun Meng Xin shook her head, "That"s not the reason. One"s level does not determine their overall power. Increasing by one level only gives a few stat bonuses, but in comparison, SP, equipment and personal skills are much more important than levels. Thus, having a high level mainly makes you look good, but does not increase your overall power by much… The number two player on the Heaven Rankings, The Dark Night"s Gui Ya rarely appears on the Player Ranking, and yet he is publicly acknowledged as the number 2 player in China."

"But, but, why do we need to leave big brother Ling Tian?"

"Simple." Yun Meng Xin"s expression was calm. She had originally intended to say these things yesterday, "Because of Ling Tian, without exerting any effort at all, we"ve acquired Gold weapons that other people can only dream of, as well as a Hidden Profession. Even levelling up is much faster, and we don"t even have to do anything. No one would pa.s.s up on this type of experience, but by staying with Ling Tian, we"ll begin to rely on him too much. In this whole process, we are not required to face any powerful monsters by ourselves, or suffer from exhaustion or danger. If everything is simply given to us, the thrill and excitement of the game itself will soon begin to fade. Moreover, our battle skills, resourcefulness and weapon proficiency will not rise at all, but instead decline… Even if we have the best equipment and a powerful cla.s.s, we"ll still be powerless without a good battle sense and battle experience."

Yun Meng Xin"s words shocked Xiao Qi and Su"Er, and they all lapsed into silence.

"Ling Tian is extremely powerful, so powerful that it"s incomprehensible. However, Heart"s Dream does not comprise solely of Ling Tian. Every single one of us needs to improve so that we do not have to rely on anyone. Moreover… if we aren"t here, Ling Tian"s training will be more free, and it"ll become much easier for him to level up. He can do many quests that are on his level, and rise to a level that surpa.s.ses everyone else… at that time, our Heart"s Dream will be glorified along with him. Right now, if we continue to follow him around, we"ll only become a burden to him. We don"t want that, right? We all have our own cla.s.ses, and have our own power and strength. We should continue to struggle and fight, and use our own abilities to walk forwards to see what heights we can rise to!"

Ling Chen smiled. He had been waiting for Yun Meng Xin to say these things. Having given Heart"s Dream as much support as possible, he now had to get rid of their dependence on him. He hoped that when Heart"s Dream stood at the top of all other guilds, it wouldn"t just be him supporting it.

"Oh, I understand now!" After thinking for a while, Xiao Qi vigorously nodded her head and agreed. The look of confusion had long since vanished on her face, and she did not seem unwilling to part with Ling Tian anymore. She had always been someone who strove for excellence, as well as someone who admired strong people and wanted to become strong herself… and to not lose to any boys. Ling Chen was someone who she was very curious about, and she secretly admired him. Up until now, she had been leisurely enjoying the benefits he had brought, almost taking them for granted. Only after hearing Yun Meng Xin"s words did she realise this.

"I will listen to big sister." Su"Er said as she earnestly nodded her head.

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