The Almighty Ring

“Mmmm…”

Just as Jiang Fei was done checking his stat window, the little girl woke up.

“Miluya, how are you feeling?” said Jiang Fei, brushing her hair off her face.

“Big brother! You’re here! I was so afraid!” cried the girl before bursting into tears and leaning into his chest. The girl was clearly frightened.

“Nothing to be afraid of anymore. I’m here. Do you recall anything?” Jiang Fei asked.

“All I remember was the big tree trying to crush me! I felt so much pain and then… and then… Hmm… I can’t remember…” said the little girl whilst hiccuping.

“That’s good. Not use in remembering the pain…”

Jiang Fei cuddled the little girl and continued to brush her black hair to comfort her. He frowned for a while. How could she not remember turning into the angel of Death?

“Big Brother,” said Miluya after she was done crying her eyes out. “I think we should get away from this place.”

The girl was clearly traumatized by the incident there. Even though the tree was no longer alive, she did not want to relive the experience.

“Okay. Let’s leave this place. Do you have anywhere you want to go?” Jiang Fei asked, holding her little hand in his huge metallic gauntlet.

“I don’t know! It’s an adventure!” she cried out, cheerfully.

Jiang Fei actually knew where he wanted to go. When he logged on, the place where the Mother of the Word was supposed to be, had a large teleportation circle.

“Look, Miluya! A portal! I wonder where it would take us. Shall we go for an adventure?” said Jiang Fei playfully, coaxing the girl into going inside the circle.

“Yay! Adventure!” cried the girl as she dragged Jiang Fei, who was at least 3 times her height, toward the teleportation circle.

“Alright! Get ready!” Jiang Fei said. He picked up the little girl, making her laugh happily, and charged toward the teleportation circle.

With a flash of white light, the two were teleported away.

“Where are we?” Jiang Fei asked. He was not sure where would he end up at. After the light dissipated, darkness rolled in. The smell of rotten plants and waste filled his nose. It did not take long for him to realize that he was standing in the middle of a huge swamp.

“Ding! Your presence in the Primordial Celestial Realm is not welcomed. You have incurred the attention from all nearby Primordial Celestials.”

Just as Jiang Fei was trying to get his greaves out of the nasty, thick, swamp waters, a system notification popped.

“This is bad.”

Before he took off to the Celestial Realm, Ou Yezi had advised him about not taking on a certain quest before reaching the Celestial tier. It was mainly because of the power of Celestials. Once a Human that had reached the Celestial tier entered the Celestial Realm, he would be a beacon to all Primordial Celestials. A call of challenge, a signal to indicate that there was a Human who was ready for a fight.

He had fought a Celestial before, but that was not on purpose. In fact, before he reached the Celestial tier, no Primordial Celestial knew about his presence in the Celestial Realm.

Things were different now. Jiang Fei had achieved what no other player had and became a Celestial. His presence was that of an open-challenge call. No matter where he hid, his mere presence alone could be detected by any Primordial in the Celestial Realm. Everyone would want a piece of him!

“Shit!”

Jiang Fei had just come to realize what had befallen him. From that moment on, he was the intruder that had come into the Celestial Realm. All that awaited him was confrontation with other Primordials!

“Big brother? What’s wrong?” Miluya promptly ask when Jiang Fei was not moving with her.

“There’s trouble… A big one!” said Jiang Fei, grunting even. Just before he got to prepare mentally with what was to come, a silhouette appeared between the eerie rotting trees.

“A Human?! A mere Human dares to enter this realm?!”

A loud roar was heard, reverberating through the thick, viscous swamp water. It was a roar that Jiang Fei did not like.

“Hmph! A coward! Nothing more!” cried Miluya. “Show yourself!”

“Now, now. There’s no need to be so hasty. You will share the same fate as the Human that had entered this realm!” said the voice before it burst into a beast-like laugh.

The silhouette emerged from the trees and revealed himself. Right as he walked out, Miluya struck her tongue out and sulked.

“Ugh… so ugly. No wonder he was hiding in the trees. If I looked like that, I would have done the same!” Miluya said as she covered her eyes playfully.

Beastfang Lord (Primordial Celestial, Lower Celestial)

Level: 103

Health Points: 650,000,000

Attack Power: 2,500,000 (Deals 100 times damage to all targets below Celestial tier)

Skills: All Warrior common skills. Charge of the Thousands.

Note: The first Wild Boar to achieve Celestial tier.

“Heh. I was scared of nothing…” said Jiang Fei to himself after he had a good look on the NPC. The boss was nothing but a beast-kin Celestial. He might be a Primordial but his stats were too weak. He might even be the weakest amongst all Primordials.

“Well. No time to waste then, is there?” said Jiang Fei, immediately jumping into a battle stance. The Soulcutter flew out of its sheath and started to hover around his back. After the patch was implemented, the wound on Soulcutter had completely healed.

“Big brother… He’s so ugly I can’t watch!” said the girl as she cowered behind Jiang Fei.

The NPC looked like a westernized version of Zhu Bajie. He was fat, furry, and had fangs of a boar protruding from under his upper jaw. His skin was flawlessly white. Although he was fat, Jiang Fei considered his figure not as obese but one with powerful, bear-like physique. His weapons were not the usual Zhu Bajie-trademarked-farming rake. It was a flail—a longer wooden handle with a large morning star dangling from a large chain.

“No worries. I’ll get rid of him. How about some nice barbecued pork ribs?” said Jiang Fei jokingly. Before the ascension to Celestial-hood, Jiang Fei would never dare to talk so boastfully in front of a Celestial tier boss. Now, things had changed and he was able to play on the same ground with them!

Although the boss’ Health Points were undoubtedly larger than his, with his Attack Power overwhelmingly stronger, Jiang Fei was not scared. He knew his character well enough to know that as long as he wasn’t stunned, he could end the fight faster than the Wild Boar God could even snort!

“Ewww. I don’t want to eat that! His ugliness would only be spread to me!” cried the brutal little girl, not giving face to the Primordial boss.

“Hmph! The two of you are getting on my nerves! I will crush you!”

Without even the need to charge, Beastfang Lord zoomed toward Jiang Fei. It was fast. Too fast since he did not need to build momentum to reach maximum moving speed. However, even though the boss was fast, Jiang Fei was faster. After training for so long in martial arts, Jiang Fei’s reaction was close to instantaneous. A reflex that he brought into the game and could use to his advantage.

After stopping the boss for a split second, Jiang Fei immediately activated Soulcutter’s skill. The longsword spun around and quickly split itself into 128 swords. These swords spun so fast that once would be grounded into minced meat if one dared to step any closer to it.

Sword Form: Blade Dragon!

The swords stopped spinning instantly, as if time had stopped itself. Not a fraction of a second later, the sword converged on a single point, forming a large blade dragon that flung itself toward Beastfang Lord.

As a means to defense, the boss started to brandish his flail all about. He was able to deflect some of the attacks, but only a small portion of it. Two thirds of 128 swords landed on the target, hacking and slicing away so much health points that the boss was left on death’s door.

“Impossible!” The boss gasped in horror. The Human that was standing in front of it was only a Human! A Human! How could a Human, albeit being a Celestial tier, bring him down to his knees?! With just one attack, he was already close to meeting death. Were all adventurers this strong?

“Time to make myself wild boar stew! I’ll dice you up nicely into bite-sized cubes!” Jiang Fei hummed. His attack might only be a fraction of what the boss had, but he had 128 blades to help him multiply that fatality, not to mention the effects of Ruthless Barrage! Now that Jiang Fei was at the same stage play as the Beastfang Lord, there was no stopping Jiang Fei from killing him!