Chapter 366: Butterfly Effect, Changes

For several consecutive days, Happy remained in the royal tomb, never leaving. Despite numerous competitors, Happy still fulfilled the deal with the Conscientious Tycoon the next day—transferring 100 top-quality artifacts in exchange for 130 million taels of silver. Soon after, the Conscientious Tycoon offered to sell three segments of the “Qingming Sword” for 30 million taels. Happy couldn’t resist and accepted this favor, as even just the cost alone was far higher than that amount. Happy realized the Conscientious Tycoon wanted to strengthen their relationship and ensure he remembered this favor, inwardly admiring how willing this businessman was to invest heavily. With three segments of the Qingming Sword, cleaning the royal tomb became even easier…

When the swords emitting purple, red, and blue lights appeared, it was as if they were divine weapons. By using the “Seven Stars Sword Technique” to activate the “Wind Spirit Spin,” they left deep, striking sword marks in the sturdy passages—more than half a foot deep. No one dared stand within ten meters, not even the top experts on the Dragon and Phoenix List, who could only sigh in frustration.

The second-floor hall of the royal tomb was entirely under Happy’s control… With sword lights flashing everywhere, no one dared approach, fearing to provoke his misunderstanding or displeasure. After all, even those at their level, though confident, were terrified of death. One death could knock them off the list or reduce them to the lower ranks.

…

While frantically amassing wealth in the royal tomb, Happy also kept an eye on the changes in the martial world. Besides having quietly dropped out of the top 100 on the Dragon List, the top two on the list—“The Emperor” and “Zhou Yu”—had sparked a trend of striving to reach the Life and Death Realm. Last night, “The Emperor” had just reached this realm with three masterful performances at the Mysterious Realm level. That very noon, Zhou Yu also rushed into the Life and Death Realm, closely following in “The Emperor’s” footsteps.

“Zhou Yu?”
Happy had some vague memory of Zhou Yu. He remembered that Zhou Yu wasn’t very famous back then. When people discussed “The Emperor, two empresses, three kings, seven marquises, and thirteen heroes,” although Zhou Yu was often mentioned, he had already disappeared from the martial world. Could it be… that his rebirth had indirectly affected Zhou Yu’s progress? Just like the Silver Fox, he continued to remain in the martial world…

Of course, Happy had no idea that because of him, the REP payment system was activated earlier, allowing “The Emperor” to enter the Life and Death Realm sooner. Zhou Yu, too, made different decisions in a different environment.

While focusing on happiness, Zhou Yu developed a strong sense of curiosity and competitiveness toward the mysterious master “One Emperor” who seemed to be constantly pressing down on him.
Zhou Yu…
He’s getting serious now!
On the other hand, the once-popular duo from the Phoenix Ranking—Meng Yun and Mo Feng—seemed to be declining, overtaken by a woman without any faction named “Shadow,” who took away the title of the top master in the Phoenix Ranking. Driven by Shadow, Meng Yun and Mo Feng gradually reduced their presence in the martial world, even handing over faction management to their deputies, focusing solely on training to reach the Life and Death Realm…
…
“The Life and Death Realm has been reached more than a month earlier than expected.”
When leaving the game, Kai Xin sat at her bedroom desk, rubbing her temples as she browsed the web. Her mind felt chaotic, as if filled with mush.
Many things from her past life were different from the current situation.
As for changes in the Nanhua Martial World Ranking…
With the support of the Lonely Three Wolves and Xu Xin, it had grown to over 200,000 registered members. Many schools in Hunan had applied to join, and it was filled with top-ranked masters. It also had several interactions with the official website, earning it a great reputation.
After the battle at Weng City, Caiyi Gate not only regained Weng City but also became famous, even expanding its territory to several cities. After a group of people returned, “Phoenix Dances in Caiyi” boldly established four branch halls, connecting more than a dozen nearby cities into a network, bringing many important resource points under its control—further strengthening Caiyi Gate.
The emergence of the Mu Family changed the predicament of the Xiyi Gate…
Since the incident with Yao Hua in Fox Cave, Yipin Hall hardly suppressed the Xiyi Gate anymore, allowing it to develop steadily. Especially after forming a five-faction alliance in Baokang, with strong resource support, the Xiyi Gate quickly learned from the Mu Family by establishing its own faction warehouses and contribution systems. Lin Xiao and Hong Chen’s reputation within the Xiyi Gate grew day by day, with no signs of the division caused by leadership conflicts in their past life.
Kai Xin was naturally happy about these positive developments, but there were also things that troubled her…
Just the insane progress of “One Emperor” worried her greatly. With Zhou Yu chasing after him, might this guy ignore everything and rush to reach the Liberation Realm, trying to achieve something that wouldn’t appear until two years later within just one year of gameplay? That would be a huge problem.
Additionally, the trend of forging started much earlier than in her past life.
The value of alchemists was recognized sooner;
The entire martial world had already reached a scale that wouldn’t appear until a year later…

“Why is this happening?”
Kai Xin felt that the current world was like a train that had derailed—sparking everywhere, but with an engine that couldn’t be stopped. Of course, this referred to the progress compared to his past life and the players’ enthusiasm, not issues with game operation.
As Kai Xin was utterly puzzled, his phone on the table vibrated…
He picked it up.
Xu Yao.
Frowning, Kai Xin’s gaze lingered on the phone number.
Since his true identity was revealed, many people knew his phone number. Almost everyone in the higher ranks of Caiyi Men had it, and Xu Yao was no exception. She had been sending messages continuously these past few days, trying to warm up their cold relationship through text messages, but Kai Xin hadn’t replied to a single one.
Although he hadn’t saved Xu Yao’s name, he remembered this phone number vividly, unable to forget it.
“Hello?”
Pressing the answer button, Kai Xin spoke in a indifferent tone.
There was a suppressed breath on the other end of the phone, followed by Xu Yao’s voice:
“It’s me, Xu Yao.”
“Oh, what’s up?”
“Yes.” In Kai Xin’s presence, Xu Yao seemed even more nervous and uneasy. “I met Yin Hu yesterday.”
“Hm?”
Kai Xin’s heart stirred, and he instinctively sat up straighter.
“It’s said around that when Caiyi Men was attacked last time, it was because a reinforcement team from Yipin Tang was ambushed by Yin Hu, which led to the complete destruction of Yipin Tang’s faction. Yesterday, while on a mission outside, I happened to see Yin Hu being surrounded by a group of people, so I stepped in to help him.”
“Is he okay?” Kai Xin’s expression turned serious, and he said sarcastically, “Who would be so bold as to attack Yin Hu? Don’t they want to live?”
“It doesn’t seem to be people from Yipin Tang,” Xu Yao replied. “I asked him, and Yin Hu said he was sent by you to protect Caiyi Men. So I thought I’d call to ask if he could join Caiyi Men. He seems very lonely out there by himself…”
“You’re meddling too much.” Kai Xin hung up coldly, his face grim with anger.