From a distance, Xia Zichen could already see Canmo Wuhen standing in the plaza in front of the city gate. There were always a lot of people at the city gate — aside from those there to spar, most of the rest were just passing through. As for the ones standing around chatting nearby, Xia Zichen didn’t pay them any mind.
He dismounted beside Canmo Wuhen, and before he could even type anything, the other party had already sent over a duel request. Dueling was a game mode that people who enjoyed the arena and faction battlegrounds tended to play regularly — countless duels played out in the main city every day, and sometimes out in the open-world maps too. Put simply, it was a small-scale sparring match — could be one-on-one, or two players per side facing off. The winner was determined by whose HP bar hit zero first. Under normal circumstances, an empty HP bar would display the player as dead, but in a duel it would simply show “match over” automatically, with no death effect, and players didn’t have to worry about equipment degradation.
If your mechanics were decent enough, a healer going up against a DPS in a duel wasn’t out of the question — after all, a healer could top themselves off, and as long as the HP bar never bottomed out, even weak attacks could gradually grind down a DPS over time, since DPS classes had no self-healing.
Xia Zichen checked his gear and clicked confirm. The screen began counting down. He had sparred with An Jing and the others before — as long as your positioning was sharp and your heals were timely, it wasn’t easy to lose. When he tallied up his record, it was roughly six wins and four losses, which wasn’t a bad result at all for a healer.
Once the duel started, Chenxi leaped high into the air first, buying time to dodge each one of Canmo Wuhen’s attack waves, then on landing stacked a HoT on herself, and kept dashing forward to evade his pursuit while throwing out a quick low-damage attack skill at Canmo Wuhen. But before she’d gotten very far, two of Canmo Wuhen’s major skills came down and Chenxi hit the ground.
[PM] [Chenxi]: …
He knew Canmo Wuhen’s attack was high, but hadn’t expected it to be this brutal. From the day Xia Zichen first learned about the dueling mode, he had never lost this badly. Even with the HoT running, the heal-per-second was only around three thousand — which, with better positioning, would normally have been just enough to hold on. He hadn’t anticipated Canmo Wuhen hitting him with instant burst damage well into the tens of thousands. Staying on his feet was simply not an option.
Canmo Wuhen came and sat down beside Chenxi. Chenxi stood back up and sat cross-legged to the side, waiting for her HP to regenerate.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: My gear has a pretty big advantage.
Even though that’s what he said, Xia Zichen understood it was only part of the story. More importantly, it was a matter of technique. When he was trying to escape the pursuit, he should have thrown a big heal on himself the moment Canmo Wuhen’s first hit landed — he shouldn’t have been relying on the HoT. On top of that, when he’d charged forward, his reaction speed when circling back and turning to run was a beat too slow, which was how Canmo Wuhen had caught up to him.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Don’t you have any weaker gear?
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: All my gear sets have pretty similar scores.
Xia Zichen thought for a moment.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Then take off a few pieces.
Taking off gear would lower a character’s stats and HP, which should make things relatively easier to manage.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Shouldn’t we be a little more subtle about this.
Xia Zichen blinked at his computer screen, and then it hit him — what Canmo Wuhen actually meant. No matter how you looked at it, Chenxi was a girl. Xia Zichen had always hung out with Shen Yicheng and the others, and had never thought much about it. And since he purely treated Canmo Wuhen as a friend, he hadn’t been particularly careful with his words. If it were a guy, saying something like that was no big deal — but a girl… It was the first time Xia Zichen had ever felt that playing a character of a different gender actually came with its own technical challenges.
[PM] [Chenxi]: It’s just a duel…
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: If it’s your request, I’m happy to oblige.
Canmo Wuhen sent a smiling emoji, then took off his outer robe, revealing the character’s defined muscle lines underneath. Xia Zichen pressed his lips together slightly and clicked duel.
Taking stock of what he’d learned, plus the fact that the other guy had removed some gear, Xia Zichen managed to dodge around and hold on for forty seconds this time. After letting the other side win three more rounds, Xia Zichen kept asking him to remove more pieces.
By this point he had completely stopped caring about winning or losing. He simply felt that Canmo Wuhen was an excellent sparring partner for practicing PvP, and that was the only mindset he was approaching it with. As a guy, Xia Zichen definitely had a competitive streak, and he genuinely enjoyed player-versus-player gameplay. It was just that when the opponent was so overwhelmingly stronger, you had to look at the situation from a different angle. Once he sharpened his own skills and geared up over time, he’d always be able to win it back eventually.
And so the two of them kept going until Canmo Wuhen was down to nothing but his pants and his weapon. By then, Chenxi’s HP was no longer getting blown through so easily — though still unable to defeat Canmo Wuhen — and the long back-and-forth skirmish that followed had its own kind of fun to it.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: I gotta say, Canmo — what exactly are you doing? We’re at the main city gate, everyone can see you.
At some point Baicao Zhe and Jianlang had strolled over together.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Otherwise I can’t beat him.
Xia Zichen helpfully explained on Canmo Wuhen’s behalf.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: Little Chenxi sis, you challenging him to a duel in the first place was already a mistake. He definitely wanted an excuse to take his clothes off.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: …
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: Baicao’s just jealous. Even with Canmo at half HP, he’s never won a single round against him.
Xia Zichen was a little surprised. He had ground BOSSes alongside Baicao Zhe before — Baicao Zhe’s damage output was no joke, and his positioning was solid. How could he have never won even once? Which would mean… had Canmo Wuhen been going easy on him just now?
[Nearby] [Canmo Wuhen]: You two done with the arena?
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: Done. When you’re free, let’s all four of us run 4v4 together.
[Nearby] [Canmo Wuhen]: We’ll discuss it.
Baicao Zhe sent him an angry emoji.
Canmo Wuhen took the opportunity to put his clothes back on, returning to his original appearance of effortless, elegant composure.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: I’m gonna head to the auction house and check — need to buy some materials for guild development.
[Nearby] [Canmo Wuhen]: Sure. If you’re short on gold, let me know.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: I’ve got enough.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Your guild has to buy its own materials?
Guild development required submitting a large number of materials — some had to be personally gathered, some needed to be crafted. In Zhanming Hall, though, Shen Yicheng usually handled sourcing all of that, and guild members just needed to collect what they needed from the guild warehouse and go complete their quests.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: No no, all that’s Jianlang’s job — he’s the guild master.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: …
They hadn’t known each other for a short time, and yet Xia Zichen was only finding out now that Jianlang was the guild master of Tianfeng Yage.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: Something wrong?
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Nothing — just found out today that you’re the guild master.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: Haha, Ah Liang, guess your reputation doesn’t reach far enough yet.
It wasn’t really that Jianlang’s reputation wasn’t prominent enough — Xia Zichen just never paid attention to that kind of thing.
[Nearby] [Canmo Wuhen]: Chenxi, do you have any guild materials in your bag you’re looking to sell?
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Yeah.
He hadn’t thought twice when Canmo Wuhen asked. He’d originally planned to list them at the auction house before logging off — they’d probably sell overnight. His in-game gold had been accumulated bit by bit this way. Easy enough in theory, though it had genuinely taken a lot of his time.
[Nearby] [Canmo Wuhen]: Just sell directly to Jianlang then — saves you the auction house transaction fee. I’ll pay at the highest market rate.
Either way he was going to sell them — it didn’t matter who the buyer was. Besides, he and Canmo Wuhen were friends now; he wouldn’t even have minded giving them away for free, and he wasn’t the type to haggle over these things.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: If you need them, just take them. No need to buy from me.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: That won’t do — you put in the time to farm these. Business is business.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: Yeah, you have to take the gold. Otherwise we’d feel too awkward to buy from you again in the future.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Alright, but no need for the highest rate — average market price is fine.
When Xia Zichen traded the materials to Jianlang afterward, even though it was supposedly at average price, Xia Zichen could tell Jianlang had paid a little extra. But there was nothing to make a fuss about — a guild like Tianfeng Yage wouldn’t even blink at that kind of small difference.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: Going forward, just sell your materials directly to me. I’m buying long-term.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Deal.
It was how he’d been making gold all along anyway — having a steady buyer made things a lot more convenient.
After that, Canmo Wuhen sent a party invite and Chenxi joined. They began a 2v2 duel against Jianlang and Baicao Zhe’s two-person team.
Even though Jianlang and Baicao Zhe’s damage output was fierce, as long as Xia Zichen could keep both himself and Canmo Wuhen healed up in time — combined with Canmo Wuhen’s absolutely insane damage — winning was a foregone conclusion; it was only a matter of when.
At this point Xia Zichen felt a little more settled. Their opponents had better gear than him, and they still couldn’t pull off a win — so his own earlier loss wasn’t quite as embarrassing as it had seemed.
[Nearby] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Look, it’s Canmo Wuhen!
[Nearby] [Qingcheng Baobei]: Where, where?
[Nearby] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Over by the plaza near the moat.
[Nearby] [Qingcheng Baobei]: Got him — he’s dueling!
[Nearby] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Hey, do you see who’s next to him?
[Nearby] [Qingcheng Baobei]: How is it Chenxi?!
Xia Zichen hadn’t been paying much attention to the nearby chat, but the game’s design highlighted friends’ and guild members’ names in the nearby channel in pink and green, giving a built-in heads-up.
Seeing the names of these two players, Xia Zichen’s brow furrowed slightly. He wasn’t planning to engage.
Sometimes not engaging doesn’t mean other people won’t come climbing up the pole anyway.
[Nearby] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: No wonder she’s barely been talking in guild chat lately or showing up to guild events. Heard she’s even been running the arena with someone else.
Right then, a lower-level guild member asked in the guild channel whether Chenxi could make her some healing potions — she was about to run a small dungeon. Before Xia Zichen could even reply, Qingcheng Baobei cut in.
[Guild] [Qingcheng Baobei]: You’re better off buying them yourself. Chenxi’s latched onto a top player now — she doesn’t have time for you.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: What top player?
[Guild] [Qingcheng Baobei]: Canmo Wuhen, obviously. They’re out at the city gate playing right now.
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: Oh wow, I’m getting a whiff of something real sour over here.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Standing with Qianlan on this one.
[Guild] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Tianfeng Yage is an enemy guild at the end of the day — what exactly does it mean for Chenxi to be getting so close to Canmo Wuhen?
[Guild] [Shenye Qianxing]: Since when does Chenxi need your approval to make a friend? You think this is kindergarten? Just because you don’t play with her doesn’t mean you get to decide no one else can either?
The moment An Jing spoke up, Xia Zichen shifted his attention to the guild channel too. The duel on his end had just wrapped up, and Xia Zichen asked them to hold on for a moment.
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: The way I see it, someone was trying to get Canmo Wuhen’s attention, got ignored, and now she’s just sitting here being bitter about it.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Exactly. So Lian Feier gets to play homewrecker but Chenxi can’t have a romantic connection? What kind of logic is that?
[Guild] [Qingcheng Baobei]: You’re all only defending her because Feier is the guild master’s lady now and you’re all just targeting us on purpose.
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: Honey, don’t think too highly of yourself.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: This guild used to be pretty tight-knit. Some people need to stop stirring up drama and pulling this kind of garbage, okay?
[Guild] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Guild master, guild master’s lady — come look! They’re bullying us for being new again!
Shen Yicheng said nothing. Lian Feier didn’t step in either.
[Guild] [Chenxi]: Come to the main city here in Chang’an to pick up the healing potions.
Xia Zichen had nothing to add and saw no need to explain anything. He simply ignored the two troublemakers and spoke directly to the new member who had asked for the medicine. The new member happily agreed and asked him to hold on a moment.
[Guild] [Huanghun Ansha]: Who Chenxi makes friends with is her own business. Nobody has any say in it, and nobody’s in a position to talk. Anyone else stirring things up in the guild gets kicked.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Deputy master going OFF! V5!!
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Standing with the deputy master! I can’t stand people who try to drive wedges between people!
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: +10086. Babe, come out and say something.
[Guild] [Wenrou Shenlan]: Standing with wifey. Chenxi hasn’t even joined a faction — no need to make it into some all-out us-versus-them thing. And making friends with someone from an opposing faction is completely normal. Where do all these problems even come from every single day? Just enjoy the game.
[Guild] [Leng Nuan]: Agreed!
…
Guild members came out in droves to back Chenxi up. Xiao Guai Zui Guai and Qingcheng Baobei went silent after that — like they’d never said a word in the first place.
Even if no explanation was owed in a game, sitting in the dorm room, Xia Zichen could clearly feel An Jing’s probing stare boring into him from the side.
“Little Zhen-zhen, come clean to your big bro — what’s actually going on?”
Shen Yicheng had also turned his head, seemingly waiting for him to explain as well.
Xia Zichen let out a quiet internal sigh. He hadn’t really noticed much else, but two words had lodged themselves firmly in his mind: top player. Before all this, he’d always thought of Canmo Wuhen as just an ordinary player with very good mechanics. Now it seemed… it might not be that simple at all.