Chapter 22: Version Update (2)

"I've found a summoning talisman. I can use it to summon ten friends."

"Your luck truly is…" Quiet And Steadfast was once again bowled over by her luck, "Take a good look at your friend requests, I'm going to immediately ask some of the guild members to add you. Summon them over once they've added you."

[Guild] Quiet And Steadfast: Next Week, Imperial Sister, Gentle, National Treasure, the four Weirdos, hurry up and add Nutjob to your friend list. After that, accept her request to teleport you over to where I am. There's a hidden quest BOSS. Nutjob, type 1 in the guild chat.

[Guild] Nutjob: 1.

"Ding ding ding" The moment it appeared in chat, a series of friend requests immediately popped up. She accepted all of them without looking.

"Did you get them all?" Quiet And Steadfast asked.

"Yup. How do I use the talisman?"

"Just tear it."

"Okay." It truly was a simple and crude manner of using it.

Following what Quiet And Steadfast had said, she split the talisman in half.

"Notification: Please confirm usage of limited use talisman. Yes/No."

"Usage of summoning talisman has succeeded, please select which friends you wish to summon."

Shen Jingbin selected the option, "All", before removing Shen Jingchen, Quiet And Steadfast, and Pure Crane's names from the list.

"Will you summon these ten friends? Yes/No."

"Summoning in progress, please wait…"

"Your friends have been successfully summoned, you have lost your limited use summoning talisman."

A flash of red light streaked past their eyes after the notifications appeared. Taking its place, ten people with dazed looks on their faces abruptly materialized in front of the trio.

Quiet And Steadfast immediately sent out raid group invites to all ten of them and said, "The situation is a little complicated. Simply put, we received a hidden quest and need to fight this BOSS mob. He's a world BOSS mob, so be careful. We'll enter battle now. I'll explain things in detail once everything is over. Next Week, you and Dawn are in charge of tanking. National Treasure, Gentle, and Seaweed will monitor everyone's health and clear off any negative status effects as necessary. Be careful, this mob hits really hard."

"The rest of you are with me. We'll be DPSing¹ it with everything we've got. Nutjob, just take care of yourself."

The ten people Quiet And Steadfast chose were the ones who were accustomed to partying with him. Although they were still a little dazed, they immediately and methodically arranged themselves in accordance with Quiet And Steadfast's orders to begin their assault.

Shen Jingbin, on the other hand, dragged Wu Lang's unconscious sister over to a corner to hide.

As the number one guild in the game, Jade Sea Pavilion had countless elites under its banner. And, the ones that were currently present were the cream of the crop. On top of that, they'd long since developed a profound tacit understanding amongst one another. Although they faced some difficulties at the start of the battle, they managed to put Du the Unvanquished on the back foot once they got into the rhythm, nearly bottoming out his health a short while later.

All they needed was one final push and they'd be able to defeat him!

When Du the Unvanquished was rooted, Quiet And Steadfast seized the opportunity to unleash all of his buffs before utilizing his qinggong²to close the distance in a flash. With his hand raised, he viciously sent his dagger plunging towards Du the Unvanquished's back.

A white ray of light blinked into existence the moment Du the Unvanquished's health was about to be depleted. Shen Jingbin stared at it and found that Du the Unvanquished's body was covered in a protective layer, obstructing Quiet And Steadfast's dagger that remained less than an inch away from it.

The duration of the root was very short. Once its effect wore off, Du the Unvanquished immediately issued a roar before turning around to brandish his scimitar. And with a "swish", he sent his weapon screaming towards Quiet And Steadfast's head.

Seeing this, Shen Jingchen astutely stepped forward and swung his longsword in a horizontal arc, blocking Du the Unvanquished's scimitars that stopped less than a centimeter before his shoulder.

Du the Unvanquished's overwhelming strength made Shen Jingchen feel as if his sword wielding hand had gone numb from the blow. Even his health had decreased by half, causing his complexion to pale.

Gentle was an extremely perceptive healer. Upon seeing his change in condition, she immediately cast a healing spell.

While fending off Du the Unvanquished's attacks, Shen Jingchen shouted, "Next Week, you guys break through his defence! Boss, find the right time to strike!"

The raid group took action once again. Under their concentrated assault, the layer of white light surrounding Du the Unvanquished flickered a few times before it shattered like broken pieces of glass.

Quiet And Steadfast dashed up to Du the Unvanquished in a flash and once again sent his dagger hurtling towards him.

The black dagger found itself halfway into Du the Unvanquished's chest, prompting a stream of black blood to fly out from his mouth as he knelt down on the floor.

At this point, everyone stopped attacking and stared at him with weapons in hand. Du the Unvanquished raised his head. A smile was drawn across his face that was rife with tattoos. He looked towards everyone around him and viciously said, "Foolish vermin, my Shinra Sect is about to destroy the seal and deliver ourselves from oppression. Once that day comes, we'll slaughter each and every one one of you self-righteous fools. Humans, Demons, and Celestials, all of you! The whole world will finally belong to the Shinra Sect!"

He then spat out another mouthful of black blood and stared at everyone before turning into a ray of white light and vanishing.

Following his disappearance, Shen Jingbin finally heard the familiar tone of the system's notification.

"Congratulations, you have completed the quest 'The Mysterious Demonic Sect', quest reward 'Demonic Sect Entry Token' (1), 10,000 Experience, 100 taels of silver, 800 Chivalric Prestige."

However, before she had the chance to figure out what the "Demonic Sect entry token" was, the space around them suddenly felt as if it was being distorted, closely followed by a layer of pitch black that obscured their vision. When they recovered, they found that they were back at the cellar's entrance.

Suddenly, several eye catching system announcements written in large red letters whooshed up to them.

[System Announcement] Congratulations to player Nutjob for completing the Demonic Sect's prerequisite quest. After many years, the Shinra Sect is now on the verge of breaking free from the seal and will once again roam the world. The Demonic Sect system has been initiated. Young heroes, please return to your respective sects to learn about their origins and receive your quests so that you may start the Demonic Sect scenario.

[System Announcement] Congratulations to the Jade Sea Pavilion for successfully defeating the Demonic Sect's protector, Du the Unvanquished. The Demonic Sect's Hostility towards all guild members has increased by 20 points. Demonic Sect members will now have a 20% increased chance to drop rare items. The guild has obtained 1,000 Achievement points.

[System Announcement] A hundred years ago, the Shinra Sect formed an evil organization through the use of a mysterious power, threatening the balance and stability of the realm. Thus the Humans, Celestials, and Demons joined hands to seal them. What manner of carnage will they wreak now that they have risen once again? A huge battle is on the verge of breaking out. Young heroes, are you prepared for what's to come?

[System Announcement] As the Demonic Sect system is about to be released, the game's servers will be shut down in two hours time for maintenance and upgrading. Please plan your time accordingly to prevent unnecessary losses. After this upgrade, a new chapter, "The Demonic Sect's Invasion", will be released. More detailed information can be found on our website in a short while. Players are welcome to look through the information we've posted. Lastly, we wish all players an enjoyable gaming experience.

Everyone in Jade Sea Pavilion: … What the hell?

"Mmhm," Shen Jingbin nodded her head.

"What the fuck! The two of you! Stop whispering sweet nothings to one another! Hurry up and think of something! Although this guy hasn't killed me just yet, there's still a chance of it happening! Who knows, he might even enrage³ soon and finish me off. What'll we do then?!"

"Quiet. Reinforcements are about to arrive."

Quiet And Steadfast opened up his guild interface and very decisively chose ten names from it.

1. Damage per second. How much damage a person/party is dealing to an enemy every second ↩
2. A Chinese martial arts technique. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinggong ↩
3. In general, it's referred to as a mechanic designed to increase a boss' damage or outright wipe a party if they're taking too long to bring down a boss ↩