Everyone understood that this quest could not possibly be completed by a single person at the current stage. Fortunately, the objective was to protect the mayor's daughter; if it were about capturing a flower thief, even a joint effort by several people might not suffice. They were all fairly competent players, but apart from Hua Qian Yuesha, none of them gave Zheyidi a second glance. When they discussed their countermeasures, Zheyidi was completely left out of the picture, though he was quite happy to enjoy the peace and quiet. Listening to their plans, Zheyidi was left speechless—could they be any more crude and simple-minded? After discussing for ages, their conclusion was extremely straightforward. Naturally, to ensure Yun Zhongji fell for the trap, they devised a scheme where Hua Qian Yuesha would take the place of the mayor's daughter in her boudoir. Then, the others would lie in ambush behind the door, and the moment Yun Zhongji stepped inside, they would all pounce together, catching him completely off guard.
Actually, Zheyidi's plan was similar, except he had prepared a few extra items. In Zheyidi's view, the moment Yun Zhongji stepped through the door called not for a coordinated group assault, but for a handful of lime powder straight to the face, followed by a joint attack. Before coming to Mount Zhongnan, Zheyidi had paid a visit to Old Four, who had prepared some of his signature bottom-of-the-barrel tricks for him. As for what those tricks were, anyone who knew Old Four's sect could easily guess. Naturally, Old Four wasn't doing particularly well in the Tang Sect either, so he had simply provided Zheyidi with some lime powder mixed with poison.
When evening arrived, the group holed up in the mayor's residence, sitting tight and waiting for Yun Zhongji to walk right into the trap. They were all full of confidence, considering they were currently the most prominent players of the Quanzhen Sect. They all revolved around Hua Qian Yuesha—beauties always tend to be the center of attention wherever they go—while Zheyidi was blatantly ignored. Of course, this was entirely intentional on Zheyidi's part; the nail that sticks out gets hammered down!
When the time was right, the others gathered inside the boudoir of the mayor's daughter, while Zheyidi quietly slipped away to the side rooms. Acting entirely like invisible background furniture, Zheyidi drew no attention from the others, save for Hua Qian Yuesha. She knew that Zheyidi and his associates had previously carried out a black-market robbery against the Beilang Guild, so his strength was certainly not as pathetic as he made it look, though at this critical moment she didn't give it much thought.
Zheyidi quietly made his way to the spot he had scouted earlier and hid himself. He wasn't nearly as optimistic as the others. Although the intelligence files stated that the fellow's martial arts weren't much to speak of—with only his lightweight kung fu being somewhat noteworthy—that evaluation applied to an organization like the Embroidered Uniform Guard. To gaming greenhorns like Zheyidi and his peers, that level of skill could already be considered formidable. Therefore, Zheyidi had prepared for the worst-case scenario by scouting the terrain of the residence beforehand. The boudoir of the mayor's daughter was located in the west wing, and the optimal route to enter the west wing was through the window at the back. Zheyidi hid himself in the bushes right beside that window, planning to unleash his ultimate skill, ignite a blaze, and take Yun Zhongji down in a single combo as he retreated.
What? You ask why he wouldn't unleash a full combo when Yun Zhongji first entered, but wait until he retreated instead? If Zheyidi had leaped out the moment the man entered, it wouldn't have been a combo kill—it would have been feeding a kill. One had to remember that Zheyidi's objective was to steal the killing blow, not to show off his operational skills.
Just as Zheyidi finished hiding, a sound echoed from behind the side room. Zheyidi neatly squatted down while slightly raising his head to observe the rear window of the side room. Before long, a figure with a leering face and gaudy, multicolored clothing appeared in Zheyidi's field of vision. Zheyidi was once again left speechless. Weren't flower thieves in stories supposed to be elegant and dashing? Take Lu Xiaofeng, for instance—he didn't even need to use force, and women would willingly throw themselves at him. How on earth could this wretched fellow look so utterly sleazy?
"Could it be that he offended the game designers?" Zheyidi couldn't help wondering.
Yun Zhongji didn't even bother to check his surroundings before pushing the window open, likely in his eagerness to conquer the beauty. With the window open, he vaulted straight into the room—and was instantly dumbfounded. Where was the promised beauty? Well, fine, there *was* a beauty, but what on earth was the deal with the several grown men standing around her?
They all stared at each other with wide eyes. A heavy silence filled the room, so palpable that even Zheyidi, eavesdropping from outside the window, could feel the awkward atmosphere. That momentary calm inside the room was like the stillness before a storm, and a moment later, a storm of fierce combat erupted. Zheyidi instantly switched to spectator mode.
Although Yun Zhongji was no top-tier master, his jianghu experience far surpassed that of a few gaming greenhorns. He instantly realized he had fallen into a trap and suddenly lashed out with a vicious palm strike, instantly sending one of them flying. At that, the others snapped out of their stupor and hurriedly drew their weapons to close in. The scene became a blur of flashing blades and swords, and Zheyidi was so hyped watching from the outside that he almost shouted words of encouragement. Relying on his superior movement technique, Yun Zhongji parried left and right with both palms, while the others relied on their sheer numbers. For a moment, neither side could gain the upper hand.
Yun Zhongji knew that the longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. If reinforcements were to arrive, he would truly be done for. Thinking of his predecessors in history who had been caught, even the most lenient punishment involved castration. At that thought, a chilly draft seemed to blow across Yun Zhongji's crotch. For a lustful man, what meaning would life have if he were castrated?
Realizing he had no choice but to fight for his life, Yun Zhongji took a sword slash straight to his back while driving both palms squarely into the chests of two opponents. The two of them instantly became companion-in-death mandarin ducks—or rather, companion-in-death bros. At the same time, a long, gaping gash was torn across Yun Zhongji's back. Watching from outside at Yun Zhongji's bloody mess of a back, Zheyidi felt a sympathetic twinge of pain. Out of the group surrounding him, only two were left standing. To Zheyidi's surprise, that woman Hua Qian Yuesha was still going strong, and her actual combat strength was quite impressive.
Had this been the real world, the group probably would have suffered a crushing defeat; anyone facing such a ferocious opponent willing to trade injuries for injuries would naturally feel intimidated, and their performance would inevitably suffer. But this was the gaming world, where everyone understood that the worst that could happen was dying once. They would lose a bit of money and some martial arts proficiency, which wasn't a big deal—especially since the servers had just opened not long ago, their martial arts weren't deeply practiced, and they had barely any money to begin with. If they didn't die now, when would they?
Therefore, Yun Zhongji's desperate fighting style did not faze the remaining two at all; instead, it only stirred up their ferocity. Who didn't know how to fight desperately? That fellow in particular, likely wishing to display his heroic demeanor in front of the beauty, actually copied Yun Zhongji and adopted an injury-for-injury strategy. He took Yun Zhongji's palm strike head-on while thrusting his sword deep into Yun Zhongji's thigh, after which the fellow met a heroic demise. Outside, Zheyidi offered a silent prayer in his heart: "Brother, the Party and the govenr—uh, pah!—I mean, our guild will remember you!"
With a sword run through his thigh, Yun Zhongji could no longer jump around. He glared viciously at Hua Qian Yuesha, a malicious cruelty distorting his already wretched face. Suddenly, Yun Zhongji threw a fierce palm strike toward Hua Qian Yuesha. She hurriedly retreated and swung her sword to parry, but she hadn't expected this to be a feint. The moment Hua Qian Yuesha fell back, Yun Zhongji burst backward, flipped over, and leaped straight out the window.