Just as Qiao Zhihui finished speaking, the recently passing patrol seemed to notice something. A shout was heard, followed by a player being dragged out from the shadows by the guards.

“Hey, big brother, it’s all a misunderstanding!” the player pleaded with the guards, trying to negotiate. “Just give me a chance, please!”

A short scream followed, and then… silence.

That’s what they mean by “dead and respawned at the revive point.”

Xie Shuangxue observed the scene. This was one of the most heavily guarded entrances to the City Lord’s Mansion, with patrols constantly coming and going, leaving no gaps for intruders. Many players must have been stuck here.

“So, what are you all here for?” Xie Shuangxue probed. “On a quest?”

“Quest? Nah, we’re just here hoping to get lucky,” Qiao Zhihui replied. “Honestly, I’ve been sitting here for a bit now, and at least ten people have been killed trying to get through.”

With that, Xie Shuangxue was certain. The players here weren’t doing the Floating Dreams Cloudspace quest; they must be after the Yun Ruowei mystery.

Knowing that those intruding on the City Lord’s Mansion were players relaxed him somewhat—at least they wouldn’t intentionally blow his cover. It seemed they’d heard rumors about Yun Ruowei, found no information within Lu Yun Tower, and decided to sneak in and investigate.

Xie Shuangxue glanced at Qiao Zhihui, the live-streamer who’d unintentionally been a great help. Feeling a bit generous, Xie Shuangxue asked, “Do you want to come with me?”

Then he added, “The Feather Clan is staying over there, but I wouldn’t recommend going. Xie Shuangxue probably wouldn’t like someone sneaking over his walls.”

“Who says? What if my boy feels lonely?” Qiao Zhihui resisted his urge to fanboy out loud, deciding not to press the matter. Instead, he offered some sincere advice. “Honestly, you’d better not try going in. Getting killed by city guards is different from getting killed by monsters. Too many deaths in one day will lower your credit points, and you won’t be able to re-enter the city for a while. This place is tough to crack. I heard even Bai Qiuyan got killed once.”

“So, you’re not coming?”

Qiao Zhihui glanced outside, hearing yet another scream, which only made him more nervous. “Nope, I’m staying put.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Warn me about what? Qiao Zhihui didn’t get a chance to ask before a small stone suddenly flew from Xie Shuangxue’s hand, shooting out and hitting a lantern by the gate. The light wobbled for a moment, catching the attention of a nearby guard. In that split-second, Xie Shuangxue’s form moved like a shadow, leaping gracefully over the wall and disappearing.

Qiao Zhihui was stunned.

He’d been in the assassin community for a while, but he’d never seen someone execute skills so smoothly and effortlessly.

Amazing!

This movement was an assassin’s dream.

His stream chat filled with awestruck comments, and people started guessing who this top player was, wondering why they couldn’t recognize the outfit. But Qiao Zhihui felt an odd sense of familiarity—not the technique, but that stone-throwing move.

Originally, he’d just come for fun. This was a prime spot for live-streaming, and even if he couldn’t get any info on Yun Ruowei, seeing high-ranking players was good for viewer engagement. But after seeing this, he suddenly felt a renewed sense of energy.

“Alright, folks,” he said to his viewers, “I’m going in. I’m ranked on the assassin leaderboard; if I don’t try tonight, I’ll regret it.”

The chat exploded with mocking comments.

Supposedly, fewer than twenty people had managed to break into the City Lord’s Mansion’s inner courtyard. Qiao Zhihui knew he was a bit outclassed.

Worst case, he’d just respawn.

Taking a deep breath, Qiao Zhihui tried mimicking Xie Shuangxue’s movements, waiting for a gap in the patrols. But as he tried scaling the wall, he slipped slightly, drawing the attention of a guard who shouted, “Who’s there?!”

This is it. I’m dead.

Cold sweat ran down Qiao Zhihui’s back, but in that nerve-wracking moment, someone from the other side of the wall reached out, pulled him up, and whispered, “Follow me.”

He instinctively obeyed. As the guards neared, all that could be heard was a few distant cat sounds.

He… helped me!

Qiao Zhihui was overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Hey, mind adding me as a friend?”

No response.

There wasn’t much time for talking anyway, as he trailed after Xie Shuangxue. Although he was a bit out of breath, he managed to get into the mansion.

Only a handful of players could reach the inner courtyard of the City Lord’s Mansion.

Bai Qiuyan, the leader of the top guild in Gods and Demons, had managed to bring his team into the inner courtyard by burning through a hefty supply of items.

Nearby were members of Wandering the Horizon and the third-ranked guild, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, each with about four or five members hunkered down, aware of one another’s presence.

In Lu Yun Tower, players were assigned to different channels based on their numbers, and only the inner courtyard had just one channel for everyone.

Yun Panshan’s retreat—or rather, his usual residence—was eerily quiet, surrounded by bamboo groves. A winding path led inward, but those who ventured in found themselves back where they started.

That was the best-case scenario. Some unlucky ones triggered traps and were either stabbed by bamboo or sliced by razor-sharp leaves. The nearest respawn point was outside the City Lord’s Mansion, and getting back inside wasn’t easy.

“This must be a formation,” muttered one of Bai Qiuyan’s teammates. “It’s a pain to break this. There’s no way we’re solving it tonight. If only Jiu Shen were here; he’d have it cracked in no time.”

Gods and Demons occasionally featured such maze formations, requiring players to find patterns to unlock them. At night, with limited light, and so few of them, it was almost impossible.

“Turn on the recording, upload it to the forums,” Bai Qiuyan instructed. Then, leveraging his wealth, he added, “I’ll post a reward. Worst case, we come back tomorrow. Meanwhile, see if we can get someone who knows formations to join us.”

In these cases, recorded footage was much less effective than being there in person.

“Actually, someone already made it in,” one of his teammates remarked, looking at the guild chat. “Check the guild chat—someone just shared that Qiao Zhihui got brought in by another player.”

Sure enough, two figures appeared nearby, one following the other. The one in the back was the newly popular streamer, Qiao Zhihui, but the person leading him? Who was that?

One of the guild members whispered, “That’s the person who brought him in.”

With limited places to hide, everyone’s movements were clear. Both the leader of Wandering the Horizon, Shi Jiu Jianghu, and Bai Qiuyan exchanged confused glances, as no one recognized the mysterious player.

Knowing that anyone who could get in here wasn’t ordinary, Shi Jiu Jianghu decided to be polite. After a brief moment, he called out amicably, “Brother, which guild are you with?”

The figure turned and looked at them, not answering directly. “In about half an hour, I’d suggest you find another spot. This isn’t a safe place to wait; the wind’s about to change.”

A cryptic answer, but at least he was talking.

Shi Jiu Jianghu scooted a bit closer, asking more directly, “Since you brought Qiao Zhihui in, would you be able to help the rest of us? I’ll pay double the market rate. Our guild’s only formation expert couldn’t get in. This place is insane…”

But he was cut off by Bai Qiuyan. “I’ll pay five times. I’ve got cash to spare—come work with me.”

“Bai Qiuyan, don’t push it! I’ve been tolerating you for ages!”

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re too stingy.”

The third guild, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, raised the stakes even further, “We’ll pay ten times!”

Their bickering was interrupted by Xie Shuangxue’s sharp command, “Shut up. All of you, keep it down.”

There were fewer guards here, but they weren’t nonexistent, and too much noise would inevitably attract them.

Recognizing the bamboo forest as a formation, Xie Shuangxue realized why it needed no guards. He crouched in place, assessing the angles and observing.

The guild leaders who’d been scolded did fall silent for a moment, but they didn’t stop eyeing him.

Hmm. Kind of cool.

They were quiet for a moment, and just as Shi Jiu Jianghu was about to speak up again, Qiao Zhihui caught his arm.

“What’s up?” Shi Jiu Jianghu asked, confused.

Qiao Zhihui looked dead serious. A glance at the minimap revealed no markers; the tension of sneaking in had left him no time to check.

Something about this guy isn’t right.

A player’s stealth skill couldn’t possibly last this long, even with item support.

But Xie Shuangxue didn’t give them a chance to ask further questions. Before anyone could react, he slipped like a shadow into the bamboo grove, disappearing soundlessly.

This formation might be troublesome, but Xie Shuangxue wasn’t an ordinary person. Of course he could solve it.

The skills of the Xie family were part of his character setup. After countless reincarnations, his abilities were honed to perfection. However, reaching the core of the formation, he found himself facing a real challenge.

As expected, the formation protecting Yun Panshan’s residence wasn’t that simple.

Knowing the solution alone wasn’t enough; he needed to provide specific rare items to disable the formation. It required five elemental treasures of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—only the highest quality would do.

Xie Shuangxue had his sword, but he was reluctant to sacrifice it, and the Feather Clan wasn’t prepared with any other suitable items.

But he had to see Yun Panshan.

Xie Shuangxue knew that Endless Sea had interwoven two storylines in Lu Yun Tower: the Floating Dreams Cloudspace World Quest and the Yun Ruowei mystery. The crossroads of these two arcs was likely Yun Panshan.

Not to mention the Evil Sword or the storyline intricacies—just seeing how many players were staking out here, getting some advance information would be invaluable.

Since seeing the Skeleton Ghost Boss, he’d realized that players would stop at nothing to achieve what interested them. The problem was that he needed a way to acquire Yun Panshan’s bargaining chip.

On the surface, Xie Shuangxue didn’t have the items to break the formation, but in truth, he knew this was due to the formation being designed as game content for players, not NPCs.

The guilds aiming for Lu Yun Tower’s development quest would undoubtedly encounter complex game mechanics, and he was essentially a wildcard.

In the original storyline, Ling Xuan wouldn’t have sent people here so soon. According to the forums, the Floating Dreams Cloudspace and Yun Ruowei lines didn’t overlap; they each had their own gameplay paths.

The Yun Ruowei storyline was a hidden one, buried deep and inaccessible to the general player base. There were no clear task prompts, meaning this storyline was specifically designed for advanced players, merely intersecting with Floating Dreams Cloudspace by coincidence.

Gazing at the formation’s core, Xie Shuangxue recalled what the players had just mentioned and suddenly had an idea.

Of course—the Yun Ruowei storyline was a hidden line. Qiao Zhihui had said that no one received an official system task; they’d only come based on speculation.

He had a plan.

Outside, Qiao Zhihui was already spreading his theory. He’d just told his guild leader that this guy might not be a player but rather an NPC, and more specifically, possibly even Xie Shuangxue.

No wonder he felt familiar!

“That’s impossible,” Shi Jiu Jianghu immediately denied. “If he were an NPC, do you think we’d still be allowed to stand here? Plus, he chatted with me and even helped you in. Seriously, do you have any connection with Xie Shuangxue?”

Actually, Qiao Zhihui’s analysis up to this point was spot-on; it wouldn’t be long before Xie Shuangxue’s NPC status became apparent. But after that, his reasoning started veering off course.

“He’s just a regular NPC! But he’s different—my boy’s special, cute, kind-hearted, and easy to talk to,” Qiao Zhihui argued passionately. “And besides, he’s extraordinary.”

Shi Jiu Jianghu gave him a resigned look. “We’re here for business. Set aside your fanboy goggles.”

“I’m serious!”

Qiao Zhihui had sensed from the start that Xie Shuangxue had a hidden storyline. He’d almost forgotten it until now.

But this was the hidden storyline!

Bai Qiuyan, not fully following, sensed that something was definitely off.

Just then, the players saw someone emerging from the bamboo grove.

More accurately, they saw someone running out.

Every bamboo shoot and leaf in the grove was part of the formation, and any wrong step led to attacks. This person was agile, but he still had several cuts, looking worse than when he’d entered. Still, he seemed unperturbed as he finally stepped out.

He’d made it out—not expelled by the formation.

He actually went through?

His black cloak was tattered, and as he leaned against a nearby tree, his slight movements alerted the patrol, whose torches turned in his direction.

“Who’s there?!”

The players tensed, knowing there was no place to hide and guards approaching from the other side too. They froze, not knowing where to go, until the person turned and said quietly, “Follow me.”

With that, he slipped silently back into the dense bamboo forest.

Having no other choice, Qiao Zhihui moved first, and the rest followed.

The guards, aware of the dangers within, didn’t dare enter the forest and only shined their lights around.

The players collectively exhaled, relieved to have avoided death.

They followed him through a maze of twists and turns without triggering any attacks, eventually reaching a clearing where they stopped. The mysterious figure turned, pulled down his face covering, and in the moonlight, his face became clearly visible.

Qiao Zhihui nearly shouted, “My boy!”

Bai Qiuyan, Shi Jiu Jianghu, and the third guild leader, Cherry Tomato, exchanged glances. While they hadn’t fully played through the Penglai City storyline, they all recognized this person.

The infamous Xie Shuangxue.

Not a player, but an NPC.

Soon, Xie Shuangxue spoke.

“I know you all,” he said. “You’re the Continental Wanderers. You once helped out during the Penglai City incident.”

He paused, looking hesitant. “Can I trust you?”

Qiao Zhihui immediately replied, “Of course!”

Bai Qiuyan, realizing this was no casual question, stepped forward. “You have our word. We Continental Wanderers are always ready to help. Trust us.”

Xie Shuangxue blinked, seeming to finally make up his mind.

“Yun Panshan’s sudden illness is strange, so I’ve been investigating in secret. But this formation isn’t easy to break; even I can’t do it quickly. I need your help,” he said. “Please gather the rare elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth for me to stabilize the formation. Then, I’ll be able to go in and see Yun Panshan.”

Every player, including Qiao Zhihui, had the same reaction.

“A hidden quest!”

No wonder this formation was so ridiculously challenging!

Now they understood; there was an NPC here to help them!