Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Jianghu 2
Jianghu 2 was the sequel to the full-dive VR game, Great Martial World. It was even more open and free-form than its predecessor, and also more realistic.
In his past life, Chen Yuan had been a professional player in Jianghu 2. However, he wasn’t part of a guild, always fighting solo, earning him the title of the strongest independent player.
He remembered how in his past life, Jianghu 2 had just released the teaser trailer for its final Chapter, "Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch."
The mysterious Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch was shown only as a black silhouette. The entire trailer was intentionally vague, playing riddle games with the audience.
Chen Yuan was just about to log off and join the daily flame war against the developers when, just as he took off his helmet, his vision went black and he passed out.
When he woke up, he found himself still in the game world, but there was no Attribute interface, and no way to log out.
After a full day, Chen Yuan finally confirmed it: he had truly transmigrated into the world of Jianghu 2 and become an NPC.
This world had no players, only the true Jianghu of flashing blades and sword shadows.
You only had one life. If you died, you couldn’t respawn.
The current time was the twenty-first year of the Great Xia Wuxing era. In Jianghu 2, this corresponded to the moment the game servers first went live, and Lianshan City was just one of the many Newbie Villages.
The world of Jianghu 2 was vast, with maps spanning the Great Xia Nineteen Provinces, as well as Overseas, the Grassland, and the Western Regions.
Jianghu and Temple Hall, Sect and Family—their conflicts were endless.
By this time, the Great Xia Dynasty, founded five hundred years ago, was already showing signs of decay and corruption. Of the Nineteen Provinces under heaven, the Court only truly controlled the Central Nine Provinces.
The remaining ten provinces were under the Court’s rule in name only; in reality, they were all controlled by the local Sects and Noble Families.
To maintain a basic semblance of authority, the Court only collected a base tax from the cities in the other ten provinces. As long as the taxes were paid, the remaining revenue belonged to the various powers within each city.
Take Lianshan City, for example. Its true rulers were the two gangs: the Celestial Wolf Gang and the Black Water Gang.
The Court’s power here was virtually nonexistent, consisting of a single County Magistrate and a dozen or so constables.
Their main duties were to adjudicate minor domestic disputes and to escort the taxes submitted by the Celestial Wolf Gang and the Black Water Gang to the Capital City.
Chen Yuan watched the street scenes of Lianshan City through the carriage window, gently rubbing his temples as he sorted through the memories in his mind.
His own starting Newbie Village in Jianghu 2 hadn’t been Lianshan City, but as a professional player, he knew the opening of almost every Newbie Village like the back of his hand.
The Newbie Village boss of Lianshan City was his adoptive father, Jiang Kaitai, the Gang Leader of the Celestial Wolf Gang, nicknamed the "Northern Celestial Wolf."
The reason Jiang Kaitai became a Newbie Village boss had to do with one of Jianghu 2’s fundamental concepts: Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers.
In this world’s Ancient Era, countless powerful Divine Demons fought epic battles. After they fell, their Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers remained, impervious to the decay of time.
These Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers possessed power far beyond the reach of ordinary Martial Artists, causing countless Jianghu People to desperately fight over them.
It could be said that nearly all the top powers in the Jianghu now had Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers in their possession.
Even if they didn’t have a complete Divine Artifact Demon Soldier, they would at least possess a usable fragment of one.
The Great Xia Royal Family had maintained their unshakeable rule for hundreds of years precisely because they controlled two Divine Soldiers: the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow and the Human Emperor Sword.
One could say there were only two kinds of powers in the current Jianghu: the top-tier powers that possessed Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers, and everyone else.
Although the Celestial Wolf Gang controlled half of Lianshan City, it was considered a bottom-tier power among the "everyone else" category.
Every year, after deducting the taxes paid to the Court, eighty percent of the Celestial Wolf Gang’s income had to be handed over to the great Murong Family of Longcheng in You Province, the wielders of the Divine Artifact "Star Shifting."
Chen Yuan’s adoptive father, Jiang Kaitai, had accidentally discovered a fragment of the Divine Artifact, the Seven Kills Stele. Since then, he had been secretly performing blood sacrifices in Lianshan City, hoping to control the Seven Kills Stele Fragment.
The excessive blood sacrifices attracted the attention of those above. Both the Murong Family of Longcheng and the Sun-piercing Alliance, the backer of the Black Water Gang, sent people to investigate.
Jiang Kaitai, however, became deranged. He planned to sacrifice all of Lianshan City to merge with the Seven Kills Stele Fragment. In the end, he was severely wounded by the combined forces of the Murong Family and the Sun-piercing Alliance, with the players delivering the final blow.
Afterward, the Seven Kills Stele Fragment, its power spiraling out of control from the blood sacrifice, vanished without a trace. Neither the Murong Family nor the Sun-piercing Alliance managed to obtain it.
As for the Celestial Wolf Gang, its fate was, naturally, complete annihilation.
The Murong Family was enraged that Jiang Kaitai had dared to make a play for a Divine Artifact, causing it to escape from right under their noses. In their fury, they wiped out the entire Celestial Wolf Gang to vent their anger, leaving no one alive.
In the original storyline, Chen Yuan’s current identity was nothing more than a background character, only slightly better than the other nameless grunts. His fate was undoubtedly to be killed by the Murong Family as well.
After confirming his identity, Chen Yuan’s first instinct was to run.
Run far, far away from the powder keg that was Lianshan City.
But the thought appeared for only an instant before Chen Yuan extinguished it.
Lianshan City was indeed a powder keg right now, but it also held an unimaginable opportunity.
The Divine Artifact, the Seven Kills Stele, was the ultimate weapon in the first version of Jianghu 2’s storyline. It was the physical manifestation of the Killing Intent Origin, and even a single fragment of it possessed immense power.
Its appearance in a Newbie Village was merely a plot device to introduce the concept of Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers. In the original story, it was impossible for any player to actually obtain it.
’But now, there are no players. Since I’m here in this world, with full knowledge of the plot... is it possible for me to seize the Seven Kills Stele Fragment?’
Chen Yuan wasn’t the type to cower and just try to survive.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to compete with professional players from major guilds as a solo player back in the game.
Besides, even if he did run, the Murong Family would hunt him down eventually.
The Murong Family of Longcheng was notoriously petty in You Province, known for exacting Vengeance for the smallest slight.
In the original plot, no one in Lianshan City who belonged to the Celestial Wolf Gang was spared.
Even old members of the Celestial Wolf Gang who had long since retired from the Jianghu and were trying to make a living in other cities were tracked down and killed by the Murong Family to vent their anger.
’As Jiang Kaitai’s adoptive son, even if I escape now, I’ll definitely end up on the Murong Family’s wanted list in the future.’
’Rather than spend the future hiding, I might as well risk it all right now.’
So, for the past ten days, Chen Yuan had been meticulously going over the plot while also trying to raise his favorability with Jiang Kaitai, all in preparation to seize the Seven Kills Stele Fragment.
"Stop the carriage."
Chen Yuan, who had been staring out the window, suddenly called out.
The driver immediately halted the carriage and opened the door.
Chen Yuan stepped out and walked over to a beggar on the street corner.
The beggar was disheveled and filthy, his face obscured.
Other beggars would hold up their bowls and plead for kindness when someone approached, but this one merely glanced at Chen Yuan without moving a muscle.
Chen Yuan looked at the beggar, took out a piece of broken silver, placed it in the beggar’s bowl, and turned to leave.
The beggar remained slumped where he was, not even offering a word of thanks.
Back in the carriage, Chen Yuan returned directly to the Celestial Wolf Gang’s headquarters.
As one of the two gangs that dominated Lianshan City, the Celestial Wolf Gang occupied an entire street. Its entrance was flanked by two ten-foot-tall statues of giant wolves howling at the sky.
Two rows of Celestial Wolf Gang members, dressed in black clothes with wolf emblems and holding weapons, stood guard on either side of the gate, presenting an imposing sight.
"Where is my adoptive father?"
Chen Yuan asked the gang members at the gate.
"Replying to the Third Young Master, the Gang Leader is in the inner hall."
Chen Yuan nodded. He walked to the front of the inner hall, rubbed his face to compose himself, and forced a suitable smile before stepping inside.
"Your son, Chen Yuan, pays his respects, Adoptive Father!"
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