In the spirit pool, Jiang Nan’s face beamed with a brilliant smile!
Aside from a very few in top mental shape!
The rest of the players looked just like they’d pulled a half-month all-nighter at an internet cafe!
Dark circles under their eyes, faces gaunt and drawn!
One blink of the eyes, and it felt like great-grandma was already calling them home!
Especially Chu Tianba, he looked utterly wrecked!
What should have been a comfy half-month!
Turned into something more torturous than hell, all thanks to Jiang Nan!
Cultivation over, everyone felt like a weight lifted!
Right now, just one thought in their heads!
Get away from Jiang Nan quick! The further the better!
At this point, all 240 players geared up and ready!
Chen Xuan said: “No need to go over the wristband functions!”
“The dangers in Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins, everyone knows full well!”
“Don’t lose the big for the small! Life always comes first! You lot are the nation’s pillars!”
“Professional hunter teams stationed in Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins will oversee rescues the whole way! They won’t mess with the match flow!”
“If life hangs in the balance, call for aid at once!”
“As many go in, that many come out! Clear?”
The crowd roared back: “Clear!”
Jiang Nan noted it away in his mind!
Chuck a bunch of silvers into a gold-level Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins!
Huge risks, but as a national event, security was spot on!
Chen Xuan nodded: “Off you go! From the moment you enter Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins! Aside from no deliberate killing! Rules are wide open!”
“Remember! This moment! You’re the stars!”
In a flash, Chen Xuan’s words fired up the players!
Faces alight with thrill! Even Zhong Yinxue and Xia Yao couldn’t dodge it!
Jiang Nan just cradled his Xiaomi pull!
For Jiang Nan, the All-Star Race wasn’t just a match, far from it!
The players started filing into Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins!
What caught Jiang Nan off guard, Chen Xuan had them dive in headfirst!
Jiang Nan led his team in a headfirst plunge!
Wild space ripples and weightlessness hit!
Next instant!
Jiang Nan and crew “floated” out from the centre!
Looked up, and it was a cave much like the spirit pool!
Floor etched with the same tadpole runes!
Gave Jiang Nan a sense of still being in the spirit pool!
But this was Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins already!
What the heck?
The two sides flipped top to bottom?
All that spiritual energy in the spirit pool, did it “leak” from here in Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins?
Jiang Nan grew more baffled!
At the spirit pool exit, a lean chap in white cotton gear waited!
A goatee that stood out!
Cultivation hit a scary platinum level!
“Finally here! Name’s Chang Shou! Head of Jade Dragon side!”
“Call me Brother Shou, fine by me!”
“President Chen briefed me, no need for repeats!”
“Which one’s Jiang Nan?”
Jiang Nan blinked too: “Brother Shou! That’s me! What’s up?”
Chang Shou grinned wide: “Little bro! Come! Got a thing or two to fill you in on!”
The crowd all shot glances!
What gives? Calling Jiang Nan aside?
Straight to little bro? And Chang Shou’s platinum!
This chummy?
Even Zhong Yinxue and Xia Yao looked shocked!
How many folks does Little Nan know!
Jiang Nan strolled over, the pair ducked to a side corner!
Chang Shou clapped Jiang Nan’s shoulder: “Heard about the Sa Ha La business! Little bro, top notch! Bloody satisfying!”
Jiang Nan got a bit shy instead: “Just what needed doing!”
“Haha! No need to stand on ceremony with me! Red Dragon and I, brothers through life and death!”
“Take this walkie-talkie, in Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins, any weirdness crops up, buzz me anytime!”
“Our side’ll back your moves full tilt!”
Jiang Nan took the walkie-talkie, face steady: “Red Bro’s doing?”
Chang Shou laughed hearty: “He hammered it home 200 times! Match time, have a blast!”
Jiang Nan grinned: “You got it!”
Watching Jiang Nan chat and chuckle with Chang Shou, Chu Tianba itched with hate!
The group filed out the cave!
Then they clocked, the cave still perched near the peak!
Outside, the base built by troops in the spirit ruins!
The whole mountain blanketed in endless wind and snow!
At the base, snow plains stretched far!
Gaze out, below the treeline, lush green everywhere!
Stand at the peak and scan, real sense of epic sweep!
No end in sight, just how vast was this Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins?
Chang Shou chuckled: “Quick heads-up! Best get off the mountain before nightfall, cross the snow plains to below the treeline!”
“Warmer there, up on the treeline at night, temps drop to minus forty or fifty!”
“Don’t fancy hauling you lot back frozen stiff to hospital day one!”
Words barely out, a black shadow streaked from high above, whipping up skyfuls of snow!
Eyes sharp, it was a massive snow-winged dragon over 20 metres long!
That size! Gold five stars at least!
Right then, the players all shrank necks, alerts up!
They bolted down the path!
Next meet-up, enemies all round!
At this very moment!
Major media video sites!
Sky Eye system live stream went live, kicking off 15 days nonstop!
Switch between player views at will!
In a blink, countless viewers flooded the streams!
All tuning into real-time action!
Bullet comments flew!
“Haha! Started at last! Old rules, charge the snow plains!”
“Nothing to see today, right? All just rushing!”
“No one’s daft enough to linger on the snow plains? No survival there!”
In the live feeds now, all teams beelined!
Straight for below the treeline!
But right then!
“Bloody hell! Cut to South God quick! South God! Haha ha! Bloody genius!”
In a flash, who knows how many viewers switched to feed one!
There, on a big snow slope!
Jiang Nan lounged on a huge groundsheet! Tipped one end up!
Behind him, Zhong Yinxue and Xia Yao clung tight to his waist!
Wu Liang brought up the rear!
The groundsheet-turned-sled rocketed down the slope, one wild slide!
Jiang Nan’s face lit with thrill: “Charge! Charge! Charge! Woo hoo!”
Zhong Yinxue gripped his waist fierce, face drained white, eyes squeezed shut: “Eek! Little Nan! Slow down! Slow it!”
Xia Yao threw arms high, joy all blurry: “Yay! Little Nan! Faster! Even faster!”
Jiang Nan: “Big guy! Full throttle!”
Wu Liang: “On it!”
Clutched two mystery tree branches!
Jabbed mad into the snow!
“Trees trees trees! Little Nan! Turn!”
“Watch my drift!”
The groundsheet carved a graceful arc! Perfect slide!
Wu Liang bugged eyes: “Bloody hell! Cliff! Cliff!”
Xia Yao yanked Jiang Nan: “Brake! Brake! We’re dead!”
Jiang Nan: “Hold on tight!”
With a chorus of shrieks, the crew shot off the cliff! Into mid-air!
This moment, Qing Ning team just arrived, four heads craned at the airborne “sled”, blank stares!
Bloody hell?
Santa in Jade Dragon Spirit Ruins too?
The “sled” vanished into thin air!
Jiang Nan blinked, brought everyone down soft!
Kept sliding mountain-wards!
The downhill teams spotting Jiang Nan all gawked blank!
Bloody hell? This works?
What mad play?
And just then, a “rumble” boomed from above!
Downhill players looked up!
The slope Jiang Nan just shredded had a line gouged!
Then heaps of snow started sliding!
Bigger! Bigger!
Faces twisted to terror!
“Bloody hell! Avalanche! Avalanche! Run!”
“Damn damn damn! You bloody Jiang Nan!”
“You massive con! Ah ya ya ya! Pit us to death, no mercy?”
“Curse you! Hope you eat instant noodles with no fork!”
“Out the spirit pool! Still can’t dodge your claws! Damn it!”
“Run! Run! I… glug glug~”
Masses of snow balled into a roaring avalanche!
Wang Yan and crew didn’t finish cursing, already buried!
Chu Tianba’s face went ink black!
All players near tears! Watched Jiang Nan’s “sled” tear ahead!
Avalanche swallowing all behind!
Heh~ life…
[Resentment value from Wang Yan +1000!]
[From Lin Yu +1000!]
[From Chu Tianba +1000!]
[From Hua Ling…]
…
Jiang Nan, charging ahead on the groundsheet, full baffle: “What happened to the mates?”
“Not friendly at all?”
