719 Chapter 719 - Love Ruining the Plan (1/2)

Everyone got busy. Those who had yet to pick up their relevant assassination mission headed back to the city and obtained the missions in accordance to their assigned targets. Those who had already gotten their mission went looking for the location of the four level 6 guilds. Xi Xiaotian, Will-low, and Cirrus were a team of three, each with their respective roles. It was initially decided that Xi Xiaotian and Cirrus would head out to contact two guilds each, with Will-low acting as their guild leader when the need arose. The three kept rehearsing their roles as they continued to come up with possible situations and incidents that might occur, so as to ensure their plan to fool these guild leaders would be airtight. Naturally, Xi Xiaotian was very confident when it came to acting her part, though she was worried that Cirrus would be a little too unnatural while playing the role of an envoy, which was why she emphasized on Cirrus on being concise. After all, the more someone talked, the higher likelihood that they end up slipping up; it would of course be safer as long as Cirrus kept his speech to the minimum.

The players who had left to scout out the guilds had also come back with the news. At the end of the day, given how the four large guilds were very conspicuous hordes, it was hardly difficult for them to inquire and find out just where they were located no matter where they ended up. Out of the four guilds, three had directly set up shop within the encampment, so the people in charge of contacting them would have to quit the guild. Xi Xiaotian and the other two were already prepared for such an eventuality, as each of them was kicked from the guild. Xi Xiaotian was in charge of approaching Brave Surge and Foe-herder, while Cirrus would be talking to Oathless Sword and Black Index Finger.

Xi Xiaotian searched through her dimensional pocket and pulled out a handful of guild emblems. She casually picked out two similar ones, giving one to Cirrus and the other on herself. Finally, she asked Cirrus, ”What's our guild called, how many are in it, who are some of our members… Have you memorized all of this potentially relevant information?”

”Yup,” Cirrus nodded.

”Great. We'll approach two each, so let's go for the farther ones first,” Xi Xiaotian said as the two ran in opposite directions. Meanwhile, the others were aware that the operation had already begun. Those who went to pick up the quest, or were doing the scouting had all returned back to their posts, seizing what time they had to discuss and coordinate their battle tactics.

-------------------------------------------------

Over in the northeast encampment, players were thronging in great numbers, including the Cloud Herder guild, whose guild leader was Foe-herder. The City Wars was still in a deadlock; after learning that there was a maximum number of deaths that each player could have for this event, plenty of guilds no longer dared to recklessly make their assaults. This was especially true for the guilds that harbored plenty of expectations toward this City Wars event. None of them dared to grind it out with the system any longer, with the various large guilds whole-heartedly focused on gaining an advantage through questing. Meanwhile, the more unique and vital quests were not exactly a dime a dozen. However, there were plenty of quests available to the players that were time sensitive available from the stationery NPCs found all over each encampment. All these players were swarming these locations at the moment, every one of them focusing their efforts on grinding out all these plain and boring quests so as to earn themselves a bit of contribution score.

While Foe-herder might be here at this encampment presently, he had very resourcefully sent his men to all the six encampments. Seeing that the outcome of the City War in Yunduan City was still undetermined, he no longer had any plans to waste his men in directly taking part in the war effort. Even though his decision had caused plenty of players to criticize and express their disdain toward him, Foe-herder was completely unmoved and he continued to send his men out to pursue all these minor quests, while delegating some of his manpower toward the search for the larger, more vital quests. At the same time, he had his men keep their ears to the ground and do reconnaissance on the other guilds for updates on their movement.

Everything proceeded smoothly and in an orderly fashion. There was nothing much Foe-herder needed to be anxious or stressed about. All he had was expectations, and that was precisely what walked right up to his doorstep at this time. Xi Xiaotian, slipping past all the guilds, arrived right before Cloud Herder.

”Is your guild leader around?” Xi Xiaotian smiled as she asked.

”There's a babe searching for guild leader…” The guild members from Cloud Herder wagged their eyebrows as they gave each other ambiguous smiles. These men all replied that he was around as they sent a message to Foe-herder, ”There's a babe looking for you.”

Few would be displeased with meeting a beautiful lady, and Foe-herder was no exception; however, not many would act as shameless and inappropriate in front of a lady like the men from Forever In Flowers, and Foe-herder was no exception either. Hearing that a beautiful lady had come to see him, he did not foolishly let his imagination run wild, but simply made his way over once word was sent to him.

”Guild leader Herder, long time no see!” Xi Xiaotian greeted.

”You…” Foe-herder felt that this lady was a very familiar sight, and he soon quickly recalled who she was. Xi Xiaotian was someone whom he had falsely presumed to have cheated him out of 500 gold coins the last time they had dealings with one another, and he hunted her down afterward, all the way till they bumped into Thousand Miles Drunk. It was only at that point they realized it had all been a huge misunderstanding. However, he and his men were unwilling to swallow their pride there and then, so they proceeded to engage in PK combat with Gu Fei right by the entrance of the designated spawn point without using any skills or spell, and they ended up getting beaten black and blue by the man. Later, Sakurazaka Moony had suddenly appeared, and the man was not even well acquainted with either party, yet he ended up becoming the peacemaker, allowing the incident to be settled by being left unsettled. Back then, Foe-herder had originally wanted to recruit Thousand Miles Drunk into his guild, but Sakurazaka Moony's meddling caused him to mistakenly believe that Thousand Miles Drunk was also like the reprehensible guild members from Forever In Flowers, and made the instant decision to give up on him when he thought that there was no way Thousand Miles Drunk would leave Amethyst Rebirth.

He had been rather enraged regarding the matter with Xi Xiaotian back then, but after it was verified to have been a misunderstanding, his anger toward the lady naturally went away as well. Nevertheless, he was a little remorseful that the 400 gold coins that he had spent did not end up with him recruiting Thousand Miles Drunk into his guild. But because he had been a willing and understanding party to the situation, and while he might have been fleeced quite a lot by her, what discontent Foe-herder had initially felt in him did not ferment into resentment given how much time had passed since that incident occurred.

”So it's you. What do you want?” Foe-herder asked.

”Hehe, just like the last time, I have a bit of information that I intend to sell to guild leader Herder,” Xi Xiaotian expressed.

”Oh? What information is this?” Foe-herder was alert and vigilant when he heard this. But since the other party was not a lawyer who was charging for her services by the hour, he figured that he was not going to lose out hearing out what she had to say, so he casually probed her further about this information she had in her hands.

”It pertains to a quest,” Xi Xiaotian was casting the line.

”Quest?” Foe-herder jolted. ”What about it?”

”There's a quest that I intend to sell to guild leader Herder,” Xi Xiaotian answered enigmatically. The bait was set.

”I don't understand what you're getting at.”

”The logic behind this is simple. Our guild had gotten a hold of a quest, but we don't have the means to accomplish it. However, we know that such a vital quest on the grand scale is precisely what a large guild like Cloud Herder intends to try their hands on, so we've decided to exchange this quest for a bit of gold,” Xi Xiaotian explained.

”Oh? What's your guild's name?” Foe-herder asked.

”Rise Above the Skyline,” Xi Xiaotian said.

”I've never heard of it.”

Xi Xiaotian chuckled, ”That is why we're a small guild. It's a guild that a band of 20 close friends had formed together.”

Foe-herder did not show any change in his expression, though he had immediately inquired over his guild channel if anyone knew of such a guild existing. In the end, there was really someone who thought it sounded familiar.

”What do you know about the guild?” Foe-herder asked.

”I've got no idea. I have no clue when or where I heard or seen it from…” That person who claimed to have knowledge of the guild answered.

”Go and check it out!” Foe-herder ordered.

”We can't enter the city, so there's no way I can check it out in the Hall of Guild Creations!”

Foe-herder saw the sense in his words. Even if they were to log out, the official website only listed the top guilds in the various cities, so there was no chance that a guild with just 20 players could be found.

”Are you the guild leader?” Foe-herder asked Xi Xiaotian.

”No. It's inconvenient for our guild leader to show herself right now,” Xi Xiaotian answered.

”Why is that?”

”Heh, it's because she's the one who holds the quest, and if she were to show herself and accidentally get killed, the quest would fail as a result, making it impossible for us to sell the quest that we have,” Xi Xiaotian said.

”Just what sort of quest is this?” Foe-herder asked.

”We've no idea what happens afterward, but we do know that the current quest we are on is impossible for a guild of our caliber and size to accomplish. We would not be resorting to selling the quest had we been confident that we could succeed.” Xi Xiaotian sighed.

”Then why are you thinking of selling it to me?” Foe-herder asked.

Xi Xiaotian laughed, ”I think you're mistaken, even though we are selling the quest now, it's still not a given that you would be able to buy the quest off us.”

”What do you mean? Are you thinking of..” Foe-herder immediately recalled what Xi Xiaotian did the last time when she approached both him and Brave Surge. It appeared as if this lady was thinking of repeating that scenario once more. However, the information last time was shareable between the interested party; now that this time around was a quest, it would not be possible for it to be shared, so there's no doubt that Xi Xiaotian will be finding several other guilds as well, before auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

”Guild leader Herder, I wonder if you've understood what I'm trying to do here?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

”I do…” Foe-herder found this to be a somewhat abhorrent practice. He knew that he was about to be fleeced yet again, just like the last time, yet he had no choice but to bear with it and let it happen. As the only guilds that would be able to compete with his own, there was no doubt the other four level 6 guilds would be invited. However, this time, it was not a contest of strength between them, but of their financial resources, as well as how bold were they willing to brave the uncertain when it came to this quest. No matter the case, Foe-herder felt that he must get himself a seat on this table. He would surely profit from the purchase of the quest, and failing to succeed was not really a loss on his end. With such a thought in mind, Foe-herder nodded his head and very calmly answered, ”Fine. I'll participate in this auction. Offer me a quoting bid when the time comes.”

Xi Xiaotian was slightly startled when he heard this. Does this guy actually intend to take part in this auction only through messaging? This was not the outcome they wanted. While that was the thought that crossed her mind, she simply paused momentarily, showing the slightest hint of surprise before happily smiling, ”Oh? Then I will have to trouble guild leader Cloud to add me as a friend. I'll send you the bid quotation when the time comes.”