MMORPG: War God, You are Invincible Again
Chapter 426 - 180: The Probe

Chapter 426: Chapter 180: The Probe

After half a day’s learning, Xie’an and the others had memorized the customs and culture of the Beichen Plane.

Following the guidance of the Pasar Family’s steward, Ji Tong, they passed through the teleportation gate and arrived at the Dragon Pool Plane.

As soon as they arrived, they were surrounded by the great army of the Cairo Family.

Xie’an’s eyebrows twitched, nearly mistaking the situation for a trap set by the enemy.

Fortunately, the Cairo Family hadn’t issued an order to attack.

As a hundred thousand people passed through one after another, the teleportation gate was completely shut down. Thus, the outside world could no longer enter, nor could the people inside Dragon Pool leave, unless the plane’s blockade was lifted.

Ji Tong’s face was grim as he asked the commanding officer, Luo Kai, "Malike, what are you doing? Let us pass!"

"Isn’t this Mr. Ji Tong, the great steward of the Pasar Family?" Malike chuckled, "Such a remnant group actually required your esteemed presence to escort them back?"

As he spoke, Malike scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on Lu Hong, "This gentleman... ..."

Malike approached Lu Hong with a smile, "How unfamiliar!"

Lu Hong’s expression remained unchanged, "I accompanied my father on his military campaigns in Beichen in my early years; of course, you wouldn’t recognize me."

Malike chuckled, "I am a person who loves to duel the most. Seeing your strong build, I wonder if you could withstand a few moves?"

Ji Tong hurriedly interjected, "Malike, by the Family Head’s order, I am leading the expeditionary soldiers home. You’re causing trouble over and over again, obstructing our triumphant soldiers. I will report this to the Council exactly as it happened, and they will decide on your punishment!"

Malike was not at all moved by Ji Tong’s threat. Instead, he put his arm around Ji Tong’s shoulder with a laugh, "I too am following the Family Head’s order for a routine inspection, to prevent the infiltration of imperial spies among us. How about this: let me fight this young man right here; regardless of the outcome, I’ll let you leave immediately, how does that sound?"

Ji Tong dared not respond; he knew that the duel was a sham, and the real purpose was to probe. Although Lu Hong had disguised his face, his resemblance to the image of an imperial baron was still quite close, and Malike was testing Lu Hong.

"Fine," Lu Hong agreed, while silently contacting the sleeping Holy King within. He could not reveal his strong physique or his profession as a warrior, so he wanted to use the Holy King’s power of Holy Light to confuse his opponent.

"Splendid!" Malike laughed heartily and, with a wave of his hand, his soldiers presented him with a large ghost-head saber.

"Brothers, make some room, don’t get hurt."

Malike cleared the area, creating a large circle a hundred meters wide. Lu Hong entered it and took out a bronze greatsword from his Space Ring.

"My name is Malike, a Second-Transformation Peak War Priest," Malike began, shaking the ghost-head saber in his hand.

"Lu Hong, Second-Transformation Peak Holy Knight," Lu Hong pointed his sword at Malike, and a dazzling burst of Holy Light erupted from the bronze greatsword, majestic and pure.

Malike looked puzzled, "Where’s your shield? Aren’t you a Holy Knight?"

"I have the intention of transitioning to a Judge Knight, thus I’ve abandoned the shield to focus on the sword."

"Good, then let’s see your swordsmanship!" Malike took Lu Hong’s explanation and charged forward with the ghost-head saber raised.

Facing this low-end character, Lu Hong could not muster any interest and countered with a backhanded strike.

"War drum blessing!" Sensing the power contained in the strike, Malike’s face grew solemn. He used the War Priest’s BUFF skill, which, with its augmentation, greatly increased his speed and strength. The ghost-head saber clashed with the bronze greatsword, bursting with a dull sound.

Malike and Lu Hong both stepped back.

Seeing Malike take three steps back, Lu Hong decided to take four steps to appear weaker.

Indeed, Malike was secretly pleased to see the opponent retreat four steps, thinking he was slightly more impressive. But then, he remembered the mysterious expert from Beichen and decided he must report this to the Family Head for precautions.

Stopping in his tracks, Lu Hong took the initiative to attack. The milky white Holy Light shone brilliantly, enveloping Lu Hong and enhancing his speed further with layers of BUFFs.

Malike immediately raised his saber high; his left hand gathered Magic Power and struck the back of the blade hard, releasing sound waves with a strange power trying to dissolve the BUFFs that the Holy King had placed on Lu Hong.

"His purification skill is too weak; what should I do?" the Holy King posed the question to Lu Hong.

"Retreat. Pretend to be purified," Lu Hong said just before the blessing skills attached to him began to fade away.

Malike thought his skill had worked and swung his broadsword at Lu Hong.

Lu Hong feigned panic, awkwardly parried, and then rolled several times before stabilizing his stance.

But Malike didn’t pursue the attack, believing he had a full measure of Lu Hong’s abilities. He sheathed his ghost-headed broadsword and said with a smile, "Young brother, your kung fu is not bad. You are the heroes returning from the expedition; we as brother families should not spoil our good relations."

Lu Hong’s face turned ugly, pretending to be unyielding, "Fine, we’ll fight again next time!"

"Hahaha," Malike laughed heartily, "I’ll be waiting for your visit."

With that, Malike shouted to his men, "By the Family Head’s command, give a feast to welcome and cleanse the dust off the expedition soldiers. Brothers, set up the banquet!"

Ji Tong was taken aback and then protested discontentedly, "Malike, what are you really up to? Didn’t we agree that after the fight we could leave?"

"Ah? What you’re saying... I did agree to let you leave, but how dare I disobey the Family Head’s orders?"

While talking, cask after cask of fine wine was brought up by the soldiers of the Kairo family, and at the same time, chefs from all the taverns in the nearby city of the portal were summoned to cook. Not just that, even the courtesans were invited in droves, infiltrating the soldiers behind Xie’an. Suddenly, the solemn military camp took on a festive air.

"You!" Ji Tong pointed a furious finger at Malike, but ultimately, under the opponent’s chilly gaze, he couldn’t come up with anything to say and merely had someone go back to report to the Family Head.

However, before the messenger could leave, he was stopped by Malike’s soldiers.

"What do you mean by this?!" demanded Ji Tong.

"The Family Head told me not to let anyone leave until the welcoming and cleansing feast for the brothers from the expedition was completed," explained Malike, turning to Lu Hong with a smile, "Young brother, shall we have a drink?"

Lu Hong smiled slightly, "Sure." And with that, he joined Malike at the nearby banquet.

With great dishes changing every ten days, a variety of wines, and beautiful women for company, it was easy to let one’s guard down and reveal something.

But fortunately, the men Xie’an had brought were the most elite under his command, with strong willpower; those who could hold their liquor did, and those who couldn’t simply pretended to be drunk, without revealing their true identities and adhering only to the customs of their homeland, Beichen.

Malike’s subordinates mingled in the crowd, continuously observing but ultimately unable to detect anything. They begrudgingly withdrew, coming to his side and whispering something.

Malike nodded, then said to Lu Hong, "You have struggled in your expedition to the North Morning for decades without returning. I will not detain you any longer!"

With that, Malike got up to leave and no longer looked at Lu Hong and the others.

Only after the Kairo family’s soldiers had all departed did Ji Tong ask Lu Hong and Xie’an, "Sirs, shall we leave now or?"

"Why leave when we’ve been invited to a meal?" Lu Hong picked up a slice of lean meat and couldn’t help commenting that the chef’s skills were indeed impressive.

Xie’an also nodded in agreement, "There’s no reason not to eat if it’s free."

They ate for more than an hour until the representatives of the Pasa family arrived, bringing the large feast to an end. Then Ji Tong was informed that it was time to settle the bill, much to his exasperation.

It had to be Malike pocketing the money!

Infuriated, Ji Tong was certain the Kairo Family Head wouldn’t stoop so low—it could only be the shameless Malike who had pocketed the family’s provisions and then made Ji Tong pay the bill.

"How much is it?" Ji Tong asked grumpily.

The chief organizer of the banquet chuckled, "Not much, just three hundred thousand Gold Coins."

"What? Are you robbing me? Three hundred thousand Gold Coins—do you have any idea how much that is?" Ji Tong shouted, infamous as the stingiest steward of the Pasa family.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Ji, why would you say that? We’ve provided thirty-year vintage wines, carefully selected beautiful women, each one breathtakingly beautiful, and let’s talk about the ingredients—those are all top-grade. You should really take a good look before you say anything," the banquet organizer retorted, displeased, "What? The grand and prosperous Pasa family is looking to renege on the bill?"

"Renege? Would I do such a thing?" Ji Tong snorted coldly, "You can fetch the money yourself from the Pasa family tomorrow. Although we’re not as wealthy as the Kairo family, we’re not short of this small amount of Gold Coins."

"Since you claim to have the money, please, Mr. Ji, settle the bill," the organizer persisted. "I’ve been elected the temporary head for this event and can’t make decisions for the other managers. The instruction they gave me before this event was to settle the account on site."

Struggling to regulate his breathing, he said, "Fine, fine, fine!"

After repeating ’fine’ three times, Ji Tong beckoned his subordinate, "Immediately report to the Family Head and take out three hundred thousand Gold Coins for the bill! I’m giving you thirty minutes—if you don’t come back, never bother returning!"