It looked like these two Shaolin players were planning to clear the area!
'Clearing' referred to when players marked a particular spot to level up, fight the Boss or undertake a task. Since they didn't want anyone to disrupt them, they would adopt a strategy of diplomacy followed by coercion to 'persuade' nearby players to leave.
Scenarios like this were not uncommon neither were they innovative in online gaming.
If this was a Boss fight in the wilderness, Ye Weiming would not bother to confront them. But this mission involved an intermediate Swordsmanship reward and had an intolerably harsh penalty. How could he possibly consider giving it up?
Shaking his head slightly, Ye Weiming shrugged, "Sorry, I also have a mission."
"Then my apologies." As he spoke, one of the Shaolin players swung his long staff down towards Ye Weiming.
The next moment the Shaolin player attacks, the other monk reacted to the movement, leaped forward, and struck a punch at Ye Weiming's chest.
The two coordinated perfectly, effectively implementing the strategy of diplomacy followed by coercion without hesitation.
Based on the hard-to-define sense of the Realm gained by improving martial arts levels, Ye Weiming promptly determined that these two monks were no match for him.
Even though he was confronted with a twofold siege, Ye Weiming showed no fear. He unsheathed his Treasure Sword and casually parried the monk's attack on his left.
A crisp 'clang' echoed. The Shaolin monk, whose Inner Strength was slightly weaker than Ye Weiming's, was knocked half a step back. Capitalizing on the rebound from the collision of weapons, Ye Weiming instantly raised his sword speed to the extreme and counter-attacked the monk who was fighting with his fists. He applied a move called "Wind Sweeps Away the Willow" from the Yue maiden Swordsmanship.
The fist-fighting Shaolin player obviously hadn't anticipated the speed of Ye Weiming's attack. He was unable to dodge in time, and a deep cut visible to the bone appeared on his forearm, forcing him to involuntarily retreat a step.
This was a rather humane setting in Eternal Chivalry. To protect the players, the game had reduced the sensation of pain to an almost imperceptible level. But the natural reaction of the body when being hit could not be avoided. Otherwise, each player, like having invincibility, would keep exchanging blows, which would be too un-chivalrous.
Of course, it's not impossible if you want to turn on the invincibility mode.
As long as you adjust your pain perception to 100% and can withstand pain similar to real-life injuries, the System has to admit your toughness.
The Shaolin player in front of him was clearly not such a tough guy. With a pain level almost at zero, his body instinctively reacted by retreating and his right hand temporarily lost all power, not able to perform any maneuvers.
At this moment, the Shaolin disciple using the staff had already adjusted his condition. His long staff attacking stance transitioned from a thrust to a lift, targeting Ye Weiming's chest.
Seeing this, Ye Weiming calmly countered by pressing his sword, just so it was pressing on the other's staff. While deflecting the attack, he pushed forward smoothly using a move called "Pushing the Boat Along with the Current", trailing his sword along the staff toward the other's hands holding it.
If he was hit this time, the staff monk's hands would undoubtedly be completely severed. By then, this staff-using Shaolin disciple might consider committing suicide and then respawning with full health.
Death in the game was not scary, but dying in a mission would be judged as a mission failure. The staff monk surely didn't want to pay this price, so he immediately let go of his staff and retreated.
Ye Weiming showcased the light and exquisite features of the Yue maiden Swordsmanship to the fullest. In just two moves, he injured one Shaolin player's arm and disarmed another.
The staff-wielding monk was apparently a staff-skill major, whether or not he was proficient in hand-to-hand combat was yet to be seen. If it was just a two-on-one fight, Ye Weiming could simply follow up with a "West Lake Heart Hold" move and they would definitely lose their skin if not their lives.
However, Ye Weiming's opponents were not just two. As he had successively defeated two Shaolin players, four Shaolin disciples were already surrounding him. If he continued to attack, he would inevitably be caught in their joint onslaught.
1V4, Ye Weiming was not confident of victory. In fact, if any of these four proved to be tough, he could be in danger.
Understanding this crucial point in a split second, Ye Weiming decisively retreated with his sword, unleashing his movement technique, "Eight-Step Chasing Toad". With two swift movements, he had put some distance between himself and his opponents, stopping five meters away from the Wudang player's camp.
At present, the situation on the field was that monks outnumbered taoists, whether they were NPCs or players.
The situation with the NPCs was okay. The young man who had activated the dual wielding mode was holding his ground against seven opponents without being at a disadvantage. But the situation among the players was not as good. They were all new disciples who had barely been initiated into their respective sects. The strength gap was negligible, so numerical superiority often translated into an absolute advantage.
The ratio of the two sides was 7 to 13!
Because of this, when Ye Weiming suddenly appeared, the ones who came over to clear the field were the Shaolin players.
Similarly, the Wudang players, who were in a disadvantaged position, were more likely to accept an alliance.
Within the blink of an eye, Ye Weiming's performance was astonishing everyone present. For a moment, both the Shaolin and Wudang players focused their gaze on this young man dressed in common attire. Even the fight between each other had temporarily come to a halt.
"My friend." The first person to speak was a Wudang disciple who seemed to be their leader. He first greeted Ye Weiming with a fist salute, then asked, "My name is Yin Bukui from the Wudang Sect. I just heard what you said to those two monks. Are you also here to investigate the truth?"
Yin Bukui, the Wudang disciple, appeared gentle and had a perpetual smile on his face, causing people to feel at ease around him easily. His way of speaking was also very skillful. A simple "also" implied that Ye Weiming, the sudden expert, was on their side.
"Brother Weiming!" At this moment, a monk with a square face stepped out from the ranks of the Shaolin players, greeting Ye Weiming with a smile, as though not caring about Ye Weiming's stunning performance against two of their ranks earlier. "I didn't expect us to meet so soon, and your strength has improved so quickly."
"When I saw the system announcement saying that you had achieved the first kill of the level 25 boss, I almost thought I had read it wrong. Seems like you, who kept complaining about the Hidden Sect's unfairness, were actually playing coy after gaining an advantage."
Upon hearing that Ye Weiming had achieved the first kill of the level 25 boss, Yin Bukui's eyes instantly sparkled, however, he immediately started to worry. If someone was able to kill a level 25 boss, regardless of how many people they teamed up with, it was proof of their exceptional strength.
The only thing they needed to worry about now was his position. And judging from the monk's address to him…
Actually, although Ye Weiming became famous for his televised defeat of Chou Ba, there were a million players online in "Eternal Chivalry", and there were plenty of players who had made it to the TV. From the beginning of the game to now, the system must have made hundreds of announcements. Who had the time to remember all of those names?
That Shaolin player only remembered him because he had met Ye Weiming before.
However, while the other knew Ye Weiming, Ye Weiming didn't immediately recognize who this monk was. Only after a careful examination of his face did he finally realize, "Are you, Mantou the Noodle Fisher?"
Mantou was a player Ye Weiming had met in Novice Village, they had teamed up to fight monsters together. Mantou the Noodle Fisher was the team captain and was quite talkative which left an impression on Ye Weiming. There were five people in the team then and the other four had faded from Ye Weiming's memory, only Mantou who had actively added him as a friend left some impression.
This was also the friend who had told Ye Weiming about the 72 unique skills of the Shaolin Sect after their initiation.
They didn't expect to run into each other in this quest so soon after graduating from Novice Village.
It was just a slightly awkward situation due to their different allegiances…