KFC Grand Hotel, one of the top restaurants in Yuzhang City, one of the eight main cities in "Sword Maiden Online," is a thousand-year-old establishment that has been passed down for a millennium. It is said that the first owner was a top Chinese chef with a head full of white, bushy beard, proficient in the eight major cuisines: Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui. The legacy has been passed down to this day, and even in the game, their storefront can be found.
The leader of the gang, "When the Moon Shone," invited Gu Han to meet at the Auspicious Dragon Double Flight Hall.
When Gu Han arrived, "When the Moon Shone," "The Toad Who Eats Wuji Baifeng Pills," "The Calm Lake Water," and their sword maidens were already there, waiting for Gu Han's arrival.
At their first meeting, both Gu Han and the three from "When the Moon Shone" were quite surprised.
Gu Han was surprised that "When the Moon Shone" was an exceptionally beautiful woman, far more beautiful than many celebrities and sword maidens. She was the type of woman who could live a carefree life just by her looks.
The three from "When the Moon Shone" were surprised by Gu Han's face, which had four prominent scars, like four fat caterpillars, making it both disgusting and terrifying.
Is this guy really the SSS-level player who cleared the initial dungeon? How did he get such terrifying scars? Are they from real life? But the game clearly allows for facial adjustments, so why didn't he remove these scars?
"My boss, what happened to your face? Your face, which was only a little less handsome than mine, how did it end up like this?" The Toad rushed over and asked Gu Han how he got into this state.
"I just want to remind myself not to forget some things!" Gu Han patted The Toad's shoulder, signaling him not to worry about his face.
"You, I've told you so many times, don't keep those painful things in your heart, or you'll eventually break down." The Toad sighed, unsure how much suffering his best friend was hiding.
"Never mind your face, why are you so late? We've been waiting for almost half an hour." The Toad changed the topic. They had arrived at KFC Grand Hotel on time as agreed, but Gu Han was almost half an hour late.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Compared to The Toad's scowl, the leader "When the Moon Shone" was much more composed, smiling warmly and explaining on Gu Han's behalf, "This is the first time the Admiral has come to Yuzhang City, so he's not familiar with the area. It's understandable that it took him longer to find the place."
"I'm sorry, I'm not very familiar with the roads." Gu Han, of course, was very familiar with Yuzhang City. Over the past twelve years, he had memorized the city's layout so well that he couldn't possibly get lost. The reason he was half an hour late was that he wanted to show this leader a bit of his attitude, making her think twice about recruiting him.
To be honest, The Toad was Gu Han's only best friend, and he really didn't want to hurt The Toad's face.
"Sit down!" "When the Moon Shone" pulled out a chair next to her and invited Gu Han to sit. "Let me introduce myself. I'm When the Moon Shone, the current leader of the Moonlight Group, and the future head of the Moonlight Sword School."
"I won't introduce The Toad; you know him better than I do. If nothing goes wrong, he will be the deputy head of our Moonlight Sword School in the future."
"The cute girl next to The Toad is my sister. Her name is The Calm Lake Water. You can just call her Calm. Don't let her small size fool you; she is very powerful and will be one of the four elders of our Moonlight Sword School in the future."
"When the Moon Shone" introduced all three of her current members and then brought over the three sword maidens standing behind her.
"This is Lady Cold Iron, a Sword of Ancient Times and my first innate sword maiden. She is a Confucian sword maiden." "When the Moon Shone" introduced a sword maiden in blue, with a cold and icy expression. "Lady" is a respectful term for sword maidens, expressing humans' respect for their life-and-death battles to protect them. At least, this is how they should be addressed in front of outsiders and sword maidens.
"Hello!" Lady Cold Iron nodded but didn't say anything more, her personality matching her cold appearance.
"This is Lady Shattered Skin, a Sword of Treasure. Don't let her frail appearance fool you; she is a powerful assassin sword maiden!" "When the Moon Shone" described Lady Shattered Skin, who was indeed very frail, less than 1.5 meters tall, and looked like she could be blown away by the wind, not at all like a skilled assassin.
"Your humble servant, Lady Shattered Skin. Admiral, you made me wait for half an hour. How do you plan to compensate me? Your skin looks so good; why don't you let me cut a piece and keep it in my heart?" Lady Shattered Skin's smile was chilling, as if the next moment, a piece of your skin would be in her heart.
"Admiral, don't mind her. My sword maiden just has a bad mouth. She hasn't really cut anyone's skin except for Yuan Kui."
"When the Moon Shone, you're so mean. Why did you have to reveal that? It's no fun now!" Lady Shattered Skin made a face and sat back down.
"Let me introduce our Lady Sunset, a loyal knight and a martial sword maiden." "When the Moon Shone" introduced Lady Sunset, the 88th-ranked sword maiden in the "Famous Swords Record," wearing the armor of a general from the Han Empire three thousand years ago, with a proud and disdainful expression, as if she were looking down on everyone.
"This general, Lady Sunset, greets you, Admiral. According to The Toad Who Eats Wuji Baifeng Pills, you have great skills. I hope to have the chance to spar with this general." Lady Sunset spoke with a haughty tone, clearly not believing that Gu Han had the skills to spar with her.
Gu Han neither accepted nor rejected the challenge, remaining indifferent to Lady Sunset's provocation. Lady Sunset was the sword of Huang Zhong, one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. Huang Zhong was known for his pride, only respecting Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. His sword, naturally, carried his pride. However, Huang Zhong was famous for his unerring arrows, and his archery skills were unmatched. As for his sword skills, they would need to be tested.
After "When the Moon Shone" introduced her three sword maidens, The Toad and Calm also stood up to introduce their own sword maidens.
The Toad, a Sword of Treasure holder, had two sword maidens. One was Lady Cast Cloud Iron, a Sword of Ancient Times and a martial sword maiden, once the sword of the ancient hero Yun Tianhe. It was said to be made from an incredibly heavy piece of iron, and Yun Tianhe's sword skills were forged while using Cast Cloud Iron.
The other was Lady Mountain Guard, a Sword of Treasure and a Confucian sword maiden, synchronized by The Toad a week ago. Lady Mountain Guard and Lady Sunset were from the same era, being the sword of Liu Shan, the last emperor of Shu. In a sense, Lady Mountain Guard was superior to Lady Sunset, but in reality, Lady Sunset was a famous sword, while Lady Mountain Guard was just a Sword of Treasure.
Gu Han was somewhat surprised that The Toad had a Sword of Treasure. In the game, getting a Sword of Treasure to recognize you and then synchronizing with it is a very complicated and difficult process. Many players accumulate thousands of sword points but still can't get a Sword of Treasure to recognize them.
For The Toad to have a Sword of Treasure after only three weeks in the game, he must have had either extremely good luck or help from someone. Given The Toad's loyalty to "When the Moon Shone," it was likely that she helped him gather the necessary tokens to get Lady Mountain Guard's recognition.
Calm, like The Toad, was a Sword of Treasure holder with two sword maidens. From Calm's proud chatter, Gu Han learned that her sword points were almost 10,000, just one step away from a Famous Sword.
Calm's Sword of Ancient Times was Lady Green Edge, one of the three initial sword maidens. It was said that she was the initial sword maiden Calm received when she first cleared the Yue Wang Goujian Sword dungeon. They had a deep bond. Since the attributes of the three initial sword maidens were not outstanding among the Swords of Ancient Times and ranked low in the "Ancient Swords Record," most new players replaced them with other Swords of Ancient Times after getting familiar with the game, just like "When the Moon Shone" and The Toad did with Lady Cold Iron and Lady Cast Cloud Iron. Only Calm continued to use her, almost reaching the level of a Famous Sword holder.
Calm's Sword of Treasure was a rare Demon Sword, Lady Crimson Blood. Lady Crimson Blood was the sword of Shi Zixuan, a demon lord of the Demon Sect, responsible for countless deaths, with over a thousand souls said to have perished by her blade. Therefore, when Gu Han saw Lady Crimson Blood, she was shrouded in a red mist, her face and figure indistinct. It was unclear where Calm, a young girl, had obtained the token for Lady Crimson Blood and successfully synchronized with her.
It's worth noting that Demon Swords are very rare, with fewer than thirty recorded in the "Demon Swords Record." Synchronizing with them requires bizarre bloodline and genetic conditions, making them rare both in the game and in real life.
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After spending a considerable amount of time, "When the Moon Shone" finally finished introducing all her sword maidens. She then looked at Gu Han's empty back and smiled, "Admiral, where is your sword maiden? Why didn't you bring her?"
"What's so interesting about his sword maiden? It's just one of the three initial sword maidens: Lady Green Edge, Lady White Iron, or Lady Hundred Refinements. I'm tired of seeing them." The Toad sneered. Gu Han had only been in the game for less than half a day, so his sword maiden was one of these three.
"You pervert, try saying you're tired of seeing them again!" On the other side, Calm, who had a deep bond with Lady Green Edge, angrily retorted.
Thus, these two, who were naturally at odds, started arguing again.
"She's pouting at me, so I didn't bring her!" Gu Han replied calmly.
"Who is this person? To make the most peaceful of the three initial sword maidens pout at him. Was it really a good decision to ask for his help?" "When the Moon Shone" narrowed her eyes, doubting her decision for the first time.