Chapter 398: Is This Your Brother?

"That girl did indeed come here." A man draped in silver robes and a golden belt gazed at the towering city wall before him. It was a city that could just barely be called grand, bustling with the comings and goings of...

"Mortals?" He knit his brows.

"The Desolate Sea Realm has the greatest abundance of mortals," a voice behind him spoke up. "After all, it is a place that was... abandoned long ago."

The man waved his hand, seemingly unwilling to dwell on such matters. "The most important task right now is to find the Little Princess... Furthermore, have as little contact as possible with the people of the Desolate Sea Realm, understood?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

...

Jiuhua City.

The Jiuhua City shop was already a far cry from what it used to be.

The Jiuhua City branch was decidedly much more lively than the Half-City branch, a fact reflected not only in Jiuhua City's mild climate.

It was also because Jiuhua City was a metropolis where ordinary folk, martial artists, and cultivators coexisted; naturally, the flow of people was far denser than in Half-City.

And the Jiuhua City shop happened to be situated within the commoner district.

Almost every Monday and Tuesday evening, quite a few neighboring commoners would gather inside the shop. After all, the TV dramas *Jade Dynasty* and *Wind and Cloud* would be broadcast for free on these two nights.

Even if they could only watch the plot unfold, it was still vastly more thrilling than the storytelling performances found in tea houses and taverns.

By now, almost the entire city could recount a segment of *Jade Dynasty*, and everyone was intimately familiar with titles like "Nie Feng, the God of Wind" and "Bu Jingyun, the Unweeping Death God."

As the various major sects and factions outside the Grand Jin Nation "sincerely repented" and no longer forbade their disciples from visiting the Origin Internet Club to exchange ideas and learn, the place had become as packed as it could possibly be.

Lines were already forming almost at the crack of dawn.

Clad in a black palace gown, the Eldest Princess held a delicate, color-covered hardcover book in her hands. Printed on the black cover was a crimson demonic face—*Diablo II*.

"What is this?" The Fifth Prince plonked himself onto the sofa beside her, carrying two cups of milk tea, one of which he handed to the Eldest Princess.

"The Deluxe Edition of the official *Diablo* novel, the final volume!" While sipping her milk tea, the Eldest Princess scanned the text upon the pages. "Though I haven't played the game yet, it really is magnificent... Following the footsteps of the Dark Wanderer, fighting all the way to the Hellforge to destroy the soulstones of the Prime Evils... It reads like a legendary heroic epic one would only find in ancient myths."

She asked casually, "Haven't you played this before?"

"Mm... but in the game, one must endure Nightmare before witnessing the true Hell," the Fifth Prince said, shaking his head. "Right now, I've only passed the Normal difficulty. The further you go, the higher the difficulty gets. It seems only Prince Nalan and his peers are tackling Hell difficulty; it's simply too arduous."

"It is said that in the world of Hell difficulty, there are almost no restrictions, and whether it be martial arts or the various techniques and spells learned in the shop, all can be utilized within it without their power being diminished?" the Eldest Princess asked as she flipped through the pages.

"More or less. They have already grown accustomed to using the strength within that realm to execute techniques like the Sword Control Technique. Yet even so, there is absolutely no hope of clearing it. They are still stuck in Act II."

Evidently, upon reaching Hell difficulty, *Diablo II* had completely restored the true might of the demons Andariel and Duriel, as well as the three Prime Evils. For the vast majority of players, even if they possessed powerful equipment and exceptionally high skill levels, if their own personal cultivation and mental realm could not keep pace, progressing through the game became increasingly difficult.

Both Normal and Nightmare difficulties had been cleared by some, but Hell difficulty represented the true reality of that world. Even Nalan Hongwu could only manage to fight his way to Act II.

The Eldest Princess took another sip of her milk tea. The official novel adaptation of *Diablo II*, however, reached its conclusion at this very moment. Baal and his demonic legions were finally defeated by the alliance of heroes, and the corrupted Worldstone was destroyed. Though the demonic hosts were utterly annihilated, the homeland of the Barbarians was also forever ruined along with the Worldstone by the demonic forces. The entire world fell into chaos following the shattering of the Worldstone.

Closing the volume, the Eldest Princess sat back against the sofa, her long eyelashes fluttering as she raised her head to look at the sunlight filtering through the shop windows, slowly savoring the lingering aftertaste of the story. "I wonder what the future holds for those heroes? Will that sole surviving Barbarian hero rebuild his homeland...?"

"And I wonder if there will be a sequel..." She pursed her lips. At that moment, she noticed a tall figure outside the shop door, perfectly blocking the light that streamed into the establishment through the glass doors and windows.

With people constantly coming and going within the shop, it was not unusual for customers to enter. In fact, with so many grand sects and major factions arriving due to its reputation—even members of the Three Saint Sects having made appearances—the occasional stranger was hardly a surprise.

Yet what struck the Eldest Princess, Ji Yu, as peculiar was that she could not discern in the slightest what kind of martial discipline or cultivation path the newcomer practiced. Even though the man had absolutely no intention of concealing his aura, she could not think of any familiar sect or faction whose aura would possess such a peculiar quality.

Woven into it was a profoundly mysterious essence, the grandeur of which she dared not measure against the Three Saint Sects.

What perplexed her most was that the aura exuded by this man, and indeed his every movement, carried an innate noble grace. It might not have appeared overly ostentatious, but that sense of nobility flowing casually from him felt deeply rooted in his very bones.

He appeared to be a man of about thirty years of age, wearing a silver-gray robe adorned with exquisite golden embroidery. Judging by his rather tall stature, Ji Yu initially suspected he might be a martial artist, yet compared to the rugged and hardened contours of typical warriors, the lines of his face were softer, lacking the weather-beaten look of one who had endured the trials of martial training.

Behind him followed two individuals who looked like guards, flanking him protectively.

"What's this guy's background?" the Fifth Prince murmured under his breath.

"I don't know," the Eldest Princess frowned. "Why does it feel like he didn't come here to use the computers?"

"Could he be here to cause trouble?"

"Cause trouble?" Hearing those words, a crowd of cultivators who were currently sitting on the sofas waiting for available computers all cast their eyes over.

Just as they were staring at the newcomers who had entered the door, the newcomers were also sizing them up.

They beheld several old codgers, some holding instant noodles in their hands, others clutching spicy gluten strips.

Lan Mo, the Alliance Master of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance, held a cup of milk tea in his hand, biting down on the straw. Sensing the sudden change in the surroundings, he raised his head and glared over, his eyes wide.

Su Tianji took a loud slurp of the instant noodles in her bowl and raised her head in bewilderment. "What's going on?"

"What's the matter?"

The surrounding atmosphere abruptly fell silent.

"Your Highness..." The two attendants glanced at the atmosphere around them...

"This atmosphere... is strange."

"Mm..." The silver-robed man nodded.

In an instant, the air grew tense with hostility.

"Are these three fellows looking to cause trouble?" Su Tianji took another bite of noodles, her cheeks bulging round as she asked in a muffled voice.

"Master... I think it's highly possible! Slurp!" Fenghua replied while also eating her instant noodles.

"With this old master here, who would dare cause trouble?" Nalan Hongwu snorted coldly and took a sip of milk tea, feeling a warm current flow into his body, which caused him to let out an appreciative sigh.

He then stood up from his seat.

Just as he was about to speak, a small head popped out from behind the computer at the front counter, flashing a peace sign while her large eyes blinked repeatedly. "Big brother?"

"Imperial... Little Sister?!" The man's face lit up with a look of pleasant surprise.

"Eh...?!" Everyone who had just been raring to move was utterly dumbfounded.

"This is your brother?!" Everyone stared at Jiang Xiaoyue, completely slack-jawed.