“What? Commemorative Album of Youth?” While wiping the sweat off his forehead, Mr. Fang walked into the shop as he read the message on his communication jade and saw Nalan Mingxue’s invitation to enter a new group chat. [You guys plan to organize an internet party, and you want to make a new promotional video?]

[Yeah! Yeah!] At this moment, many other people besides Nalan Mingxue were in this group.

[That’s a good idea! Why didn’t I think of that?] Having just entered the group, Su Tianji looked surprised.

Mr. Fang commented, [At your great age, you still want to talk about youth…]

“…”

Su Tianji said, [😠 I’m 17!]

Mr. Fang replied, [😅Awesome!]

Lan Yan changed the subject in a hurry. [Since the shop owner is here, we need some materials from the early years. Sir, do you have them?]

[I should…?] Mr. Fang thought for a moment since quite a few years had passed.

[Dig into your files and find them…] Lan Yan said impatiently, [We have the new stuff but not the old material.]

[Okay…]

…

“Here’s the thing.” In Jiuhua City, many people gathered in the lounge area of the shop. There were people like students such as Song Qingfeng and Xu Zixin, the old customers of the shop such as An Huwei and Su Tianji, and even the earliest customers such as Fatty Wang Tai and Liang Shi, who had gone their own ways due to different reasons in the real world but still were in touch with Mr. Fang.

They were the first group of players in the shop.

Ye Xiaoye of Cloud Ocean Faction asked, “Xuexue, have you fixed the date of our activity?”

“Well… I’ve decided on the date.” Nalan Mingxue turned her eyes. “How about March 28th?”

“March 28th?” The others looked at her curiously. “Does this date have a special meaning?”

After glancing around, Nalan Mingxue waved at them and signaled them to lean toward her.

Then, she said in a tiny voice as weak as the buzzing of a mosquito, “To celebrate the birthday…”

“Ah…?”

“Whose birthday…?”

“Is it… the shop owner’s birthday…?” Ye Xiaoye almost exclaimed, but someone covered her mouth. After a while, she said in a low voice, “How come I never heard the shop owner mention it?”

Although Dajin didn’t have the custom of celebrating a birthday for young people, this date was indeed a special day.

After all, it was a party, and it would be better if it was held on a special day.

“I don’t think even the shop owner remembers his birthday,” Xu Zixin said in bafflement, “Xuexue, how did you find out…”

Nalan Mingxue looked a bit embarrassed. “Don’t ask.”

When she did the investigation on Fang Qi at the very beginning, she didn’t imagine that she would use this information on this occasion.

Of course, she probably didn’t know that Mr. Fang probably had forgotten the exact date of his birthday already. Now that he was in this world alone, he had no one to ask about it.

“That’s settled then!” Xu Zixin said, “But we must promise not to leak the secret!”

“Oh! I have an idea!” Ye Xiaoye suggested in excitement, “Let’s make a big cake! Just like the ones in… Grand Theft Auto 5! I’m sure that the shop owner has never eaten such a novel thing in the real world!”

“Hahaha! Good idea!”

They got happier with their plan as they continued the discussion. “I’m sure that the shop owner will be greatly surprised!”

…

While these people were laughing in the Jiuhua City Shop, things were happening in the new shop at the East Continent.

Mist and light drizzle engulfed the Dongxuan Cave Abode.

Disciples of the Heavenly Faction came out from the shop and opened their umbrellas without thinking.

This raining weather had no effect on cultivators, and pedestrians were still walking on the streets paved with green stones.

No one used the cultivation strength to block the rain for them. The whole city, at least for now, looked no different from the cities in the world where Fang Qi traveled from through space and time.

As usual, the Xiaoyao Ancestral Master led the cultivators of the Xiaoyao Cave Abode to walk out of the Dongxuan Cave Abode.

At this moment, his steps suddenly paused.

He stopped without a warning.

“Ancestral Master?” Lingxu Zi looked at Xiaoyao Ancestral Master in surprise.

The thronging crowd before them seemed to feel nothing unusual.

He followed the Ancestral Master’s gaze and saw an invisible sword essence. It transformed into a vague white streak of rain and shot toward him through the mist and drizzle.

The sword essence was nimble and ethereal as if it was a godly sword slash from outer space. It was absolutely not a sword strike from someone in the current time. Even Lingxu Zi behind Xiaoyao Ancestral Master felt a sense of helplessness when he saw it.

However, Xiaoyao Ancestral Master closed his two fingers and lightly pointed at the sword essence.

“Pop!”

With a strange explosive, raindrops splashed outward. Alarmed, the walking cultivators scrambled to dodge.

At this moment, they saw a middle-aged man wearing a plain grey robe standing in the crowd with hands clasped behind his back.

“Dugu…” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master squinted his eyes slightly. “It’s you…?”

“It’s me.”

At this moment, urgent footsteps sounded from nearby streets while groups of cultivators from different factions walked toward Xiaoyao Ancestral Master from the streets before him and behind him with uniformed steps. Shoulder to shoulder, they came over with robes flapping in the wind.

“This is…?” Lingxu Zi’s face instantly turned dark since he knew all of them. “The Three factions, four sects, and six cave abodes on the Continent of Immortal Village…?!”

Except for the Heavenly Faction, they were all here!

“What… do you want?” Lingxu Zi said in a deep voice.

“Cough! Cough!” At this moment, light coughs sounded from a nearby alley. A pale-faced man dressed in a black scholar’s robe walked out. “Nothing. We just happened to find the information we need coincidentally.”

“Shang Jiuwen?!” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master’s expression turned darker.

“Daoist Brother Xiaoyao, how have you been since we parted?” Meanwhile, an immortal-looking young man wearing a silver immortal robe and a jade dragon headpiece floated down from the sky.

When he landed, the people from different sections, even the Ascendance Realm masters and faction master, retreated several steps as if they had seen a viper.

Raindrops turned into a transparent pure white lotus flower under his feet, supporting him in the air; it was a miraculous and weird scene.

“Li Wuchen…” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master’s face turned chillier.

“Brother Xiaoyao is a bit selfish.” At this moment, the silver-robed young man said, “It has been a while since we understood the Great Dao together. How come Daoist Xiaoyao wants to take the Dao Fruit alone?”

“In my opinion, it would be better if Daoist Brother Xiaoyao shares it with us.”

“What Dao Fruit?” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master looked baffled.

“Daoist Xiaoyao, you mean that you don’t know about the opportunity to make the further step?” Li Wuchen’s face turned cold. Existences like them had no regard for anything but this one…

They would never miss this opportunity!

“You mean that…?” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master froze for a moment and waved his hand before saying, “Come with me.”

“Huh?!” Everyone stared at Xiaoyao Ancestral Master.

It’s so simple?!

They exchanged a look and followed him.

After coming before a great palace with the sign of [Origins], Xiaoyao Ancestral Master pushed open the gate and entered.

He said to the counter, “Add two more hours to my account today.”

After all, he could borrow playtime from tomorrow.

Then, he sat down before a computer.

“What are you doing?!” a group of people watched from behind.

“Didn’t you know?” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master asked.

“Know what?”

“It’s a new era now.” Xiaoyao Ancestral Master pointed at League of Legends on the screen and said, “The rules have changed.”

“The rules have… changed?!”

We are fighting for the qualification to ascend; this rule had changed?!

Who could make new rules?!

Xiaoyao Ancestral Master opened the rank system that he had just activated. On it was written, [Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Challenger.]

[TL Note: In Chinese LOL, the ranks had adjectives before them. The direct translations are Brave Bronze, Unyielding Silver, Glorious Gold, Luxurious Platinum, Radiant Diamond, Supreme Master, and Unrivaled Challenger.]

Then, he pointed at the announcement on the blackboard that the shop owner had just put on.

[Do you want to become a real god-like figure?! The enrollment for League of Legends World Championship Series Qualifier begins today!]

[Participants need to at least reach Diamond and form a team of at least five people.]

“Become a god-like figure? Can we really become gods this way?” this group of people stared at the small blackboard intently.

“Diamond?!”

“Challenger?!”