“I don’t know. It makes no sense,” the Necromancer said.

Everyone was scratching their heads.

“That guy is real slippery. No wonder everyone considered him invincible,” Fiendmark gloomily remarked. A Level 156 Thief had actually played them for complete fools. Given their better equipment and higher levels, the five of them still couldn’t do anything to Nie Yan. He couldn’t imagine what the result would be if it were back during Nie Yan’s peak.

“I think I know how he did it! He fled when I attacked him!” the Slayer exclaimed.

“When?” The others turned to the Slayer.

“Do you remember when we killed the first one? He disappeared like a puff of smoke when our attacks landed on him. That’s why we thought it was the fake!” the Slayer said. He was truly amazed that Nie Yan employed such a clever trick to pull the wool over their eyes.

“Wait. Are you saying he used an Incorporeal Potion?” the Necromancer asked, finally realizing what happened.

“Right! He definitely used an Incorporeal Pootion!” the Slayer nodded. The Mad Rogue’s shadow clone had substance. When it was attacked, it would take damage. That small detail had slipped their mind. After all, they had never faced him before. All they knew was from hearsay over the years, nothing concrete like whether the clone was just an illusion or had actual substance. Not to mention in that kind of tense situation, they simply didn’t have the time to consider all possibilities.

They all glanced at each other in dismay. Even this kind of method worked. In any other situation, a Level 156 Thief had no way of escaping them. However, today, they had been thoroughly duped and had their horizons widened.

“Sure, he has a few tricks up his sleeve. But the next time we meet, we’ll come prepared!” the Necromancer said.

“Do you think he’ll give us another chance? I’m guessing if he sees us again, he’ll stay far away. Thankfully, his level is too low. It’ll take him at least a few years to catch back up. We’re lucky we won’t have to worry about being stalked by him,” the Dark Zealot sighed. After today’s fight, he got a glimpse of how amazing the Nirvana Flame of three years ago was.

“Devil Sky, should we chase after him? He used an Incorporeal Potion. That means he couldn’t have gone far,” the Necromancer asked.

“Are you stupid? Even if Nirvana Flame is only Level 156 right now, he’s still the guild leader of Asskickers United. You think he’s that easy to bully? With a single word from him, all the tens of thousands of Asskickers United players in Judgement Valley will come down on us with the might of Thor’s hammer! If you want to throw your life away, go ahead, but don’t drag us down with you!” the Dark Zealot cursed. “Also, don’t speak about what happened today to anyone. If people find out, we won’t have the face to show ourselves again.”

Fiendmark and the others could only leave with their heads hanging low in dejection.

After Devil Sky’s party disappeared into the forest, Nie Yan stepped out from behind a tree with a bitter smile on his face. If it weren’t for his quick thinking just now, he would’ve been dead.

Nie Yan simply wasn’t strong enough to take on the attacks of a Level 180+ player. Recalling the Mystic, he still felt fear lingering in his heart.

In the eyes of that party, none of them top experts, a Level 156 player like Nie Yan was only trash. Players on the level of Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Tang Yao probably wouldn’t even bother to stop and kill him. To them, even that party of five was easy pickings!

Nie Yan wondered if Devil Sky’s party would reveal news of his return to the world of Conviction. His past fame was simply too dazzling. If others found out he was trying to make a comeback, who knew how many eyes would start targeting him. Moreover, who knew how many people were waiting for him to make a fool of himself!

The players on the forums, especially those who didn’t like him in the first place, would almost certainly mock him to no end. “Look, that’s Nirvana Flame, the wash-up piece of trash.”

As for the players from Asskickers United, Nie Yan didn’t know how he would face them.

The taunts would only become more aggressive if he decided to leave again so quickly after returning. “Haha! A few words and Nirvana Flame is already too scared to log back on anymore!”

Nie Yan rubbed his forehead. This was human nature. When you were powerful, many people would praise you, fear you, and envy you. When you fell from the top back to rock bottom, only your closest friends would stay by your side. The rest wouldn’t hesitate to kick you while you were down. The more miserable you became, the happier they were.

Faced with the ridicule of the world, are you just going to give up? Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with determination. He coldly snorted. Call me a washed-up expert, will you? I’ll prove to all of you that even if I haven’t logged on in three years, I’m still the legendary Mad Rogue! Trust me, I will climb back to the top!

Nie Yan’s heart brimmed with motivation. In the beginning, he relied on his unshakable confidence to slowly walk his way to the peak and make Assskickers United the absolute ruler of the Righteous Faction. Even though some of it had to do with luck and the knowledge from his past life, his success was born from so much more than that. Perhaps his skills and strength played the biggest role.

One day, I will let everyone know that Nirvana Flame is still the Mad Rogue and not someone to be mocked. This is the dignity of the Mad Rogue!

Originally, Nie Yan just wanted to walk the path of an ordinary player and spend the rest of his days in relaxation. In the end, however, he wasn’t willing to let himself become a relic of the past; or perhaps he just refused to linger in mediocrity. He’d already spent more than enough time doing that in his past life. In this second chance, he wanted to spurn this path and rule over the world from high atop the clouds.

Nie Yan clenched his fists. He finally had a new goal. Looking far into the distance, he entered stealth and dashed into the forest.

With his current strength, PvPing with others wasn’t the wisest choice. He needed to quickly raise his level. However, he knew all too well the struggles of levelling up. Every successive level required a ludicrous amount of experience. He needed to hole himself up somewhere where no one would disturb him and start a power levelling session!

Let’s find the Inheritance of Life first, Nie Yan thought. If he could obtain the two remaining Inheritance Gems and upgrade the Tyrant Abak Set, levelling up would be much easier.

Nie Yan headed straight into the depths of Judgement Valley. He encountered many players on his path. All of them were at least Level 170. Any players weaker than that would generally be throwing their lives away. This was the gathering place of experts, after all! They frequently came here to hone their skills and PvP against their peers. Level wasn’t the be all and end all of combat. Some Level 190 players who came here might even find themselves cut down by a Level 170 expert. These players who lived on the battlefield and those who spent most of their time grinding monsters to level weren’t on the same plane in terms of skill.

When Nie Yan encountered Evil Faction players, he would take a long detour around them. His exchange with Devil Sky’s party made him realize his situation. His level was simply too low. His stealth ability could no longer cope.

As Nie Yan travelled deeper into Judgement Valley, a wide-open space appeared before his eyes. This was the central area of the map, about 3,000 meters away from the passage to the underworld.

In the center of the clearing was an enormous demonic beast. It was six meters tall with pitch-black fur. It looked just like a minotaur, save for a pair of large fleshy wings growing from its back. It held a large cleave in its hand.

“GROAAGH!” The demonic beast let out a world-shaking roar.

A large group of players were gathered around it. Because they were too far away, he couldn’t make out their appearances.

This Chaos Keeper was actually a Level 190 Demonic Lord! Nie Yan was dumbstruck that such a powerful monster showed up in Judgement Valley. This was too frightening!

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that after his disappearance three years ago, more and more powerful bosses started appearing in the Atlanta continent. Let alone Level 190 Demonified Lords, even Level 250 Demonified Lords weren’t super rare anymore!

It appeared the release of the Chaos Temple had caused this. Nie Yan bitterly smiled. He had fallen too far behind.

Nie Yan originally wanted to see if he could kill the Chaos Keeper to obtain the Inheritance of Life. However, looking at the fight raging on before him, he came to the painful realization that he couldn’t even take on those players, let alone the boss.

A shower of spells rained down on the Chaos Keeper, creating a lightshow of explosions.

There were players from both factions fighting the Chaos Keeper. It was extremely chaotic. For any side to kill the Chaos Keeper would be no easy matter.

“GRRAAOGH!” The Chaos Keeper cleaved down with its cleave, creating a massive slash that swallowed up several hundred players.

The surviving players started to retreat in fear, scattering in all directions. The Chaos Keeper went into pursuit, with every slash of its blade, several dozen heads would fly.

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. What a powerful monster!

Nie Yan estimated only the top experts of both factions could kill this Chaos Keeper. However, those players were gathered in the Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God. None of them would come here!