Chapter 255 Shocking District Nine

Nine rings of the monument.

Even with nine games connected across servers, very few players before this had ever managed to trigger the nine rings.

The so-called nine rings of the monument is an assessment made by the cross-server system of a player and their account upon their initial promotion to the cross-server level. It serves as a metric to gauge the combat power of cross-server players; the more rings a player can trigger, the greater their combat power and potential.

The current number one on the cross-server leaderboard—that is, the number one from I Have a Ghost Story—also triggered the nine rings of the monument. They were the first player to ever trigger them, and in fact, from the moment this player appeared and entered the cross-server level, they have dominated the number one spot without ever budging an inch.

Since then, capable players triggering seven or eight rings have appeared from time to time, but the monument has never rung nine times again.

And now, with the assembly of District 9 across the nine major games, a player has once again triggered the nine rings of the monument!

Unlike the first player who ascended from Ghost Stories, where the so-called nine rings were only heard and seen by people from their own server, players from other games had only heard about it from the Ghost Stories players; none had seen it with their own eyes.

But this time, everyone—every single cross-server player—heard, saw, and finally understood what the so-called nine rings of the monument were truly like.

As the monument vibrated, strings of golden spirit butterflies, interspersed with black light and shadow, fluttered out from within. They spiraled up from the base of the monument, forming butterfly-like bridges that pierced the sky, towering into the clouds and soaring into the firmament.

Immediately after, a golden beam of light projected down from the clouds and landed on the monument, forming a massive golden brush that began to record the ID of this nine-ring triggerer on the monument, stroke by stroke.

"This... this spectacle is just too absurd! Compared to the ones from the Xiesui Qusan experts, this is on an entirely different level."

"Is it Boss Yi Meng? Nine rings of the monument, tsk tsk. I wonder what level nine rings is in the cross-server rankings; it somehow feels a bit low."

"Is this your first time hearing the monument ring? You should know that the Xiesui Qusan experts can only make it ring twice. Two rings are enough to enter the top eighty-nine. Nine rings—that's several times more! The ranking will definitely be very high!"

"Huh? Is it that impressive? Why didn't I have any reaction at the time?"

"What kind of reaction could you possibly have? Most ordinary players have no reaction at all. Forget nine rings, they can't even trigger one. Anyone who can trigger even a single ring, even if they can't make it into the top hundred, is definitely in the top five hundred. They are all experts among the players of their respective games."

Hearing these words from the people around the monument, some of the less informed players nodded in understanding. No wonder that previously, apart from some well-known experts like Xiesui Qusan who could cause a stir, everyone else had been quietly unresponsive. So that was why.

At the same time, in the other eight cross-server districts, especially among the players from Chronicles of Eternal Floating Splendor and Once Upon a City, their expressions were quite colorful—like a rainbow in the sky. Listening to the nine echoing rings, they stood quietly, looking at each other, not knowing what to say.

Heavens, has a dark horse emerged at the very end? Is it possible that the top game from the next cross-server opening simply ran into the wrong room and ended up in their district?

Just think, their highest-ranked player only managed three rings—three rings—and barely scraped into the top sixty or seventy. Relying on subsequent development, and even by humbling themselves before the players from Ghost Stories, they only managed to climb to the thirty-eighth position.

Yet this game that arrived last, only on the second day of the cross-server protection period, has already produced a player who triggered the nine rings of the monument. How are others supposed to live?

It really is a case of people comparing themselves to others and dying of anger. When players compare themselves to other players, it's even more tear-jerking. There's no comparison; there really is no comparison.

Unlike the gloomy atmosphere in Chronicles of Eternal Floating Splendor and Once Upon a City, the atmosphere inside the Golden Phoenix Zhaohe Palace of Xi Fei Returns to the Palace was much more cheerful. For no other reason than this: the nine rings of the monument were no longer the exclusive privilege of Ghost Stories players. Even if this person wasn't on good terms with Xi Fei Returns to the Palace, as long as they could annoy the Ghost Stories players, they were happy!

"I'm going back today to open a bottle of fine Nuerhong to celebrate—a five-hundred-year-old vintage, a limited re-release!" The expert with the Empress Xi title was grinning from ear to ear, making no effort to hide the joy in her heart. She was practically ready to rush over to the Specter Cultivation area and become sworn siblings with the person who had triggered the nine rings and shattered the legend of the Ghost Stories players.

"I thought they were just here to make up the numbers, but it turns out a bunch of tough characters showed up." Consort Jing was also quite surprised; this game that arrived last kept refreshing her worldview.

"I just don't know which player it is. Could it be that Lin Xi Yi Meng?"

"It should be her. Besides her, there isn't anyone else in that game with particularly outstanding spending; it's likely her."

"According to our information, that Lin Xi Yi Meng hasn't given any response yet. But it seems the same is true for the other games. That expert has a bit of an arrogant personality."

A player with the title of Mu Jieyu said with some worry, "Although this has been a thorn in the side for the Ghost Stories players, who knows if the Specter Cultivation player might get on good terms with them because their gameplay is similar? If both players who triggered the nine rings end up standing on the opposite side of our Xi Fei, that would be hard to deal with."

"That is a possibility, but I personally feel that, given the personality of that person from Specter Cultivation, they definitely won't be able to get along with the Ghost Stories players." Empress Xi, sitting at the head of the table, gave the people in the Golden Phoenix Zhaohe Palace a meaningful look and shared her speculation.

Such an arrogant person, how could they ever submit to others? If those Ghost Stories experts treat the Specter Cultivation player the same way they treated us, it will definitely backfire!

And that will be the moment when it's easiest for us to win over the Specter Cultivation player!

Thinking of this, Empress Xi set the tone: "The same goes for this: we will be friendly and not hostile toward the new game players. Once their protection period ends, if we see the Ghost Stories players bullying them, we must step in to defend them."

This is playing the long game to catch a big fish. Whether we can win over that expert depends on this.

At the same time, inside the meeting room of the Hundred Ghost Secrets Guild in I Have a Ghost Story, King of Rules sat in the third seat on the lower left, looking with a solemn expression through the rift, gazing into the distance at the territory of the game that had just arrived.

"The nine rings of the monument, it was actually triggered just like that. What on earth is the background of this game that arrived last?"

This thing is not easy to trigger. For so many years, only their boss, the guild leader of the Hundred Ghost Secrets Guild, had achieved it. But their guild leader is a VIP 17 expert, a super spender who ranks first on the VIP leaderboard. How could there actually be someone who can stand on equal footing with their boss?

This... how is it possible!

He was unwilling, how could he be willing? If he could, King of Rules would want to immediately take people to the Specter Cultivation game to see it with his own eyes.

"VIP 11, only one whole day has passed; they do have something." After a long silence, the guild leader sitting at the head of the table, a player with the ID Hells Ukiyo-e, spoke with apparent disdain. That look, that tone, it was as if he were just looking at a clown, discussing a slightly larger red melon.

"However, that is all there is to it."

"After the cross-server protection period, proceed as before. Do what you need to do."

"So what if they triggered nine rings? They need to know who is really in charge of this cross-server district!"